Hospitalization of pregnant women with pandemic A(H1N1) 2009 influenza in Canada.

This article describes the epidemiology of pandemic A(H1N1) 2009 influenza in all Canadian pregnant women admitted to hospital, and compares it with historical inter-pandemic influenza activity. We used weekly hospitalization and death counts of laboratory-confirmed pandemic A(H1N1) influenza cases reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC) 2009-2010 national pandemic influenza surveillance programme. Pregnant women infected and admitted with the pandemic strain were described and compared with: (1) confirmed admissions of all women of reproductive age; (2) all admitted cases reported to PHAC; and (3) to a historical average of inter-pandemic seasonal influenza admissions, and pneumonia and influenza (P&I) admissions for pregnant women. During the pandemic, 263 pregnant women with confirmed infections were admitted; four died in their third trimester. The median age for admitted pregnant cases was 27.5 years, which is consistent with the median age of the 3-year historical inter-pandemic pregnant comparison group. Aboriginal women appeared to be overrepresented but ethnicity was unavailable for 15.2% of all pregnant cases. Overall admission volumes were higher than those for seasonal influenza in the historical comparison group but were lower than those for P&I admissions. Despite increased admission volumes, severe outcomes in pregnant women were proportionally fewer than in all cases admitted for influenza A(H1N1) infection during the pandemic.

Synthesis and conformational studies in solution of sequential copolypeptides: poly(L-prolyl-L-alpha-phenylglycyl-L-proline).

High molecular weight poly(L-porlyl-L-alpha-phenylglycyl-L-proline) was synthesized by condensation of L-prolyl-L-alpha-phenylglycyl-L-proline pentachlorophenyl ester in N,N-dimethylformamide. The solution properties of this material have been investigated by circular dichroism and 220-MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in solvents such as trifluoroethanol (F3EtOH), chloroform, trifluoroacetic acid (F3CCOOH), chloroform-F3CCOOH and F3EtOH-F3CCOOH mixtures. Ordered structures can be formed in F3EtOH and chloroform, which we believe to be similar to the poly-L-proline II form. The ordered form easily undergoes a conformational transition to an unordered form upon addition of small amounts of F3CCOOH to the chloroform solution. The ordered structure is not disrupted upon addition of 12 per cent F3CCOOH to a F3EtOH solution of the polypeptide.