Prehemodialysis and hemodialysis patients are at an increased risk of hepatitis B infection and have an impaired immune response to hepatitis B vaccines. We evaluated the immune response to the new adjuvant of hepatitis B vaccine AS04 (HBV-AS04) in this population. We measured antibody persistence for up to 42 months, and the anamnestic response and safety of booster doses in patients who were no longer seroprotected. The primary vaccination study showed that HBV-AS04 elicited an earlier antibody response and higher antibody titers than four double doses of standard hepatitis B vaccine. Seroprotection rates were significantly higher in HBV-AS04 recipients throughout the study. The decline in seroprotection over time was significantly less in the HBV-AS04 group with significantly fewer primed patients requiring a booster dose over the follow-up period. Solicited/unsolicited adverse events were rare following booster administration. Fifty-seven patients experienced a serious adverse event during the follow-up; none of which was vaccine related. When HBV-AS04 was used as the priming immunogen, the need for a booster dose occurred at a longer time compared to double doses of standard hepatitis B vaccine. Hence, in this population, the HBV-AS04 was immunogenic, safe, and well-tolerated both as a booster dose after HBV-AS04 or standard hepatitis B vaccine priming.
MCR (mobile colistin resistance) enzymes catalyse phosphoethanolamine (PEA) addition to bacterial lipid A, threatening the "last-resort" antibiotic colistin. Molecular dynamics and density functional theory simulations indicate that monozinc MCR supports PEA transfer to the Thr285 acceptor, positioning MCR as a mono- rather than multinuclear member of the alkaline phosphatase superfamily.
This study was conducted to investigate and compare the fatty acids and tocopherols of lipid extracted from marine microalgae, Nannochloropsis oculata (NO) and Tetraselmis suecica (TS) using solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). Fatty acids and tocopherols were determined in the extracted lipid as functions of the temperature (40, 80oC) and pressure (3000, 5000, 7000, 9000psi). Dichloromethane/methanol and hexane were the chosen conventional solvent for fatty acids and tocopherols extraction respectively. The results obtained showed that there were differences in the fatty acid composition of various lipid extracts of NO and TS. Extracts of NO were high in myristic acid (C14:0) (17-35%), palmitic acid (C16:0) (14-47%) and palmitoleic acid (C16:1) (11-42%) whereas extracts of TS were high in C14:0 (21-34%) and C16:0 (29-49%). Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was detected only under certain SFE conditions in NO but was not detected in TS. α-, β- and γ-tocopherol were detected in various SFE extracts of NO but only α- and β-tocopherol were detected in TS. Hexane extraction of both NO and TS resulted in the detection of only α-tocopherol. In conclusion, the use of different extraction methods resulted in different compositions and concentrations of fatty acids and tocopherols in the microalgae studied.