No abstract

Mean HbA1c as an indicator of glycaemic control of diabetes patients in primary care in Thuringia was good. The percentage of patients who need immediate medical intervention to prevent acute complications varied between districts, which is indicative for differences in quality of diabetes care in Thuringia. However, the proposed method is still experimental and has not yet been evaluated. Consequently, considerable bias might influence the results.

A diversity of vaccines is necessary to reduce the mortality and morbidity of SARS-CoV-2. Vaccines must be efficacious, easy to manufacture, and stable within the existing cold chain to improve their availability around the world. Recombinant protein subunit vaccines adjuvanted with squalene-based emulsions such as AS03™ and MF59™ have a long and robust history of safe, efficacious use with straightforward production and distribution. Here, subunit vaccines were made with squalene-based emulsions containing novel, synthetic toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, INI-2002 (TLR4 agonist) and INI-4001 (TLR7/8 agonist), using the recombinant receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 S protein as an antigen. The addition of the TLR4 and TLR7/8 agonists, alone or in combination, maintained the formulation characteristics of squalene-based emulsions, including a sterile filterable droplet size (<220 nm), high homogeneity, and colloidal stability after months of storage at 4, 25, and 40 °C. Furthermore, the addition of the TLR agonists skewed the immune response from Th2 towards Th1 in immunized C57BL/6 mice, resulting in an increased production of IgG2c antibodies and a lower antigen-specific production of IL-5 with a higher production of IFNγ by lymphocytes. As such, incorporating TLR4 and TLR7/8 agonists into emulsions leveraged the desirable formulation and stability characteristics of emulsions and can induce Th1-type humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to combat the continued threat of SARS-CoV-2.

No abstract

The impacts of disease on host vital rates can be demonstrated using longitudinal studies, but these studies can be expensive and logistically challenging. We examined the utility of hidden variable models to infer the individual effects of infectious disease from population-level measurements of survival when longitudinal studies are not possible. Our approach seeks to explain temporal deviations in population-level survival after introducing a disease causative agent when disease prevalence cannot be directly measured by coupling survival and epidemiological models. We tested this approach using an experimental host system (Drosophila melanogaster) with multiple distinct pathogens to validate the ability of the hidden variable model to infer per-capita disease rates. We then applied the approach to a disease outbreak in harbor seals (Phoca vituline) that had data on observed strandings but no epidemiological data. We found that our hidden variable modeling approach could successfully detect the per-capita effects of disease from monitored survival rates in both the experimental and wild populations. Our approach may prove useful for detecting epidemics from public health data in regions where standard surveillance techniques are not available and in the study of epidemics in wildlife populations, where longitudinal studies can be especially difficult to implement.

The Thuringian cross-sectional study 2005 showed acceptable results for metabolic control in ambulatory care. The results of HbA1c mapping were comparable to the data on glycaemic control of patients with diabetes mellitus in ambulatory care.

15The impacts of disease on host vital rates can be clearly demonstrated using longitudinal 16 studies, but these studies can be expensive and logistically challenging. We examined the 17 utility of hidden variable models to infer the individual effects of disease, caused by 18 infection, from population-level measurements of survival and fecundity when 19 longitudinal studies are not possible. Our approach seeks to explain temporal changes in 20 population-level vital rates by coupling observed changes in the infection status of 21 individuals to an epidemiological model. We tested the approach using both single and 22 coinfection viral challenge experiments on populations of fruit flies (Drosophila 23 melanogaster). Specifically, we determined whether our approach yielded reliable 24 estimates of disease prevalence and of the effects of disease on survival and fecundity 25 rates for treatments of single infections and coinfection. We found two conditions are 26 necessary for reliable estimation. First, diseases must drive detectable changes in vital 27 rates, and second, there must be substantial variation in the degree of prevalence over 28 time. This approach could prove useful for detecting epidemics from public health data in 29 regions where standard surveillance techniques are not available, and in the study of 30 epidemics in wildlife populations, where longitudinal studies can be especially difficult to 31 implement. 32 2