The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 is known to induce high level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) from primary macrophages. However, it is still unclear whether current H5N1 strains also induce high TNF-alpha production, as most of the data were derived from extinct clade 0 H5N1 strain. Here, we show that current clade 1 and 2 H5N1 strains induce variable levels of TNF-alpha that are not necessarily higher than those induced by seasonal influenza viruses. The result suggests that hyper-induction of TNF-alpha in human macrophages is not always associated with a highly pathogenic phenotype. We further tested the contribution of the NS gene segment from H5N1 isolates to TNF-alpha induction by using reverse genetics. While NS conferred some variation in TNF-alpha induction when incorporated into an H1N1 virus genetic background, it did not affect TNF-alpha induction in an H5N1 virus genetic background, suggesting that other viral genes are involved.
The increasing popularity of Chinese herbal treatment has sparked interest in investigating how safe these alternative medicines are. This study scrutinized the Chinese herbs used most popularly in Thailand to identify the presence of heavy metals, microorganisms and aflatoxin contamination. Five commonly consumed Chinese herbs were investigated: Milkvetch root (Astragalus membranaceus), Chinese angelica (Angelica sinensis), Goji berry (Lycium barbarum), Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposita) and Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). Any heavy metal (arsenic, lead, cadmium), microorganisms (total viable count; total aerobic microbial count, total combined yeast and mold count), pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., Clostridium spp.) or aflatoxin contamination were examined. Of the 25 samples, sixteen (64.0%) did not exceed acceptable limits. Nor did the total aerobic microbial count, total combined yeast and mold count, aflatoxin and heavy metals exceed permissible limits. Neither Salmonella spp., nor S. aureus were found in any of the samples. However, significant Clostridium spp. contamination (36.0%) was detected in 9 of the 25 samples. These health hazards should be addressed systematically and for the long term by the appropriate consumer protection agencies and related organizations.
Objective: To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and to diagnose an occult HBV infection in healthy Thai subjects after implementation of the expanded program on immunization (EPI) in newborns.Material and Method: The detection of HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc was done from serum samples of 5,886 healthy first year students from Huachiew Chalermprakiet University collected between 2009-2011 by immunochro-matography rapid assay (Alcon, USA). In case of only anti-HBc positive, the results were confirmed with chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method and then they were investigated further for HBV occult infection by nested polymerase chain reaction technique.Results: A total of 78% (4,593/5,886) healthy first year students who had been vaccinated with HBV vaccine since birth were found to have no HBV markers, while 18.4% (1,083/5,886) had only anti-HBs. The prevalence of infection was 3.6% (210/5,886). Identification of patterns of HBV infection among the 210 infected subjects found that (1) Immuned due to past infection was 61.9% (130/210) (2) Infected with hepatitis B virus was 38.1% (80/120). The prevalence of both HBsAg and anti-HBc was 28.6% (60/210), while the prevalences of HBsAg and Anti-HBc alone were 3.8% (8/210) and 5.7% (12/210), respectively. Anti-HBc alone group was repeated with chemiluminescence EIA and HBV DNA was negative.Conclusion: The prevalence of HBV infection was 3.6% (210/5,886), however, seropositive rate of HBV infection was 1.4% (80/5,886). Most antibodies from vaccination had substantially declined to the point that it was undetectable. Therefore, the overall study showed an effective implementation of EPI in newborns.
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