Randomized controlled trials of exercise training in patients with HF and symptoms of depression were identified. The depression data were pooled using meta-analysis, and 19 studies were identified, with a total of 3447 patients, of which 16 (3226 patients) provided data for the meta-analysis. Exercise training demonstrated significant reductions in the symptoms of depression [standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.55 to −0.21], and its antidepressive effect was consistent in a number of HF groups, such as in ages under and over 65 years (SMD −0.14, 95% CI −0.22 to −0.07 vs. SMD −0.44, 95% CI −0.61 to −0.27) and EFs of <50% (SMD −0.38, 95% CI −0.56 to −0.20), as well as in a range of interventional strategies, including the aerobic mode (SMD −0.40, 95% CI −0.61 to −0.19), centre, home, or combined setting (SMD −0.61, 95% CI −0.95 to −0.27 vs. SMD −0.25, 95% CI −0.44 to −0.07 vs. SMD −0.13, 95% CI −0.21 to −0.05), and short or longer training programmes (≤12 weeks, SMD −0.50, 95% CI −0.73 to −0.27; 12-26 weeks, SMD −0.47, 95% CI −0.82 to −0.11; >26 weeks, SMD −0.12, 95% CI −0.20 to −0.04). The beneficial effects were preserved when blind design trials were considered (SMD −0.14, 95%

This study reveals the genetic variability of EG95 sequences in different E. granulosus isolates, and proposed that more vaccination trials would be needed to test the effectiveness of current EG95 vaccine against distinct isolates in different countries.

The aim of the present study was to predict and analyze the secondary structure, and B and T cell epitopes of Echinococcus granulosus antigen 5 (Ag5) using online software in order to investigate its immunogenicity and preliminarily evaluate its potential as an effective antigen peptide vaccine for cystic echinococcosis. The PortParam program was used to analyze molecular weight, the theoretical isoelectric point, instability index and other physicochemical properties. The secondary structure of the Ag5 protein was predicted using Self-Optimized Prediction method With Alignment and the tertiary structure of the Ag5 protein was predicted using 3DLigandSite together with Center for Biological Sequence Analysis Prediction Servers. Furthermore, the Immune Epitope Database software was used to predict B cell epitopes, and T cell epitopes were predicted with the BioInformatics and Molecular Analysis Section and SYFPEITHI programs. The results demonstrated that α-helixes, β-turns, random coils and extended strands account for 23.35, 10.95, 41.32, and 24.38% of the secondary structure of the Ag5 protein, respectively. Ten potential B cell epitopes of Ag5 were identified as the amino acids sequences 27–39, 70–80, 117–130, 146–168, 250–262, 284–293, 339–349, 359–371, 403–412 and 454–462, and seven potential T cell epitopes were identified as the amino acid sequences 52–60, 57–65, 182–190, 231–239, 273–281, 318–326 and 467–475. Thus, ten B cell epitopes and seven T cell epitopes were identified on Ag5, suggesting the strong immunogenicity of this protein, which could be applied to design antigen peptide vaccines for echinococcosis.

SummaryThe paramyosin (Pmy) protein has been presented as a potential vaccine candidate against Schistosoma spp. However, it remains elusive whether it works in controlling cystic echinococcosis (CE), which is caused by the larval stages of Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus). This study investigated the characteristics of E. granulosus Pmy (EgPmy) using in silico analysis and evaluated its potential as an epitope vaccine. The secondary structure was predicted by SOPMA software and linear B-cell epitopes were screened by the Kolaskar and Tongaonkar's method on IEBD while conformational B-cell epitopes were predicted by the Ellipro. Additionally, the epitopes of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) were analyzed by the NetCTL-1.2 server. The results showed that α-helices, extended strands, random coils and β-turns accounted for 84.82 %, 6.60 %, 5.56 % and 3.01 % in EgPmy's secondary structure, respectively. A total of 29 linear B-cell epitopes and 6 conformational epitopes were identifi ed together with 25 CTL epitopes. The CTL epitope 709 KLEEAEAFA 717 showed a high potential to elicit CTL response. These results suggested that EgPmy has a strong immunogenicity, which could serve as a reference for the development of EgPmy-based epitope vaccine against CE.