Digital Commons Network^™

An Analysis Of Companion Animal Tick Encounters As Revealed By Photograph-Based Crowdsourced Data, Heather L. Kopsco, Roland J. Duhaime, Thomas N. Mather

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

Background: Community science is increasingly utilized to track important vectors of companion animal disease, providing a scalable, cost-effective strategy for identifying new foci, changing phenology, and disease prevalence across wide geographies. Objectives: We examined photographs of ticks found attached to predominately dogs and cats reported to a photograph-based tick surveillance program to identify potential areas for improvements in tick prevention education and risk intervention. Methods: We compared estimated days of tick attachment using a Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance, and a Pearson's chi-square analysis of variance on the number of submissions by host type submitted for each season. Results: The …

"When They See Someone Who Is Poor, They Step On Them": The Social Determinants Of Health Among Survivors Of Sex Trafficking In Cambodia, James P. Havey, Glenn M. Miles, Lim Vanntheary, Nhanh Channtha, Hanni Stoklosa

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Social determinants of health (SDH) are defined as the non-medical yet health-affecting conditions of a person’s life. They include such considerations as working conditions, discrimination, and access to health services. The aim of this study was to explore the SDH impacting those who have survived sex trafficking in Cambodia. This study employed a mixed methods, secondary analysis, focusing on 52 survivors of sex trafficking in the Butterfly Longitudinal Research Project from 2010 through 2019. Participants described myriad social determinants of health, including: gender, age, relationship status (marriage), ethnicity, national identification documentation (statelessness), social class, formal education, vocational training, occupation, and …

Alma Link Resolver Title & Issn Report (Top 500) 2020-2021, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics for 2020-2021 on the total number of OpenURL requests by journal title and ISSN made to the Ex Libris Alma link resolver for items held by the University of Rhode Island Libraries. Includes only the top 500 journals.

Information provided includes journal Title, ISSN, EISSN, Number of Requests, Number of Clicked Requests, % Clicks from Requests.

Examining Nonprescription Syringe Sales In Massachusetts And Rhode Island Community Pharmacies, Traci C. Green, Stopka, Ziming Xuan, Tyler C. Davis, Jesse Boggis, Adriane N. Irwin, Mary Gray, Daniel M. Hartung, Jeffrey Bratberg

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Background: The role pharmacies play in addressing the opioid crisis and drug-related risks such as injection drug use is evolving. Estimating the prevalence of injection drug use at the community level is challenging because of the stigma of drug use. Many community pharmacies sell nonprescription sterile syringes; thus, pharmacy-level sales of injection equipment may be an indicator of drug-related harms and unmet needs of high-risk populations. Objectives: To describe, compare, and assess the convergent validity of staff-reported nonprescription syringe (NPS) sales volume and NPS administrative sales data from community pharmacies in Massachusetts (MA) and Rhode Island (RI). Methods: This study …

Correlation Between Reported Dengue Illness History And Seropositivity In Rural Thailand, Darunee Buddhari, Kathryn B. Anderson, Gregory D. Gromowski, Richard G. Jarman, Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Butsaya Thaisomboonsuk, Taweewun Hunsawong, Anon Srikiatkhachorn, Alan L. Rothman, Anthony R. Jones, Stefan Fernandez, Stephen J. Thomas, Timothy P. Endy

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

In the latest World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for Dengvaxia implementation, either serological testing or a person’s history of prior dengue illness may be used as supporting evidence to identify dengue virus (DENV)-immune individuals eligible for vaccination, in areas with limited capacity for laboratory confirmation. This analysis aimed to estimate the concordance between self-reported dengue illness histories and seropositivity in a prospective cohort study for dengue virus infection in Kamphaeng Phet province, a dengue-endemic area in northern Thailand. The study enrolled 2,076 subjects from 516 multigenerational families, with a median age of 30.6 years (range 0–90 years). Individual and family …

On The Front Line: Uri's Response To Covid-19 And The Role Of The Student-Run Emergency Medical Services, Michael C. Brennan

Senior Honors Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of society, including universities, and we are just beginning to understand its impacts. This project looks at how universities have responded to the pandemic by focusing on the University of Rhode Island, the largest university in the state of Rhode Island. A key aspect of this project is a timeline that documents the policies implemented by URI leadership and relevant policies adopted by the State of Rhode Island. The timeline also includes data about the number of cases at URI and state-wide, as well as figures for the number of students in isolation …

A Look At The Anti-Vaccine Movement And Its Impact On Covid-19, Kathryn Ann Famiglietti

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Vaccines: Distrust Of Science In Politics And The Media, Natalie Montalbano

Senior Honors Projects

Distrust in science and the scientific process has increased significantly over the last fifty years, and this distrust is particularly apparent in the fields of climate change and vaccination. Climate change, a relatively new scientific issue, has become one of the hottest topics discussed in both U.S and world politics. The existence and real threat of anthropogenic global warming was publicly declared by National Geographic in 2004, but climate scientists had acknowledged that humans were causing the warming of our Earth as early as the 1980’s. Vaccines, despite being safe and effective in curbing the spread of infectious diseases, have …

Narrow And Brittle Or Broad And Nimble? Comparing Adaptive Capacity In Simplifying And Diversifying Farming Systems, Margiana Petersen-Rockney, Patrick Baur, Aidee Guzman, S. Franz Bender, Adam Calo, Federico Castillo, Kathryn De Master, Antoinette Dumont, Kenzo Esquivel, Claire Kremen, James Lachance, Maria Mooshammer, Joanna Ory, Mindy J. Price, Yvonne Socolar, Paige Stanley, Alastair Iles, Timothy Bowles

Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Faculty Publications

Humanity faces a triple threat of climate change, biodiversity loss, and global food insecurity. In response, increasing the general adaptive capacity of farming systems is essential. We identify two divergent strategies for building adaptive capacity. Simplifying processes seek to narrowly maximize production by shifting the basis of agricultural production toward centralized control of socially and ecologically homogenized systems. Diversifying processes cultivate social-ecological complexity in order to provide multiple ecosystem services, maintain management flexibility, and promote coordinated adaptation across levels. Through five primarily United States focused cases of distinct agricultural challenges—foodborne pathogens, drought, marginal lands, labor availability, and land access and …

Missing The Outbreak For The Germs: Institutionalized Non-Knowledge And Industrial Power In Agrofood Safety Governance, Patrick Baur

Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Faculty Publications

Leafy greens cause a growing proportion of foodborne illness outbreaks despite heavy investment in surveillance technologies designed to control pathogenic hazards in agriculture. To understand how the governing regime maintains authority despite continual lapses in control, I examine a deadly 2018 outbreak of Escherichia coli O157: H7 linked to romaine lettuce. By comparing the outbreak investigation and regulatory response to the questions not asked and actions not taken, I show how the regime’s methods of understanding the outbreak also organized its ignorance of dangers outside its carefully constructed field of vision. Applying agnotology theory, I argue that the industrial organization …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_J1 Report Fy2020 - Journal Requests (Excluding Oa_Gold) By Title, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report TR_J1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2020. The TR_J1 report is defined as "Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)." This report presents an annual total only of e-journal usage by title.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

• Total Item Requests - 846,964
• Unique Item Requests - 620,899

Exploring Changes In Caregiver Burden And Caregiving Intensity Due To Covid-19, Steven Cohen, Zachary J. Kunicki, Megan M. Drohan, Mary L. Greaney

Public Health Faculty Publications

This study explored self-reported changes in caregiving intensity (CI) and caregiver burden (CB) among informal caregivers due to the COVID-19 pandemic overall and by gender. Informal caregivers for someone age 50+ completed a survey via Amazon’s MTurk in June 2020. Participants reported changes in CI and CB due to COVID-19 and provided demographic information. Multinomial logistic regression models assessed changes in CI and CB attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic overall and by gender. The sample (n = 835) was 68.5% male and had an average age of 34 years (SD 9.8); 55.7% had increased CI, and 53.1% had …

Effect Of Low-Passage Number On Dengue Consensus Genomes And Intra-Host Variant Frequencies, Christian K. Fung, Tao Li, Simon Pollett, Maria Theresa Alera, In-Kyu Yoon, Jun Hang, Louis Macareo, Anon Srikiatkhachorn, Damon Ellison, Alan L. Rothman, Stefan Fernandez, Richard G. Jarman, Irina Maljkovic Berry

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Intra-host single nucleotide variants (iSNVs) have been increasingly used in genomic epidemiology to increase phylogenetic resolution and reconstruct fine-scale outbreak dynamics. These analyses are preferably done on sequence data from direct clinical samples, but in many cases due to low viral loads, there might not be enough genetic material for deep sequencing and iSNV determination. Isolation of the virus from clinical samples with low-passage number increases viral load, but few studies have investigated how dengue virus (DENV) culture isolation from a clinical sample impacts the consensus sequence and the intra-host virus population frequencies. In this study, we investigate consensus and …

Validating The Psychosocial Functioning During Covid-19 Questionnaire Among A Sample Of Informal Caregivers, Trisha Arnold, Zachary J. Kunicki, Brooke G. Rogers, Kayla K. Haubrick, Lynne Klasko-Foster, Alyssa L. Norris, Megan M. Drohan, Mary L. Greaney, Steven Cohen

Public Health Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on global economies and societies. Although social distancing policies are needed to contain the spread and impact of COVID-19, they also impose a psychological and economic burden on people who are already experiencing increased distress such as caregivers. Yet, few measures have been developed and validated to measure the psychosocial impact of COVID-19. Utilizing item response theory (IRT), the purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically validate a measure of psychosocial functioning—the Psychosocial Functioning during COVID-19 (PFC-19) Questionnaire—to assess changes in social interaction, mental health, health behavior, and global functioning …

The Impact Of Vertical Public Health Initiatives On Gendered Familial Care Work: Public Health And Ethical Issues, Zahra Meghani

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Rigorous evaluations of the effects of vertical public health enterprises on the health systems of low-income countries usefully identify the public health and ethical costs of those initiatives. They reveal that such narrowly focused public health ventures undermine the efforts of those countries to establish and maintain adequately resourced and well-developed national health systems, including comprehensive primary care programs. This paper argues that the scope of assessments of vertical public health ventures should be broadened to include gender as an additional axis of analysis. When members of socio-economically marginalized populations are sick with conditions that are not covered by fragmented …

Potentiation Of Recombinant Np And M1-Induced Cellular Immune Responses And Protection By Physical Radiofrequency Adjuvant, Yibo Li, Zhoufan Li, Yiwen Zhao, Xinyuan Chen

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Nucleoprotein (NP) and matrix protein 1 (M1) are highly conserved among influenza A viruses and have been attractive targets to develop vaccines to elicit cross-reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Yet, external antigens are often presented on major histocompatibility complex class II molecules and elicit humoral immune responses. In this study, we present a physical radiofrequency adjuvant (RFA) to assist recombinant NP and M1 to elicit potent CTL responses. We found recombinant NP/M1 immunization in the presence of RFA could elicit potent anti-NP CTLs and confer significant protection against homologous viral challenges, while NP/M1 immunization alone failed to elicit significant CTL …

Sectoral Impacts Of Invasive Species In The United States And Approaches To Management, Anne S. Marsh, Deborah C. Hayes, Patrice Klein, Nicole Zimmerman, Alison Dalsimer, Douglas A. Burkett, Cynthia D. Huebner, Robert Rabaglia, Laura A. Meyerson, Bonnie L. Harper-Lore, Jamie L. Davidson, Marla R. Emery, Travis Warziniack, Rebecca Flitcroft, Becky K. Kerns, Vanessa M. Lopez

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Invasive species have a major effect on many sectors of the U.S. economy and on the well-being of its citizens. Their presence impacts animal and human health, military readiness, urban vegetation and infrastructure, water, energy and transportations systems, and indigenous peoples in the United States (Table 9.1). They alter bio-physical systems and cultural practices and require significant public and private expenditure for control. This chapter provides examples of the impacts to human systems and explains mechanisms of invasive species’ establishment and spread within sectors of the U.S. economy. The chapter is not intended to be comprehensive but rather to provide …

Why Lyme Disease Is Common In The Northern Us, But Rare In The South: The Roles Of Host Choice, Host-Seeking Behavior, And Tick Density, Howard S. Ginsberg, Graham J. Hickling, Russell L. Burke, Nicholas H. Ogden, Lorenza Beati, Roger Lebrun, Isis M. Arsnoe, Richard Gerhold, Seungeun Han, Kaetlyn Jackson, Lauren Maestas, Teresa Moody, Genevieve Pang, Breann Ross, Eric L. Rulison, Jean I. Tsao

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

Lyme disease is common in the northeastern United States, but rare in the southeast, even though the tick vector is found in both regions. Infection prevalence of Lyme spirochetes in host-seeking ticks, an important component to the risk of Lyme disease, is also high in the northeast and northern midwest, but declines sharply in the south. As ticks must acquire Lyme spirochetes from infected vertebrate hosts, the role of wildlife species composition on Lyme disease risk has been a topic of lively academic discussion. We compared tick–vertebrate host interactions using standardized sampling methods among 8 sites scattered throughout the eastern …

Four Priority Areas To Advance Invasion Science In The Face Of Rapid Environmental Change, Anthony Ricciardi, Josephine C. Iacarella, David C. Aldridge, Tim M. Blackburn, James T. Carlton, Jane A. Catford, Jaimie T.A. Dick, Philip E. Hulme, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Andrew M. Liebhold, Julie L. Lockwood, Hugh J. Macisaac, Laura A. Meyerson, Petr Pyšek, David M. Richardson, Gregory M. Ruiz, Daniel Simberloff, Montserrat Vilà, David A. Wardle

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Unprecedented rates of introduction and spread of non-native species pose burgeoning challenges to biodiversity, natural resource management, regional economies, and human health. Current biosecurity efforts are failing to keep pace with globalization, revealing critical gaps in our understanding and response to invasions. Here, we identify four priority areas to advance invasion science in the face of rapid global environmental change. First, invasion science should strive to develop a more comprehensive framework for predicting how the behavior, abundance, and interspecific interactions of non-native species vary in relation to conditions in receiving environments and how these factors govern the ecological impacts of …

An Adaptive Behavioral Immune System: A Model Of Population Health Behavior, Julian M. Saad, James O. Prochaska

Cancer Prevention Research Center Faculty Publications

The understanding that immunity could be strengthened in the general population (e.g., through vaccine interventions) supported global advances upon acute infectious disease epidemics in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. However, in the twenty-first century, global populations face chronic disease epidemics. Research demonstrates that diseases largely emerge from health risk behavior. The understanding of how health behavior, like the biological immune system, can be strengthened in the general population, could support advances in the twenty-first century. To consider how health behavior can be strengthened in the general population, the authors present a theoretical model of population health behavior. The model …

Disease-Driven Reduction In Human Mobility Influences Human-Mosquito Contacts And Dengue Transmission Dynamics, Kathryn L. Schaber, T. Alex Perkins, Alun L. Lloyd, Lance A. Waller, Uriel Kitron, Valerie A. Paz-Soldan, John P. Elder, Alan L. Rothman, David J. Civitello, William H. Elson, Amy C. Morrison, Thomas W. Scott, Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Heterogeneous exposure to mosquitoes determines an individual’s contribution to vector-borne pathogen transmission. Particularly for dengue virus (DENV), there is a major difficulty in quantifying human-vector contacts due to the unknown coupled effect of key heterogeneities. To test the hypothesis that the reduction of human out-of-home mobility due to dengue illness will significantly influence population-level dynamics and the structure of DENV transmission chains, we extended an existing modeling framework to include social structure, disease-driven mobility reductions, and heterogeneous transmissibility from different infectious groups. Compared to a baseline model, naïve to human pre-symptomatic infectiousness and disease-driven mobility changes, a model including both …

Temporally Integrated Single Cell Rna Sequencing Analysis Of Pbmc From Experimental And Natural Primary Human Denv-1 Infections, Adam T. Waickman, Heather Friberg, Gregory D. Gromowski, Wiriya Rutvisuttinunt, Tao Li, Hayden Siegfried, Kaitlin Victor, Michael K. Mccracken, Stefan Fernandez, Anon Srikiatkhachorn, Damon Ellison, Richard G. Jarman, Stephen J. Thomas, Alan L. Rothman, Timothy Endy, Jeffrey R. Currier

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Dengue human infection studies present an opportunity to address many longstanding questions in the field of flavivirus biology. However, limited data are available on how the immunological and transcriptional response elicited by an attenuated challenge virus compares to that associated with a wild-type DENV infection. To determine the kinetic transcriptional signature associated with experimental primary DENV-1 infection and to assess how closely this profile correlates with the transcriptional signature accompanying natural primary DENV-1 infection, we utilized scRNAseq to analyze PBMC from individuals enrolled in a DENV-1 human challenge study and from individuals experiencing a natural primary DENV-1 infection. While both …

Synthesis And Biological Evaluations Of Oleanolic Acid Indole Derivatives As Hyaluronidase Inhibitors With Enhanced Skin Permeability, Hao He, Huifang Li, Toyosi Akanji, Shengli Niu, Zhujun Luo, Dongli Li, Navindra P. Seeram, Panpan Wu, Hang Ma

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Oleanolic acid (OA) is a natural cosmeceutical compound with various skin beneficial activities including inhibitory effect on hyaluronidase but the anti-hyaluronidase activity and mechanisms of action of its synthetic analogues remain unclear. Herein, a series of OA derivatives were synthesised and evaluated for their inhibitory effects on hyaluronidase. Compared to OA, an induction of fluorinated (6c) and chlorinated (6g) indole moieties led to enhanced anti-hyaluronidase activity (IC50 = 80.3 vs. 9.97 and 9.57 µg/mL, respectively). Furthermore, spectroscopic and computational studies revealed that 6c and 6g can bind to hyaluronidase protein and alter its secondary structure leading …

Longitudinal Analysis Of Dengue Virus–Specific Memory T Cell Responses And Their Association With Clinical Outcome In Subsequent Denv Infection, Luis Alberto Sanchez-Vargas, Kathryn B. Anderson, Anon Srikiatkhachorn, Jeffrey R. Currier, Heather Friberg, Timothy P. Endy, Stefan Fernandez, Anuja Mathew, Alan L. Rothman

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Memory T cells resulting from primary dengue virus (DENV) infection are hypothesized to influence the clinical outcome of subsequent DENV infection. However, the few studies involving prospectively collected blood samples have found weak and inconsistent associations with outcome and variable temporal trends in DENV-specific memory T cell responses between subjects. This study used both ex-vivo and cultured ELISPOT assays to further evaluate the associations between DENV serotype-cross-reactive memory T cells and severity of secondary infection. Using ex-vivo ELISPOT assays, frequencies of memory T cells secreting IFN-γ in response to DENV structural and non-structural peptide pools were low in PBMC from …

The Impact Of Dengue Illness On Social Distancing And Caregiving Behavior, Kathryn L. Schaber, Amy C. Morrison, William H. Elson, Helvio Astete-Vega, Jhonny J. Córdova-López, Esther Jennifer Rios López, W. Lorena Quiroz Flores, Alfonso S. Vizcarra Santillan, Thomas W. Scott, Lance A. Waller, Uriel Kitron, Christopher M. Barker, T. Alex Perkins, Alan L. Rothman, Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec, John P. Elder, Valerie A. Paz-Soldan

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Background

Human mobility among residential locations can drive dengue virus (DENV) transmission dynamics. Recently, it was shown that individuals with symptomatic DENV infection exhibit significant changes in their mobility patterns, spending more time at home during illness. This change in mobility is predicted to increase the risk of acquiring infection for those living with or visiting the ill individual. It has yet to be considered, however, whether social contacts are also changing their mobility, either by socially distancing themselves from the infectious individual or increasing contact to help care for them. Social, or physical, distancing and caregiving could have diverse …

Identification Of Group A Streptococcus Genes Directly Regulated By Csrrs And Novel Intermediate Regulators, Meredith B. Finn, Kathryn M. Ramsey, Simon L. Dove, Michael R. Wessels

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Adaptation of group A Streptococcus (GAS) to its human host is mediated by two-component systems that transduce external stimuli to regulate bacterial physiology. Among such systems, CsrRS (also known as CovRS) is the most extensively characterized for its role in regulating ∼10% of the GAS genome, including several virulence genes. Here, we show that extracellular magnesium and the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 have opposing effects on the phosphorylation of the response regulator CsrR by the receptor kinase CsrS. Genetic inactivation of CsrS phosphatase or kinase activity, respectively, had similar but more pronounced effects on CsrR phosphorylation compared to growth in …

National Trends In Hospital, Long-Term Care And Outpatient Acinetobacter Baumannii Resistance Rates, Haley J. Appaneal, O'Neill, Vrishali V. Lopes, Kerry L. Laplante, Aisling R. Caffrey

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Introduction: Acinetobacter baumannii is a top-priority pathogen of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) due to antibiotic resistance.

Gap Statement: Trends in A. baumannii resistance rates that include community isolates are unknown.

Aim: Identify trends in A. baumannii resistance rates across the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System, including isolates from patients treated in hospitals, long-term care facilities and outpatient clinics nationally.

Methodology: We included A. baumannii clinical cultures collected from VA patients from 2010 to 2018. Cultures were categorized by location: VA medical centers (VAMCs), long-term care (LTC) units [community living centers (CLCs)], or …

Improved Transformation Efficiency Of Group A Streptococcus By Inactivation Of A Type I Restriction Modification System, Meredith B. Flynn, Kathryn M. Ramsey, Hunter J. Tolliver, Simon L. Dove, Michael R. Wessels

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Streptococcus pyogenes or group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a leading cause of bacterial pharyngitis, skin and soft tissue infections, life-threatening invasive infections, and the post-infectious autoimmune syndromes of acute rheumatic fever and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. Genetic manipulation of this important pathogen is complicated by resistance of the organism to genetic transformation. Very low transformation efficiency is attributed to recognition and degradation of introduced foreign DNA by a type I restriction-modification system encoded by the hsdRSM locus. DNA sequence analysis of this locus in ten GAS strains that had been previously transformed with an unrelated plasmid revealed that six of the ten …

Traceall: A Real-Time Processing For Contact Tracing Using Indoor Trajectories, Louai Alarabi, Saleh Basalamah, Abdeltawab Hendawi, Mohammed Abdalla

Computer Science and Statistics Faculty Publications

The rapid spread of infectious diseases is a major public health problem. Recent developments in fighting these diseases have heightened the need for a contact tracing process. Contact tracing can be considered an ideal method for controlling the transmission of infectious diseases. The result of the contact tracing process is performing diagnostic tests, treating for suspected cases or self-isolation, and then treating for infected persons; this eventually results in limiting the spread of diseases. This paper proposes a technique named TraceAll that traces all contacts exposed to the infected patient and produces a list of these contacts to be considered …

Adjuvantation Of Influenza Vaccines To Induce Cross-Protective Immunity, Zhoufan Li, Yiwen Zhao, Yibo Li, Xinyuan Chen

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Influenza poses a huge threat to global public health. Influenza vaccines are the most effective and cost-effective means to control influenza. Current influenza vaccines mainly induce neutralizing antibodies against highly variable globular head of hemagglutinin and lack cross-protection. Vaccine adjuvants have been approved to enhance seasonal influenza vaccine efficacy in the elderly and spare influenza vaccine doses. Clinical studies found that MF59 and AS03-adjuvanted influenza vaccines could induce cross-protective immunity against non-vaccine viral strains. In addition to MF59 and AS03 adjuvants, experimental adjuvants, such as Toll-like receptor agonists, saponin-based adjuvants, cholera toxin and heat-labile enterotoxin-based mucosal adjuvants, and physical adjuvants, …