MALDI MSI Reveals the Spatial Distribution of Protein Markers in Tracheobronchial Lymph Nodes and Lung of Pigs after Respiratory Infection

Respiratory infections are a real threat for humans, and therefore the pig model is of interest for studies. As one of a case for studies, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) caused infections and still worries many pig breeders around the world. To better understand the influence of pathogenic effect of APP on a respiratory system—lungs and tracheobronchial lymph nodes (TBLN), we aimed to employ matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-TOF MSI). In this study, six pigs were intranasally infected by APP and two were used as non-infected control, and 48 cryosections have been obtained. MALDI-TOF MSI and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to study spatial distribution of infectious markers, especially interleukins, in cryosections of porcine tissues of lungs (necrotic area, marginal zone) and tracheobronchial lymph nodes (TBLN) from pigs infected by APP. CD163, interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and a protegrin-4 precursor were successfully detected based on their tryptic fragments. CD163 and IL-1β were confirmed also by IHC. The protegrin-4 precursor was identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF directly on the tissue cryosections. CD163, IL-1β and protegrin-4 precursor were all significantly (p < 0.001) more expressed in necrotic areas of lungs infected by APP than in marginal zone, TBLN and in control lungs.     

Development of Fish Immunity and the Role of β-Glucan in Immune Responses

Administration of β-glucans through various routes, including immersion, dietary inclusion, or injection, have been found to stimulate various facets of immune responses, such as resistance to infections and resistance to environmental stress. β-Glucans used as an immunomodulatory food supplement have been found beneficial in eliciting immunity in commercial aquaculture. Despite extensive research involving more than 3000 published studies, knowledge of the receptors involved in recognition of β-glucans, their downstream signaling, and overall mechanisms of action is still lacking. The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss what is currently known about of the use of β-glucans in fish.     

Jordan–Cattaneo waves: Analogues of compressible flow

We review work of Jordan on a hyperbolic variant of the Fisher–KPP equation, where a shock solution is found and the amplitude is calculated exactly. The Jordan procedure is extended to a hyperbolic variant of the Chafee–Infante equation. Extension of Jordan’s ideas to a model for traffic flow are also mentioned. We also examine a diffusive susceptible–infected (SI) model, and generalizations of diffusive Lotka–Volterra equations, including a Lotka–Volterra–Bass competition model with diffusion. For all cases we show how a Jordan–Cattaneo wave may be analysed and we indicate how to find the wavespeeds and the amplitudes. Finally we present details of a fully nonlinear analysis of acceleration waves in a Cattaneo–Christov poroacoustic model.     

Periodic solutions of a periodic stochastic human immunodeficiency virus model with distributed delay and cytotoxic T lymphocytes immune response

In this paper, a periodic stochastic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) model with distributed delay and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) immune response is investigated. First, by It $ô$'s formula, we show that the solution with any positive initial value is global and positive. Then, by the stochastic comparison theorem, we obtain the sufficient conditions guaranteeing the existence and global attractivity of infection-free periodic solution. Furthermore, we discuss the existence of the infective periodic solution by Has'minskii theory. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the results.     

Evaluating the potential of vaccine-induced type replacement for high-risk human papillomaviruses

Persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. Current HPV vaccines protect against both HPV-16 and -18, which are known to cause approximately 70% of cervical cancer cases worldwide. These vaccines have shown to be highly effective in preventing infection by their targeted types. However, there is a broad diversity of HPV types not targeted by the vaccines, and there is controversy about a possible increase in the prevalence of these non-targeted types after a vaccination program. Here, we propose a within-host metapopulation model to study the possibility of vaccine-induced type replacement for oncogenic types. It is generally believed that the theoretical possibility of type replacement strongly depends on the existence of natural type competition mechanisms. Nevertheless, our results suggest that type replacement is viable at the within-host level if the degree of cross-protection induced by the vaccine is low, even if there is no underlying competition among HPV types. Consequently, the impact of current HPV vaccines at both the immunological and epidemiological levels rely upon the level of cross-protection.     

Within‐host and synaptic transmissions: contributions to the spread of HIV infection

We study the contributions of within‐host (virus‐to‐cell) and synaptic (cell‐to‐cell) transmissions in a mathematical model for human immunodeficiency virus epidemics. The model also includes drug resistance. We prove the local and global stability of the disease‐free equilibrium and the local stability of the endemic equilibrium. We analyse the effect of the cell‐to‐cell transmission rate on the value of the reproduction number, R₀. Moreover, we show evidence of a qualitative change in the models' dynamics, subjected to the value of the drug efficacy. In the end, important inferences are drawn. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global dynamics of an age‐structured virus model with saturation effects

An infection‐age virus dynamics model for human immunodeficiency virus (or hepatitis B virus) infections with saturation effects of infection rate and immune response is investigated in this paper. It is shown that the global dynamics of the model is completely determined by two critical values R ₀, the basic reproductive number for viral infection, and R ₁, the viral reproductive number at the immune‐free infection steady state (R ₁<R ₀). If R ₀<1, the uninfected steady state E ⁰ is globally asymptotically stable; if R ₀>1 > R ₁, the immune‐free infected steady state E ^? is globally asymptotically stable; while if R ₁>1, the antibody immune infected steady state is globally asymptotically stable. Moreover, our results show that ignoring the saturation effects of antibody immune response or infection rate will result in an overestimate of the antibody immune reproductive number. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.