The evolution and future of influenza pandemic preparedness

The influenza virus is a global threat to human health causing unpredictable yet recurring pandemics, the last four emerging over the course of a hundred years. As our knowledge of influenza virus evolution, distribution, and transmission has increased, paths to pandemic preparedness have become apparent. In the 1950s, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a global influenza surveillance network that is now composed of institutions in 122 member states. This and other surveillance networks monitor circulating influenza strains in humans and animal reservoirs and are primed to detect influenza strains with pandemic potential. Both the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO have also developed pandemic risk assessment tools that evaluate specific aspects of emerging influenza strains to develop a systematic process of determining research and funding priorities according to the risk of emergence and potential impact. Here, we review the history of influenza pandemic preparedness and the current state of preparedness, and we propose additional measures for improvement. We also comment on the intersection between the influenza pandemic preparedness network and the current SARS-CoV-2 crisis. We must continually evaluate and revise our risk assessment and pandemic preparedness plans and incorporate new information gathered from research and global crises.Subject terms: Influenza virus, Infectious diseases     

Response surface methodology toward the optimization of high-energy carotenoid extraction from Aristeus antennatus shrimp

High-energy assisted extraction techniques, like ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and microwave assisted extraction (MAE), are widely applied over the last years for the recovery of bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, antioxidants and phenols from foods, animals and herbal natural sources. Especially for the case of xanthophylls, the main carotenoid group of crustaceans, they can be extracted in a rapid and quantitative way with the use of UAE and MAE.     

Synthesis,characterization, and transport properties of Nafion-polypyrrole membrane for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) application

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Due to their distinctive chemical, electronic, and environmental properties, polypyrrole is used as a blocking barrier for methanol leakage in direct...     

Linear Quadratic Gaussian Homing for Markov Processes with Regime Switching and Applications to Controlled Population Growth/Decay

Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability - The problem of optimally controlling one-dimensional diffusion processes until they enter a given stopping set is extended to include Markov...     

Quantitative Analysis of Al in Flour Products by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Combined with Partial Least Squares

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - Based on partial least squares (PLS) analysis, the effects of different smoothing points and different preprocessing methods on the accuracy and precision of the...     

Editorial to the Special Issue: Adsorption,Absorption and Thermochemical Transport Processes in Complex Porous Structures

Transport in Porous Media - The theme of coupling problems for adsorption, absorption and thermochemical transport in porous media is very important for engineering applications. Based on the...     

A paper-based resonance energy transfer nucleic acid hybridization assay using upconversion nanoparticles as donors and quantum dots as acceptors

Monodisperse aqueous upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) were covalently immobilized on aldehyde modified cellulose paper via reduction amination to develop a luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET)-based nucleic acid hybridization assay. This first account of covalent immobilization of UCNPs on paper for a bioassay reports an optically responsive method that is sensitive, reproducible and robust. The immobilized UCNPs were decorated with oligonucleotide probes to capture HPRT1 housekeeping gene fragments, which in turn brought reporter conjugated quantum dots (QDs) in close proximity to the UCNPs for LRET. This sandwich assay could detect unlabeled oligonucleotide target, and had a limit of detection of 13 fmol and a dynamic range spanning nearly 3 orders of magnitude. The use of QDs, which are excellent LRET acceptors, demonstrated improved sensitivity, limit of detection, dynamic range and selectivity compared to similar assays that have used molecular fluorophores as acceptors. The selectivity of the assay was attributed to the decoration of the QDs with polyethylene glycol to eliminate non-specific adsorption. The kinetics of hybridization were determined to be diffusion limited and full signal development occurred within 3 min.