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     

Improving Construction for Connected Dominating Set with Steiner Tree in Wireless Sensor Networks

The connected dominating set plays an important role in ad hoc wireless networking. Many constructions for approximating the minimum connected dominating set have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we propose a new one with Steiner tree, which produces approximation solution within a factor of 6.8 from optimal. This approximation algorithm can also be implemented distributedly.     

An existence result for a two‐phase Stefan problem arising in metal casting

We present a model arising from the thermal modelling of two metal casting processes. We consider an enthalpy formulation for this two‐phase Stefan problem in a time varying three‐dimensional domain and consider convective heat transfer in the liquid phase. Then, we introduce a weak formulation in a fixed domain, by means of a suitable transformation. Existence of solution is obtained by applying an abstract theorem. The proof of this theorem is done by taking an implicit discretization in time together with a regularization. By passing to the limit in the regularization parameter and in the time step, we obtain the existence of solution of the continuous problem. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diffraction of transverse horizontal waves in Fibonacci piezoelectric superlattices

The transfer matrix and global matrix techniques are used in the analysis of diffraction of transverse horizontal waves in piezoelectric superlattices. The system is composed of a set of different piezoelectric layers with quasiperiodic structure according to the Fibonacci sequence. The diffraction spectrum of different configurations of piezoelectric Fibonacci structures is studied. Numerical results for the diffraction spectrum for the piezoelectric Fibonacci superlattice are obtained and a comparison between the results of the transfer and global matrix methods is given, exhibiting the advantage of the latter.     

Application of extraction disks in dissolution tests of clenbuterol and levothyroxine tablets by capillary electrophoresis

Sample preparation procedures using octadecyl (C₁₈) extraction disks were developed to obtain accurate and reproducible results for determinations of clenbuterol (20 μg per dose) and levothyroxine (100 μg per dose) in dissolution media of solid oral dosage forms. Preconcentration of samples allowed final concentrations of 1.1 μg/ml of clenbuterol and 4.0 μg/ml of levothyroxine to be reached prior to CE analysis. The results obtained by CE were in good agreement with those of HPLC. The precision of the migration time, peak area, peak height and accuracy were determined in both intea-day (n = 6) and inter-day (n =18) assays. Linearity was demonstrated over the ranges 0.5–80.0 μg/ml of clenbuterol and 1.0–30.0 μg/ml of levothyroxine. The mean recoveries were higher than 94.0%, ranging from 50 to 125% levels with respect to dose potencies. The proposed methodology may be generally applied to determine drugs at ng/ml concentrations.     

Enhanced chromatographic resolution of amine enantiomers as carbobenzyloxy derivatives in high-performance liquid chromatography and supercritical fluid chromatography

The carbobenzyloxy (cbz) protecting group is evaluated for it's potential to enhance the resolution of chiral amine enantiomers using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). A series of cbz derivatives of commercially available racemates was prepared and analyzed by enantioselective chromatography using a variety of mobile phases and polysaccharide and Pirkle-type chiral stationary phases (CSPs). The cbz-derivatized product consistently demonstrated enhanced chiral resolution under HPLC and SFC conditions. Improved selectivity and resolution combined with an automated preparative HPLC or SFC system can lead to the rapid generation of highly purified enantiomers of desirable starting materials, intermediates or final products.     

Structural study of copper-nickel aluminate (CuxNi1−xAl2O4) spinels

CuAl₂O₄, NiAl₂O₄, and three ternary spinels Cu_xNi_1?xAl₂O₃ have been prepared, in polycrystalline form, by solid-state reaction of mixtures of CuO, NiO, and Al₂O₃ at 1223 K. X-Ray powder diffractometry, coupled with adequate computational methods, allowed determination of the unit-cell length, oxygen positional parameter, and cation distribution for each compound. Interdependence of these structural parameters is closely analyzed on the ternary oxide spinels. The one-electron difference between the Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions was found to be enough to render them distinguishable by X-ray powder diffraction.     

Solid-phase microextraction–capillary gas chromatography combined with microwave-induced plasma atomic-emission spectrometry for selenite determination

The use of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography coupled to microwave-induced plasma atomic-emission detection (GC–MIP-AED) is described for selenite [Se(IV)] speciation. Aqueous standards were derivatised with sodium tetraethyl- or tetrapropylborate and extracted by SPME. Headspace extraction of the ethyl and propyl derivatives was studied. Relevant experimental conditions were optimised, including conditions for derivatisation and extraction and those of gas chromatographic analysis. The limits of detection achieved for headspace sampling of derivatised Se(IV) were in the low ng mL^–1 range for both ethylation and propylation. When the method was applied to analysis of selenite in selenised yeast reference material results were in good agreement with the indicated values.     

Biomimetic piezoelectric quartz sensor for caffeine based on a molecularly imprinted polymer

A piezoelectric quartz sensor coated with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for caffeine was developed. The MIP was prepared by co-polymerizing methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) in the presence of azobis(isobutyronitrile) as initiator, caffeine as template molecule, and chloroform as solvent. The MIP suspension in polyvinyl chloride/tetrahydrofuran (6:2:1 w/w/v) solution was spin coated onto the surface of the electrode of a 10 MHz AT-cut quartz crystal. The sensor exhibited a linear relationship between the frequency shift and caffeine concentration in the range of 1×10^–7 mg mL^–1 up to 1x10^–3 mg mL^–1 [correlation coefficient (r)=0.9935] in a stopped flow measurement mode. It has a sensitivity of about 24 Hz/ln(concentration, mg mL^–1). A steady-state response was achieved in less than 10 min. The performance characteristic of the sensor shows a promising and inexpensive alternative method of detecting caffeine. Surface studies were carried out for the reagent phase of the sensor using SEM, AFM, and XPS analysis in order to elucidate the imprinting of the caffeine molecule. The SEM micrograph, AFM image, and XPS spectra confirmed the removal of caffeine by Soxhlet extraction in the imprinting process and the rebinding of caffeine to the MIP sensing layer during measurement.