1. |
- Fuady, A, et al.
(author)
-
Characterising and Addressing the Psychosocial Impact of Tuberculosis in Indonesia (CAPITA): A study protocol
- 2022
-
In: Wellcome open research. - : F1000 Research Ltd. - 2398-502X. ; 7, s. 42-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Tuberculosis (TB)-related stigma remains a key barrier for people with TB to access and engage with TB services and can contribute to the development of mental illnesses. This study aims to characterise stigmatisation towards people with TB and its psychosocial impact in Indonesia. Methods: This study will apply a sequential mixed method in two main settings: TB services-based population (setting 1) and workplace-based population (setting 2). In setting 1, we will interview 770 adults with TB who undergo sensitive-drug TB treatment in seven provinces of Indonesia. The interview will use the validated TB Stigma Scale questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and EQ-5D-5L to assess stigma, mental illness, and quality of life. In Setting 2, we will deploy an online questionnaire to 640 adult employees in 12 public and private companies. The quantitative data will be followed by in-depth interview to TB-related stakeholders. Results: CAPITA will not only characterise the enacted stigma which are directly experienced by people with TB, but also self-stigma felt by people with TB, secondary stigma faced by their family members, and structural stigma related to the law and policy. The qualitative analyses will strengthen the quantitative findings to formulate the potential policy direction for zero TB stigma in health service facilities and workplaces. Involving all stakeholders, i.e., people with TB, healthcare workers, National Tuberculosis Program officers, The Ministry of Health Workforce, company managers, and employees, will enhance the policy formulation. The validated tool to measure TB-related stigma will also be promoted for scaling up to be implemented at the national level. Conclusions: To improve patient-centered TB control strategy policy, it is essential to characterise and address TB-related stigma and mental illness and explore the needs for psychosocial support for an effective intervention to mitigate the psychosocial impact of TB.
|
|
2. |
|
|
3. |
|
|
4. |
|
|
5. |
- Sun, Peifang, et al.
(author)
-
Asymptomatic or symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection plus vaccination confers increased adaptive immunity to variants of concern
- 2022
-
In: iScience. - : Elsevier BV. - 2589-0042. ; 25:10
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 requires monitoring the capability of immune responses to cross-recognize Variants of Concern (VOC). In this cross-sectional study, we examined serological and cell-mediated immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron, among a cohort of 18-21-year-old Marines with a history of either asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection 6 to 14 months earlier. Among the 210 participants in the study, 169 were unvaccinated while 41 received 2 doses of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccination of previously infected participants strongly boosted neutralizing and binding activity and memory B and T cell responses including the recognition of Omicron, compared to infected but unvaccinated participants. Additionally, no measurable differences were observed in immune memory in healthy young adults with previous symptomatic or asymptomatic infections, for ancestral or variant strains. These results provide mechanistic immunological insights into population-based differences observed in immunity against Omicron and other variants among individuals with different clinical histories.
|
|
6. |
- Vangeti, Sindhu, 1989-, et al.
(author)
-
Serum Fc-Mediated Monocyte Phagocytosis Activity Is Stable for Several Months after SARS-CoV-2 Asymptomatic and Mildly Symptomatic Infection
- 2022
-
In: Microbiology Spectrum. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 2165-0497. ; 10:6
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We investigated the temporal profile of multiple components of the serological response after asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, in a cohort of 67 previously SARS-CoV-2 naive young adults, up to 8.5 months after infection. We found a significant decrease of spike IgG and neutralization antibody titers from early (11 to 56 days) to late (4 to 8.5 months) time points postinfection. Over the study period, S1-specific IgG levels declined significantly faster than that of the S2-specific IgG. Further, serum antibodies from PCR-confirmed participants cross-recognized S2, but not S1, of the betacoronaviruses HKU1 and OC43, suggesting a greater degree of cross-reactivity of S2 among betacoronaviruses. Antibody-Dependent Natural Killer cell Activation (ADNKA) was detected at the early time point but significantly decreased at the late time point. Induction of serum Antibody-Dependent Monocyte Phagocytosis (ADMP) was detected in all the infected participants, and its levels remained stable over time. Additionally, a reduced percentage of participants had detectable neutralizing activity against the Beta (50%), Gamma (61 to 67%), and Delta (90 to 94%) variants, both early and late postinfection, compared to the ancestral strain (100%). Antibody binding to S1 and RBD of Beta, Gamma, Delta (1.7 to 2.3-fold decrease), and Omicron (10 to 16-fold decrease) variants was also significantly reduced compared to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain. Overall, we found variable temporal profiles of specific components and functionality of the serological response to SARS-CoV-2 in young adults, which is characterized by lasting, but decreased, neutralizing activity and antibody binding to S1, stable ADMP activity, and relatively stable S2-specific IgG levels.
|
|
7. |
- Sugiharto, A. B., et al.
(author)
-
Delocalized surface modes reveal three-dimensional structures of complex biomolecules
- 2008
-
In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 112:20, s. 7531-7534
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Interfaces are important for many processes in chemistry, physics, and biology. Crucial to their properties are the details of the three-dimensional structure of the participating (macro) molecules. Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation (VSFG) is a tool specifically suited to probing the first few atomic layers of an interface. Traditionally, interfaces are probed by mapping localized vibrational modes. Here, we show that the three-dimensional structure of large interfacial biomolecules can be probed by measuring delocalized vibrational backbone modes, which appear to be extremely sensitive to changes in the skeletal structure. We demonstrate that for three different films of chemically identical poly(lactic acid) polymer, we can observe dramatic changes in the three-dimensional arrangement of the surface molecular backbones. This type of information could not be obtained from probing only localized group modes.
|
|
8. |
- Sugiharto, A. B., et al.
(author)
-
Generation and application of high power femtosecond pulses in the vibrational fingerprint region
- 2008
-
In: Applied physics. B, Lasers and optics (Print). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0946-2171 .- 1432-0649. ; 91:2, s. 315-318
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a novel high power femtosecond infrared laser source, based on a three-stage chirped-pulse amplification scheme. Owing to the high power output of the Ti:sapphire amplifiers, it becomes routinely possible to produce femtosecond infrared laser pulses in the wavelength region of 2.6-20 mu m with minimum pulse energies of 15 mu J, to our knowledge roughly an improvement of an order of magnitude. With such pulses we have performed femtosecond second-order nonlinear optical surface spectroscopy in the fingerprint region. We have probed the skeletal modes of the first few monolayers of a polymer/air interface in a femtosecond vibrational sum frequency generation experiment. This development opens up new possibilities to investigate surface structures and dynamics of, e.g., organo-metallic compounds, proteins, and peptides.
|
|