Search Results (5,420)

Background/Objectives: SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, has been responsible for more than seven million deaths worldwide since its emergence. The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine, used for over 100 years to prevent tuberculosis, induces a Th1-prominent immune response that is important for protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, other mycobacteria, and intracellular pathogens. BCG has also been shown to induce innate immune memory and heterologous protection against non-related infections. Additionally, BCG has been used as a vector to express heterologous proteins, showing protective effects against various diseases, particularly respiratory viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. In this report, we constructed two recombinant BCG strains as potential vaccine candidates based on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike antigen: one expressing only the RBD protein (rBCG-RBD) and another expressing the RBD protein in fusion with the LTB (Escherichia coli Labile Toxin subunit B) adjuvant (rBCG-LTB-RBD). Methods: We evaluated the induction of SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular immune responses using these vaccine candidates in a prime–boost strategy with a booster dose using the rRBD protein (produced in cell culture) and the Alum adjuvant. Antisera were evaluated for neutralization of the Wuhan and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped virus. Results: Either immunization scheme (rBCG-RBD/rRBD or rBCG-LTB-RBD/rRBD) induced high IgG antibody titers, with antibody neutralization against a Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped virus after 10 weeks. The antibody levels induced by rBCG-RBD/rRBD were maintained for up to 9 months. Interestingly, only the sera from mice receiving the prime–boost with rBCG-LTB-RBD/rRBD showed cross-reactive neutralization against the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped virus. Immunization with rBCG-RBD or rBCG-LTB-RBD and a rRBD booster dose promoted the induction of specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells producing Th1/Th2 cytokines (IL-4, TNF-α and IFN-γ). Conclusions: Our study highlights the potential of the prime–boost immunization strategy using rBCG-RBD/rRBD to induce long-term immunity and rBCG-LTB-RBD/rRBD to induce cross-protection against different variants, both of which could serve as promising vaccine candidates. Full article

Malaria continues to impose a devastating disease burden globally despite control efforts spanning decades. Its elimination has been hindered by parasite and vector complexity and emerging drug and insecticide resistance, along with unremitting barriers to uptake of preventative strategies largely driven by social inequities, cost constraints, and logistical challenges in implementation. This review synthesises current and emerging prevention strategies, including vector control, chemoprevention and immunoprophylaxis. Insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying remain cornerstones of vector control, although their effectiveness is increasingly compromised by widespread insecticide resistance. Chemoprevention, including intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy and seasonal malaria chemoprevention in children, has proven highly efficacious, yet uptake remains below WHO targets and concerns about drug resistance remain. Recent advances in vaccines, notably RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M, represent landmark achievements, with large-scale rollouts demonstrating reductions in severe disease and mortality. Novel approaches, such as monoclonal antibodies and genetically modified mosquitoes, offer promising avenues for future prevention. However, challenges remain in ensuring equitable access, sustaining efficacy in the face of evolving parasite and vector biology, and integrating interventions into diverse health systems. This review highlights the need for adaptive, multifaceted approaches to achieve malaria elimination goals. Full article

This study aims to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) in the Aegean Region of Türkiye. Using a questionnaire-based approach, this study intends to fill the gaps in existing knowledge regarding the prevalence and determinants of these infections. A retrospective analysis of 781 dogs presented to Aydın Adnan Menderes University Small Animal Clinic from 2019 to 2024 was conducted. Among these, 205 dogs were confirmed to have at least one CVBD using rapid diagnostic tests (SNAP 4DX PLUS and SNAP Leishmania) with confirmatory methods. Data on dog demographics, lifestyle, and environmental exposure were collected using structured questionnaires. Prevalence rates were calculated based on the at-risk population, and logistic regression determined associations between risk factors and disease occurrence. Overall CVBD prevalence was 26.3%, with Ehrlichiosis (9.9%) and Leishmaniasis (7.4%) being the most common infections. Co-infections were present in 8.3% of cases. Geographical factors significantly influenced infection rates, particularly in Aydın compared to İzmir and Muğla, while demographics like age, breed size, gender, and outdoor activity had no significant impact. This highlights the necessity for region-specific control measures and the need for consistent adherence to preventive protocols to mitigate CVBD prevalence in high-risk areas. Full article

Bovine mastitis remains a globally prevalent disease, with the limitations of antibiotic-based treatments—such as the rise in antimicrobial resistance and the presence of drug residues—highlighting the urgent need for alternative therapeutic approaches. Inflammation is intricately linked to various cytokines and immunomodulatory proteins, among which cyclophilin A (CypA) serves as a pivotal inflammatory mediator, significantly contributing to the initiation and amplification of inflammatory responses under such conditions. The acquisition of high-purity recombinant protein is a fundamental prerequisite for in vitro functional studies of bovine CypA. This study aimed to construct a eukaryotic expression vector for bovine CypA and verify its expression in CHO-K1 cells. Utilizing the bovine CypA gene sequence available in GenBank, the coding region was artificially synthesized and optimized for codon usage, subsequently being inserted into the pPB[Exp] backbone vector via BsrGI and BstEII double digestion. The resulting polycistronic expression vector contained a CAG promoter driving the CypA transcription, an EF1α promoter driving the EGFP reporter gene, a PGK promoter controlling the puromycin resistance gene, and a C-terminal His-tag. Restriction enzyme digestion and bidirectional Sanger sequencing confirmed that the inserted fragment sequence was completely consistent with the optimized design. Robust EGFP fluorescence was observed 24 h post-transfection and remained stable after puromycin selection. qPCR analysis showed that the Ct value of CypA in the experimental group was 16.20 ± 0.04, while no amplification signal was detected in the control group. Additionally, Western blot analysis identified a CypA-specific band at approximately 18 kDa, confirming the correct expression of the exogenous CypA protein in CHO-K1 cells. Collectively, these results demonstrate the successful construction and validation of a bovine CypA eukaryotic expression vector. The established CHO-K1 expression system exhibited stable and efficient expression, thereby providing a robust foundation for future research on the production and application of recombinant CypA protein. Full article

Pear decline (PD), associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri’, is one of the most severe diseases affecting pear cultivation in Europe and the United States. Several psyllid species act as vectors of phytoplasmas belonging to the 16SrX group and play a key role in the epidemiology of the disease. This study aimed to characterize the epidemiology of pear decline in Sicily using integrated field, molecular, vector, and remote sensing approaches, four years after the first detection of PD in the region. Visual surveys and molecular analyses were conducted over two years in eight pear orchards. A total of 115 plant samples and 101 Cacopsylla spp. specimens, selected from 1435 collected individuals, were analysed, confirming the presence of ‘Ca. P. pyri’ in 69% of symptomatic plants and in 4.6% of C. pyri individuals. Genetic characterization revealed a high degree of similarity among the phytoplasma isolates analysed. Remote sensing analyses conducted since 2018, combined with vector population monitoring, confirmed the epidemic nature of PD and indicated the persistence of a risk of further pathogen spread within the region, supporting the use of remote sensing as a complementary tool for large-scale disease monitoring. Full article

Insects acting as agricultural pests or disease vectors represent some of the greatest challenges to global health, food security and economics. Diverse technologies to combat insects of economic and medical importance have been and are continually being developed. These include natural and synthetic chemical insecticides and repellents, mass-trapping approaches and, more recently, an increasingly wide range of biological as well as genetic manipulations of insect vectors/pests. The increase in biological resistance and cross-resistance to many insecticides and repellents, the rapid expansion of human populations, as well as escalating climate change have extended or shifted the active periods and habitats of many insect species, creating new hurdles for attempts to defend humans from insects. At the same time, environmental, ecological and socio-political concerns continue to impact the utility of both current interventions as well as newly emerging innovative strategies. The near exponential increase in insect-based threats highlights the importance of basic and translational studies to design and develop novel technologies to combat detrimental insect populations. This review outlines the history of these challenges and describes the evolution of chemical insect control technologies, while highlighting existing and contemporary approaches to develop and deploy chemical repellents to address this threat to human health and agriculture. Full article

The Sakhalin pine sawyer, Monochamus saltuarius Gebler, 1830 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), is a newly discovered insect vector of the pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) in China. Despite its ecological importance, the detailed morphology of its sensory systems remains largely unexplored. This study presents comprehensive ultrastructural analysis of the compound eyes and stridulatory organs in adult M. saltuarius, with a focus on sexual differences. Our morphometric results revealed pronounced sexual dimorphism: males possessed significantly larger compound eyes in terms of total area and perimeter. Furthermore, all three types of ommatidial facets (hexagonal, pentagonal, and quadrilateral) exhibited significantly greater area, perimeter, and diameter in males. Interestingly, while the total number of ommatidia and the counts within the dorsal and ventral eye regions showed no significant sexual difference, they were strongly positively correlated with body length in both sexes. Regarding the stridulatory organs, key morphological features including the transverse diameter, longitudinal diameter, and width of the lateral sulcus of the stridulatory file were also significantly greater in males. In contrast, no sexual dimorphism was detected in the width or density of the stridulatory teeth. These findings collectively indicate a significant investment in sexually dimorphic sensory organs in M. saltuarius, which we hypothesize is closely linked to sex-specific behavioral roles, particularly in active mate searching, courtship displays, and intrasexual competition. This research provides a crucial morphological foundation for understanding the species’ visual and acoustic communication, supporting future work on its sensory ecology and the development of behavior-based control strategies for pine wilt disease. Full article

Dengue is the most concerning mosquito-borne neglected tropical disease globally. The disease is caused by the dengue virus (DENV) and transmitted by the vector mosquito species belonging to the genus Aedes Meigen, 1818, particularly Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1895). In 2024, global cases of dengue exceeded 7.6 million, with India reporting 233,519 cases. These statistics underscore the ongoing challenge of managing dengue outbreaks worldwide. For generations, tribal communities across India have employed medicinal plant-based extracts as mosquito and other insect repellents. Plant-based phytochemicals are largely preferred over synthetic insecticides due to their perceived safety, non-toxicity to non-target organisms, and environmental sustainability. This review provides a comprehensive overview of various phytochemicals extracted from Indian medicinal plants for their larvicidal activity against Aedes mosquitoes. Furthermore, the article also reviews the mode of action of these phytochemicals, including neurotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, sterol carrier protein-2 inhibition, midgut cytotoxicity, insect growth regulation disruption, and antifeedant activity, which aids in formulating dengue vector control strategies. Based on this review, Ecbolin B from Ecbolium viride, Alizarin from Rubia cordifolia, and Azadirachtin from Azadirachta indica exhibited better larval mortality rates against Ae. aegypti, with LC50 values recorded at 0.70, 1.31, and 1.7 ppm, respectively. Full article

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death worldwide. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and quantitative indices (QIs) of computed tomography (CT) are typically used to diagnose COPD. The purpose of this work was to determine the correlation of the vector divergence operator with PFTs and QIs in COPD patients and compare the divergence of normal lung function to that in COPD. Vector divergence is computed for 73 patients with four-dimensional CT scans retrospectively identified as normal (n = 37) and COPD (n = 36), which includes emphysema (n = 13). The divergence is the flux per unit volume at a point in a vector field and reflects the local lung tissue expansion when the data are taken during inspiration. The divergence measures are strongly correlated with both PFTs and QIs of COPD patients and therefore are a useful biomarker in analyzing regional lung function. In physical terms, the divergence shows that there is a significant difference in lung tissue expansion between normal subjects and patients with airflow obstruction as in emphysema and COPD. The divergence analysis also enables new images using color overlays to provide a functional measure (local expansion capability) to the anatomical CT image. Full article

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a serious vector-borne disease affecting humans and dogs, posing major public health challenges in endemic regions. Control efforts often target sandfly vectors, whose larvae and pupae develop in soil. Environmental management, such as removing organic matter, reducing moisture, and pruning vegetation, aims to limit breeding sites and reduce sandfly populations. This study evaluated the impact of integrated interventions on sandfly behavior in priority areas for VL control in Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brazil. The control strategy combined environmental management, canine surveys, and educational actions across seven local work areas (LWAs). Between 2019 and 2021, CDC-type light traps were installed in intra- and peridomiciliary settings at twelve properties in LWA 5. Spatial risk analysis for canine transmission was conducted in LWAs 3 and 5 using a Generalized Additive Model, with results presented as spatial odds ratios. Vector prevalence was analyzed using negative binomial regression compared to historical municipal data. Intervention coverage averaged 52.91% of visited properties (n = 15,905), ranging from 48% to 76.8% across LWAs. Adherence to environmental management exceeded 85%. Of the 150 sandflies collected, 98.67% were Lutzomyia longipalpis and 1.33% Nyssomyia neivai. A 6% reduction in vector density was observed compared with historical data, although this difference was not statistically significant. Spatial risk varied among LWAs, indicating heterogeneous transmission levels. These findings suggest that integrated environmental and educational interventions may contribute to reducing vector density and that identifying priority areas tends to support surveillance and the effectiveness of disease control actions. Full article

Accurate early diagnosis and precise assessment of disease severity are imperative for the treatment and rehabilitation of schizophrenia patients. To achieve this, we propose a computer-aided diagnostic method for schizophrenia that utilizes fusion features derived from microstate analysis and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) based on Electroencephalography (EEG) signals. At the same time, the obtained fusion features from microstate analysis and EMD are input into the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) feature selection algorithm to reduce the dimensionality of feature vectors. Finally, the reduced feature vector is fed to a Logistic Regression classifier to classify SCH and healthy EEG signals. In addition, the ability of the integrated features to distinguish the severity of schizophrenia symptoms was evaluated, and the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) algorithm was used to analyze the importance of the classification features that differentiate schizophrenia symptoms. Experimental results from both public and private datasets demonstrate the efficacy of EMD features in identifying healthy controls, while microstate features excel in classifying the severity of symptoms among schizophrenia patients. The classification evaluation metrics of the fused features significantly outperform those obtained using EMD or microstate analysis features independently. The fusion feature method proposed in this study achieved accuracies of 100% and 90.7% for the classification of schizophrenia in public datasets and private datasets, respectively, and an accuracy of 93.6% for the classification of schizophrenia symptoms in private datasets. Full article

CRISPR-Cas9 systems have enabled unprecedented advances in genome engineering, particularly in developing treatments for human diseases, like cancer. Despite potential applications, limitations of Cas9 include its relatively large size and strict targeting requirements. Cas12j2, a variant ofCasΦ-2, shows promise for overcoming these limitations. However, its effectiveness in mammalian cells remains relatively unexplored. This study sought to develop an optimized CRISPR-Cas12j2 system for targeted knockout of the E6 oncogene in HPV-associated cancers. A combination of computational tools (ColabFold, CCTop, Cas-OFFinder, HADDOCK2.4, and Amber for Molecular Dynamics) was utilized to investigate the impact of engineered modifications on structural integrity and gRNA binding of Cas12j2 fusion constructs, in potential intracellular conditions. Cas12j2_F2, a Cas12j2 variant designed and evaluated in this study, behaves similarly to the wild-type Cas12j2 structure in terms of RMSD/RMSF profiles, compact Rg values, and minimal electrostatic perturbation. The computationally validated Cas12j2 variant was incorporated into a custom expression vector, co-expressing the engineered construct along with a dual gRNA for packaging into a viral vector for targeted knockout of HPV-associated cancers. This study provides a structural and computational foundation for the rational design of Cas12j2 fusion constructs with enhanced stability and functionality, supporting their potential application for precise genome editing in mammalian cells. Full article

African Swine Fever is a lethal hemorrhagic disease caused by a DNA virus that affects domestic and wild pigs, causing serious economic losses in the swine industry. African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) is maintained in a sylvatic cycle that includes wildlife and Ornithodoros tick species. A huge investigation about ASFV structure and its infection process in pigs has been carried out in recent years, and although these studies have increased our knowledge about its pathogenesis, there are still many unclear aspects about which immune responses protect swine hosts against the disease caused by this virus. The mechanisms of ASFV infection in ticks are even less well understood. This infection is long term and persistent, with relatively high levels of virus replication in different tick tissues. According to specific infected tissues, the Ornithodoros tick species that are ASFV-competent vectors show transstadial, transovarial and/or venereal transmissions. This review is focused on the main process taking place at the virus–vector interface, summarizing the latest findings about the molecular and cellular aspects of ASFV infection in ticks, which could constitute the basis for developing novel strategies to interrupt the arthropod transmission cycle. Full article

Pine wilt disease (PWD), caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is driven by a tri-component system involving the pinewood nematode, Monochamus spp. beetle vectors, and susceptible pine hosts. Chemical control remains a scenario-dependent option for emergency suppression and high-value protection, but its deployment is constrained by strong regional regulatory and practical differences. In Europe (e.g., Portugal and Spain), field chemical control is generally not practiced; post-harvest phytosanitary treatments for wood and wood packaging rely mainly on heat treatment, and among ISPMs only sulfuryl fluoride is listed for wood treatment with limited use. This review focuses on recent progress in PWD chemical control, summarizing advances in nematicide discovery and modes of action, greener formulations and delivery technologies, and evidence-based, scenario-oriented applications (standing-tree protection, vector suppression, and infested-wood/inoculum management). Recent studies highlight accelerated development of target-oriented nematicides acting on key pathways such as neural transmission and mitochondrial energy metabolism, with structure–activity relationship (SAR) efforts enabling lead optimization. Formulation innovations (water-based and low-solvent products, microemulsions and suspensions) improve stability and operational safety, while controlled-release delivery systems (e.g., micro/nanocapsules) enhance penetration and persistence. Application technologies such as trunk injection, aerial/Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations, and fumigation/treatment approaches further strengthen scenario compatibility and operational efficiency. Future research should prioritize robust target–mechanism evidence, resistance risk management and rotation strategies, greener formulations with smart delivery, and scenario-based exposure and compliance evaluation to support precise, green, and sustainable integrated control together with biological and other sustainable approaches. Full article