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Molecular adjuvants are vaccine delivery vehicle to increase specific antigens effectiveness. Herein, we concentrated on IgG Fc, an effective molecular adjuvant, to develop novel pseudorabies virus (PRV) subunit vaccines. Two major protective antigen genes of PRV were constructed and linked into the mouse IgG Fc fragment. The gD, gD-IgG2aFc, gB and gB-IgG2aFc proteins were expressed using a baculovirus system. Mice intranasally immunized with gD-IgG2aFc or gB-IgG2aFc subunit vaccine exhibited significantly higher PRV-specific antibodies, neutralizing antibodies and intracellular cytokines than the mice intranasally immunized with gD or gB subunit vaccine. Moreover, no histopathological lesions were observed in mice immunized with gB-IgG2aFc subunit vaccine via histopathology examination. Further, the gB-IgG2aFc subunit vaccine was efficient for PRV infection compared with live attenuated vaccine. Overall, these results suggest that IgG2a Fc fragment, as a potential molecular adjuvant, fused with PRV antigen might be a promising and efficient PRV vaccine candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evidence suggests that exposure to air pollution adversely impacts health outcomes, cognitive function, and labor productivity, however, less is known about the effect of air pollution exposure on social conflicts. Using daily air pollution, we study the effect of exposure to air pollution on social conflicts. For identification strategies, we estimate models with high-dimensional fixed effects and two instrumental variables using atmospheric inversions and wind patterns as exogenous shocks to local pollution. Our findings suggest a positive impact of air pollution on social conflicts, and the magnitude is larger with more severe pollution exposure. Moreover, the significant differences exist between social conflicts occurring in different workplaces, and those occurring at development levels, both of which are related to the extent of pollution exposure. Finally, taking lottery sales as a proxy for risk preference to investigate the potential mechanisms, we show that the increased social conflicts alone with pollution exposure may be attributed to the rising risk preference. This provides indirect support for a plausible channel through which air pollution results in behavioral and social outcomes. The results are robust to alternative specifications and placebos. The findings suggest that reducing air pollution gains the unintended consequence of preventing social conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) has caused huge economic losses in the swine industry worldwide. Live and inactivated vaccines have only been partially successful in generating protective immune responses. The PRRS virus (PRRSV) glycoprotein 5 (GP5) is a major viral antigenic target and is thus suitable for development of genetically engineered PRRSV vaccines. Here, a modified GP5 and ferritin were fused and expressed using a baculovirus system to generate a GP5m-ferritin nanoparticle vaccine. We demonstrated that the GP5m-ferritin vaccine elicited higher serum antibody titers in pigs than inactivated PRRSV. Moreover, immunization with GP5m-Ft promoted a Th1-dominant cellular immune response and enhanced specific T-lymphocyte immune responses. GP5m-ferritin-vaccinated pigs had significantly lower mean rectal temperatures, respiratory scores, viremia, and macroscopic and microscopic lung lesion scores post-challenge compared with unvaccinated pigs. These results indicated that GP5m-ferritin subunit vaccines can elicit specific protective immune responses and represent promising vaccine candidates. • GP5m-ferritin vaccine elicited higher neutralizing antibody titers in pigs than inactivated PRRSV. • Immunization with GP5m- ferritin promoted a Th1-dominant cellular immune response and enhanced specific T-lymphocyte immune responses. • The clinical symptoms and tissue lesions of pigs inoculated with GP5m-ferritin were significantly reduced after challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]