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Summary Preventative influenza vaccines must be reformulated annually because of antigen shift and drift of circulating influenza viral strains. However, seasonal vaccines do not always match the circulating strains, and there is the ever-present threat that avian influenza viruses may adapt to humans. Hence, a universal influenza vaccine is needed to provide protective immunity against a broad range of influenza viruses. We designed an influenza antigen consisting of 3 tandem M2e repeats plus HA2, in combination with a detoxified anthrax edema toxin delivery system (EFn plus PA) to enhance immune responses. The EFn-3×M2e-HA2 plus PA vaccine formulation elicited robust, antigen-specific, IgG responses; and was protective against heterologous influenza viral challenge when intranasally delivered to mice three times. Moreover, use of the detoxified anthrax toxin system as an adjuvant had the additional benefit of generating protective immunity against anthrax. Thus, this novel vaccine strategy could potentially address two major emerging public health and biodefense threats. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Purpose. Taxes are a critical tobacco control policy, yet little systematic research has determined how mass media represent tobacco taxes. This study aimed to characterize print media coverage of tobacco tax initiatives in South Carolina (SC). Design. Content analysis. Setting. The setting comprised 346 news articles from 2006 to 2010 in the four main SC newspapers. Subjects. N/A Measures. A coding scheme with good inter-rater reliability (α = .90–1.0) assessed article type (news vs. opinion), arguments, and the story tendency regarding whether it was in favor of the tax, against the tax, or neutral/mixed. Analysis. Chi-square tests and t-tests assessed hypotheses regarding the prevalence and number of different arguments and article tendencies across different time periods (i.e., legislature in session vs. not in session; successful vs. unsuccessful initiative) and article types. Results. Most articles were favorable toward the tax (59%), with favorable articles most likely to be found in opinion pieces than in news articles. Compared to unsuccessful tax initiative years (2006 to 2009), articles from the successful year (2010) were more likely to include pro-tax arguments about how the tax can raise state revenues (47% vs. 33%; p = .020) and pay for tobacco control programs (40% vs. 26%; p = .014). Unsuccessful years included a relatively higher percentage of stories about the lack of consensus regarding how the tax money should be spent (25% vs. 11%; p = .014). Within articles, the mean number of arguments favorable toward the tax and the mean number of economic arguments were marginally higher in the successful year compared to the unsuccessful years. Conclusion. Study results suggest that advocates build consensus and communicate more clearly on how tobacco tax revenue streams should be spent.

Anthrax spores can be aerosolized and dispersed as a bioweapon. Current postexposure treatments are inadequate at later stages of infection, when high levels of anthrax toxins are present. Anthrax toxins enter cells via two identified anthrax toxin receptors: tumor endothelial marker 8 (TEM8) and capillary morphogenesis protein 2 (CMG2). We hypothesized that host cells would be protected from anthrax toxins if anthrax toxin receptor expression was effectively silenced using RNA interference (RNAi) technology. Thus, anthrax toxin receptors in mouse and human macrophages were silenced using targeted siRNAs or blocked with specific antibody prior to challenge with anthrax lethal toxin. Viability assays were used to assess protection in macrophages treated with specific siRNA or antibody as compared with untreated cells. Silencing CMG2 using targeted siRNAs provided almost complete protection against anthrax lethal toxin-induced cytotoxicity and death in murine and human macrophages. The same results were obtained by prebinding cells with specific antibody prior to treatment with anthrax lethal toxin. In addition, TEM8-targeted siRNAs also offered significant protection against lethal toxin in human macrophage-like cells. Furthermore, silencing CMG2, TEM8, or both receptors in combination was also protective against MEK2 cleavage by lethal toxin or adenylyl cyclase activity by edema toxin in human kidney cells. Thus, anthrax toxin receptor-targeted RNAi has the potential to be developed as a life-saving, postexposure therapy against anthrax.

Background This study aimed to determine between-country differences and changes over time in the portrayal of youth risk behaviors in films rated for youth in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and the United States. Methods Content and ratings were analyzed for 362 films that were popular across all four countries from 2002 to 2009. Country-specific ratings were classified as either youth or adult, and Generalized Estimating Equations were used to determine between-country differences in the presence of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, sexual content, and violence in youth-rated films. Within-country differences in this content over time were also assessed, comparing films released from 2002 to 2005 with those released from 2006 to 2009. Results In the US, films rated for youth were less likely to contain all five risk behaviors than in youth-rated films in Argentina, Brazil, and, when the "15 and older" rating was considered a youth rating, in Mexico. All three Latin American countries "downrated" films that received an adult rating in the US. Nevertheless, tobacco and drug use in youth-rated films declined over time in all countries, whereas moderate to extreme alcohol use and violence involving children or youth increased in all countries. Conclusions Tobacco and drug use have declined in popular US films, but these behaviors are still prevalent in films rated for youth across the Americas. The apparent success of advocacy efforts to reduce tobacco and other drugs in films suggests that similar efforts be directed to reduce alcohol portrayals.

Pictorial health warning labels on cigarette packaging have been proposed for the U.S., but their potential influences among populations that suffer tobacco-related health disparities are unknown.To evaluate pictorial health warning labels, including moderation of their influences by health literacy and race.From July 2011 to January 2012, field experiments were conducted with 981 adult smokers who were randomized to control (i.e., text-only labels, n=207) and experimental conditions (i.e., pictorial labels, n=774). The experimental condition systematically varied health warning label stimuli by health topic and image type. Linear mixed effects (LME) models estimated the influence of health warning label characteristics and participant characteristics on label ratings. Data were analyzed from January 2012 to April 2012.Compared to text-only warning labels, pictorial warning labels were rated as more personally relevant (5.7 vs 6.8, p0.001) and effective (5.4 vs 6.8, p0.001), and as more credible, but only among participants with low health literacy (7.6 vs 8.2, p0.001). Within the experimental condition, pictorial health warning labels with graphic imagery had significantly higher ratings of credibility, personal relevance, and effectiveness than imagery of human suffering and symbolic imagery. Significant interactions indicated that labels with graphic imagery produced minimal differences in ratings across racial groups and levels of health literacy, whereas other imagery produced greater group differences.Pictorial health warning labels with graphic images have the most-pronounced short-term impacts on adult smokers, including smokers from groups that have in the past been hard to reach.

Objective To estimate differences in demand for cigarette packages with different packaging and health warning label formats. Methods Adult smokers (n = 404) in four states participated in experimental auctions. Participants bid on two of four experimental conditions, each involving a different health warning label format but with the same warning message: (1) text on 50% of pack side; (2) text on 50% of the pack front and back; (3) text with a graphic picture on 50% of the pack front and back; and (4) same as previous format, but without brand imagery. Results Mean bids decreased across conditions (1: $3.52; 2: $3.43; 3: $3.11; 4: $2.93). Bivariate and multivariate random effects models indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in demand for packs with either of the two text only warnings; however, demand was significantly lower for both packs with prominent pictorial warnings, with the lowest demand associated with the plain, unbranded pack. Conclusions Results suggest that prominent health warnings with graphic pictures will reduce demand for cigarettes. Regulators should not only consider this type of warning label, but also plain packaging policies for tobacco products.

Citing agenda-building theory, this article examines the influence of three key factors on the news media's coverage of the process of placing tobacco and tobacco products under regulation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 1993 and 2009. We analyzed data from a content analysis of 570 news articles from The New York Times and Washington Post and found that the media published significantly more FDA regulation articles during the Clinton administration than during the Bush administration. Our analysis links that imbalance of media coverage to the influence of the president of the United States (Clinton and Bush, during the duration of this study), journalistic routines and real world events. We compared the Clinton and Bush era news coverage on article prominence, article topics, and reasons to support/oppose FDA regulation and found significant differences, which we suggest led to the imbalance of news articles in the two administrations.

Influenza remains to be a significant public health problem worldwide, despite the heavy campaign for flu vaccination in many countries. The conventional influenza vaccines are based on stimulating immune responses against hemagglutinin by virus attenuation or inactivation. However, they must be reformulated annually because of antigenic shift and drift of circulating influenza viral strains. These seasonal vaccines do not always match the circulating strains, and there is the ever-present threat that avian influenza viruses may adapt to be transmitted in humans. Development of a broadly protective or universal influenza vaccine would have a significant impact on public health. We constructed a new chimeric influenza antigen, which is composed of the relatively conserved matrix protein 2 (M2) and stem region of hemagglutinin (HA2) of influenza A viruses in combination with a detoxified anthrax edema toxin delivery system. This vaccine candidate has been shown to elicit T cell and humoral responses against influenza antigens and cross-strain protective immunity against influenza viruses, when it is intranasally delivered to mice. In addition, the vaccination of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell knock out mice do not protect against influenza virus infection. Thus, this novel vaccine strategy induces the CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cell responses which play an important role in cross-strain protection against influenza viruses.