Spatiotemporal competition and task-relevance shape the spatial distribution of emotional interference during rapid visual processing: Evidence from gaze-contingent eye-tracking.

People's ability to perceive rapidly presented targets can be disrupted both by voluntary encoding of a preceding target and by spontaneous attention to salient distractors. Distinctions between these sources of interference can be found when people search for a target in multiple rapid streams instead of a single stream: voluntary encoding of a preceding target often elicits subsequent perceptual lapses across the visual field, whereas spontaneous attention to emotionally salient distractors appears to elicit a spatially localized lapse, giving rise to a theoretical account suggesting that emotional distractors and subsequent targets compete spatiotemporally during rapid serial visual processing. We used gaze-contingent eye-tracking to probe the roles of spatiotemporal competition and memory encoding on the spatial distribution of interference caused by emotional distractors, while also ruling out the role of eye-gaze in driving differences in spatial distribution. Spontaneous target perception impairments caused by emotional distractors were localized to the distractor location regardless of where participants fixated. But when emotional distractors were task-relevant, perceptual lapses occurred across both streams while remaining strongest at the distractor location. These results suggest that spatiotemporal competition and memory encoding reflect a dual-route impact of emotional stimuli on target perception during rapid visual processing.

Rationale and support for a One Health program for canine vaccination as the most cost-effective means of controlling zoonotic rabies in endemic settings.

Although dog vaccination has been demonstrated to reduce and eliminate rabies in humans, during meetings there are often calls for further pilot studies. The assembled data proves that a widespread approach is now required. While zoonotic rabies has a minimal presence in developed nations, it is endemic throughout most of Asia and Africa, where it is considered to be a neglected tropical disease. In these areas, rabies causes an estimated annual mortality of at least 55,000 human deaths. Worldwide rabid dogs are the source of the vast majority of human rabies exposures. The World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) advocate a collaborative One Health approach involving human public health and veterinary agencies, with mass canine vaccination programs in endemic areas being the mainstay of strategies to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies. While post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is effective in preventing deaths in people exposed to rabies, it is comparatively expensive and has little impact on the canine reservoir that is the primary source of zoonotic rabies. Indiscriminate culling of the dog population is expensive and there is little evidence that it is effective in controlling rabies in non-island locations. Mass canine vaccination programs using a One Health framework that achieves a minimum 70% vaccination coverage during annual campaigns have proven to be cost-effective in controlling zoonotic rabies in endemic, resource-poor regions. Case studies, such as in Tanzania and Bhutan, illustrate how an approach based on mass canine rabies vaccination has effectively reduced both canine and human rabies to minimal levels. The multiple benefits of mass canine rabies vaccination in these cases included eliminating rabies in the domestic dog reservoirs, eliminating human rabies cases, and decreasing the rabies economic burden by reducing expenditures on PEP.

Thermotolerance of an inactivated rabies vaccine for dogs.

This study provides the first robust data that the antibody response of dogs vaccinated with Nobivac® Rabies vaccine stored for several months at high temperatures (up to 30°C) is not inferior to that of dogs vaccinated with vaccine stored under recommended cold-chain conditions (2-8°C). A controlled and randomized non-inferiority study was carried out comparing the four-week post vaccination serological responses of Tanzanian village dogs inoculated with vaccine which had been stored at elevated temperatures for different periods of time with those of dogs vaccinated with the same product stored according to label recommendations. Specifically, the neutralizing antibody response following the use of vaccine which had been stored for up to six months at 25°C or for three months at 30°C was not inferior to that following the use of cold-chain stored vaccine. These findings provide reassurance that the vaccine is likely to remain efficacious even if exposed to elevated temperatures for limited periods of time and, under these circumstances, it can safely be used and not necessarily destroyed or discarded. The availability of thermotolerant vaccines has been an important factor in the success of several disease control and elimination programs and could greatly increase the capacity of rabies vaccination campaigns to access hard to reach communities in Africa and Asia. We have not confirmed a 3-year duration of immunity for the high temperature stored vaccine, however because annual re-vaccination is usually practiced for dogs presented for vaccination during campaigns in Africa and Asia this should not be a cause for concern. These findings will provide confidence that, for rabies control and elimination programs using this vaccine in low-income settings, more flexible delivery models could be explored, including those that involve limited periods of transportation and storage at temperatures higher than that currently recommended.

Combined administration in a single injection of a feline multivalent modified live vaccine against FHV, FCV, and FPLV together with a recombinant FeLV vaccine is both safe and efficacious for all four major feline viral pathogens.

Nobivac Tricat, a lyophilised trivalent modified live attenuated vaccine is routinely used to protect cats against three commonly diagnosed feline viral pathogens namely herpesvirus, calicivirus and panleukopenia virus. The recognition of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) as an important viral pathogen has prompted the development of an efficacious liquid recombinant subunit FeLV vaccine (p45 envelope protein). Lyophilised Tricat vaccine was dissolved in the liquid FeLV vaccine and no detectable deleterious effect on the titre of any of the live virus components was observed after 2h incubation. In vivo studies where the vaccines were mixed in the same syringe prior to inoculation showed no alteration to the safety profile assessed by repeat and overdose studies. Serological comparisons of the modified live viral antibody titres showed no evidence of reduced responses following administration of the mixed products. Challenge studies using pathogenic herpesvirus and FeLV revealed no difference in the degree of clinical protection. This paper shows that neither safety nor efficacy is adversely affected as a result of mixing the two vaccines.

Antibody induction after combined application of an adjuvanted recombinant FeLV vaccine and a multivalent modified live virus vaccine with a chlamydial component.

The compatibility, safety and interaction on antibody induction of a combined vaccine application were assessed. Specific pathogen-free cats were vaccinated with either a modified live virus vaccine containing feline calici- (FCV), herpes- (FHV-1), parvovirus (FPV) and Chlamydophila felis (C. felis), an adjuvanted recombinant feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) vaccine or both vaccines in one syringe. After combined application, FeLV ELISA antibody titres were unaltered, However antibody production based on indirect immunofluorescence assay was remarkably enhanced for FCV and was at selected time points also enhanced for FHV-1 and C. felis but diminished for FPV. The use of these vaccines in combination was safe and will simplify vaccination schedules in veterinary practice.