Adjuvant oncolytic virotherapy for personalized anti-cancer vaccination.

By conferring systemic protection and durable benefits, cancer immunotherapies are emerging as long-term solutions for cancer treatment. One such approach that is currently undergoing clinical testing is a therapeutic anti-cancer vaccine that uses two different viruses expressing the same tumor antigen to prime and boost anti-tumor immunity. By providing the additional advantage of directly killing cancer cells, oncolytic viruses (OVs) constitute ideal platforms for such treatment strategy. However, given that the targeted tumor antigen is encoded into the viral genomes, its production requires robust infection and therefore, the vaccination efficiency partially depends on the unpredictable and highly variable intrinsic sensitivity of each tumor to OV infection. In this study, we demonstrate that anti-cancer vaccination using OVs (Adenovirus (Ad), Maraba virus (MRB), Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and Vaccinia virus (VV)) co-administered with antigenic peptides is as efficient as antigen-engineered OVs and does not depend on viral replication. Our strategy is particularly attractive for personalized anti-cancer vaccines targeting patient-specific mutations. We suggest that the use of OVs as adjuvant platforms for therapeutic anti-cancer vaccination warrants testing for cancer treatment.

Impact of physical activity on executive functions in aging: a selective effect on inhibition among old adults.

The purposes of this study were to determine the impact of physical activity on three different executive functions (shifting, inhibition, and updating) and to examine whether cardiovascular fitness was a good mediator of the positive link(s) between these variables. Sixty-three young adults (18-28 years), 30 young-old adults (60-70 years) and 30 old adults (71-81 years) were divided into physically active and sedentary groups according to physical activity level (assessed from an accelerometer and the Historical Leisure Activity Questionnaire). Cardiovascular fitness was assessed by VO2max from the Rockport 1 mile. Each executive function was assessed through three different experimental tasks. ANCOVAs revealed that the effect of physical activity level was specific to the old adults and significant for inhibition, but not for updating and shifting. Mediation analysis showed that this positive effect in the old adults group was mediated by cardiovascular fitness level. The present findings highlight the positive linkages among physical activity, cardiovascular fitness, and inhibition in aging.

Compliance of children in northern France with physical activity recommendations.

AIMS: This study examined the compliance of French children with physical activity (PA) guidelines, using objective assessments of PA. METHODS: The study involved 252 children aged 9.9 +/- 0.9 years, with mean height and weight of 1.39 +/- 0.08 m and 35.8 +/- 8.8 kg, respectively. Their usual PA was evaluated during a week using an Actigraph accelerometer. RESULTS: The time spent in a moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) ranged from 142 +/- 44 min x d(-1) to 25 +/- 18 min/day according to the cut-offs used. Boys were significantly more active than girls (p < or = .001). Overweight/obese children spent significantly less time in MVPA as determined with cut-off points at 3200 cpm (-26%) or 3600 cpm (-35%) (p < .01). Between 5% (8% of boys vs 1% of girls, p < .0001) and 9% (14% of boys vs 3% of girls, p < .0001) of children probably met the PA guidelines. No relationships were found with socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: This high proportion of insufficiently active children (> 90%), together with the relatively high proportion of overweight children in this area, advocates a more aggressive PA promotion project, which should target all children whatever their social origins.

[An alternative method to describe an "obesogenic" environment for children: Relevance of a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) (corrected)]. / Une méthode alternative pour caractériser l'environnement "obésogénique" de l'enfant: Pertinence d'une analyse factorielle des correspondances multiples (AFCM). [corrected]

The purpose of this study was to describe an "obesogenic" environment for a group of schoolchildren using a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) as an alternative approach to traditional methodological choices. MCA is applicable even for small samples. Ninety-one children (39 girls and 52 boys) aged 10.0 +/- 0.9 years were randomly recruited from two French public schools. Data on their family context, parental involvement, television time and their eating habits were obtained through questionnaires. Their level of physical activity and sedentary time were assessed using an accelerometer (MTI Actigraph model 7164) for three days, including a holiday. The data were processed using an MCA together with a technique for estimating relative risks (RRs) of overweight/obesity according to the distribution of children in the factorial plane produced by the MCA. The "obesogenic" factors appeared as four possible combinations between family environments and various behaviours with regard to physical activity, sedentary behaviour and diet. The RR of overweight/obesity was 2.64 [1.52, 4.57] (P < 0.0001) for a combined association of a "disadvantaged" family environment + low physical activity and high fat diet. The RR of overweight/obesity was 0.36 [0.14, 0.94] (P < 0.05) for an association of a "privileged" family environment + high physical activity and low fat diet. Thus, MCA appears sufficiently robust and relevant to effectively guide etiological hypotheses and decisions about individual and collective intervention strategies.

How school time physical activity is the "big one" for daily activity among schoolchildren: a semi-experimental approach.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to model the relationship between an ActiGraph-based "in-school" physical activity (PA) and the daily one among children and to quantify how school can contribute to the daily PA recommendations. METHOD: Fifty boys and 43 girls (aged 8 to 11 years) wore ActiGraph for 2 schooldays of no structured PA. The daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA(d)) was regressed on the school time MVPA (MVPA(s)). Then, a ROC analysis was computed to define the required MVPA(s). RESULTS: Children spent 57% of their awaking time at school. School time PA opportunities (ie, recesses: approximately 18% of a child's awaking time) accounted for > 70% of the MVPA(d) among children. Then, MVPA(d) (Y) could be predicted from MVPA(s) (X) using the equation: Y= 2.06 X0.88; R2 = .889, P < .0001. Although, this model was sex-specifically determined, cross-validations showed valid estimates of MVPA(d). Finally, with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 90%, MVPA(s), a 34 min x d(-1) was required to prompt the daily recommendation. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows the contribution of MVPA at school to recommended activity levels and suggests the value of activity performed during recesses. It also calls for encouraging both home- and community-based interventions, predominantly directed toward girls.

Diagnostic quality of Actigraph-based physical activity cut-offs for children: what overweight/obesity references can tell?

BACKGROUND: There is conflicting literature about Actigraph-based cut-off points (CoP) that define the lower limit of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among children. The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic quality of Actigraph-based CoP relative to different body mass index (BMI) classification systems of the weight status of children. METHODS: One hundred and thirteen children aged 8-11 years recruited from three randomly selected elementary schools wore the Actigraph, model 7164 (Actigraph Manufacturing Technology) for 3 days. Five CoP, expressed in counts per minute (c.p.m.; CoP 1000 CoP 2000, CoP 3000, CoP 3200, and CoP 3600) were used to compute their MVPA. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) together with specific indices allowed assessment of the performance of these CoP in reference to overweight/obesity status as defined using BMI-based criteria from the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), French References (FR) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards. RESULTS: Overweight/obesity frequency ranged from 30% to 42%, with no sex-related difference. All AUC (range, 0.623-0.660) were significantly higher than 0.500 except from those of CoP 1000 and 2000 using the IOTF criteria (0.602 +/- 0.058 and 0.601 +/- 0.057, respectively) and the FR (0.608 +/- 0.060 for CoP 1000). Furthermore, with the WHO standards, all the CoP provided non-significant AUC (range, 0.566-0.597). According to the IOTF and the FR criteria, respectively, CoP 3600 had the highest probability of correct decision (0.62 and 0.68), the lowest misclassification errors (0.38 and 0.32), the highest validity coefficient (0.21 and 0.29), and the highest expected maximum utility (59 and 83). CONCLUSION: When children are classified using BMI-based criteria, the threshold of 3600 c.p.m. should be more appropriate in discriminating non-overweight from overweight/obese.