Ionic Liquid-Based Transcutaneous Peptide Antitumor Vaccine: Therapeutic Effect in a Mouse Tumor Model.

Traditional vaccinations need to be injected with needles, and since some people have a strong aversion to needles, a needle-free alternative delivery system is important. In this study, we employed ionic liquids (ILs) for transcutaneous delivery of cancer antigen-derived peptides to obtain anticancer therapeutic effects in a needle-free manner. ILs successfully increased the in vitro skin permeability of a peptide from Wilms tumor 1 (WT1), one of the more promising cancer antigens, plus or minus an adjuvant, resiquimod (R848), a toll-like receptor 7 agonist. In vivo studies demonstrated that concomitant transcutaneous delivery of WT1 peptide and R848 by ILs induced WT1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) in mice, resulting in tumor growth inhibition in Lewis lung carcinoma-bearing mice. Interestingly, administrating R848 in ILs before WT1 peptides in ILs increased tumor growth inhibition effects compared to co-administration of both. We found that the prior application of R848 increased the infiltration of leukocytes in the skin and that subsequent delivery of WT1 peptides was more likely to induce WT1-specific CTL. Furthermore, sequential immunization with IL-based formulations was applicable to different types of peptides and cancer models without induction of skin irritation. IL-based transcutaneous delivery of cancer antigen-derived peptides and adjuvants, either alone or together, could be a novel approach to needle-free cancer therapeutic vaccines.

Pilot study of universal newborn hearing screening in Japan: district-based screening program in Okayama.

OBJECTIVES: Newborn hearing screening was started in Okayama Prefecture in 2001 as part of a nationwide pilot study in Japan. Nearly 50,000 infants have been screened to date, and an observational study and more than 2 years of follow-up of this population are described in this report. METHODS: Between June 2001 and March 2005 (45 months), 47,346 neonates were screened with automated auditory brain stem response systems and followed up for at least 2 years. This total corresponds to 95% of the infants born in the 44 gynecologic institutions in this district. RESULTS: After undergoing the screening process twice, 248 infants (0.52%) received referrals; 108 of them had apparent bilaterally affected hearing, and 140 had apparent unilaterally affected hearing. Among the bilateral cases, hearing impairment was diagnosed in 40 infants, for a total prevalence of hearing impairment of 0.08%. In 3 additional infants who received a bilateral pass result and 1 infant who received a unilateral pass result, hearing impairment that was progressive or of late onset was subsequently diagnosed. The positive and negative predictive values were calculated as 40% and 99.993%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The screening program was carefully designed to work in the Japanese society and to be well managed in Okayama Prefecture.

Language development of a multiply handicapped child after cochlear implantation.

The presence of additional handicaps in hearing-impaired children makes the prediction of language ability after cochlear implantation unreliable. Only limited follow-up data on developmental improvement after implantation among multiply handicapped children is available. The present study reports the course of development (audiological and linguistic) after cochlear implantation in one subject with moderate mental retardation. Preoperatively, his language development showed 34 months delay when compared to chronological age. The difference had shortened to 23 months by 2 years post-surgery. The subject's cognitive delay had not changed upon 2-year follow-up. The cochlear implant can be credited to his improvement in language development.