COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Latino/a Immigrants: The Role of Collective Responsibility and Confidence.

Research on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been sparse among Latino/a immigrants, a population at high risk for infection. This exploratory study examines rates of vaccine acceptance and its association with psychological antecedents of vaccination among Latino/a immigrants. A cross-sectional telephone survey on perceptions of COVID-19 was administered between October 2020 to February 2021 in South Florida to 200 adult Latino/a immigrants. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis, and logistic regression were employed to determine the influence of independent variables on vaccine acceptance. Most participants indicated a willingness to get vaccinated. Participants with higher confidence (aOR = 10.2, 95% CI: 4.8-21.8) and collective responsibility scores were (aOR = 3.1, 95%CI:1.3-6.9) more likely to report vaccine acceptance than those with lower scores. No other psychological antecedents or demographic variables were significantly associated with vaccine acceptance. Study results provide insights into motivating factors for vaccination that can inform culturally tailored education campaigns to increase vaccine acceptability in this population.

Pretransplant monitoring of donor-recipient compatibility.

In these studies, pretransplant testing of donor-recipient compatibility was performed in 10 related donor and 26 cadaveric renal transplants using a variety of cell-mediated immunity tests. Mixed lymphocyte culture results did not correlate with acute rejection (AR), acute irreversible rejection, or chronic rejection (CR). Lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis also did not correlate with AR, acute irreversible rejection, or CR. Cell-mediated lympholysis correlated with AR but not with acute irreversible rejection or CR. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytolysis (ADCMC) was positive pretransplant in 13 (36%) of the recipients. Of the positive patients, 4 had early severe AR and 9 developed typical CR. Of these 13 patients, 9 or 69% lost graft function to rejection whereas only 3 of 20 (15%) of ADCMC-negative patients lost graft function because of rejection (P less than 0.05). In summary, cell-mediated lympholysis testing demonstrated a capability to predict AR episodes. The most useful pretransplant monitoring assay in this patient series was the ADCMC assay. A positive ADCMC against donor cells pretransplant indicates a relatively poor prognosis for long-term graft survival.

In vitro studies with cephanone.

A new parenteral cephalosporin, cephanone, was studied in vitro.

In vitro activity of 5-fluorocytosine against Candida and Torulopsis species.

One hundred yeasts were studied. Tests included detailed identification and determination of 24- and 48-hr minimal inhibitory concentrations and minimal fungicidal concentrations of 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC). Final identifications included 57 isolates of Candida albicans, 15 isolates of C. tropicalis, 13 isolates of C. parapsilosis, 7 isolates of Torulopsis glabrata, 3 isolates of C. guilliermondii, 2 isolates each of C. stellatoidea and Cryptococcus neoformans, and 1 isolate of Candida krusei. Twenty-three original identifications were in error; these involved mostly C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, and T. glabrata. Inhibitory end point readings based on 24 hr of incubation were misleading. Whereas 79 of 91 isolates of Candida appeared to be inhibited at 24 hr by 12.5 mug or less of 5-FC/ml, only 52 were inhibited at 48 hr; whereas only 12 isolates appeared to be resistant to 100 mug/ml after 24 hr, 37 were resistant after 48 hr. Susceptibility varied amount the different species. C. tropicalis was the most susceptible, with 10 of 15 isolates (66.7%) being inhibited by 12.5 mug or less/ml and 7 (46.7%) being killed by 100 mug or less/ml. C. albicans was similarily susceptible; 33 of 57 isolates (57.9%) were inhibited by 12.5 mug or less/ml and 25 (43.9%) were killed by 100 mug or less/ml. C. parapsilosis was quite resistant, as only 4 of 13 isolates (30.8%) were inhibited by 12.5 mug or less/ml and 3 (23.1%) were killed by 100 mug or less/ml.

In vitro susceptibility testing with tobramycin.

Tobramycin (nebramycin factor 6) is an aminoglycoside antibiotic active in vitro against many gram-negative species and Staphylococcus aureus. The susceptibility of 191 recently isolated pathogenic bacteria to tobramycin was measured by both a routine broth dilution procedure and the FDA standardized disc technique using a 10-mug disc. Twenty-five isolates each of Escherichia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, indole-negative Proteus, Pseudomonas, Serratia, and S. aureus, and 16 isolates of group D enterococci were tested. The greatest activity was seen with S. aureus and Pseudomonas species; nearly all isolates of both were inhibited by 0.20 mug or less per ml. Tobramycin was slightly less active against Klebsiella and Enterobacter and moderately active against Escherichia and Proteus, with most isolates of these genera being inhibited by 1.56 mug/ml. Neither Serratia nor the enterococci were particularly susceptible. Correlations between zones of inhibition around the 10-mug disc and minimal inhibitory concentrations were determined, and a zone diameter of 16 mm was recommended as the critical point for prediction of susceptibility.