Axons of Passage and Inputs to Superior Cervical Ganglion in Rat.

Wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase was injected into the entire (0.8 µL) or partial (rostral or caudal, 0.1-0.3 µL) superior cervical ganglion (SCG) of the rat (male Sprague-Dawley, N = 35) to examine the distribution of neurons in the middle (MCG) and inferior (ICG) cervical ganglion that send axons bypass the SCG. Whole-mounts of the SCG, cervical sympathetic trunk (CST), MCG, ICG, and sections of the brainstem and spinal cord were prepared. With entire SCG tracer injection, neurons were labeled evenly in the MCG (left: 258, right: 121), ICG (left: 848, right: 681), and CST (up to 770). Some neurons grouped in a single bulge just rostral to the MCG, which we termed as the "premiddle cervical ganglion" (pMCG). The left pMCG (120) is larger and has more neurons than the right pMCG (82). Centrally, neurons were labeled in lamina IX of cervical segments (C1: 18%, C2: 46%, C3: 33%, C4: 3%), intermediate zone of thoracic segments (T1: 31%, T2: 35%, T3: 27%, T4: 7%), and intermediate reticular nuclei (96%) and perifacial zone (4%) of brainstem. The rostral and caudal SCG injection selectively labeled neurons mainly in brainstem, C1-C2 and in T1-T2, respectively. Before projecting to their peripheral targets, many neurons in pMCG, MCG and ICG run rostrally within the CST rather than segmentally through the closest rami, from the level of SCG or above. Neurons in pMCG and MCG may have similar or complementary function and those in brainstem may be involved in the vestibulo-autonomic interaction. Anat Rec, 301:1906-1916, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in children on the serotypic epidemiology of adult invasive pneumococcal diseases in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) causes significant morbidity and mortality, especially in children and older adults. Pneumococcal 7-valent and 13-valent conjugate vaccines (PCV7 and PCV13) were introduced in Taiwan in 2005 and 2011, respectively, for children. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of PCV administered in children on adult IPD. METHODS: From the logbooks of microbiology laboratories, we retrospectively retrieved Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates, collected from normally sterile sites in adult patients. One hundred and fifty-seven consecutive, nonduplicated isolates were collected from one hospital during 2001 and 2003 (pre-PCV period) and 150 isolates from three hospitals from July 2011 to June 2015 (post-PCV period). Serotypes were determined by Quellung test. RESULTS: Among the 307 isolates, 31 serotypes/serogroups were identified. PCV7 serotypes, particularly types 14 (31.2%), 23F (19.7%) and 6B (12.7%) dominated in the pre-PCV period (78.3%) but significantly decreased in the post-PCV period (36%) (p < 0.01). PCV13 specific serotypes (PCV13-PCV7) significantly increased from 7% of the isolates in the pre-PCV period to 28.7% of the isolates in the post-PCV period (p < 0.001), particularly type 19A (from 0.6% to 10%) and 6A (from 0 to 6.7%). Serotype 15B also increased significantly from 0.6% to 6.7% (p < 0.01). Nonvaccine serotypes increased significantly in the post-PCV period (11.5% to 22.0%, p < 0.05), particularly type 15A (from 0 to 4.4%, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Serotype distribution of adult IPD in Taiwan has evolved after the introduction of PCV in children, indicating an indirect impact in adults. Continuous surveillance after the PCV13 vaccination program in children is needed.