OBJECTIVE To determine if group well-child visits (WCV) can be cost neutral compared with individual WCV by varying health care providers, group size, and physician salary. METHOD We created 6 economic models to evaluate the costs of WCV: 3 for individual WCV delivered by (1) advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), (2) resident, and (3) attending and 3 for group WCV delivered by (4) APRN w...

A pneumococcal whole-cell vaccine (WCV) confers T(H)17-mediated immunogenicity and reduces nasopharyngeal (NP) carriage in mice. Activation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) has been shown to be important for generating T(H)17 responses, and several lipidated pneumococcal proteins have TLR2-activating properties. Here we investigated the roles of TLR2 and lipidation of proteins in WCV-induced inte...

OBJECTIVE To measure the effect of a multimodal intervention on well-child care visit (WCV) and immunization rates in an inner-city population. DESIGN Cluster randomized controlled trial. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS One-year cohort of 2843 infants born at a hospital in an integrated inner-city health care system. INTERVENTIONS Eleven clinics were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 study arms: WCV ...

The effect of phase I Coxiella burnetii chloroform-methanol residue vaccine (CMRV) on the response of murine splenic lymphocytes to mitogenic and antigenic stimuli was evaluated in C57BL/10 ScN endotoxinnonresponder mice with an in vitro lymphocyte proliferation assay. Intraperitoneal injection of phase I CMRV resulted in antibody production against phases I and II antigens. Lymphocytes were re...

BACKGROUND Pertussis (whooping cough) caused by Bordetella pertussis (B.p), continues to be a serious public health threat. Vaccination is the most economical and effective strategy for preventing and controlling pertussis. However, few systematic investigations of actual human immune responses to pertussis vaccines have been performed. Therefore, we utilized a combination of two-dimensional el...

This paper illustrates applications of the Web-based collaborative visualization (WCV) in distributed product development. Three software prototypes were developed using the WCV technologies. The first one enables the end users to configure individual parts of 3D assembly in a regular browser, and thus provides an effective tool to collect the customer’s voices in e-commerce. The second system ...

INTRODUCTION The use of observation units (OUs) following emergency departments (ED) visits as a model of care has increased exponentially in the last decade. About one-third of U.S. hospitals now have OUs within their facilities. While their use is associated with lower costs and comparable level of care compared to inpatient units, there is a wide variation in OUs characteristics and operatio...

The mechanism whereby whole-cell pertussis vaccines (WCV) confer protection against Bordetella pertussis is still not fully understood. We have previously reported that macrophage activation produced by vaccination with WCV is associated with induction of NO synthesis by macrophages in response to in vitro stimulation with B. pertussis antigens. To determine whether NO production is an effector...

Abstract Introduction Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) can significantly impact a child’s physical and psychological well-being. Primary care teams are strongly positioned to first note the signs of SBD American Academy Pediatrics recommends routine screening for snoring at all well-child visits (WCV). However, literature demonstrates low rates application this recommendation. This is likely mu...

Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization and invasive disease peak around the third and first birthdays, respectively, and decline thereafter. While these declines are attributable in part to immunity acquired via natural exposure, maturation of innate immune responses may also be involved. A mucosally administered candidate whole-cell pneumococcal vaccine (WCV) containing killed pneumococcal anti...