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Copyright of Journal of Applied & Regional Geology / Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften (ZDGG) is the property of E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccines is largely governed by nature and the amount of antigen(s) included. Specific immune-stimulating substances, so-called adjuvants, are added to vaccine formulations to enhance and modulate the induced immune response.Adjuvants are very different in their physicochemical nature and are primarily characterized by their immune-enhancing effects. In this report, adjuvants that are components of vaccines licensed in the EU will be presented and their mode of action will be discussed.Aluminum salts have been used for almost a century as vaccine adjuvants. In recent years numerous novel immune-stimulating substances have been developed and integrated into licensed human vaccines. These novel adjuvants are not only intended to generally increase the vaccine-induced antibody titers, but are also aimed at modulating and triggering a specific immune response. The search for innovative adjuvants was considerably stimulated during development of pandemic influenza vaccines. By using squalene-containing oil-in-water adjuvants (namely AS03 and MF59), pandemic influenza vaccines were developed that were efficacious despite a significant reduction of the antigen content.The development of novel adjuvants is a highly dynamic and essential area in modern vaccine design. Some years ago, vaccines for prevention of HPV-induced cervix carcinoma and hepatitis B were licensed that contained the toll-like receptor 4 agonist 3‑O-desacyl-monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), a detoxified LPS version, as the adjuvant. Quite recently, a herpes zoster vaccine was licensed in Europe with a combination of MPL and the saponin QS21 as adjuvant. This combination of immune enhancers is also used in the formulations of the same manufacturer's malaria and hepatitis B vaccine.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections belong to the most frequent viral infections. Besides benign common warts and benign and malignant lesions of the head and neck area, HPV can induce anogenital dysplasias and cancers. Since the year 2007, effective and safe prophylactic HPV vaccines are licensed in Europe. To date, a bivalent (HPV16 and 18) and a nonavalent HPV vaccine (HPV6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58) are commercially available in Germany. The German standing committee on vaccination (STIKO) currently recommends gender-neutral prophylactic HPV-vaccination between 9 and 14 years of age, with the possibility of catch-up vaccination until the age of 17 years. Besides a large proportion of HPV-induced anogenital dysplasias and carcinomas, the nonavalent HPV vaccine also prevents anogenital warts. Iatrogenically immunocompromised patients older than 17 years of age should also receive prophylactic HPV vaccination, preferrably by the age of 26 years. In case of already acquired HPV infection or existing HPV-induced lesions prophylactic vaccination does not lead to accelerated HPV elimination or clearance of lesions.

Copyright of Gesunde Pflanzen is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on scientific findings, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended stricter guideline values for air quality in 2021. Significant reductions in the annual mean values of particulate matter (particle size 2.5 µm or smaller, PM 2.5 ) and long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and ozone (O 3 ) were put forward. The risk of mortality already increases above the WHO guideline values, as shown in studies investigating low concentrations of air pollutants. In Germany, the 2021 WHO guideline values for PM 2.5 and NO 2 were clearly exceeded in 2022.In this position paper we give the following recommendations for the European Air Quality Directive: (1) set binding limit values according to WHO 2021, (2) apply the limit values to the whole of Europe, (3) continue and expand the established country-based monitoring networks, (4) expand air quality measurements for ultrafine particles and soot particles, and (5) link air pollution control and climate protection measures.Stricter limits for air pollutants require societal and political changes in areas such as mobility, energy use and generation, and urban and spatial planning. Implementation according to WHO 2021 would lead to a net economic benefit of 38 billion euros per year.Ambitious limit values for air pollutants also have an impact on climate change mitigation and its health impacts. The Environmental Public Health commission concludes that more ambitious limit values are crucial to enable effective health protection in Germany and calls for air pollutant limit values in line with the 2021 WHO recommendations to become binding in Europe., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detected specific hepatitis C viral (HCV) RNA sequences in liver biopsies from two patients with chronic hepatitis, in the tissue of a liver implantate, in plasma from four chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH) patients and, for the first time, in an infectious anti-D-immunoglobulin preparation. A comparison of the viral sequences coding for a region for the nonstructural NS3 protein from the liver tissues revealed only a very small degree of sequence divergence on the cDNA as well as on the amino acid level (between 0 and 5%). The sequence similarities of the RNA isolated from plasma of the four chronic NANBH patients and the anti-D-immunoglobulin preparation were partly somewhat lower but altogether also high (between 90 and 100%). In contrast, all eight cDNA and amino acid sequences exhibited a significantly higher degree of divergence in comparison with the HCV prototype sequence (between 29 and 32%) than among themselves (between 0 and 10%). This unexpected high sequence similarity of the eight European isolates and their low homology to the Northamerican prototype sequence is indicative for the existence of different types of HCV. This will be important not only for epidemiological studies but also for the development of effective diagnostic procedures and vaccines. Concerning the pathogenesis of NANBH, a double infection or a helper mechanism has to be considered: in addition to the C virus, sequences of an other virus particle were found in the infectious IgG preparation as well as in the liver biopsies.