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This study determined the influence of intravenous (i.v.) oncolytic vaccinia virus mpJX-594 (mpJX) on antitumor activity of anti-programmed death receptor-1 antibody (aPD1) in functional and metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). One i.v. dose of mpJX, engineered for mice with the same plasmid design as clinical virus Pexa-Vec, was administered alone or with repeated dosing of aPD1 (mpJX+aPD1) to two contrasting genetic models of PanNET: one developing benign insulin-secreting tumors (RIP1-Tag2;C57BL/6J mice) and the other developing liver metastases (RIP1-Tag2;AB6F1 mice). Experiments revealed that aPD1 had synergistic actions with mpJX on CD8+ T cell and natural killer (NK) cell influx, apoptosis, and suppression of proliferation in PanNETs. After mpJX+aPD1, the 53-fold increase in apoptosis (5 days) and 85% reduction in proliferation (20 days) exceeded the sum of mpJX and aPD1 given separately. mpJX+aPD1 also stabilized blood insulin and glucose in mice with functional PanNETs, regressed liver metastases in mice with aggressive PanNETs, and prolonged survival of both. The findings revealed that mpJX+aPD1 converted “cold” PanNETs into immunogenic tumors with widespread cytotoxic T cell influx, tumor cell killing, and suppression of proliferation. Reduction of tumor insulin secretion from functional PanNETs prolonged survival, and anti-metastatic actions on aggressive PanNETs reduced the metastatic burden to less than before treatment. The findings support the efficacy of the vaccinia virus with aPD1 for functional and metastatic PanNETs.

Background: Burn injury is one of the common medical emergencies admitted to any hospital and is an important public health problem globally. Although most burn injuries are preventable, the general lack of safety consciousness, lack of knowledge on first aid measures, compounded by the absence of organized burn care at primary and secondary health-care level, hinder the curbing of this preventable problem. Objectives: (a) To estimate the prevalence of burn injuries in the rural field practice area of RajaRajeswari Medical College and (b) To determine the sociodemographic profile of burn injury victims and describe the burn injuries in the rural field practice area of RajaRajeswari Medical College. Subjects and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 1220 randomly selected participants in the rural area using a semi-structured, pretested questionnaire. Data were analyzed adopting descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate statistical techniques using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22. Results: The prevalence of burn injuries was found to be 9.5% in the present study. Logistic regression analysis showed that various sociodemographic characteristics of participants such as age, type of family, educational status, and socioeconomic status had a statistically significant association with burn injuries. Conclusion: The prevalence of burn injuries was 9.5% among the study participants. There existed a statistically significant association between burn injuries and various sociodemographic determinants.