Browsing by Author "Jesus, G"
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- Cost-Effectiveness of the 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in Adults in Portugal Versus "No Vaccination" and Versus Vaccination with the 23-Valent Pneumococcal Polysaccharide VaccinePublication . Gouveia, M; Jesus, G; Inês, M; Costa, J; Borges, MThe burden of pneumococcal disease in adults is substantial from a social and economic point of view. This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumococcal pneumonia in adults versus "no vaccination" and versus vaccination with the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23). A Markov model was used to simulate three strategies: no vaccination, complete vaccination with PPSV23 and complete vaccination with PCV13. The comparison between strategies allowed the estimation of clinical and economic outcomes including incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) and incremental cost-utility ratios (ICUR). The model took into account the distributions of age, risk profile, vaccination status, type of immunization and time since vaccination in the population. A societal perspective was adopted and a lifetime horizon was considered. Different sources of data and assumptions were used to calibrate PPSV23 and PCV13 effectiveness. Inpatient costs were based on the 2013 diagnosis-related group (DRG) database for National Health Service (NHS) hospitals and expert opinion; NHS official tariffs were the main source for unitary costs. PCV13 shows ICURs of €17,746/QALY and €13,146/QALY versus "no vaccination" and vaccination with PPSV23, respectively. Results proved to be robust in univariate sensitivity analyses, where all ratios were below a €20,000 threshold, with the exception of the scenario with PCV13 effectiveness halved. In a probabilistic sensitivity analysis, 94% of simulations showed cost-effectiveness ratios lower than €20,000/QALY, in both strategies. It was found that PCV13 is a cost-effective strategy to prevent pneumococcal disease in adults in Portugal.
- Cost-Effectiveness of the 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in Children in PortugalPublication . Gouveia, M; Fiorentino, F; Jesus, G; Costa, J; Borges, MPneumococcal infections are the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in children. In June 2015, the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was introduced in the Portuguese Immunization Program. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of children vaccinated with PCV13 versus no vaccination for preventing pneumococcal diseases.
- Gene Expression Profiling and Association Studies Implicate the Neuregulin Signaling Pathway in Behçet's Disease SusceptibilityPublication . Xavier, J; Krug, T; Davatchi, F; Shahram, F; Fonseca, B; Jesus, G; Barcelos, F; Vedes, J; Salgado, M; Abdollahi, B; Nadji, A; Moraes-Fontes, MF; Shafiee, N; Ghaderibarmi, F; Patto, J; Crespo, J; Oliveira, SBehçet's disease (BD) is a complex disease with genetic and environmental risk factors implicated in its etiology; however, its pathophysiology is poorly understood. To decipher BD's genetic underpinnings, we combined gene expression profiling with pathway analysis and association studies. We compared the gene expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 15 patients and 14 matched controls using Affymetrix microarrays and found that the neuregulin signaling pathway was over-represented among the differentially expressed genes. The Epiregulin (EREG), Amphiregulin (AREG), and Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) genes of this pathway stand out as they are also among the top differentially expressed genes. Twelve haplotype tagging SNPs at the EREG-AREG locus and 15 SNPs in NRG1 found associated in at least one published BD genome-wide association study were tested for association with BD in a dataset of 976 Iranian patients and 839 controls. We found a novel association with BD for the rs6845297 SNP located downstream of EREG, and replicated three associations at NRG1 (rs4489285, rs383632, and rs1462891). Multifactor dimensionality reduction analysis indicated the existence of epistatic interactions between EREG and NRG1 variants. EREG-AREG and NRG1, which are members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family, seem to modulate BD susceptibility through main effects and gene–gene interactions. These association findings support a role for the EGF/ErbB signaling pathway inBD pathogenesis that warrants further investigation and highlight the importance of combining genetic and genomic approaches to dissect the genetic architecture of complex diseases.
- IL10 Low-Frequency Variants in Behçet's Disease PatientsPublication . Matos, M; Xavier, JM; Abrantes, P; Sousa, I; Rei, N; Davatchi, F; Shahram, F; Jesus, G; Barcelos, F; Vedes, J; Salgado, Manuel; Abdollahi, B; Nadji, A; Moraes-Fontes, MF; Shafiee, N; Ghaderibarmi, F; Vaz Patto, J; Crespo, J; Oliveira, SATo explain the missing heritability after the genome-wide association studies era, sequencing studies allow the identification of low-frequency variants with a stronger effect on disease risk. Common variants in the interleukin 10 gene (IL10) have been consistently associated with Behçet's disease (BD) and the goal of this study is to investigate the role of low-frequency IL10 variants in BD susceptibility.
- When Paranoia Comes with the Treatment: Psychosis Associated with Tacrolimus UsePublication . Machado Nogueira, J; Freire, MJ; Vila Nova, V; Jesus, GTacrolimus is an immunosuppressive drug frequently used in solid organ transplant recipients. This drug has well-documented neuropsychiatric side effects in the literature, although emergence of psychotic symptoms is rare, being only described in a very few case reports. We present a case of a renal transplant recipient with no prior psychiatric history, who developed a severe psychosis secondary to supratherapeutic tacrolimus' blood concentrations. This case highlights the importance of clinical awareness to rare but severe neuropsychiatric effects due to tacrolimus use.