Suchergebnisse

Neisseria meningitidis is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in the United States and worldwide. A serogroup A/C/W-135/Y polysaccharide meningococcal vaccine has been licensed in the United States since 1981 but has not been used universally outside of the military. On 14 January 2005, a polysaccharide conjugate vaccine that covers meningococcal serogroups A, C, W-135, and Y was licensed in the United States for 11- to 55-year-olds and is now recommended for the routine immunization of adolescents and other high-risk groups. This review covers the changing epidemiology of meningococcal disease in the United States, issues related to vaccine prevention, and recommendations on the use of the new vaccine.

Concern over stratospheric ozone depletion has prompted several government agencies in North America to establish networks of spectroradiometers for monitoring solar ultraviolet irradiance at the surface of the Earth. To assess the ability of spectroradiometers to accurately measure solar ultraviolet irradiance, and to compare the results between instruments of different monitoring networks, the second North American Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held June 12 to 23, 1995 at Table Mountain outside Boulder, Colorado, USA. This Intercomparison was coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Participating agencies were the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Science Foundation; the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the Department of Agriculture; and the Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada. Instruments were characterized for wavelength uncertainty, bandwidth, stray-light rejection, and spectral irradiance responsivity, the latter with a NIST standard lamp operating in a specially designed field calibration unit. The spectral irradiance responsivity, determined once indoors and twice outdoors, demonstrated that while the responsivities changed upon moving the instruments, they were relatively stable when the instruments remained outdoors. Synchronized spectral scans of the solar irradiance were performed over several days. Using the spectral irradiance responsivities determined with the NIST standard lamp and three different convolution functions to account for the different bandwidths of the instruments, the measured solar irradiances generally agreed to within 3 %.

The fourth North American Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held September 15 to 25, 1997 at Table Mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado, USA. Concern over stratospheric ozone depletion has prompted several government agencies in North America to establish networks of spectroradiometers for monitoring solar ultraviolet irradiance at the surface of the Earth. The main purpose of the Intercomparison was to assess the ability of spectroradiometers to accurately measure solar ultraviolet irradiance, and to compare the results between instruments of different monitoring networks. This Intercomparison was coordinated by NIST and NOAA, and included participants from the ASRC, EPA, NIST, NSF, SERC, USDA, and YES. The UV measuring instruments included scanning spectroradiometers, spectrographs, narrow band multi-filter radiometers, and broadband radiometers. Instruments were characterized for wavelength accuracy, bandwidth, stray-light rejection, and spectral irradiance responsivity. The spectral irradiance responsivity was determined two to three times outdoors to assess temporal stability. Synchronized spectral scans of the solar irradiance were performed over several days. Using the spectral irradiance responsivities determined with the NIST traceable standard lamp, and a simple convolution technique with a Gaussian slit-scattering function to account for the different bandwidths of the instruments, the measured solar irradiance from the spectroradiometers excluding the filter radiometers at 16.5 h UTC had a relative standard deviation of ±4 % for wavelengths greater than 305 nm. The relative standard deviation for the solar irradiance at 16.5 h UTC including the filter radiometer was ±4 % for filter functions above 300 nm.