Reviewing the Literature: A Short Guide for Research Students

Population Medicine

Population Medicine considers the following types of articles: • Research Papers-reports of data from original research or secondary dataset analyses. • Review Papers-comprehensive, authoritative, reviews within the journal's scope. These include both systematic reviews and narrative reviews. • Short Reports-brief reports of data from original research. • Policy Case Studies-brief articles on policy development at a regional or national level. • Study Protocols-articles describing a research protocol of a study. • Methodology Papers-papers that present different methodological approaches that can be used to investigate problems in a relevant scientific field and to encourage innovation. • Methodology Papers-papers that present different methodological approaches that can be used to investigate problems in a relevant scientific field and to encourage innovation. • Letters to the Editor-a response to authors of an original publication, or a very small article that may be relevant to readers. • Editorials-articles written by the Editorial Board or by invited experts on a specific topic. Research Papers Articles reporting research may be full length or brief reports. These should report original research findings within the journal's scope. Papers should generally be a maximum of 4000 words in length, excluding tables, references, and abstract and key points of the article, whilst it is recommended that the number of references should not exceed 36.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2015

2004

The amount of vaccine R&D performed, especially geared towards health issues affecting the developing world, is exceptionally undersized. Despite immunisation representing the most effective tool for achieving disease eradication, and the general consensus being optimistic about the development of a vaccine capable of fighting AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, neither private nor public entities are investing sufficiently in the field.

Clinical Infectious Diseases, 1989

2020

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2016

Since the 1990s the vaccine sector is experiencing a profound restructuring with the entrance of innovative biotech companies, developing country manufacturers, and wealthy private foundations. Since these developments and their consequences are rarely analysed in their interconnectedness, we argue, first, that a field approach focusing on the interrelations between the organisations in the vaccine sector is a fruitful way to unravel the complexities of the current changes. Second, a long-term historical-sociological analysis of this field is presented since the discovery of the smallpox vaccine around 1800. The current changes are interpreted as the third transformation of the field. After the shift from local to national vaccine fields, and then to an internationally coordinated field, the recent changes can be characterised as a shift to a more encompassing, diversified global field. These historical transformations can be explained by changing balances of power between the organisations with an interest in the field.

Biomedical Research

Prevention from disease is always better than cure. The concept of preventing disease originated during the 17th century when Edward Jenner an English physician contributed to eradicating smallpox. Jenner's work is widely regarded as the foundation of prophylactic measure of disease by the vaccine, the term derived from "Vacca" means cow. The concept of the vaccine is slowly traveling from prophylaxis to therapeutic. However, therapeutic vaccines are under research and development. The first vaccine was developed using virus-infected lesions and in later stages many different types of vaccines such as toxoid vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, inactivated or killed vaccines and subunit vaccines have been formed. Modern advancement in biotechnology research had laid down for the development of the recombinant vaccine. However, the future trend of vaccine development is towards recombinant DNA technology and therapeutic vaccine for targeted diseases. This review article focuses on the historical perspectives of vaccine and the development of the vaccine as it is a core area of research where the life of the human is saved from various possible diseases

Vaccine, 2011

Background: The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), launched in 1974, has developed and implemented a range of strategies and practices over the last three decades to ensure that children and adults receive the vaccines they need to help protect them against vaccine-preventable diseases. Many of these strategies have been implemented, resulting in immunization coverage exceeding 80% among children one year of age in many countries. Yet millions of infants remain under-immunized or unimmunized, particularly in poorer countries. In November 2009, a panel of external experts met at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to review and identify areas of research required to strengthen routine service delivery in developing countries. Methods: Research opportunities were identified utilizing presentations emphasizing existing research, gaps in knowledge and key questions. Panel members prioritized the topics, as did other meeting participants. Findings: Several hundred research topics covering a wide range were identified by the panel members and participants. However there were relatively few topics for which there was a consensus that immediate investment in research is warranted. The panel identified 28 topics as priorities. 18 topics were identified as priorities by at least 50% of non-panel participants; of these, five were also identified as priorities by the panel. Research needs included identifying the best ways to increase coverage with existing vaccines and introduce new vaccines, integrate other services with immunizations, and finance immunization programmes. Interpretation: There is an enormous range of research that could be undertaken to support routine immunization. However, implementation of strategic plans, rather than additional research will have the greatest impact on raising immunization coverage and preventing disease, disability, and death from vaccine-preventable diseases. The panel emphasized the importance of tying operational research to programmatic needs, with a focus on efforts to scale up proven best practices in each country, facilitating the full implementation of immunization strategies.

Frontiers in Public Health, 2015

Multiple cornerstones have shaped the history of vaccines, which may contain liveattenuated viruses, inactivated organisms/viruses, inactivated toxins, or merely segments of the pathogen that could elicit an immune response. The story began with Hippocrates 400 B.C. with his description of mumps and diphtheria. No further discoveries were recorded until 1100 A.D. when the smallpox vaccine was described. During the eighteenth century, vaccines for cholera and yellow fever were reported and Edward Jenner, the father of vaccination and immunology, published his work on smallpox. The nineteenth century was a major landmark, with the "Germ Theory of disease" of Louis Pasteur, the discovery of the germ tubercle bacillus for tuberculosis by Robert Koch, and the isolation of pneumococcus organism by George Miller Sternberg. Another landmark was the discovery of diphtheria toxin by Emile Roux and its serological treatment by Emil Von Behring and Paul Ehrlih. In addition, Pasteur was able to generate the first liveattenuated viral vaccine against rabies. Typhoid vaccines were then developed, followed by the plague vaccine of Yersin. At the beginning of World War I, the tetanus toxoid was introduced, followed in 1915 by the pertussis vaccine. In 1974, The Expanded Program of Immunization was established within the WHO for bacille Calmette-Guerin, Polio, DTP, measles, yellow fever, and hepatitis B. The year 1996 witnessed the launching of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. In 1988, the WHO passed a resolution to eradicate polio by the year 2000 and in 2006; the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer was developed. In 2010, "The Decade of vaccines" was launched, and on April 1st 2012, the United Nations launched the "shot@Life" campaign. In brief, the armamentarium of vaccines continues to grow with more emphasis on safety, availability, and accessibility. This mini review highlights the major historical events and pioneers in the course of development of vaccines, which have eradicated so many life-threatening diseases, despite the vaccination attitudes and waves appearing through history.

EMBO reports, 2010

V accine research is at a crossroads between renewed optimism created by fundamental scientific advances, and pessimism from a series of scientific and publicity setbacks over the past decade. Early successes in the field against acute viral diseases, such as smallpox and polio, raised hopes that more serious infectious diseases could be controlled or even eradicated by vaccination, just as it was once thought that penicillin would eradicate major bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy.

The Central European Journal of Paediatrics, 2017

Vaccine, 2012

The visibility of the term vaccinology has become more pronounced in the 21st century in defining a scientific field that has absorbed aspects from different scientific domains until finally acquiring an identity of its own. As a result, vaccinology brings together a long tradition of researchers who have operated within a linear paradigm and incorporates new generations of scientists who have forged an exciting and diverse network of knowledge within this field. The term vaccinology, which initially appeared in isolation at the time of Jenner and once again with the emergence of the Pasteurian model, acquired further prominence thanks to the efforts of the vaccinologists who chronicled the production of vaccines in the last third of the 20th century. The term has since become truly consolidated, with the appearance of new adjectives during this century. This study provides a historical perspective for the frequency of use and evolution of this increasingly widespread term.

2022

The history of vaccines travels a long and winding road shaped by challenges, optimism, learning, and discoveries. Starting with early forms of immunization originating as early as the 17th century, to the modern science that made the COVID-19 vaccines available, this book explores the history of vaccines through detailed scientific research and meaningful illustrations. Some of the major personalities and events that shaped the field of vaccinology are recounted through a historical lens and complemented by visual flair. With increasingly refined technologies and developments in science, the story of vaccines continues to be written and the future remains undefined. However, one thing is certain: its potential to improve the lives of millions around the world makes vaccines indispensable to human health in the past, present, and future.

Social Science & Medicine, 1996

The Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI) was created as an attempt to revolutionize the way vaccines are developed for the developing world. It was formed, in part, out of optimism that the scientific advances of the biotechnology revolution could be harnessed to create new and improved vaccines, and in part out of fear that the health needs of the developing world would be ignored by the increasingly profit-oriented vaccine industry that gave low priority to countries lacking a hard currency market. The CVI was founded in 1990/1991 but its intellectual roots came out of ten years of discussion and agitation about the opportunities and dangers that faced the international health community. The article looks at the indispensable role played by pivotal individuals (William Foege of the Task Force for Child Survival, Kenneth Warren and Scott Halstead of the Rockefeller Foundation, James Grant and James Sherry of UNICEF and D. A. Henderson of Johns Hopkins University) without whom the CVI would not have come into existence. While these individuals worked within the confines created by the large social/economic/political changes that shaped the 1980s, their personal goals, often targeted at fairly limited objectives, were crucial in determining the final, rather unlikely, outcome. The role of both individual choice and serendipity in determining major policy decisions are often under-estimated in the social science literature.