Articles

A systematic review of the efficacy and safety of a purified, pasteurized C1 inhibitor concentrate for the treatment of patients with type I or II hereditary angioedema

Authors: K Bork, I Steffense, A Neme, A Morrison, G van den Hoef and D Barnes

Treatment of initial allergic reactions to peanut inside and outside of health care facilities

Authors: L Soller, M Ben-Shoshan, J Fragapane, L Joseph, Y St Pierre, L Harada, C Fortin, M Allen and AE Clarke

Managing paediatric eosinophilic gastroenteropathies: a community experience

Authors: J Liem, O Hakim and A Zaher

The controlled allergen challenge experience: comparison of allergic upper respiratory symptoms in the environmental exposure unit (EEU) and during seasonal exposure

Authors: AK Ellis, E Rafeiro, JD Ratz and JH Day

Raw wheat allergy: a case report

Authors: L Connors, G Lacuesta, S Kapur and G Rex

Rhinorrhea, cough and fatigue in patients taking sitagliptin

Sitagliptin is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP IV, CD26) inhibitor indicated for treatment of Type II diabetes as a second line therapy after metformin. We report fifteen sitagliptin intolerant patients who deve...

Authors: James N Baraniuk and Mary J Jamieson

Estimation of the environmental attributable fraction of asthma among Canadian children: a systematic review

Authors: E Simons, T To and S Dell

Prenatal allergen and diesel exhaust exposure and their effects on allergy in adult offspring mice

Multiple studies have suggested that prenatal exposure to either allergens or air pollution may increase the risk for the development of allergic immune responses in young offspring. However, the effects of pr...

Authors: Lin Corson, Huaijie Zhu, Chunli Quan, Gabriele Grunig, Manisha Ballaney, Ximei Jin, Frederica P Perera, Phillip H Factor, Lung-Chi Chen and Rachel L Miller

Birth order modifies the effect of IL13 gene polymorphisms on serum IgE at age 10 and skin prick test at ages 4, 10 and 18: a prospective birth cohort study

Susceptibility to atopy originates from effects of the environment on genes. Birth order has been identified as a risk factor for atopy and evidence for some candidate genes has been accumulated; however no st...

Authors: Ikechukwu U Ogbuanu, Wilfried J Karmaus, Hongmei Zhang, Tara Sabo-Attwood, Susan Ewart, Graham Roberts and Syed H Arshad

Kimura's disease with eosinophilic panniculitis - treated with cyclosporine: a case report

Kimura's disease is a rare, benign, slow growing chronic inflammatory swelling with a predilection for the head and neck region and almost always with peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevated serum IgE level...

Authors: Davood Maleki, Alireza Sayyah, Mohammad Hossein Rahimi-Rad and Nasrin Gholami

TSLP directly impairs pulmonary Treg function: association with aberrant tolerogenic immunity in asthmatic airway

Even though thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) has been implicated in the development of allergic inflammation, its influence on immune tolerance mediated by regulatory T cells (Treg) have not been explored. ...

Authors: Khoa D Nguyen, Christopher Vanichsarn and Kari C Nadeau

Alterations in the complement cascade in post-traumatic stress disorder

In the present study we assessed the functional state of the major mediator of the immune response, the complement system, in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Authors: Lilit P Hovhannisyan, Gohar M Mkrtchyan, Samvel H Sukiasian and Anna S Boyajyan

Skin prick testing in patients using beta-blockers: a retrospective analysis

The use of beta-blockers is a relative contraindication in allergen skin testing yet there is a paucity of literature on adverse events in this circumstance. We examined a population of skin tested patients on...

Authors: Irene N Fung and Harold L Kim

Panallergens and their impact on the allergic patient

The panallergen concept encompasses families of related proteins, which are involved in general vital processes and thus, widely distributed throughout nature. Plant panallergens share highly conserved sequenc...

Authors: Michael Hauser, Anargyros Roulias, Fátima Ferreira and Matthias Egger

The anti-inflammatory effects of levocetirizine - are they clinically relevant or just an interesting additional effect?

Levocetirizine, the R-enantiomer of cetirizine dihydrochloride has pharmacodynamically and pharmacokinetically favourable characteristics, including rapid onset of action, high bioavailability, high affinity f...

Authors: Garry M Walsh

Stem cells, inflammation and allergy

Recently, many studies have suggested a potential role for early hematopoietic progenitor cell and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) recruitment and differentiation in the development of allergy and inflammation. ...

Authors: Marie-Renee Blanchet and Kelly M McNagny

Hodgkin's lymphoma presenting with markedly elevated IgE: a case report

Markedly elevated IgE as a manifestation of a lymphoproliferative disorder has been only rarely reported.

Authors: Anne K Ellis and Susan Waserman

Importance of basophil activation testing in insect venom allergy

Venom immunotherapy (VIT) is the only effective treatment for prevention of serious allergic reactions to bee and wasp stings in sensitized individuals. However, there are still many questions and controversie...

Authors: Mitja Kosnik and Peter Korosec

Urticaria and infections

Urticaria is a group of diseases that share a distinct skin reaction pattern. Triggering of urticaria by infections has been discussed for many years but the exact role and pathogenesis of mast cell activation...

Authors: Bettina Wedi, Ulrike Raap, Dorothea Wieczorek and Alexander Kapp

Treating rhinitis in the older population: special considerations

Rhinitis in the elderly is a common but often neglected condition. Structural changes in the nose associated with aging, predisposes the elderly to rhinitis. There are a number of specific factors that affect ...

Authors: Raymond G Slavin

Introduction of oral vitamin D supplementation and the rise of the allergy pandemic

The history of the allergy pandemic is well documented, enabling us to put the vitamin D hypothesis into its historical context. The purpose of this study is to compare the prevalence of rickets, vitamin D sup...

Authors: Matthias Wjst

Imitators of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is described by transient narrowing of the airways after exercise. It occurs in approximately 10% of the general population, while athletes may show a higher prevalen...

Authors: Pnina Weiss and Kenneth W Rundell

Determinants in early life for asthma development

A reliable screening test in newborns for the subsequent development of bronchial asthma (BA) has not been found yet. This is mainly due to the complexity of BA, being made up by different types and underlying...

Authors: Hugo PS Van Bever

The role of Probiotics in allergic diseases

Allergic disorders are very common in the pediatric age group. While the exact etiology is unclear, evidence is mounting to incriminate environmental factors and an aberrant gut microbiota with a shift of the ...

Authors: Sonia Michail

How safe are the biologicals in treating asthma and rhinitis?

A number of biological agents are available or being investigated for the treatment of asthma and rhinitis. The safety profiles of these biologic agents, which may modify allergic and immunological diseases, a...

Authors: Linda S Cox

Pollen allergens do not come alone: pollen associated lipid mediators (PALMS) shift the human immue systems towards a T_H2-dominated response

Pollen allergy is characterized by a T_H2-biased immune response to pollen-derived allergens. However, pollen-exposed epithelia do not encounter pure allergen but rather a plethora of protein and non-protein subst...

Authors: Stefanie Gilles, Valentina Mariani, Martina Bryce, Martin J Mueller, Johannes Ring, Heidrun Behrendt, Thilo Jakob and Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann

Diagnostic evaluation of food-related allergic diseases

Food allergy is a serious and potentially life-threatening problem for an estimated 6% of children and 3.7% of adults. This review examines the diagnostic process that begins with a patient's history and physi...

Authors: John Eckman, Sarbjit S Saini and Robert G Hamilton

AACI is now an open access journal

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the new website of Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology (AACI).

Authors: Richard Warrington

Assessing and Treating Work-Related Asthma

Work-related asthma is asthma that is caused or exacerbated by exposures at work. It is the most common form of occupational lung disease in developed countries. It has important impacts on the health and well...

Authors: Tracy Stoughton, Michael Prematta and Timothy Craig

Patterns of Expression of Vaginal T-Cell Activation Markers during Estrogen-Maintained Vaginal Candidiasis

The immunosuppressive activity of estrogen was further investigated by assessing the pattern of expression of CD25, CD28, CD69, and CD152 on vaginal T cells during estrogen-maintained vaginal candidiasis. A pr...

Authors: Ameera Al-Sadeq, Mawieh Hamad and Khaled Abu-Elteen

Allergy, Asthma, and Inflammation: Which Inflammatory Cell Type Is More Important?

A recent review in Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology suggested that eosinophils play a minor role, if any, in the inflammatory spectrum of asthma and allergic inflammation. The article that dealt with mast...

Authors: Redwan Moqbel and Solomon O. Odemuyiwa

Should Younger Siblings of Peanut-Allergic Children Be Assessed by an Allergist before Being Fed Peanut?

The objective of this study was to determine the risk of peanut allergy in siblings of peanut-allergic children. In 2005-2006, 560 households of children born in 1995 in the province of Manitoba, Canada, were ...

Authors: Joel J. Liem, Saiful Huq, Anita L. Kozyrskyj and Allan B. Becker

Peanut Allergy: An Overview

Peanut allergies have been increasing in prevalence in most industrialized countries. Onset is typically in early childhood, with a trend towards earlier ages of presentation. The allergy is lifelong in most a...

Authors: Nasser Al-Ahmed, Shirina Alsowaidi and Peter Vadas

Ragweed as an Example of Worldwide Allergen Expansion

Multiple factors are contributing to the expansion of ragweed on a worldwide scale. This review seeks to examine factors that may contribute to allergen expansion with reference to ragweed as a well-studied ex...

Authors: Matthew L. Oswalt and Gailen D. Marshall Jr

Evaluating the Safety of Intranasal Steroids in the Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis

Given that intranasal corticosteroids (INCs) are widely considered first-line therapies for treatment of rhinitis, it is important for the clinician to be comfortable with the side-effect profile and be able t...

Authors: Ketan Sheth

The Changing Microbial Environment and Chronic Inflammatory Disorders

There is much to be gained from examining human diseases within the expanding framework of Darwinian medicine. This is particularly true of those conditions that change in frequency as populations develop from...

Authors: Graham A.W. Rook

Atypical Bacteria and Macrolides in Asthma

Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae are common pathogens causing acute illness in both the upper and lower airways. Several observations are supportive of a possible causative role of these pathoge...

Authors: Paraskevi Xepapadaki, Ioanna Koutsoumpari, Vasiliki Papaevagelou, Christina Karagianni and Nikolaos G. Papadopoulos

Nature of Regulatory T Cells in the Context of Allergic Disease

Allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) is the cornerstone of the management of allergic diseases, which targets modification of the immunologic response, along with environmental allergen avoidance and pharmaco...

Authors: Cevdet Ozdemir, Mübeccel Akdis and Cezmi A. Akdis

Chitosan Interferon-γ Nanogene Therapy for Lung Disease: Modulation of T-Cell and Dendritic Cell Immune Responses

The use of chitosan nanoparticles as carriers for expression plasmids represents a major improvement in gene expression technology. We demonstrated previously that treatment with chitosan interferon-γ (IFN-γ) ...

Authors: Xiaoyuan Kong, Gary R. Hellermann, Weidong Zhang, Prasanna Jena, Mukesh Kumar, Aruna Behera, Sumita Behera, Richard Lockey and Shyam S. Mohapatra

Asthma: Eosinophil Disease, Mast Cell Disease, or Both?

Although there is much circumstantial evidence implicating eosinophils as major orchestrators in the pathophysiology of asthma, recent studies have cast doubt on their importance. Not only does anti-interleuki...

Authors: Peter Bradding

Aspirin-Exacerbated Asthma

This review focuses on aspirin-exacerbated asthma (AEA). The review includes historical perspective of aspirin, prevalence, pathogenesis, clinical features and treatment of AEA. The pathogenesis of AEA involve...

Authors: Mathew Varghese and Richard F. Lockey

Patch Testing in Non-Immediate Drug Eruptions

The present review addresses the literature regarding the sensitivity and specificity of the various diagnostic methods for evaluating non-immediate (ie, occurring more than 1 hour after drug administration) h...

Authors: Antonino Romano, Marinella Viola, Francesco Gaeta, Gabriele Rumi and Michela Maggioletti

Occupational Contact Dermatitis

Occupational contact dermatitis accounts for 90% of all cases of work-related cutaneous disorders. It can be divided into irritant contact dermatitis, which occurs in 80% of cases, and allergic contact dermati...

Authors: Denis Sasseville

Is Obesity Associated with an Increased Risk for Airway Hyperresponsiveness and Development of Asthma?

We investigated the association between airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and obesity in adults referred for confirmation of asthma diagnosis. Data were analyzed for obesity class I (body mass index [BMI] 30-34...

Authors: Sat Sharma, Adarsh Tailor, Richard Warrington and Mary Cheang

Epigenetics, Behaviour, and Health

The long-term effects of behaviour and environmental exposures, particularly during childhood, on health outcomes are well documented. Particularly thought provoking is the notion that exposures to different s...

Authors: Moshe Szyf and Michael J Meaney

Stress and Childhood Asthma Risk: Overlapping Evidence from Animal Studies and Epidemiologic Research

Rapidly expanding evidence increasingly strengthens the evidence linking psychological factors to asthma and allergy expression. Parallel studies in animals and humans demonstrating the influence of prenatal m...

Authors: Rosalind J Wright

Psychological Factors in Asthma

Asthma has long been considered a condition in which psychological factors have a role. As in many illnesses, psychological variables may affect outcome in asthma via their effects on treatment adherence and s...

Authors: Ryan J Van Lieshout and Glenda MacQueen

Enhancing versus Suppressive Effects of Stress on Immune Function: Implications for Immunoprotection versus Immunopathology

It is widely believed that stress suppresses immune function and increases susceptibility to infections and cancer. Paradoxically, stress is also known to exacerbate allergic, autoimmune, and inflammatory dise...

Authors: Firdaus S Dhabhar

The Mind-Body of Allergic Diseases

Authors: A Dean Befus and Judah Denburg

Bronchodilator Response in Patients with Persistent Allergic Asthma Could Not Predict Airway Hyperresponsiveness

Anticholinergics, or specific antimuscarinic agents, by inhibition of muscarinic receptors cause bronchodilatation, which might correlate with activation of these receptors by the muscarinic agonist methacholi...

Authors: Bojana B. Petanjek, Sanja P. Grle, Dubravka Pelicarić and Dubravka Vranković