November 20, 2009, 8:48 AM CT

Depression in the mother and asthma in the child

Asthma symptoms can worsen in children with depressed mothers, as per research from Johns Hopkins Children's Center published online in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

Analyzing data from interviews with 262 mothers of African-American children with asthma - a population disproportionately affected by this inflammatory airway disorder - the Hopkins researchers observed that children whose mothers had more depressive symptoms had more frequent asthma symptoms during the six-months of the study. On the other hand, children whose mothers reported fewer depressive symptoms had less frequent asthma symptoms.

Scientists tracked ups and downs in maternal depression as correlation to the frequency of symptoms among children.

"Even though our research was not set up to measure just how much a mom's depression increased the frequency of her child's symptoms, a clear pattern emerged in which the latter followed the earlier," says senior investigator Kristin Riekert, Ph.D., a pediatric psychology expert and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Adherence Research Center.

But while maternal depression appeared to aggravate a child's asthma, the opposite was not true: How often a child had symptoms did not seem to affect the mother's depressive symptoms, an important finding that suggests maternal depression is an independent risk factor that can portend a child's symptoms, scientists say......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

November 20, 2009, 8:44 AM CT

A new weapon against allergies and asthma

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and their colleagues have developed sugar-coated polymer strands that selectively kill off cells involved in triggering aggressive allergy and asthma attacks. Their advance is a significant step toward crafting pharmaceuticals to fight these often life-endangering conditions in a new way.

For more than a decade, a team led by Bruce S. Bochner, M.D., director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has studied a unique protein known as Siglec-8. This protein, whose name is an acronym for Sialic Acid-binding, Immunoglobulin-like LECtin number 8, is present on the surfaces of a few types of immune cells, including eosinophils, basophils and mast cells. These different cell types have diverse but cooperative roles in normal immune function and allergic diseases. When functioning correctly, they are a valuable aid to keeping the body healthy and infection-free. However, in allergic reactions and asthma attacks, the cells unleash an overwhelming response that typically harms the body more than it helps.

The scientists found in prior studies that when they bound antibodies that specifically target Siglec-8 to the protein on eosinophils, the cells promptly died, an effect that might be useful in stemming an allergy or asthma attack. Since producing antibodies can be expensivea potential roadblock to using them as pharmaceuticals in the futurethe scientists sought another way to activate this protein......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

November 5, 2009, 8:23 AM CT

Acetaminophen may cause asthma

New research shows that the widely used pain reliever acetaminophen appears to be linked to an increased risk of asthma and wheezing in both children and adults exposed to the drug. Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, conducted a systematic review and metaanalysis of 19 clinical studies (total subjects=425,140) that compared the risk of asthma or wheezing with acetaminophen exposure.

The analysis showed that the pooled odds ratio (odds ratio for all studies combined) for asthma among users of acetaminophen was 1.63. The risk of asthma in children who used acetaminophen in the year previous to asthma diagnosis or in the first year of life was elevated to 1.60 and 1.47, respectively.

Furthermore, results showed a slight increase in the risk of asthma and wheezing with prenatal use of acetaminophen by mothers. Scientists speculate that acetaminophen's lack of inhibition of cyclooxygenase, the key enzyme involved in the inflammatory response of asthma, appears to be one explanation for the potential link between acetaminophen use and asthma......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

November 5, 2009, 8:22 AM CT

Women with asthma may benefit from oral contraceptives

New research shows that during natural menstrual cycles, women with asthma who were not taking oral contraceptives (OC) had lower exhaled nitric oxide levels (eNO), a marker of airway inflammation linked to asthma, than women who were taking OC.

Scientists from McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, Canada, studied 17 women with asthma during their menstrual cycles. Results showed that individuals not using oral contraceptives (OC) had higher mean eNO levels than women using OC.

Furthermore, among women not using oral contraceptives, an increase in estrogen levels was linked to a decrease in eNO, while an increase in progesterone was significantly linked to an increase in eNO. Scientists speculate that OC may have a potential role in the management of premenopausal women with asthma......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

October 6, 2009, 8:00 AM CT

Did mom use her pump during pregnancy?

Expectant mothers who eschew asthma therapy during pregnancy heighten the risk transmitting the condition to their offspring, as per one of the largest studies of its kind reported in the European Respiratory Journal A research team from the Universit de Montral, the Hpital du Sacr-Cur de Montral and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center observed that 32.6 percent of children born to mothers who neglected to treat their asthma during pregnancy developed the respiratory illness themselves.

"Uncontrolled maternal asthma during pregnancy could trigger a transient yet important reaction in the fetus that affects lung development and could subsequently increase the likelihood of a baby developing asthma in later childhood," warns main author Dr. Lucie Blais, a professor at the Universit de Montral's Faculty of Pharmacy and researcher at the Hpital du Sacr-Cur de Montral.

As part of the study, the research team examined a decade of health records for 8,226 children from birth to 10 years of age born to asthmatic mothers. Parents of these children were also mailed questionnaires requesting additional facts concerning familial medical history, lifestyle habits and environment.

"We observed that failing to control maternal asthma during pregnancy clearly has an impact on asthma in offspring a consequence that is independent of other contributing factors," says Dr. Blais. "It is of great importance for physicians to adequately treat asthmatic mothers during pregnancy, not only for the favourable outcome of pregnancy but also for the benefit of the child."........ Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

September 9, 2009, 7:41 AM CT

'Hygiene hypothesis' challenged

New research hints that the common belief that kids who go to daycare have lower rates of asthma and allergy during the later part of life might be nothing more than wishful thinking. While young children in daycare definitely do get more illnesses and experience more respiratory symptoms as a result, any perceived protection these exposures afford against asthma and allergy seem to disappear by the time the child hits the age of eight.

"We found no evidence for a protective or harmful effect of daycare on the development of asthma symptoms, allergic sensitization, or airway hyper-responsiveness at the age of eight years," wrote Johan C de Jongste, M.D., Ph.D., of Erasmus University in the Netherlands and principle investigator of the study. "Early daycare was linked to more airway symptoms until the age of four years, and only in children without older siblings, with a transient decrease in symptoms between four and eight years".

The results are reported in the September 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a journal of the American Thoracic Society.

The scientists prospectively followed a birth cohort of nearly 4,000 Dutch children over the course of eight years in the Prevention and Occurence rate of Asthma and Mite Allergy (PIAMA) Study. Parents completed questionnaires during pregnancy, at three and 12 months, and then yearly until the child reached the age of eight, and reported their children's airway symptoms annually. At the age of eight, more than 3,500 of the children were also assessed for specific allergies. Some also underwent testing for lung function and airway hyper-responsiveness......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

August 31, 2009, 9:51 PM CT

New asthma predictors needed

Screening tests used to predict asthma activity in patients may have little tracking success when applied to people with persistent disease who are adhering to their health care regimens, UT Southwestern Medical Center doctor report.

Prior reports have suggested that certain clinical findings and laboratory tests could help predict future asthma attacks. Those earlier conclusions, however, were based on observations of patients with poorly controlled asthma who had not received care based on current guidelines.

The newly released study appears in the recent issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

"It was surprising to find that factors often used to predict future asthma risk in poorly treated populations were of no clinical benefit when applied to a well-treated, highly adherent population of inner-city adolescents and young adults with persistent asthma," said Dr. Rebecca Gruchalla, chief of allergy and immunology at UT Southwestern and the newly released study's main author.

Early identification of adolescents and young adults at risk for asthma progression may lead to better therapy opportunities and improved disease outcomes in adulthood.

Typically the study involved 546 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20 with persistent asthma, a complex disease of the airways that is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, airflow obstruction, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and underlying inflammation......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

August 26, 2009, 7:00 AM CT

Asthma patients had better results with oral controllers

Mayo Clinic Proceedings published a peer-evaluated comparative effectiveness study performed by HealthCore, Inc. in its August edition. The study demonstrated that asthma patients in general had better clinical outcomes with oral controllers than inhaled corticosteroids.

"WellPoint's National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee requested the comparative effectiveness study to help ensure that its drug formulary for asthma therapies was aligned with their real-world use and outcomes," said Dr. Joseph Singer, vice president of clinical affairs for HealthCore, the outcomes research subsidiary for WellPoint, Inc. "We believe the study to be the first comprehensive comparative effectiveness research study on all asthma controller medications".

"Clinical superiority of the inhaled products has been well documented in clinical trials and the HealthCore study confirmed this for those who take their medicine properly," Singer said. "However, we were surprised to discover that in looking at all patients in real-world settings, oral controllers appeared to be a better choice of therapy because of better compliance. Patients with the best outcomes were those who were compliant with inhaled corticosteroids".

The study, "Impact of Asthma Controller Medications on Clinical, Economic and Patient-Reported Outcomes," revealed that users of oral controllers were significantly better at adhering to their medicine than users of inhaled corticosteroids and probably obtained greater therapy benefit. After the study was complete in 2008, WellPoint's National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee chose to keep the oral controller used by the vast majority of its members on the same preferred formulary tier and lift its previous authorization requirement......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

August 18, 2009, 11:02 PM CT

Milk is safe after treatment for milk allergy

Some children with a history of severe milk allergy can safely drink milk and consume other dairy products every day, as per research led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and reported in the Aug. 10 online edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Investigators followed up with a subset of children who were part of an earlier Hopkins Children's-led study published in 2008 in which patients allergic to milk were given increasingly higher doses of milk over time. For a number of of them, continuous exposure to milk allergens the proteins that trigger bad reactions slowly and gradually retrained their immune systems to better tolerate the very food that once sent those systems into overdrive.

The follow-up of 18 children ages 6 to 16 whose severe milk allergies had eased or disappeared observed that all children were able to safely consume milk at home, and that reactions, while common, were generally mild and grew milder and milder over time. The follow-up varied from three to 17 months, depending on how long it took patients to increase their milk intake.

These findings also suggest that regular use of milk and dairy foods appears to be needed for children to maintain their tolerance.

"We now have evidence from other studies that some children once successfully treated remain allergy-free even without daily exposure, while in others the allergies return once they stop regular daily exposure to milk," says Robert Wood, M.D., the study's senior investigator and director of Allergy & Immunology at Hopkins Children's. "This may mean that some patients are truly cured of their allergy, while in others the immune system adapts to regular daily exposure to milk and may, in fact, need the exposure to continue to tolerate it," he adds......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

August 11, 2009, 11:10 PM CT

Powerful new therapy for asthma

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston scientists have observed that a single enzyme is apparently critical to most allergen-provoked asthma attacks and that activity of the enzyme, known as aldose reductase, can be significantly reduced by compounds that have already undergone clinical trials as therapys for complications of diabetes.

The discovery, made in experiments conducted with mice and in human cell cultures, opens the way to human tests of a powerful new therapy for asthma, which today afflicts more than 20 million Americans. Such a development would provide a badly needed alternative to current asthma treatment, which primarily depends on hard-to-calibrate inhaled doses of corticosteroids and bronchodilators, which have many side effects.

"Oral administration of aldose reductase inhibitors works effectively in experimental animals," said UTMB professor Satish Srivastava, senior author of a paper on the discovery appearing in the Aug. 6 issue of the journal PLoS One "If these drugs work as well in humans as they do in animals you could administer them either orally or in a single puff from an inhaler and get long-lasting results."

Srivastava and colleagues (postdoctoral fellows Umesh Yadav and Leopoldo Aguilera-Aguirre, associate professor Kota Venkata Ramana, professor Istvan Boldogh and LSU Health Sciences Center assistant professor Hamid Boulares) focused on aldose reductase inhibition as a possible asthma treatment after establishing an essential role for the enzyme in other diseases also characterized by inflammation. In disorders such as colon cancer, atherosclerosis, sepsis and uveitis, the Srivastava team has found, cells are hit by a sudden overload of reactive oxygen species (varieties of oxygen and oxygen compounds that are particularly eager to react with other molecules). The result is a chain of biochemical reactions that leads the cells' genetic machinery to crank out a barrage of inflammatory signaling proteins. These summon immune system cells and generate even more reactive oxygen species, producing a vicious cycle of ever-increasing inflammation......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

June 3, 2009, 5:00 AM CT

Obesity Does Not Worsen Asthma

Being overweight or obese does not make asthma worse in patients with mild and moderate forms of the disease, as per a research studyby National Jewish Health researchers, eventhough it may reduce the response to medications.

"With both asthma and obesity on the rise in recent years, there has been much interest in the possible link between these two conditions," said main author E. Rand Sutherland, Associate Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health, and main author of the paper appearing in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

"By studying a well characterized group of patients with asthma, we were able to determine that increased weight is not linked to more severe asthma. Eventhough benefits can be obtained with weight loss in other diseases, these findings suggest that an improvement in asthma may not necessarily result from weight loss.

"The findings also suggest that patients and physicians should be aware that obese asthma patients may not respond well to corticosteroids, the most successful controller medicine for asthma, which can affect dosing decisions and choices of possible alternatives to steroids."

Prior studies have suggested that obesity predisposes people to developing asthma, to suffer more severe asthma symptoms, and to respond less to medications. However, the exact mechanism for these links has been unclear, and the studies have generally relied upon patients' reports of their diagnosis and symptoms rather than using more precise tools to characterize patients......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

May 27, 2009, 9:18 PM CT

Why Eczema Often Leads To Asthma ?

A number of young children who get a severe skin rash develop asthma months or years later. Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the atopic march.

Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered what might be the key to atopic march. They've shown that a substance secreted by damaged skin circulates through the body and triggers asthmatic symptoms in allergen-exposed laboratory mice.

The findings, published May 19, 2009, in Public Library of Science Biology, suggest that early therapy of skin rash and inhibition of the trigger substance might block asthma development in young patients with eczema.

Fifty percent to 70 percent of children with severe atopic dermatitis go on to develop asthma, studies show. By comparison, the rate of asthma incidence among the general population is only about 9 percent in children and 7 percent in adults. Seventeen percent of U.S. children suffer from atopic dermatitis, eventhough not all cases are considered severe.

"Over the years, the clinical community has struggled to explain atopic march," says study author Raphael Kopan, Ph.D., professor of developmental biology and of dermatology. "So when we observed that the skin of mice with an eczema-like condition produced a substance previously implicated in asthma, we decided to investigate further. We observed that the mice also suffered from asthma-like responses to inhaled allergens, implicating the substance, called TSLP, as the link between eczema and asthma."........ Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

April 30, 2009, 9:50 PM CT

Management of asthma during pregnancy

Pregnant women with asthma, the most common condition affecting the lungs during pregnancy, should actively manage their asthma in order to optimize the health of mother and the baby, as per new management recommendations reported in the current issue of the New England Journal (NEJM)

"Though studies suggest asthma during pregnancy can increase health risks for mom and baby, our research shows that women who manage their asthma can have as healthy a pregnancy as women who don't have asthma," said Michael Schatz, MD, main author of the NEJM recommendations and chief of the Allergy Department at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, San Diego, Calif. "A number of studies suggest that asthma can increase the risk of pregnancy complications, including preeclampsia, low birth-weight babies or preterm birth, however, women with well-controlled asthma in pregnancy generally have good pregnancy outcomes. Women who have asthma and are considering pregnancy should speak with their doctors to develop a treatment plan".

The recommendations are based to a large degree on a 12-year Kaiser Permanente study of 1,900 pregnant women, and a Maternal Fetal Medicine Units network study of 2,620 women from 16 university hospital centers around the country. Both studies concluded that women with actively managed asthma are just as likely to have healthy pregnancies and babies as women who don't have asthma......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

April 30, 2009, 5:09 AM CT

Folic acid may help treat allergies, asthma

Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, as per new research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

In what is thought to bethe first study in humans examining the link between blood levels of folate the naturally occurring form of folic acid and allergies, the Hopkins researchers say results add to mounting evidence that folate can help regulate inflammation. Recent studies, including research from Hopkins, have found a link between folate levels and inflammation-mediated diseases, including heart disease. A report on the Hopkins Children's findings appears online ahead of print in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology

Cautioning that it's far too soon to recommend folic acid supplements to prevent or treat people with asthma and allergies, the scientists emphasize that more research needs to be done to confirm their results, and to establish safe doses and risks.

Reviewing the medical records of more than 8,000 people ages 2 to 85 the researchers tracked the effect of folate levels on respiratory and allergic symptoms and on levels of IgE antibodies, immune system markers that rise in response to an allergen. People with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer reported allergies, less wheezing and lower likelihood of asthma, scientists report......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

April 27, 2009, 5:08 AM CT

Simple household bleach to treat kids' eczema

It's best known for whitening a load of laundry. But now simple household bleach has a surprising new role: an effective therapy for kids' chronic eczema.

Chronic, severe eczema can mar a childhood. The skin disorder starts with red, itchy, inflamed skin that often becomes crusty and raw from scratching. The eczema disturbs kids' sleep, alters their appearance and affects their concentration in school. The itching is so bad kids may break the skin from scratching and get chronic skin infections that are difficult to treat, particularly from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Scientists from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have discovered powerful relief in the form of diluted beach baths. It's a cheap, simple and safe therapy that drastically improves the rash as well as reduces flare-ups of eczema, which affects 17 percent of school-age children.

The study found giving pediatric patients with moderate or severe eczema (atopic dermatitis) diluted bleach baths decreased signs of infection and improved the severity and extent of the eczema on their bodies. That translates into less scratching, fewer infections and a higher quality of life for these children.

The typical therapy of oral and topical antibiotics increases the risk of bacterial resistance, something doctors try to avoid, particularly in children. Bleach kills the bacteria but doesn't have the same risk of creating bacterial resistance......... Posted by: George      Read more         Source

April 23, 2009, 5:05 AM CT

Vitamin D levels and asthma severity

New research provides evidence for a link between vitamin D insufficiency and asthma severity.

Serum levels of vitamin D in more than 600 Costa Rican children were inversely associated with several indicators of allergy and asthma severity, including hospitalizations for asthma, use of inhaled steroids and total IgE levels, as per a research studythat will appear in the first issue for May of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

While prior in vitro studies have suggested that vitamin D may affect how airway cells respond to therapy with inhaled steroids, this is the first in vivo study of vitamin D and disease severity in children with asthma.

Juan Celedn, M.D., Dr. P.H. and Augusto Litonjua, M.D., M.P.H. of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues recruited 616 children with asthma living in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, a country known to have a high prevalence of asthma. Each child was assessed for allergic markers, including both allergen-specific and general sensitivity tests, and assessed for lung function and circulating vitamin D levels. Children whose forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) exceeded 65 percent of the predicted value were also tested for airway reactivity.

They observed that children with lower vitamin D levels were significantly more likely to have been hospitalized for asthma in the prior year, tended to have airways with increased hyperreactivity and were likely to have used more inhaled corticosteroids, all signifying higher asthma severity. These children were also significantly more likely to have several markers of allergy, including dust-mite sensitivity......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

March 29, 2009, 10:34 PM CT

Role of enzyme and vitamin in asthma

The allergen breathed in by a person with asthma triggers a proteinase or enzyme called MMP7 that activates a cascade of events to prompt an allergic reaction, said a consortium of scientists led by Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Immunology

In particular, MMP7 activates interleukin 25, a key mediator of the allergic response in the lung said Drs. Farrah Kheradmand (http://www.bcm.edu/medicine/pulmonary/?pmid=4832) and David B. Corry (http://www.bcm.edu/medicine/pulmonary/?pmid=4828), associate professors of medicine-pulmonary at BCM, and senior authors of the report.

In the same report, the scientists report that they have identified a form of vitamin A made in the lung that is critical for dampening the inflammatory effect. Mice that lack MMP7 were found to have higher production of retinal dehydrogenase, an enzyme that is responsible for synthesizing vitamin A in the lung. MMP7 deficient mice showed less lung inflammation when they are exposed to allergens than did mice who had enough MMP7. Suppressing the production of vitamin A restored the asthmatic symptoms in the MMP7 deficient mice.

"It is important to know which mediators in the airway appears to be setting off the initial cascade of events that result in the asthmatic reaction in the lung; it would be like getting to the top of the food chain," they said......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

March 5, 2009, 6:15 AM CT

Antibody treatment for sever asthma

McMaster University scientists have found patients with a very severe asthma benefit from injections of the antibody, mepolizumab.

The study by Dr. Param Nair and his colleagues based at The Firestone Institute for Respiratory Disease, St. Joseph's Healthcare, found patients who require a lot of medication, including prednisone, to control their disease benefit from the injections.

The research reported in the New England Journal (NEJM) (NEJM), investigated asthmatics with a persisting type of airway inflammation with inflammatory cells called eosinophils. It is estimated there are 60,000 to 120,000 Canadians with this condition.

"Mepolizumab works by blocking the production of eosinophils," said the study's senior author Dr. Paul O'Byrne. "By preventing their production, we were able to improve asthma, reduce the need for prednisone and really show that eosinophils are important in causing asthma symptoms in these patients." O'Byrne is the E. J. Moran Campbell Professor in Respiratory Medicine and chair of the Department of Medicine at McMaster University, and executive director of the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

Of three million asthmatics in Canada, about five to eight per cent are severe asthmatics. About half of these have severe asthma with persistent eosinophilia. Eventhough these asthmatics are fewer in number, they represent huge costs to the health care system because frequent flare-ups which can require admission to hospital......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 5, 2009, 6:08 AM CT

How much screen time is enough for children with asthma?

Urban children with asthma engage in an average of an hour more of screen time daily than the maximum amount American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends. This is the first study to examine screen time among children with asthma.

"We know that both asthma and excessive screen time can be linked to other difficulties, including behavior problems, difficulty with attention, poor school performance and obesity," said Kelly M. Conn, M.P.H., of General Pediatrics at Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong and main author of the study, which was published recently in Academic Pediatrics. (Academic Pediatrics changed its name from Ambulatory Pediatrics this year.) The study was conducted out of the University of Rochester Medical Center.

As a part of a larger study on how to more effectively treat asthma, Conn and her colleagues surveyed parents of urban children with asthma in Rochester, NY, to better understand their screen time viewing habits. Screen time includes TV watching and video tapes, playing video and computer games and using the Internet. The study observed that 74 percent of the 226 children whose parents were surveyed exceeded more than two hours of screen time per day. On average, these children with asthma watched 3.4 hours daily.

"Even though these findings are preliminary, a message for parents would be to remain aware of the amount of time your child is spending in front of screens and try to encourage your child to participate in a range of activities," Conn said. The types of programs children watch are also important; young children should watch shows meant for their age group, rather than watching PG-13 or R-rated movies, or playing Teen-rated games......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 4, 2009, 6:28 AM CT

Even natural perfumes may cause allergies

Hypersensitivity to perfumes is the most common contact allergy in adults. Research at the University of Gothenburg has demonstrated that even natural aromatic oils, which a number of deem harmless in comparison to synthetic perfumes, may cause allergic reactions.

Roughly one in five adults in northern Europe is believed to suffer from contact allergy to one or more chemicals. The most common is nickel allergy, but a number of people also suffer from contact allergy to perfumes even perfume substances that at first glance appear to be harmless can cause allergic reactions. New eczema-provoking allergens are formed by reaction with acid in the ambient air (known as autoxidation) or with skin enzymes.

Modern society usually regards anything that comes from nature as being healthier and less dangerous. Where it concerns natural aromas, known as essential oils, a number of manufacturers think that natural antioxidants in these oils offer protection against autoxidation thus making them safer and longer lasting than artificial perfumes. Research at the University of Gothenburg shows this is not the case.

Lina Hagvall, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg's Department of Chemistry, has examined natural lavender oil in her thesis. Her results show that essential oils do not prevent the formation of allergenic substances through reactions with acid; something which had not previously been possible to confirm. Hagvall's thesis also examines geraniol, a common constituent of perfumes such as rose oil. The study shows geraniol by itself to be only slightly allergenic. However through autoxidation and reaction with skin enzymes, the substance is activated and becomes the closely related allergen geranial. This is the first time these activation pathways have been demonstrated for the substance......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

January 30, 2009, 6:09 AM CT

New class of allergy drugs

If you've ever wondered why some allergic reactions progress quickly and may even become fatal, a new research report reported in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org) provides an important part of the answer. In the report, researchers from Queen's University of Belfast, University of Oxford and Trinity College Dublin show for the first time that eotaxin, a chemical that helps immune cells locate the site of infection, blocks basic "fighter" cells from transforming into "seeker" dendritic cells, resulting in a heightened allergic response.

"Our study reveals a new role for the chemokine eotaxin in controlling immune cell types at the site of allergic reaction," said Nigel Stevenson, a researcher involved in the study. "These findings are crucial for our understanding of allergic responses and appears to be instrumental for the design of new allergy drugs".

Stevenson and his colleagues made this discovery by using immune cells grown in the lab and from healthy volunteers. Then the scientists mimicked what occurs during an allergic reaction by treating the cells with eotaxin, which was previously believed to only attract immune cells during an allergic reaction. Through a series of laboratory procedures, they tracked changes in immune cell type and observed that eotaxin inhibits monocytes becoming dendritic cells (that find foreign invaders so other immune cells can neutralize them), resulting in more "fighter" cells being present during an allergic response. This discovery shows how and why eotaxin plays an important role in the severity of allergic reactions and appears to be a target for an entirely new class of allergy medications......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

January 27, 2009, 6:18 AM CT

Fast-food diet cancels out benefits of breastfeeding

A number of studies have shown that breastfeeding appears to reduce the chance of children developing asthma. But a newly published study led by a University of Alberta professor has observed that eating fast food more than once or twice a week negated the beneficial effects that breastfeeding has in protecting children from the respiratory disease.

The article appears online in the international journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy based in London, England. Many different findings led the scientists to their conclusion showing links between fast food and asthma, breastfeeding and asthma, and all three together.

"Like other studies, we observed that fast-food consumption was linked to asthma," said the senior author, Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj (pronounced koh-ZUHR-skee), an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the U of A's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

The research confirmed the findings of a number of other studies about the benefits of breastfeeding in relation to asthma. Kozyrskyj et al. observed that breastfeeding for too short a time was associated with a higher risk of asthma, or on the other hand that children exclusively breastfed 12 weeks or longer as infants had a lower risk.

"But this beneficial effect was only seen in children who did not consume fast food, or only occasionally had fast food," she added......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

January 26, 2009, 11:35 PM CT

Controversy of using stimulants to treat asthma

HOUSTON Just when the Food and Drug Administration is reconsidering the use of stimulants to treat asthma, a new research study offers further evidence to support a University of Houston professor's theory that an opposite approach to asthma treatment may be in order.

Richard A. Bond, professor of pharmacology at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy (UHCOP), has been investigating whether beta-2 adrenoreceptor antagonist drugs (or beta blockers) ultimately might be a safer, more effective strategy for long-term asthma management than the currently used beta-2 adrenoreceptor agonists (or stimulants).

The beta-2 adrenoreceptor is a receptor found in many cells, including the smooth muscle lining the airways, and has long been a target for asthma drugs. However, a recent study shows the absence of asthma-like symptoms in a mouse model that lacks the key gene that produces the receptor. This lends further evidence to Bond's theory that questions whether the pharmaceutical industry should be working to block or inhibit the receptor instead of the current approach of chronically stimulating it to reduce asthma symptoms.

The study, "Beta2-Adrenoreceptor Signaling is Required for the Development of an Asthma Phenotype in a Murine Model," is in the current online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific serials. A follow-up commentary by an independent scientist in the field also would be published in the print issue of PNAS in February......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

December 30, 2008, 7:13 AM CT

Anti-fungal drug against asthma

Some patients with severe asthma who also have allergic sensitivity to certain fungi enjoy great improvements in their quality of life and on other measures after taking an antifungal drug, as per new research from The University of Manchester in England.

The findings were published in the first issue for January of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

"We knew that a number of people with severe asthma are sensitized to several airborne fungi which can worsen asthma without overt clinical signs. The question was: does antifungal treatment provide any clinical benefit," said David Denning, F.R.C.P., F.R.C.Path., professor of medicine and medical mycology at The University of Manchester and lead investigator of the study.

In 2006, the most recent year for which official statistics are available, there were more than 16 million adults with self-reported asthma in the U.S.; about 20 percent of them have severe asthma.

A small number of severe asthmaticsabout one percent are known to have a syndrome called allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, an extreme allergy to Aspergillus fumigatus fungus that is linked to the long-term colonization of their respiratory tracts with the fungus. But a number of more 20 to 50 percent are sensitized to a variety of fungi without showing overt clinical signs or demonstrable colonization. It is these patients with severe asthma with fungal sensitization, or "SAFS", as the scientists named the syndrome, who are most likely to enjoy marked improvement with the antifungal treatment......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source