Allergy
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Roasted hazelnuts--allergenic activity evaluated by double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge.
Allergy to hazelnuts is a common example of birch pollen related food allergy. Symptoms upon ingestion are often confined to the mouth and throat, but severe systemic reactions have been described in some patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the reduction in allergenicity by roasting of the nuts. ⋯ All the applied methods indicated that roasting of hazelnuts reduces the allergenicity, but since 5/17 birch pollen allergic patients were DBPCFC-positive to the roasted nuts, ingestion of roasted hazelnuts or products containing roasted hazelnuts can not be considered safe for a number of hazelnut allergic consumers. For patients with a history of severe allergic symptoms upon ingestion of hazelnuts, thorough and conscientious food labelling of hazelnuts and hazelnut residues is essential.
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Comparative Study
Nuclear factor-kappaB activity is down-regulated in nasal polyps from aspirin-sensitive asthmatics.
We examined whether a decreased activity of nuclear factor(NF)-kappaB), a transcriptional regulator of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), could account for down-regulation of COX-2 in nasal polyps of aspirin-sensitive asthmatics. ⋯ This study shows that the low expression of COX-2 mRNA in nasal polyps from aspirin-sensitive patients is associated with a down-regulation of NF-kappaB activity.