Allergy
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The perceptions of patients and physicians regarding the symptoms and impact of allergic rhinitis (AR) were assessed in a prospective, cross-sectional, international survey. This paper presents the combined survey results from five European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK). ⋯ Allergic rhinitis remains a significant health problem because of the high burden of symptoms and its impact on general well being and HRQoL among patients consulting for this condition. Overall, there was a poor correlation between patients and physicians in the reporting of disease severity.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Relevance of the determination of serum-specific IgE antibodies in the diagnosis of immediate beta-lactam allergy.
Allergic reactions to beta-lactams are the most frequent cause of adverse drug reactions mediated by specific immunologic mechanisms. They can be explored by in vivo and/or in vitro tests. The measurement of serum-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) presents several advantages: safety, simplicity, and availability to nonallergologist physicians. ⋯ These results indicate that, although the specificity of beta-lactam-specific IgE measurement is good, sensitivity is low. Immunoglobulin E measurement should be limited to patients with a clinical history of anaphylactic shock and negative skin tests in order to avoid a drug provocation test. More sensitive assays should be developed.
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CC chemokine ligand 11 (CCL11) is the outstanding member of all described CC chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3) ligands and is shown to be selective for this receptor. However, it also activates CCR5 but only in the micromolar range. The in vivo activity of CCL11 is expected to be temporally restricted, as it is degraded by specific proteases such as the dipeptidyl-peptidase IV (DP4), also termed CD26. Based on the approach to inactivate chemokine receptors in allergic disease models as has been demonstrated for DP4-resistant n-nonanoyl (NNY)-CCL14 and for amino-oxypentane (AOP)-CCL5, it is tempting to study similar compounds derived from CCL11. ⋯ n-Nonanoyl-CCL11 represents a compound with dual activity restricted to CCR3 and CCR5. Because of its receptor-inactivating capacity and stability against DP4 degradation, NNY-CCL11 is a suitable tool for the decoding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of allergic diseases.