Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology : official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology
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Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. · Jun 2012
Endotoxin exposure in inner-city schools and homes of children with asthma.
Endotoxins are stimulators of the immune system and, despite their potential to protect against allergy, have been associated with early wheezing and asthma morbidity. ⋯ Inner-city children with asthma were exposed to higher concentrations of endotoxin in their classrooms as compared with their bedrooms. Further studies are needed to evaluate school endotoxin exposure as a factor in asthma morbidity.
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Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. · Jun 2012
17q12-21 variants are associated with asthma and interact with active smoking in an adult population from the United Kingdom.
Although an association between 17q12-21 and asthma has been replicated across different populations, some inconsistencies have been found between different studies. ⋯ We found 1 novel association and replicated several previously reported associations between 17q12-21 polymorphisms and asthma. We demonstrated significant interactions between active smoking and polymorphisms in 17q12-21 with asthma, lung function, and AHR in adults. Our data confirm that 17q12-21 is an important asthma susceptibility locus.
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Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. · May 2012
Using latent class growth analysis to identify childhood wheeze phenotypes in an urban birth cohort.
To advance asthma cohort research, we need a method that can use longitudinal data, including when collected at irregular intervals, to model multiple phenotypes of wheeze and identify both time-invariant (eg, sex) and time-varying (eg, environmental exposure) risk factors. ⋯ This is the first application of LCGA to identify wheeze phenotypes in asthma research. Unlike other methods, this modeling technique can accommodate questionnaire data collected at irregularly spaced age intervals and can simultaneously identify multiple trajectories of health outcomes and associations with time-invariant and time-varying causative factors.
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Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. · May 2012
Timing the transfer of responsibilities for anaphylaxis recognition and use of an epinephrine auto-injector from adults to children and teenagers: pediatric allergists' perspective.
The optimal time for transferring responsibilities for anaphylaxis recognition and epinephrine auto-injector use from adults to children and teenagers has not yet been defined. ⋯ Most pediatric allergists expected that by age 12 to 14 years, their patients should begin to share responsibilities with adults for anaphylaxis recognition and epinephrine auto-injector use; however, they individualized the timing based on assessment of patient readiness factors.