Allergies, Author Interviews, Dermatology, Immunotherapy, JAMA / 17.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christopher S. Lee, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, FHFSA Professor and Associate Dean for Research Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although the efficacy of omalizumab (i.e. can it work?) in the treatment of chronic idiopathic (spontaneous) urticaria has been established in clinical trials, the effectiveness of omalziumab (i.e. does it work?) in the real-world management is less well established. The purpose of this study was to synthesize what is known about the benefits and harms of omalizumab as used in real-world treatment of Chronic Idiopathic (Spontaneous) Urticaria. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 16.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eliane Abou-Jaoude, MD  Allergy and Immunology Fellow Henry Ford Health System Detroit, MichiganEliane Abou-Jaoude, MD  Allergy and Immunology Fellow Henry Ford Health System Detroit, Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Early life exposure to diverse types of microbes is necessary for healthy immune development and may impact the risk for developing allergic disorders. Theoretically the transfer of parental microbes to their offspring during infancy can influence a child’s developing gut microbiome and subsequent immune response patterns. We wished to investigate whether parental pacifier cleaning methods, reported at 6-months of age, were associated with altered serum IgE trajectory over the first 18 months of life.  (more…)
Allergies, Asthma, Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Science / 16.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: "Dogs and Kids Mix Well" by Tony Alter is licensed under CC BY 2.0Catarina Almqvist Malmros MD, PhD Professor | Consultant Pediatrician Dept of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics | Karolinska Institutet Lung and Allergy Unit | Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have previously shown an association between growing up with dogs and a lower risk of childhood asthma (doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.3219) but it has been unknown whether this link is modified by characteristics of the dog. Sex of the dog may have an effect on expressed allergens, and uncastrated male dogs release more of a certain allergen than castrated male dogs and female dogs. Some breeds are also described as ‘hypoallergenic’, but there is no scientific evidence whether they are more suitable for people with allergies. We examined how variables such as sex, breed, number of dogs or size of dog are associated with the risk of asthma and allergy among children with a dog in their home during the first year of life. We included all Swedish children born between January 2001 and December 2004 whose parents had a registered dog in a dog-owner register and linked the data to the Swedish population- and health data registers. Main findings are that children raised with only female dogs at home had a 16 per cent lower risk of asthma than those with male dogs, and that children living with two or more dogs had a 21 per cent lower risk of asthma than those with only one dog. Importantly, families with parental asthma or allergies had ‘hypoallergenic’ breeds more often than children whose parents did not have asthma or allergies; 11.7% compared to 7.6 . Exposure to these breeds was associated with a 27 per cent higher risk of allergy and no decreased risk of asthma.  (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 06.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David Stukus, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics Associate Director, Pediatric Allergy & Immunology Fellowship Program Director of Quality Improvement, Division of Allergy and Immunology Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine Columbus Ohio 43205 Dr. David Stukus discusses the emerging science behind food allergy prevention. MedicalResearch.com: How many US children are affected by food allergies?  Response: Food allergies affect roughly 5-8% of all U.S. children, which is approximately 6 million children. This translates to about 1 in every 13 children, or an average of two children in every classroom.  MedicalResearch.com: Are food allergies becoming more common? Response: Yes, we know that the prevalence of food allergies have doubled over the past two decades. Unfortunately, there is no single or definitive answer as to why this increase has occurred. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, OBGYNE / 20.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Pollen” by John S. Quarterman is licensed under CC BY 2.0Bircan Erbas, Associate Professor Reader/Associate Professor, Department of Public Health School of Psychology & Public Health La Trobe University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Around the world allergic respiratory diseases especially in children is a major problem. Studies have already shown that cord blood IgE can be used to identify children at risk for allergic diseases. Our previous research showed that exposure to high levels of outdoor pollen, especially grass, in the first couple of months after birth increased risk of allergic respiratory diseases. Based on this, we suspected that exposure to high grass pollen during pregnancy could be also important. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, CDC, Infections, Pediatrics / 25.08.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maribeth C. Lovegrove, MPH Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GA 30333). MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There has been a lot of recent attention on reducing unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in order to reduce antibiotic resistance (a longer-term harm).  However, antibiotic use also can lead to shorter-term harms like allergic reactions and other side effects.  With this analysis, we wanted to focus on the acute harms to individual pediatric patients from antibiotic use in order to help target prevention efforts.  Specifically, we used data from two national data sources to identify the antibiotics with the highest numbers of emergency department visits for adverse drug events and the highest rates of emergency department visits for adverse drug events (accounting for amount of antibiotic prescriptions dispensed) and to identify the pediatric patients with the highest risks. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, PLoS / 16.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “TOMATOES” by RubyGoes is licensed under CC BY 2.0Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Wilfried Schwab Technical University of Munich Center of Life and Food Science Weihenstephan Biotechnology of Natural Products Freising, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The prevalence of food allergy is an increasing health problem. Although tomatoes are one of the most consumed vegetables worldwide and have health beneficial effects lowering the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, patients suffering from birch pollen allergy can develop cross-reactivity after consumption of fresh tomatoes. The aim of this study was to develop an analytical method for the quantification of the birch-pollen homologous allergen Sola l 4 in various tomatoes cultivars. Furthermore, the effect of conventional or organic cultivation as well as processing techniques on Sola l 4 content was investigated. (more…)
AHA Journals, Allergies, Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA / 17.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Lone Star Tick” by Katja Schulz is licensed under CC BY 2.0Jeffrey Wilson, MD, PhD Research Fellow, Allergy & Immunology University of Virginia  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Galactose-α-1,3-galactose (α-Gal) represents an oligosaccharide that is present in mammalian products and is the causal allergen in a syndrome of delayed red meat allergy (commonly called α-Gal syndrome). Sensitization to this allergen has been linked to tick bites, specifically the lone star tick in the United States. Thus, sensitization to α-Gal (and the prevalence of subjects with symptomatic red meat allergy) is relatively common where the lone star tick is common, i.e- the southeast. For a variety of reasons we hypothesized that specific immune sensitization (which relates to IgE antibody production) to α-Gal would be a risk factor for coronary artery disease. To address this possibility we measured IgE specific to α-Gal in 118 adults subjects from central Virginia who had undergone advanced cardiac imaging with a technique called intravascular ultrasound. Out of the cohort 26% of the subjects in the study had the sensitivity to α-Gal. The main finding was that subjects with the IgE sensitization to α-Gal had greater amounts of atherosclerosis, as well as atherosclerotic plaques with more unstable characteristics. This association was significant when controlled for traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and lipids levels. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Autism, JAMA, Pediatrics / 10.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wei Bao, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Epidemiology College of Public Health University of Iowa MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previous studies indicated a possible link between immunologic dysfunction and autism. The current study, based on nationally representative large-scale surveys, showed that food allergy, respiratory allergy, and skin allergy, all relevant to immunological dysfunction, were associated with autism spectrum disorder among US children. (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Allergies, Education, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders / 30.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael S. Blaiss, MD, FACAAI Executive Medical Director American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Arlington Heights, IL 60005 MedicalResearch.com: Is this research important? Why or why not? Response: There has not been a comprehensive review of how allergic rhinitis impacts the adolescent population. Most studies put adolescents in with children and yet we know that how disease affects adolescents may be dramatically different than children. Adolescents is a difficult enough time with a chronic condition MedicalResearch.com: What is the key take-home message? Response: The symptoms associated with nasal and eye allergies can be different in adolescents compared with adults and children and lead to poor quality of life and impair learning in school. Adolescents with AR/ARC may experience difficulties falling asleep, night waking, and snoring, and generally have poorer sleep. Therefore health care providers need to aggressively control the adolescent’s allergic rhinitis.  (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Dermatology, Inflammation, Pediatrics / 07.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: elstarNidhi Malhotra PhD Boston Children's Hospital Division of Allergy and Immunology Senior Scientist at Elstar Therapeutics Inc. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Allergies such as Atopic Dermatitis (AD) are rampant in the industrialized nations. Why are we more predisposed to developing hypersensitive reactions to innocuous proteins (allergens) is not well understood. To gain better understanding and to develop better therapies, we need to first delve deeper into how our immune system regulates homeostasis in tissues such as skin. The main cell types that thwart inflammatory reactions are known as regulatory T cells. These cells are generated in thymus and reside in secondary lymphoid tissues but they are also prominent at tissue sites such as in dermal layer of skin. In this study, I focused on understanding how Tregs resident in skin are distinct from the Tregs in secondary lymphoid organs such as lymph nodes (LNs). I uncovered that functioning of Tregs in skin is underpinned by a distinct set of genes. One main gene that I found to be highly expressed in skin Tregs but not in LN Tregs is Rora, which encodes for the transcription factor ROR alpha (RORa). This observation was intriguing as previous studies had elucidated the requirement of RORa in the development of inflammatory type-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) and it has been considered the antagonizing RORa functioning would curb allergic responses. However, I observed that Tregs require RORa to suppress allergic responses. In particular, RORa regulates the expression of a TNF receptor family member DR3, which binds to the cytokine TL1A. TL1A has a role in enhancing suppressive activity of Tregs while also enhancing type-2 cytokine production from ILC2s. Hence, in the absence of DR3 in Tregs, we believe more TL1A is available to ILC2s resulting in unrestrained allergic responses.  (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews / 07.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily Clarke McGowan, MD Assistant Professor, Allergy/Clinical Immunology Charlottesville, VA 22908-1355 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Folate (vitamin B9) is available in either the natural or synthetic forms and has been shown to reduce the risk of neural tube defects, like spina bifida, in newborns.  Folic acid, the synthetic form of folate, is widely consumed in the United States in infant formula, supplements, vitamins, and fortified grains.  When folic acid is consumed in high quantities, some of this folic acid does not undergo further metabolism and circulates in the blood as "unmetabolized folic acid" (UMFA). In this study, we measured total folate, UMFA, and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), the main folate metabolite involved in biochemical processes in the body, in a subset of children from the Boston Birth Cohort. While mean levels of total folate at birth were lower among those who developed food allergy, mean levels of the synthetic folic acid derivative, UMFA, were higher.  There was no association between total folate, 5-MTHF, or UMFA levels in early life and the development of food allergy.  (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Allergies / 04.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jonathan R. Brestoff-Parker, MD, PhD PSTP Resident, Clinical Pathology Department of Pathology & Immunology Washington University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Red meat allergy is a recently recognized food allergy in which people experience a delayed allergic response about 3-6 hours after eating red meats that contain the allergen alpha-gal. Red meat allergy is thought to be caused by tick bites which expose humans to alpha-gal, however other factors that contribute to disease risk are not well described. Alpha-gal looks a lot like the B antigen, which is one of the factors that determines blood type. So we wondered whether people with blood types B or AB are protected from getting red meat allergy. We were amazed when we found that patients who make the B antigen (blood types B or AB) are 5 times less likely to have red meat allergy than patients who do not make the B antigen (blood types O or A).  (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, Stanford, Technology / 03.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kavita Sarin, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Dermatology Stanford University Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Drug reactions occur in the majority of patients undergoing cancer therapies. Half of serious drug reactions are detected after market approval which can result in painful complications and interruption in therapy. Post-market drug surveillance platforms such as FDA monitoring rely on medical publications and physician reporting and take time to identify trends. We sought to determine if we could identify trends in patient discussions in internet health forums to more rapidly identify chemotherapeutic drug reactions. We chose skin reactions as a proof-of-principle because patients can more easily describe what they see on their skin. Julia Ransohoff, a medical student, and Azadeh Nikfarham, an informatics postdoctoral fellow trained a computer to recognize when a patient undergoing anti-cancer treatment with PD-1 antagonists or EGFR-inhibitors described a drug reaction in their internet forum posts. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Fish, Imperial College, Nutrition, OBGYNE, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Probiotics / 02.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Robert Boyle, Reader in Paediatric Allergy Department of Medicine Imperial College London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Diet in early life may influence whether or not an infant develops allergies or autoimmune disease. We undertook a project for the UK Food Standards Agency to evaluate the evidence for this. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?  Response: We found that a probiotic supplement during the last 2-4 weeks of pregnancy and during breastfeeding may reduce an infant’s chances of developing eczema; and that omega-3 fatty acid supplements taken from the middle of pregnancy (20 weeks gestation) through the first few months of breastfeeding may reduce an infant’s chances of developing food allergy. We also found links between longer duration of breastfeeding and improved infant health, but for most other variations in diet during pregnancy or infancy we did not find evidence for a link with allergies or autoimmune disease. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews / 29.12.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sandra Andorf PhD Kim and Ping Li Director of Computational Biology Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University Instructor, Nadeau Lab Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Food allergies are on the rise in the world. Approximately 15 million Americans have food allergies, which includes around 6 million children. Of people with food allergies, 30-40% are allergic to more than one food and therefore these people have a greater risk for an accidental ingestion resulting in an allergic reaction or anaphylaxis. Currently there is no FDA approved treatment for food allergies but oral immunotherapy, a treatment in which the patient eats small but slowly increasing doses of their allergen until they can tolerate a specified dose, was shown in research settings to be safe in children and adults for up to 5 foods in parallel. In this trial, we studied the efficacy and safety of Omalizmuab (an anti-IgE drug) treatment with oral immunotherapy in multifood allergic participants versus placebo with oral immunotherapy for a total of 9 months. We found that 83% of the participants who received Omalizumab could tolerate at least 2 g of at least two different food allergens at the end of the trial compared to 33% of those who received placebo. The participants that received Omalizumab were also desensitized faster, meaning they were on average able to eat 2 g of each of their allergic foods earlier in the treatment. Furthermore, we could show that the use of Omalizumab and the fast updosing is safe. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 26.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Peanuts” by Daniella Segura is licensed under CC BY 2.0Vicki McWilliam Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Food allergy affects up to 10% of children and 2-3% of adults, and appears to increasing in prevalence. The rise in food allergy prevalence has coincided with increased reports of anaphylaxis. Previous research has shown that adolescents are most at risk of experiencing adverse food reactions and appear to be at higher risk of anaphylaxis fatalities but are an understudied age group in food allergy research. In a large population representative sample of 10,000 10-14 year olds in Melbourne, Australia we found that alarmingly over 40% had experienced an allergic reaction in the past year and almost 10% reported potentially life threatening reactions. Consistent with other research peanut and tree nuts were the most common trigger foods for reactions and those with nut allergy were most at risk of anaphylaxis. Having more than two food allergies doubled the risk of a food allergic reaction compared to those with a single food allergy. Surprisingly, reactions were found to occur most commonly at home rather than restaurants or school. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews / 18.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Peanuts” by Daniella Segura is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Aida Eslami, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Denise Daley's research group Centre for Heart and Lung innovation Providence Heart + Lung Institute St. Paul's Hospital Vancouver, BC  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Peanut allergy and food allergies in general are caused by a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. Currently, the genetic basis of peanut allergy is unclear due to a lack of studies on food related allergies. Our study was comprised of 850 individuals with peanut allergy from the Canadian Peanut Allergy Registry (CanPAR), and nearly 1,000 individuals without peanut allergy and other food allergies. We looked at over 7.5 million genetic markers through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genes potentially associated with peanut allergy and other food allergies. Our findings are based on results from the CanPAR in combination with the results from other countries: USA, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. We identified a gene that is associated with both peanut allergy and other food allergies. This gene is called c11orf30/EMSY and has previously been shown to be involved in other conditions such as asthma, eczema, and allergic rhinitis. (more…)
Allergies, Asthma, Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Respiratory / 06.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Giovanni Piedimonte, MD Steven and Nancy Calabrese Endowed Chair for Excellence in Pediatric Care, Research, and Education Professor & Chair of Pediatrics Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Case Western Reserve University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study proves that asthmatic children already have a hyperactive calcium channel that’s extremely sensitive to environmental triggers. If these children contract a virus, such as RSV, the hyperactive channel causes more severe symptoms that may require care in a hospital setting. When a child developed asthma or bronchitis in the past, doctors thought these conditions could only be triggered by environmental allergens. There was no explanation why two out of three children ages five and under who wheeze and cough – and still test negative for allergies. We needed to explore the mechanisms of the calcium molecule and the epithelial cells, which seem to trigger these symptoms without an allergic reaction. If the molecule’s behavior is producing the cough, we just need to figure out how to control the molecule to properly deactivate the cough mechanism in the asthmatic child (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, Pediatrics / 28.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elena Netchiporouk, MD, FRCPC, MSc Dermatology Resident - PGY5 and Dr. Moshe Ben-Shoshan, MD, FRCPC, MSc McGill University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We have followed a pediatric cohort of 139 patients with chronic urticaria (CU) (hives) between 2013 and 2015 in a single tertiary care center and assessed the comorbidities, the rate of resolution and determined predictors of resolution. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Pediatrics, Technology / 07.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lee, Hakho, PhD Department of Systems Biology Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The incidence of food allergy is increasing worldwide, particularly among children, and yet no handy test is available for general public. There are plenty of allergens testing methods for the factories producing the products, we wanted to solve this issue. Our pilot test showed wide variation in allergen contents in packaged food products and restaurant meals. Hidden allergens (like gluten in salad dressing, likely from additives) were also found. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Nutrition, Pediatrics / 19.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Malcolm Sears, Professor MB, ChB, FRACP, FRCPC, FAAAAI Co-director of the CHILD Study Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine, McMaster University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study is a longitudinal birth cohort study commenced in 2008 with 3,495 families across Canada.  We recruited the mothers during pregnancy and are following their children to age 5 with the intent of determining the underlying developmental causes of allergy and asthma. In the current analysis, we have looked at the relationship between the timing of first introduction of three “allergenic” foods (milk products, egg and peanut) and the likelihood of sensitization to these foods at age 1 year.  We found that earlier introduction was associated with a reduced risk of sensitization, which is consistent with some recent randomized controlled trials.  For instance, infants who avoided cow’s milk product in their first year of life were nearly four times as likely to be sensitized to cow’s milk compared with infants who did consume cow’s milk products before age 12 months.  Similarly, infants who avoided egg or peanut in the first year were nearly twice as likely to be sensitized to those foods compared to infants who consumed them before 12 months of age. (more…)
Allergies, Asthma, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Social Issues / 31.05.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wanda Phipatanakul, MD, MS Associate Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School Director, Asthma Clinical Research Center Boston Children's Hospital Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Boston, MA 02115 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Observational studies have limitations in their ability to examine disparities in asthma, as these studies have relied on self-reported measures of medication use, asthma diagnosis, severity, outcomes, and access to care. Using data collected from a randomized controlled trial, we found that subjects with lower income had a significantly higher number of asthma treatment failures and asthma exacerbations, independent of race, BMI, education, perceived stress, baseline lung function, hospitalizations, inhaled corticosteroid adherence, inhaled corticosteroid dose, environmental allergen sensitization, and second-hand smoke exposure. (more…)
Allergies, Asthma, Author Interviews, Dermatology, PLoS, Vitamin D / 10.05.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brent Richards, MD, MSc Associate Professor of Medicine William Dawson Scholar / FRQS Clinical Research Scholar Departments of Medicine, Human Genetics, Epidemiology and Biostatistics McGill University Senior Lecturer, King's College London (Honorary) MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Some previous epidemiological studies have suggested that low vitamin D levels are associated with increased rates of asthma, atopic dermatitis—an itchy inflammation of the skin—and elevated levels of IgE, an immune molecule linked to atopic disease (allergies). In our study, we looked at genetic and health data on more than 100,000 individuals from previous large studies to determine whether genetic alterations that are associated with vitamin D levels predispose people to the aforementioned conditions. We found no statistically significant difference between rates of asthma (including childhood-onset asthma), atopic dermatitis, or IgE levels in people with and without any of the four genetic changes associated with lower levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the form of vitamin D routinely measured in the blood. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Microbiome, Pediatrics / 10.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anita Kozyrskyj, PhD Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry University of Alberta MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have known for a while that early-life exposure to household pets can reduce risk for allergic disease; new studies also suggest a benefit in preventing overweight. Our pilot study in 2013 showed that postnatal pet exposure increases the number of different beneficial microbes in the infant gut. My team of 12, including first author and Albert Innovates-Health Solutions (AIHS) postdoctoral fellow Hein Min Tun, took the science one step closer to understanding this connection in our recently published work in the Microbiome journal. In a study of 746 infants from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study (CHILD) birth cohort, we investigated the impact of pet exposure during pregnancy or afterwards on infant gut microbes, and whether this depended on how infants were born. In infants born vaginally or by cesarean section, pet exposure during pregnancy or pre and postnatally up to 3 months after birth increased the amounts of 2 bacteria found on dogs and cats. One is Ruminococcus, linked to lower rates of allergies in children. The other is a relatively unknown microbe, Oscillospira, reported to promote leanness. Another important finding suggested that contact with pets during pregnancy could reduce transmission of vaginal GBS (group B Streptococcus) during birth. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics / 29.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Debra Palmer (BSc, BND, PhD) on behalf of my fellow co-authors on this publication Childhood Allergy and Immunology Research University of Western Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We conducted a multicentre trial, Starting Time of Egg Protein (STEP) involving 820 infants, and found a 25% risk reduction in egg allergy with early regular egg intake from 4-6.5 months compared with egg avoidance to 10 months of age, although this did not achieve statistical significance. So we also investigated in exploratory analyses whether the effect of regular egg introduction in solid foods was modified by any maternal, family or infant characteristics. Our results found that infants from families of higher socioeconomic status and those families who consume few eggs per week could benefit by less egg allergy at 12 months of age from regular egg intake once they start eating solid foods. (more…)
Allergies, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Pediatrics / 17.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lavanya Diwakar, FRCPath Honorary consultant in immunology Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, and Research fellow in health economic University of Birmingham Birmingham UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The rate of anaphylaxis (serious, potentially life threatening manifestation of allergy) has increased in the last decade. There have been some reports from other countries about an increase in the number of adrenaline autoinjectors being prescribed in children, but this has not been systematically examined in the UK. We looked at a database of patient records from over 500 general practices, THIN (the Health Improvement Network), between 2000 and 2012. We found nearly 24,000 children who had been identified as being at risk of anaphylaxis by General Practitioners and prescribed epipens. (more…)