Heparin Can Cause Skin Lesions
Heparin, a commonly used anticoagulant, can cause skin lesions, reports a study http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj081729.pdf in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Skin lesions caused by heparin may indicate the presence of a life-threatening decrease in the number of platelets, a condition called "heparin-induced thrombocytopenia" or, in most cases, a self-limiting, allergic skin reaction. The study looked at 320 patients undergoing heparin injections over 12 months at The Hospital of The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Twenty-four patients - 7.5% of the study group - exhibited heparin-induced skin lesions, considerably above the expected rate of 2%.
Link Between Male Diabetics With Allergies And Kidney Disease - Nothing To Sneeze At
For men with type 2 diabetes, a cell type linked to allergic inflammation is closely linked to a key indicator of diabetic kidney disease (nephropathy), suggests a study in the November Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). "Allergy is a common disease that is increasing worldwide, so our findings may have important implications for diabetic nephropathy, " comments Michiaki Fukui, MD (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan). The researchers compared the eosinophil count with albumin excretion rate in nearly 800 patients with type 2 diabetes. Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that contributes to inflammation in allergic diseases.
Patients With Allergic Rhinitis And Obstructive Sleep Apnea Plagued By Stress, Fatigue
Patients who suffer from both allergic rhinitis and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may experience escalated symptoms of stress and fatigue. In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers studied 34 people who were diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Among them, 12 people were classified in the allergic rhinitis group and 22 people in the control group. The researchers evaluated BMI (Body Mass Index), AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index), RERA (Respiratory effort related arousals), LSAT (Lowest O2 Saturation), RQLQ (Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire), ESS (Epworth sleepiness scale), stress score, fatigue score, and ability to cope, with questionnaires of both groups, then statistically compared mean scores of both groups.
Nonallergic Rhinitis Symptoms More Severe Than Allergic Rhinitis
A comparison of symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) revealed that those with the NAR experienced worse symptoms. The findings are according to new research presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in San Diego, CA. The study assessed 78 patients with AR and 31 patients with non-allergic rhinitis (NAR), measuring quality of life (QOL) in both groups using a common questionnaire. To the surprise of the authors, NAR patients experienced a significantly higher symptom severity than their peers with AR, including having their regular and recreational activities affected, disrupted sleep, tiredness, and watery eyes.
Children Lobby For Food Allergies In U.S. Congress
More than eighty children with personal stories of the challenges of managing food allergies spoke to their elected representatives and rallied for improved education and funding for food allergies during the third Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network's (FAAN) Kids' Congress on Capitol Hill last week. These Junior Ambassadors, speaking from their hearts, proudly represented the estimated 12 million Americans, including 3 million children, in the U.S. with food allergy, a potentially life-threatening condition. During the two-day event, children from all over the nation met with U.S. senators and representatives to urge funding for food allergy research and the passage of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act (FAAMA).
Allergy Prevention
Vaccination can lower children's risk of allergy. Cathleen Muche-Borowski and her coauthors present a clinical practice guideline for allergy prevention in the current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106[39]: 625-31). Allergic diseases are becoming increasingly common in Western industrialized countries. As there is still no etiologically based treatment of allergic asthma, hay fever, or atopic eczema, the prevention of these diseases is a matter of special importance. The majority of the 217 studies that the authors analyzed documented a protective effect of fish consumption in the diet of both the mother and the child.
Patients With Vaccine Allergy May Be Safely Vaccinated
An apparent allergic reaction after an immunization should be investigated rather than avoiding future immunizations, which could leave patients at greater risk of disease, according to new medical guidelines published in the October issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). There are approximately 235 million doses of vaccines administered in the United States each year, and only 1 dose per million causes anaphylaxis, a serious medical reaction. Fatalities from vaccine-induced anaphylaxis are exceedingly rare. "Local, injection site reactions and constitutional symptoms, especially fever, are common after vaccinations and do not contraindicate future doses, " said John M.
Allergic Disease Costs NHS Scotland В 130 Million A Year And Is Worse Than In England
The most comprehensive and detailed review of the burden posed by allergic disease in Scotland concludes that one in three of the Scottish population are affected by allergies at some point in their lives - higher than in England. The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, found that allergic disease costs NHS Scotland over В 130 million with the cost of GP consultations for asthma alone standing at В 786, 000. The study indicates that the lifetime prevalence for all allergic disease* is higher in Scotland than England, and in particular for eczema, asthma and allergic rhinitis. Allergic disorders accounted for more than 4% of GP consultations and 1.
News From The American Journal Of Pathology, November 2009
A group led by Dr. Dieter BrГ mme at the University of British Columbia has demonstrated that glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) contribute to skeletal abnormalities in patients with lysosomal storage diseases. Their report can be found in the November 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are a group of diseases in which the dysfunction of a lysosomal enzyme results in decreased breakdown of GAGs, a type of carbohydrate, in various tissues. These GAGs then collect in cells, causing severe cellular damage that affects bone, skeletal structure, connective tissue, and organs. In cells that break down bone, GAGs have been shown to inhibit the function of cathepsin K, an enzyme that breaks down collagen, which leads to insufficient space for new bone formation.
ISTA Pharmaceuticals Highlights Bepreve TM Clinical Data At The American College Of Clinical Pharmacy ACCP 2009 Annual Meeting
ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISTA) announced poster presentations of results from the Company's Bepreve(TM) (bepotastine besilate ophthalmic solution) 1.5% Phase 3 clinical studies in allergic conjunctivitis. The studies demonstrated Bepreve was safe and well-tolerated when given twice daily for six weeks in a healthy pediatric population as young as three years of age. The clinical findings were presented at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) 2009 Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA, and were encore presentations from earlier meetings in 2009. In a poster previously presented at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology 2009 Annual Meeting titled, "The Ocular Comfort and Safety of the Novel Anti-Histamine Bepotastine Besilate Ophthalmic Solution 1.