Michael J Stillman, PhD

"The small number of patients that go on to develop chronic rhinosinusitis accumulates to about 15% of the population, making it an important disease," said Dr. Michael A. Kaliner during his lecture on chronic rhinosinusitis.

Although categorizing chronic rhinosinusitis is complex, CRS with or without nasal polyps is one way to initially begin classification. Prolonged duration of RS symptoms (>8-12 weeks) is the primary reason to evaluate patients for CRS. Dr. Meltzer emphasized the need to differentiate CRS from recurrent episodes of ARS.

During his lecture, Dr. Eli O. Meltzer walked his audience through diagnosis and management guidelines of sinusitis/ rhinosinusitis at the ACAAI annual meeting.

There are conflicting data regarding whether vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for asthma. Observational studies have linked low vit D status with impaired lung capacity, increased airway hyperresponsiveness, corticosteroid unresponsiveness, relatively poor asthma control, and higher rates of asthma-related hospitalization.

Dr. Michael B. Foggs's lecture, "Here Comes the Sun: Vitamin D and Asthma," described the complex metabolic relationships and current knowledge gaps regarding vitamin D and its relationship to asthma.

During his presentation, Dr. Carlos Camargo reviewed recent studies on the effects of menarche, menopause, and pregnancy on asthma, and described the implications for patients with asthma.

Dr. Leonard B. Bacharier presented a lecture evaluating evidence-based treatments for wheezing and asthma in childhood and adolescence.

Virtually all asthma starts as episodic viral wheeze. Dr. Bush presented results from the Colt-Ashford Study, a community based, all-comers study of 642 babies born.

Dr. Andrew Bush asked his colleagues to consider the possibility that very early airway hyperresponsiveness, not inflammation, initiates asthma.