Allergy

The entrepreneur who founded Napster and secured Facebook some of its first venture capital money has donated $24 million to fund an allergy research center at Stanford University.

Infants of a particular generation born in Australia to Asian-born parents appeared to have an increased risk of peanut allergy compared with those of Australian-born parents, according to research published in the December issue of Allergy.

In the first documented instance of its kind, a child was recently successfully treated for severe anaphylaxis triggered by eating an orange.

A survey of more than 400 pediatricians and internists revealed a surprising lack of knowledge about current allergy treatment guidelines.

Sublingual immunotherapy was developed nearly 30 years ago as an alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy, an alternative that might trigger fewer systematic reactions such as anaphylaxis.

Prenatal and early infant exposure to air pollutants may be linked to developing autism, according to research presented at the American Association for Aerosol Research.

Exposure to animal fur within the first 3 months of life decreases the risk of childhood asthma, according to research presented at the 2014 European Respiratory Society International Congress.

Researchers from Germany believe they have improved upon current methods for diagnosing wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (WDEIA) - and demonstrated that the condition isn't necessarily induced by exercise.

Lung infection bacteria levels will be tested via blood samples in emergency department patients in a new study being conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Why do some allergic reactions produce only relatively mild symptoms while others trigger anaphylaxis and eventual death?

About half of all adults afflicted with obstructive airway disease have symptoms overlapping with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. According to data presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting, this makes the possibility of misdiagnosis and mistreatment more likely.

Vitamin D has a role in the immune system distinct from its regulatory role in calcium homeostasis. Immune cells express the vitamin D receptor and can metabolize circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D into its active form, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. This finding has researchers looking for new ways to manipulate vitamin D in the innate and adaptive immune systems.

More than a dozen studies over the past few decades have undermined the once common fear that influenza vaccines containing egg proteins could induce reactions such as anaphylaxis in people with egg allergies.

A new study indicates that medications produce far more fatal cases of anaphylaxis than either venom or food.

Phthalates may be replacing lead as the leading environmental exposure concern. Some studies indicate that there may be a link between phthalates, obesity, endocrine disruption, and metabolic interference.

New research indicates that children who receive epinephrine injections before they go to the emergency room for food-related anaphylaxis are less than half as likely to require hospitalization as those who first receive such treatment at the hospital.

A British company claims it has developed a fast and simple diagnostic test solution specific to the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

A recent study looked at the relationship between obesity and a child's risk of developing allergies or an asthmatic condition. Looking at what the authors perceived to be a growing trend of not only an increase in the number obese children but those suffering from new or worsening allergies the authors said they were looking for a link which could help treat the pediatric patients.

By comparing healthy and asthmatic lung cells post-infection, Imperial College London researchers believe they have discovered a new treatment target for asthma.

Immune system proteins play a role in regulating the number of neural synapses, a research team from Princeton University and the University of California-San Diego report. The finding could mean that one of these proteins-known as major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) could play a significant role in Alzheimer's disease, type II diabetes and autism.

New research provides some of the first concrete support for a treatment guideline that has long been recommended on grounds of common sense alone: Patients who suffer severe allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis should follow up on their emergency room care by seeing an allergist or immunologist.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Genzyme's application to include new information about its multiple sclerosis drug teriflunomide (Aubagio) on its label. The new labeling content is efficacy and safety data from two Phase III trials of the drug.

Ron Klain, who was chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore, will be Obama's point-man for dealing with the Ebola outbreak. The New York Times reported that Klain's duties will involve handling the nation's response to Ebola both domestically and in Africa.

To ensure that anaphylaxis episodes are treated in a timely and effective manner, action plans should be developed and distributed to patients, family and other caregivers, and schools.

New research into food-induced anaphylaxis concludes that hospitalization rates among American children roughly doubled between 2000 and 2009.

A third patient has been diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, TX. The unidentified woman is the second Texas Presbyterian Health worker to get the disease after caring for deceased Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, local officials said in an early morning news conference. The patient, like nurse Nina Pham, is in isolation at Texas Presbyterian Health. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with Texas health officials are monitoring 75 people who had contact with Duncan, the visitor from Liberia who died of the disease Oct. 8.

What do pediatricians need to know to effectively counsel and manage children with potentially deadly food allergies?

The body's immune system can be "taught" not to attack its own cells, such as in the case of multiple sclerosis, according to research published in Nature Communications.

The creation of a dengue fever vaccine will cause a temporary spike in the disease's prevalence, warned researchers at Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Clemson University.

Because a key antiviral defense mechanism is present in asthmatics, another defect in their immune system must explain their difficulty combating respiratory viruses, according to researchers from Washington University in St. Louis.