Performance of EAST in diagnosing inhalant allergens in children with allergic rhinitis

The performance of enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (EAST) for identifying six indoor allergens was evaluated using skin prick test (SPT) as reference tests in 154 children with allergic rhinitis. Sensitivity of EAST ranged from 9% (cat) to 54% (HDM) with specificity of 74%(cockroach) to 100% (cat) with an agreement ranged from 58 to 86%. Cut off values ?> ?0.35 kU/L showed best sensitivity and specificity. Our findings agree with extant literature which suggests that the ability of EAST to determine the precipitating allergen is moderate. Assays for definitively identifying the inhalant allergen are currently not available.     

大学生蠕形螨感染情况调查

目的:了解在校大学生蠕形螨感染情况,探讨蠕形螨感染与面部皮肤疾病的关系.方法:采用透明胶带粘贴法对638名在校大学生进行蠕形螨检查,同时对面部皮肤状况进行调查.结果:在校大学生蠕形螨感染率为17.55%,且男性(22.05%)显著高于女性(14.58%);毛囊蠕形螨面部感染率(65.18%)高于皮脂蠕形螨(24.11%);有面部皮肤疾病者蠕形螨感染率明显高于面部皮肤正常者.结论:本校大学生蠕形螨感染较为普遍,感染多为毛囊蠕形螨;蠕形螨感染是痤疮、酒渣鼻等皮肤疾病的致病因素之一.     

Characterization of unilateral conjunctival inoculation with Mycoplasma gallisepticum in house finches

House finches in much of the continental United States experience annual epidemics of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, caused by the bacterial pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG). Although evidence suggests that natural infections typically begin unilaterally, experimental inoculations of songbirds with MG to date have all been administered bilaterally. Furthermore, studies of free-living finches find more severe clinical signs of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in left versus right eyes, but the mechanisms underlying this side bias remain unknown. Here, we characterized unilateral inoculation of house finches with MG, and tested whether differential susceptibility of left versus right conjunctiva explains the side bias in disease severity of free-living finches. We directly inoculated house finches in either the left or right conjunctiva and characterized resulting disease severity and pathogen load throughout the course of infection. As expected, unilateral inoculation resulted in significantly more severe conjunctivitis, as well as higher conjunctival bacterial loads, on whichever side (left or right) birds were directly inoculated. However, in 55% of cases, unilateral inoculations resulted in bilateral disease, and in 85% cases there was evidence of bilateral infection. The overall severity of disease did not differ for birds inoculated in the left versus right conjunctiva, suggesting that physiological differences between the conjunctivae cannot explain the side bias in disease severity of free-living birds. Instead, laterality in exposure, perhaps due to feeding handedness, likely explains the detected field patterns.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

• House finches show more severe disease in the directly inoculated conjunctiva.

• Unilateral inoculations lead to high rates of bilateral infection and disease.

• Overall disease severity does not differ for the left- or right-inoculated conjunctiva.

• Laterality in exposure likely explains the left-side bias in natural infections.

     

A selective sweep in a Varroa destructor resistant honeybee (Apis mellifera) population

The mite Varroa destructor is one of the most dangerous parasites of the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) causing enormous colony losses worldwide. Various chemical treatments for the control of the Varroa mite are currently in use, which, however, lead to residues in bee products and often to resistance in mites. This facilitated the exploration of alternative treatment methods and breeding for mite resistant honeybees has been in focus for breeders in many parts of the world with variable results.Another approach has been applied to a honeybee population on Gotland (Sweden) that was exposed to natural selection and survived Varroa-infestation for more than 10 years without treatment. Eventually this population became resistant to the parasite by suppressing the reproduction of the mite. A previous QTL mapping study had identified a region on chromosome 7 with major loci contributing to the mite resistance. Here, a microsatellite scan of the significant candidate QTL regions was used to investigate potential footprints of selection in the original population by comparing the study population on Gotland before (2000) and after selection (2007). Genetic drift had caused an extreme loss of genetic diversity in the 2007 population for all genetic markers tested. In addition to this overall reduction of heterozygosity, two loci on chromosome 7 showed an even stronger and significant reduction in diversity than expected from genetic drift alone. Within the selective sweep eleven genes are annotated, one of them being a putative candidate to interfere with reduced mite reproduction. A glucose–methanol–choline oxidoreductase (GMCOX18) might be involved in changing volatiles emitted by bee larvae that might be essential to trigger oogenesis in Varroa.