Comparison of positive allergy skin tests among asthmatic children from rural and urban areas living within small geographic area.

BACKGROUND: Evidence of increased asthma and allergic response among urban versus rural residents has been reported. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of allergic response among asthmatic children from urban and rural areas living within close proximity. METHODS: In all, 448 asthmatic children from urban (363) and rural (85) areas were studied. The study group consisted of 234 9-year-olds and 214 12-year-olds. A health questionnaire was completed on each child who subsequently underwent allergic skin prick tests (SPTs). RESULTS: There was significantly more positive SPT response to house-dust mite, mold, cat, and cypress among asthmatic children from urban areas compared with children living in rural areas: 58.3% versus 37.6%, 46.1% versus 31.8%, 17.45 versus 5.9%, and 26.2% versus 15.3%, respectively. Positive SPT for indoor allergens were significantly greater among asthmatic urban residents than asthmatic rural residents: 63.3% versus 45.5%, respectively (P < 0.02). Positive SPT response to all the allergens checked was higher among the 12-year-old age group when compared with the 9-year-olds, 34.6% versus 22.7%, respectively (P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Allergic response measured by SPT is significantly more common among asthmatic children from urban areas as opposed to rural, even though both areas are within small distance of one another. Further, asthmatic children living in urban areas demonstrated more allergic response to both indoor and outdoor allergens. The allergic response tends to increase with increased age in both urban and rural asthmatic children.     

Quality of life as outcome in the treatment of osteoporosis: The development of a questionnaire for quality of life by the European foundation for osteoporosis

The morbidity of osteoporosis is caused by fractures. Vertebral fractures lead to pain and disability and a decrease in quality of life. A Working Party of the European Foundation for Osteoporosis has developed a specific questionnaire for patients with established vertebral osteoporosis. This questionnaire is intended for use in clinical trials. The questionnaire consists of questions and visual analogue scales in the following domains: pain, activities of daily living, jobs around the house, mobility, leisure and social activities, general health perception and mood. The questionnaire has been translated from English into French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Swedish and Dutch. The questionnaire is currently being validated in a multicentre study involving patients with stable osteoporosis and control subjects. Preliminary results indicate that the reproducibility is sufficient and that the questionnaire is able to discriminate between patients with vertebral osteoporosis and control subjects.     

Anaphylaxis to omeprazole: diagnosis and desensitization protocol.

BACKGROUND: Omeprazole is an inhibitor of the parietal cell enzyme H+/K+ adenosine triphosphatase. Immediate-type hypersensitivity reactions, such as urticaria, angioedema, and hypotension, induced by omeprazole and other proton pump inhibitors are rare. OBJECTIVES: To confirm the immediate-type mechanism of recurrent anaphylactic reactions to the repeated administration of omeprazole using skin testing and to enable safe administration of the drug after successful oral desensitization. METHODS: Intradermal skin tests were performed with omeprazole (0.04 and 0.4 mg/mL) prepared from the oral and intravenous commercial preparations and with pantoprazole (0.02 and 0.2 mg/mL) prepared from the oral commercial preparation. Skin tests were repeated after completion of the desensitization. Oral desensitization was applied at a starting dose of 0.001 mg of omeprazole, and a full dose of 16 mg was achieved after 5.6 hours (cumulative dose of 32.6 mg). RESULTS: Intradermal skin test results were positive to omeprazole and pantoprazole at all tested concentrations. After successful desensitization, omeprazole was administered in the full dose uneventfully. The wheal size of the intradermal skin tests performed after completion of the desensitization was significantly reduced. CONCLUSION: When indicated, this newly designed desensitization protocol may be used in patients with omeprazole-induced anaphylaxis.     

Schizophrenic patients' attitudes to therapists using behavioral and holistic-humanistic techniques

In a preliminary study of patients' perceptions of therapists' styles, 18 subjects with diagnoses of schizophrenia were randomly assigned either to social skills training or holistic health therapy. Four therapists conducted each treatment session in pairs, rotating between treatment conditions daily. At the end of 10 weeks of treatment, patients were able to discriminate among therapists on three interactional styles-"understanding," "independence-encouraging," and "and "critical-hostile"-and were able to differentiate between behavioral and holistic health treatments on "authoritarian" attitudes.     

Chain conformation and compatibility in polymer blends. A small-angle X-ray scattering study of the system poly(propylene glycol)-poly(methyl methacrylate)

The thermodynamic compatibility of dilute, solid solutions of poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) (mass-average molar mass M?_w = 3900 g/mol) in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (M?_w = 550000 g/mol) was investigated by means of small-angle X-ray scattering. The results of the analysis show that PPG is molecularly dispersed in the solid, amorphous matrix of PMMA, and that the molecules display the typical statistical coil macroconformation of polymers in dilute, liquid solution, whereby the numerical value of the second virial coefficient seems to point to the unperturbed nature of the coils. This behaviour, consistent with the concept of “interpenetration of segments”, is in total agreement with the experimentally measured compositional variation of the glass transition temperature of the blends.     

Parkin localizes to the Lewy bodies of Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies

Mutations in alpha-synuclein (alpha S) and parkin cause heritable forms of Parkinson disease (PD). We hypothesized that neuronal parkin, a known E3 ubiquitin ligase, facilitates the formation of Lewy bodies (LBs), a pathological hallmark of PD. Here, we report that affinity-purified parkin antibodies labeled classical LBs in substantia nigra sections from four related human disorders: sporadic PD, inherited alphaS-linked PD, dementia with LBs (DLB), and LB-positive, parkin-linked PD. Anti-parkin antibodies also detected LBs in entorhinal and cingulate cortices from DLB brain and alphaS inclusions in sympathetic gangliocytes from sporadic PD. Double labeling with confocal microscopy of DLB midbrain sections revealed that approximately 90% of anti-alpha S-reactive LBs were also detected by a parkin antibody to amino acids 342 to 353. Accordingly, parkin proteins, including the 53-kd mature isoform, were present in affinity-isolated LBs from DLB cortex. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer and immunoelectron microscopy showed that alphaS and parkin co-localized within brainstem and cortical LBs. Biochemically, parkin appeared most enriched in cytosolic and postsynaptic fractions of adult rat brain, but also in purified, alpha S-rich presynaptic elements that additionally contained parkin's E2-binding partner, UbcH7. We conclude that parkin and UbcH7 are present with alphaS in subcellular compartments of normal brain and that parkin frequently co-localizes with alpha S aggregates in the characteristic LB inclusions of PD and DLB. These results suggest that functional parkin proteins may be required during LB formation.