Allergenic pollen in the atmosphere of Kayseri, Turkey.

Airborne pollen are important allergens that cause sensitization in allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma. Our aim was to detect the pollen in the atmosphere of Kayseri, to present a pollen calendar, and to detect the allergenic level of these pollen by performing skin tests on patients. Atmospheric pollen were collected by Durham gravimetric samplers in Kayseri between March and November in the years 1996 and 1997. In our study, we observed pollen belonging to 43 different taxa. The total number of pollen per cm2 was found to be 1,330.8 in 1996 and 1,182.5 in 1997. Most of the pollen were from the taxa Pinus, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Cupressaceae, Populus and Quercus in decreasing order. In the skin tests, pollen of the taxa Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae were found to give the most frequent allergic reactions. It was concluded that preparing an airborne pollen calendar could be useful for medical practice. Nevertheless the skin test data did not really correlate with the aerobiologic data, as skin test reactivity is related to the allergenicity of the pollen and not just to ambient exposure.

Effect of hyperbaric oxygen and penicillin in a murine model of streptococcal myositis.

We investigated the effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) and penicillin therapy in a murine model of group A streptococcal myositis. The thighs of mice were inoculated with Streptococcus pyogenes. Four groups were evaluated: 1) control (n = 13), 2) HBO2 treatment (n = 15), 3) penicillin treatment (n = 12), and 4) penicillin and HBO2 treatment (n = 13). Histologic methods were utilized to prove the existence of myositis and histologic changes in tissues following experimental intramuscular inoculation of mice with Streptococcus pyogenes. Mortality (day of death) and the number of colony forming units (cfu) were measured. Microscopic sections of the left thighs revealed extensive necrosis of muscle with acute inflammatory infiltrate in all groups. Penicillin significantly lowered cfu count in comparison to the control (P < 0.01). Cfu's in group 4 were significantly lower than in group 3 (P < 0.01). Survival was significantly longer in the penicillin group compared to the control (P < 0.01). Survival in the combined treatment group was significantly longer than penicillin alone (P < 0.01). These results suggest that 1) HBO2 treatment alone does not decrease mortality significantly in vivo, 2) penicillin therapy alone improves outcome significantly, and 3) the combined treatment of penicillin and HBO2 exerts synergistic effects in both decreasing bacterial counts in vivo and increasing survival in this model.