Early introduction of fish decreases the risk of eczema in infants.

BACKGROUND: Atopic eczema in infants has increased in western societies. Environmental factors and the introduction of food may affect the risk of eczema. AIMS: To investigate the prevalence of eczema among infants in western Sweden, describe patterns of food introduction and assess risk factors for eczema at 1 year of age. METHODS: Data were obtained from a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of infants born in western Sweden in 2003; 8176 families were randomly selected and, 6 months after the infant's birth, were invited to participate and received questionnaires. A second questionnaire was sent out when the infants were 12 months old. Both questionnaires were completed and medical birth register data were obtained for 4921 infants (60.2% of the selected population). RESULTS: At 1 year of age, 20.9% of the infants had previous or current eczema. Median age at onset was 4 months. In multivariable analysis, familial occurrence of eczema, especially in siblings (OR 1.87; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.50 to 2.33) or the mother (OR 1.54; 95% CI 1.30 to 1.84), remained an independent risk factor. Introducing fish before 9 months of age (OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.62 to 0.94) and having a bird in the home (OR 0.35; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.75) were beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: One in five infants suffer from eczema during the first year of life. Familial eczema increased the risk, while early fish introduction and bird keeping decreased it. Breast feeding and time of milk and egg introduction did not affect the risk.

A controlled trial of self-help treatment of recurrent headache conducted via the Internet.

The Internet can reach a large number of people at a low cost and offers the opportunity for 2-way communication. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of applied relaxation and problem solving in the treatment of recurrent headache when implemented via the Internet and E-mail. A group of 102 headache sufferers were randomized to 2 conditions: a 6-week treatment condition or a waiting-list control. The dropout was proportionately large (56%), and at the end of the study there were 20 participants in the treatment condition and 25 participants in the control condition. Results showed statistically significant reductions in headache for the treated participants. In 50% of these, the reduction was clinically significant. The Internet has the potential to serve as a complement in the treatment of recurrent headache and deserves further study.

Atopic disease and pediatric ambulatory care.

This prospective study, concerning ambulatory pediatric care in a Swedish county during a 1-year period shows that 24% of all visits to pediatric reception centres were due to atopic diseases. Atopy answered for a large proportion of the visits to all of the five pediatric centres whether they were located at a hospital or at a health centre. Hyposensitization answered for 59% of the visits for atopy, asthma for 39% and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis for 50%. The geographical accessibility of the pediatric reception centre influenced the frequency of visits due to diseases other than atopy but not visits due to atopy. Whether the children lived in a community with a pediatric centre or not made little difference to frequency of attendance. This is probably due to intensive information about atopic diseases in children addressed to the parents in the county. The balance between centralization and decentralization of an organization for ambulatory care of atopic children is discussed.

Uukuniemi virus contains an RNA polymerase.

An RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity has been found associated with Uukuniemi virions. The enzyme activity is expressed only after disrupting the virions with the nonionic detergent Triton X-100 and is absolutely dependent on Mn2+, whereas Mg2+ is not required, a finding that distinguishes this polymerase from those of other enveloped minus-strand RNA viruses. Within the range pH 7.2 to 8.5 no distinct optimum was found. The optimum temperature was between 37 and 40 C. The reaction was not inhibited by actinomycin D, rifampin, or DNase, whereas RNase was completely inhibitory. The partially RNase-resistant product consisted of rather small-sized RNA, which contained sequences complementary to Uukuniemi virus RNA as shown by hybridization to the template L, M, and S RNA species of Uukuniemi virus.