Lifestyle factors and sensitization in children - the ALADDIN birth cohort.

BACKGROUND: Several cross-sectional studies indicate that an anthroposophic lifestyle reduces the risk of allergy in children. We initiated the Assessment of Lifestyle and Allergic Disease During Infancy (ALADDIN) birth cohort to elucidate the role of specific factors supposed to mediate this effect. The aims of this study are to describe the ALADDIN cohort and to report patterns of exposure and allergic sensitization during the first years of life. METHODS: The ALADDIN study is a prospective birth cohort study of 330 children from families with an anthroposophic, partly anthroposophic, or nonanthroposophic lifestyle. The children and their parents were following an extensive data collection scheme, including repeated questionnaires and biological samples. Blood samples were collected from the parents and from the child at birth as well as at 6, 12, and 24 months of age. RESULTS: Several lifestyle factors differed between the groups, such as diet, medication, and place of delivery. Children of families with an anthroposophic lifestyle had a markedly decreased risk of sensitization during the first 2 years of life compared with children of nonanthroposophic families with adjusted OR 0.25 (95% CI 0.10-0.64) and P-value 0.004. A similar situation held true for children from families with a partly anthroposophic lifestyle, adjusted OR 0.31 (95% CI 0.15-0.54), and P-value 0.002. CONCLUSIONS: The anthroposophic lifestyle comprises several factors of interest for allergy development and is here shown to be associated with reduced risk of IgE sensitization already in infancy. Identifying the factors responsible for this association would be of significant clinical importance.

Validation of questions on asthma and wheeze in farming and anthroposophic children.

BACKGROUND: In most epidemiological surveys the estimated prevalence of asthma is based on questionnaire responses, which may depend on the individual's perception as well as medical consulting habits in a given population. Therefore, measurement of bronchial hyper-responsiveness as a key feature of asthma has been suggested as an objective parameter for asthma. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to validate questionnaire responses on asthma and wheeze against bronchial response to hypertonic saline (HS) (4.5%) in populations previously shown to have a lower prevalence of asthma and allergies: farmers' children and children from anthroposophic families. METHODS: Children whose parents had completed a written questionnaire in the cross-sectional PARSIFAL-study were drawn from the following four subgroups: 'farm children' (n=183), 'farm reference children' (n=173), 'Steiner schoolchildren' (n=243) and 'Steiner reference children' (n=179). Overall, 319 children with wheeze in the last 12 months and 459 children without wheeze in the last 12 months performed an HS challenge. RESULTS: Odds ratios, sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios and measures of association did not differ significantly between the four subgroups. The correlation between the bronchial response to HS and wheeze and asthma questions was moderate and similar for farm children, farm reference children, Steiner schoolchildren and Steiner reference children (kappa for 'wheeze': 0.25, 0.33, 0.31, 0.35, respectively, P=0.754, kappa for 'doctor's diagnosis of asthma': 0.33, 0.19, 0.33, 032, respectively, P=0.499). CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggest that the reliabilitiy of questionnaire responses on asthma and wheeze is comparable between farmers' children, children raised in families with anthroposophic lifestyle and their respective peers.

Regeneration of adenosine triphosphate from glycolytic intermediates for cell-free protein synthesis.

A new approach for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) regeneration in a cell-free protein synthesis system is described. We first show that pyruvate can be used as a secondary energy source to replace or supplement the conventional secondary energy source, phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP). We also report that glucose-6-phosphate, an earlier intermediate of the glycolytic pathway, can be used for ATP regeneration. These new methods provide more stable maintenance of ATP concentration during protein synthesis. Because pyruvate and glucose-6-phosphate are the first and last intermediates of the glycolytic pathway, respectively, the results also suggest the possibility of using any glycolytic intermediate, or even glucose, for ATP regeneration in a cell-free protein synthesis system. As a result, the methods described provide cell-free protein synthesis with greater flexibility and cost efficiency.

Tensile bond strength of resin-modified glass-ionomer cement to microabraded and silica-coated or tin-plated high noble ceramic alloy.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of alloy surface microabrasion, silica coating, or microabrasion plus tin plating on the tensile bond strengths between a resin-modified glass-ionomer luting cement and a high-noble alloy. Bond strength between the microabraded alloy specimens and conventional glass-ionomer cement or resin cement were included for comparison. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty uniform size, disk-shaped specimens were cast in a noble metal alloy and divided into 6 groups (n = 10 pairs/group). The metal surfaces of the specimens in each group were treated and cemented as follows. Group 1: No surface treatment (as cast, control), cemented with a resin-modified glass-ionomer cement. Group 2: Microabrasion with 50-microm aluminum oxide particles, resin-modified glass-ionomer cement. Group 3: A laboratory microabrasion and silica coating system, resin-modified glass-ionomer cement. Group 4: Microabrasion and tin-plating, resin-modified glass-ionomer cement. Group 5: Microabrasion only, conventional glass-ionomer cement. Group 6: Microabrasion and tin-plating, conventional resin cement. The uniaxial tensile bond strength for each specimen pair was determined using an Instron Universal Testing Machine (Instron Corp, Canton, MA). Results were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (alpha = 0.05) and a Tukey post-hoc analysis. RESULTS: Mean bond strength: Group 1: 3.6 (+/- 1.5) MPa. Group 2: 4.2 (+/-0.5) MPa. Group 3: 6.7 (+/- 0.9) MPa. Group 4: 10.6 (+/- 1.8) MPa. Group 5: 1.1 (+/- 0.4) MPa. Group 6: 14.6 (+/- 2.3) MPa. Group 6 was significantly stronger than Group 4. The bond strength of specimens cemented with the resin-modified glass-ionomer cement using microabrasion and tin-plating (Group 4) was significantly stronger than all other groups except the resin cement with microabrasion and tin-plating (Group 6). CONCLUSION: Microabraded and tin-plated alloy specimens luted with the resin-modified glass-ionomer cement resulted in the greatest mean tensile strengths for the resin-modified glass-ionomer cement groups. This strength was 73% of the mean tensile strength of microabraded specimens luted with resin cement.

Psychiatric illness and comorbidity among adult male jail detainees in drug treatment.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was examined in a sample of 204 pretrial jail detainees receiving standard drug treatment. More than half of the sample had at least one lifetime DSM-III-R axis I diagnosis, and the lifetime rates of serious mental illness were higher than reported prevalence rates for arrestees in general jail populations. Detainees with comorbid disorders were more likely than others to have more than one co-occurring psychiatric disorder, to have been arrested for property crimes, and to be dependent on alcohol, marijuana, or PCP. The findings argue for the expansion of integrated treatment services within criminal justice drug treatment settings.

Atopy in children of families with an anthroposophic lifestyle.

BACKGROUND: Increased prevalence of atopic disorders in children may be associated with changes in types of childhood infections, vaccination programmes, and intestinal microflora. People who follow an anthroposophic way of life use antibiotics restrictively, have few vaccinations, and their diet usually contains live lactobacilli, which may affect the intestinal microflora. We aimed to study the prevalence of atopy in children from anthroposophic families and the influence of an anthroposophic lifestyle on atopy prevalence. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 295 children aged 5-13 years at two anthroposophic (Steiner) schools near Stockholm, Sweden, were compared with 380 children of the same age at two neighbouring schools in terms of history of atopic and infectious diseases, use of antibiotics and vaccinations, and social and environmental variables. Skin-prick tests were done for 13 common allergens, and we took blood samples from children and their parents for analysis of allergen-specific serum IgE-antibodies. FINDINGS: At the Steiner schools, 52% of the children had had antibiotics in the past, compared with 90% in the control schools. 18% and 93% of children, respectively, had had combined immunisation against measles, mumps, and rubella, and 61% of the children at the Steiner schools had had measles. Fermented vegetables, containing live lactobacilli, were consumed by 63% of the children at Steiner schools, compared with 4.5% at the control schools. Skin-prick tests and blood tests showed that the children from Steiner schools had lower prevalence of atopy than controls (odds ratio 0.62 [95% CI 0.43-0.91]). There was an inverse relation between the number of characteristic features of an anthroposophic lifestyle and risk of atopy (p for trend=0.01). INTERPRETATION: Prevalence of atopy is lower in children from anthroposophic families than in children from other families. Lifestyle factors associated with anthroposophy may lessen the risk of atopy in childhood.

Antifungal properties of cranberry juice.

Cranberry juice exerts a significant in vitro antifungal effect on eight representative species of dermatophytes, whereas it has no apparent effect on Candida albicans. The antifungal effect is fungistatic. Benzoic acid or other small molecular weight components, or both, were responsible for the fungistatic action. Studies with C. albicans on the effect of pH alone and the effect of pH on the ionization of benzoic acid indicate that cranberry juice would exert an even more significant antifungal action if the pH were left at its native value of 2.8; not adjusted to 5.6. This would probably be due to pH and a larger amount of free benzoic acid. Further investigation suggested that benzoic acid loses some of its antifungal properties in cranberry juice at pH 5.6. This investigation suggests that the dermatophytes may have a higher sensitivity to benzoic acid or other small molecular weight components of cranberry juice, or to both.