Landmarks in Allergy during the 19th Century.

There were remarkable achievements in the 19th century in our understanding of the cells of the allergic response, the clear descriptions of hay fever and asthma, as well as the role of pollen in seasonal rhinitis. Although allergy as a concept was not developed until well into the 20th century, the foundations of our present understanding of these diseases were laid in the 1800s. The outstanding physicians and scientists of this time included Paul Ehrlich (who described mast cells, eosinophils and basophils), John Bostock (who provided the first detailed account of hay fever), Charles Blackley (who showed that pollen was the cause of hay fever), Morrill Wyman (who demonstrated that autumnal catarrh was due to ragweed pollen), Henry Hide Salter (who made the first classic description of asthma) and Henri Laënnec (the inventor of the stethoscope).

Custos diretos e indiretos da asma: revisão de literatura / Direct and indirect costs of asthma: a review

Objetivo: Realizar revisão da literatura sobre análises econômicas utilizadas para a asma, os custos diretos e indiretos, tendo em vista a sobrecarga econômica que essa doença acarreta para o sistema de saúde. Fonte de dados: Pesquisa de artigos originais, revisões e consensos, indexados nos bancos de dados Medline, Lilacs, Embase e Pubmed, publicados entre 1996-2012. Síntese dos dados: A asma é uma doença pulmonar inflamatória crônica que acomete pessoas de todas as idades, cujo descontrole leva a hospitalizações frequentes, visitas à emergência e aumento na morbidade, gerando grande impacto na vida social e econômica dos pacientes, com piora da qualidade de vida. A partir dos programas de controle da asma e rinite alérgica e da dispensação de medicamentos de alto custo, houve significativa queda das hospitalizações por asma no período de 2006 a 2010. Em 2012, implementou-se o “Programa Saúde não tem Preço”, ação integrante do “Programa Farmácia Popular” do Ministério da Saúde (MS), com fornecimento gratuito de brometo de ipratrópio, diproprionato de beclometasona e sulfato de salbutamol. Com este programa, houve crescimento significante de 443% no número de asmáticos beneficiados, aumentando de 48.495 para 263.227 pessoas. Os dados do MS apontaram que a asma ainda causa a morte de 2,5 mil pessoas por ano no Brasil. Em 2011 do total de 117,8 mil internações no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) em decorrência da asma, 77,1 mil acometeram crianças na faixa etária de 0 a 6 anos. A asma ainda representa um importante problema global de saúde pública com elevados custos diretos e indiretos, que oneram de forma expressiva os pacientes e os sistemas públicos de saúde. Conclusão: Os programas implementados proporcionaram melhora da saúde dos indivíduos, tornando-os mais aptos ao trabalho, aumentando a produtividade e reduzindo significativamente os custos para a sociedade

Objective: To review the literature on economic analyzes used for asthma, the direct and indirect costs and the economic burden that this disease poses to the health system.Source of data: Survey of original articles, reviews and consensus, indexed in Medline, Lilacs, Embase and PubMed, published between 1996-2012. Data Synthesis: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects people of all ages, whose lack leads to frequent hospitalizations, emergency room visits and increased morbidity, generating great impact on social and economic life of patients with worsening quality of life. After the beginning of asthma and allergic rhinitis control programs with free delivery of expensive drugs expensive, there was a significant drop in hospitalizations for asthma in the period from 2006 to 2010. In 2012, 48,495 people had access to drugs for asthma, from the implementation of the “Health Program”, integral action of “Popular Pharmacy Program” of the Ministry of Health (MH), with free supply of ipratropium bromide, beclomethasone dipropionate and salbutamol sulphate, this number increased signifcantly from 48,495 to 263,227 people, representing growth of 443% adherence to the program. The MH data showed that asthma still kills 2500 people a year in Brazil, in 2011 the total of 117,800 hospitalizations in the Unified Health System (UHS) due to asthma were affected 77.1 thousand children aged 0-6 years. In addition, asthma is an important global public health problem with high direct and indirect costs, which affect expressively patients and public health systems. Conclusion: The programs implemented provided improves the health of individuals, making them more apt to work, increasing productivity and significantly reducing costs to society

Chemotherapy and biotherapy-induced hypersensitivity reactions.

Nearly all chemotherapy and biotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment today can cause hypersensitivity reactions. Certain groups of drugs frequently associated with these reactions include the asparaginases, taxanes, platinum compounds, epipodophyllotoxins, and the monoclonal antibodies. Recognizing and managing hypersensitivity reactions are critical when caring for patients receiving these drugs because the reactions are potentially life-threatening. A thorough understanding of the drugs is necessary to assist the nurse in prevention, early recognition, and timely management.

Tolerization of a type I allergic immune response through transplantation of genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells.

Allergy represents a hypersensitivity disease that affects >25% of the population in industrialized countries. The underlying type I allergic immune reaction occurs in predisposed atopic individuals in response to otherwise harmless Ags (i.e., allergens) and is characterized by the production of allergen-specific IgE, an allergen-specific T cell response, and the release of biologically active mediators such as histamine from mast cells and basophils. Regimens permanently tolerizing an allergic immune response still need to be developed. We therefore retrovirally transduced murine hematopoietic stem cells to express the major grass pollen allergen Phl p 5 on their cell membrane. Transplantation of these genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells led to durable multilineage molecular chimerism and permanent immunological tolerance toward the introduced allergen at the B cell, T cell, and effector cell levels. Notably, Phl p 5-specific serum IgE and IgG remained undetectable, and T cell nonresponsiveness persisted throughout follow-up (40 wk). Besides, mediator release was specifically absent in in vitro and in vivo assays. B cell, T cell, and effector cell responses to an unrelated control allergen (Bet v 1) were unperturbed, demonstrating specificity of this tolerance protocol. We thus describe a novel cell-based strategy for the prevention of allergy.

Polinosis por proximidad, un concepto a tener en cuenta ¿El polen como alérgeno domiciliario? / Pollinosis op proximity, a concept to be taken into account. Pollen as a domestic allergen?

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Reações adversas a drogas (R. A. D. ) / Adverse drugs reactions

A consequência do rápido desenvolvimento de novas drogas para tratamentos e diagnósticos de doenças humanas tem levado a aumento na incidência de reações adversas a estas drogas, podendo acarretar um aumento de morbidade e até mortalidade / As a consequence to the development of new drugs and a pharmaceutical agents for diagnosis of human diseases, the number of adverse reactions to the drugs has also increased, resulting incresead morbidity and mortalities..

Clinical management and control of alveolalgia ("dry socket") with vitamin C.

PURPOSE: To monitor the incidence of dry socket in a sample of 696 consecutive tooth extraction patients and to test the possible therapeutic effects of vitamin C. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following standardized extractions, 24 dry socket patients were provided 4,000 mg/day dosages of Vitamin C. Demographic and health history data were collected. RESULTS: The occurrence of dry socket (3.5% overall) was greater in females and individuals with lower overall health status, and supplemental Vitamin C was associated with rapid recovery.

Summary of ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting.

The ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee, cosponsored by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), recently met in Baltimore, MD. Donna Pickett, RRA (NCHS), and Patricia Brooks, RRA (HCFA), cochaired the meeting. Proposed modifications to ICD-9-CM were presented and are summarized below. Unless otherwise indicated, the audience generally supported the proposed changes.

Estudio de la flora alergénica en el Valle de México. Relación con la sensibilización alimenticia de origen vegetal (primera parte) / Allergenic flora in the Valle de Mexico. Relation with food sensitivity of vegetable origen (Part 1)

Se realizo un analisis descriptivo de las plantas consideradas capaces de producir reaccion alergica por los granos de polen. Se trabajo con 106 especimenes de 30 familias y 79 generos, solo 57 especies contribuyeron a la coleccion con preparaciones fijas de polen acetolizado. Asimismo, se realizaron descripciones morfologicas del grano de polen. Se revisaron historias clinicas, seleccionandose a los pacientes que dieron reaccion positiva a algun polosn (1 101 pacientes) y reaccion positiva a algun alimento. Esto se corroboro con pruebas de ingestion alimentaria de origen vegetal. Las gramineas, leguminosas rosaceas y solanaceas fueron el grupo mas importante de alimentos de origen vegetal que dieron reaccion positiva por ingestion alimentaria y 37.52% a reaccion cutanea.