Immediate Reaction to Propranolol: An Extremely Rare but Important Condition. A Case Report.

INTRODUCTION: Beta-blockers involve a group of drugs widely used nowadays. Propranolol was the first beta-blocker available in the market. It is the most prescribed first-generation betablocker and is commonly used. Beta-blocker allergy is extremely unusual. Only an isolated case of an urticaria reaction to propranolol has been published in 1975. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a 44-year-old man. In 2016, he was treated with a daily dose of 5 mg of propranolol prescribed for a diagnosis of essential tremor. On the third day of medical treatment, he experienced an episode of generalized urticaria directly related to the administration of propranolol. He continued with his habitual treatment and he had no other urticaria episodes. A drug provocation test was carried out with gradually increasing doses of the culprit drug. Thirty minutes after a total cumulative dose of 5 mg, the patient had several hives on the chest, abdominal region and arms. Two weeks later, a new drug provocation test was performed to bisoprolol as an alternative beta-blocker, with good tolerance. CONCLUSION: We describe a new case of urticaria secondary to propranolol, presenting as an immediate hypersensitivity reaction. Bisoprolol has been succesfully proved to be a safe option. Bisoprolol is a second-generation beta-blocker, it is available and commercialized worldwide, which makes it a good alternative.

Safety and Effectiveness of a Single Multiallergen Subcutaneous Immunotherapy in Polyallergic Patients.

BACKGROUND: As the number of allergic sensitizations increases the severity of allergic respiratory diseases worsens. Multiple monoallergen immunotherapy can be accompanied by poor treatment adherence and high costs, single multiallergen immunotherapy needs to prove efficacy whilst maintaining a good safety profile. METHODS: Observational, retrospective, multicenter study using a 2-pollen single undiluted multiallergen subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) in routine clinical practice in Spain. Patients with rhinoconjunctivitis, with/without controlled asthma, sensitized to grass, olive, Parietaria, Cupressus, plane tree and/or Salsola pollen were included. Primary and secondary clinical efficacy endpoints were quality of life (mini Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (miniRQLQ)) and visual analogue scale (VAS) respectively. All adverse events were documented. RESULTS: Ten centers included 97 patients, median age 32 years. SCIT treatment included combinations of grass mix with olive, Parietaria, Cupressus, plane tree or Salsola or olive with Parietaria, Cupressus or Salsola. The mean duration of SCIT was 1.8 years with a high treatment adherence (73%). Significant improvement in quality of life, nasal and ocular symptoms, activity limitations and practical problems (p< 0.0001) and other symptoms (p= 0.024) was observed. Most patients did not develop asthma-like symptoms and a significant improvement of all allergic symptom severity was perceived. VAS showed a significant improvement in rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma by patients and physicians. Twenty-nine patients experienced adverse reactions, 25 had local and 6 had systemic reactions. CONCLUSIONS: Single undiluted multiallergen SCIT treatment of two different pollens is efficacious and safe in both children and adults, showing that it is a suitable option for the treatment of polyallergic patients.

Aula invertida en enseñanzas sanitarias: recomendaciones para su puesta en práctica / Flipped classroom in health teaching: recommendations for its implementation

El aula invertida es un modelo de enseñanza-aprendizaje en el que los alumnos tienen el primer contacto con la información a ser aprendida fuera de clase, mediante documentos (textos y videos) que el docente les hace llegar por medios electrónicos. El tiempo de clase así ahorrado se dedica a actividades de aula que consolidan la asimilación de ese conocimiento y lo aplican a la resolución de cuestiones, casos y problemas. Este modelo de aprendizaje reduce el tiempo de instrucción directa en clase y aumenta el dedicado al aprendizaje activo. Se transfiere al alumno la responsabilidad de esforzarse inicialmente para alcanzar un nivel de comprensión básico y comunicar sus dificultades y dudas al docente. Así, el docente recibe información sobre cuáles son las dificultades y necesidades de sus alumnos y podrá adaptar las actividades que realizará en el aula para resolver las dudas manifestadas por ellos. Denominamos a esta metodología 'aula invertida adaptativa'. El aula invertida logra un mayor grado de implicación de los alumnos con su aprendizaje, mejoras en la valoración de su percepción sobre la docencia recibida y, sobre todo, mejoras en sus resultados académicos. En este artículo también se sopesan los beneficios y los costes del cambio desde la metodología expositiva tradicional al aula invertida adaptativa y, finalmente, se aportan recomendaciones para la puesta en práctica del aula invertida en el contexto de una enseñanza tradicional de las ciencias sanitarias

Flipped classroom means that students have the first exposure to new information to be learned outside the classroom by mean of electronic documents (texts and videos). Next, class time is devoted to class activities which reinforce the assimilation of that knowledge by applying it to answer questions and solving cases and problems. This learning model reduces the class time devoted to direct instruction and increases the time used in active learning. It transfers to the student the responsibility of initially striving to reach a basic understanding and communicate their difficulties and doubts to the teacher. Thus, the teacher receives information about the difficulties and needs of their students and can adapt the activities they will carry out in the classroom to solve the doubts expressed by their students. We named this teaching methodology as adaptive fl ipped classroom. The fl ipped classroom achieves a greater degree of involvement of students with their learning, improvements in academic results and in their assessment of the teaching received. In this report, the benefits and costs of the change are weighed from the traditional expositive methodology to the adaptive flipped classroom and, finally, recommendations are given for the implementation of the flipped classroom in the context of a traditional teaching of health sciences

Heterogeneous predisposing factors and etiology of edema of the uvula in a Spanish population

BACKGROUND: Edema of the uvula (EU) may appear in isolation or in association with clinical manifestations such as urticaria, angioedema, and anaphylaxis. EU may lead to upper airway obstruction, provoking obstructive respiratory distress and asphyxia. OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the etiology of and predisposing factors for EU in a large population of patients referred to an outpatient clinic. METHODS: In this 3-year follow-up cohort study, 171 patients presenting with EU were identified and classified as having isolated EU or nonisolated EU. The etiology of each patient's condition was studied, and possible predisposing factors were recorded. An allergology work-up and a statistical study (bivariate/multivariate analyses) were performed. RESULTS: The predisposing factors for both groups of EU patients were found to be different. The etiology of the problem was identified for most patients; allergy to Anisakis simplex was the most common cause in both groups. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics were also found to be triggers in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Isolated EU was associated with snoring, an elongated uvula, and having experienced previous episodes of EU. We found no associations between groups of EU patients and gender, obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, personal and family history of atopy, and obstructive sleep apnea. Allergy to A simplex was the most commonly recorded cause

INTRODUCCIÓN: El edema de úvula (EU) puede aparecer aislado o en asociación con otras manifestaciones clínicas, tales como urticaria, angioedema o anafilaxia. En cualquier caso, puede provocar una obstrucción de la vía aérea superior que a veces puede ser grave. OBJETIVO: Intentamos investigar la etiología y los factores predisponentes del EU de una gran población de pacientes derivados a nuestras consultas. MÉTODOS: En este estudio de cohortes de 3 años de seguimiento, se valoraron 171 pacientes que presentaban EU, clasificándose como EU aislado o EU no aislado. Se estudió la etiología de la condición clínica de cada paciente y se registraron los posibles factores predisponentes en cada caso, a través de un estudio alergológico y estadístico, con el fin de comprobar una asociación significativa entre ellos. RESULTADOS: Se encontró que los factores predisponentes para ambos grupos de pacientes eran diferentes. Una etiología fue identificada para la mayoría de los casos, siendo la alergia a Anisakis simplex la causa más común para ambos grupos. Los fármacos antiinflamatorios no esteroideos y los antibióticos también fueron identificados como etiologías para ambos grupos. CONCLUSIONES: Encontramos que el EU aislado se asoció con roncopatía, úvula elongada y haber sufrido episodios previos de EU. No se demostró asociación entre ambos grupos de pacientes con el sexo, obesidad, tabaquismo, hábito enólico, atopia personal y familiar o apnea obstructiva del sueño. La alergia a A. simplex fue la causa más frecuentemente demostrada

A rare case of plastic bronchitis following bronchial thermoplasty

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Quality of life in patients with food allergy.

Food allergy has increased in developed countries and can have a dramatic effect on quality of life, so as to provoke fatal reactions. We aimed to outline the socioeconomic impact that food allergy exerts in this kind of patients by performing a complete review of the literature and also describing the factors that may influence, to a greater extent, the quality of life of patients with food allergy and analyzing the different questionnaires available. Hitherto, strict avoidance of the culprit food(s) and use of emergency medications are the pillars to manage this condition. Promising approaches such as specific oral or epicutaneous immunotherapy and the use of monoclonal antibodies are progressively being investigated worldwide. However, even that an increasing number of centers fulfill those approaches, they are not fully implemented enough in clinical practice. The mean annual cost of health care has been estimated in international dollars (I$) 2016 for food-allergic adults and I$1089 for controls, a difference of I$927 (95 % confidence interval I$324-I$1530). A similar result was found for adults in each country, and for children, and interestingly, it was not sensitive to baseline demographic differences. Cost was significantly related to severity of illness in cases in nine countries. The constant threat of exposure, need for vigilance and expectation of outcome can have a tremendous impact on quality of life. Several studies have analyzed the impact of food allergy on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in adults and children in different countries. There have been described different factors that could modify HRQL in food allergic patients, the most important of them are perceived disease severity, age of the patient, peanut or soy allergy, country of origin and having allergy to two or more foods. Over the last few years, several different specific Quality of Life questionnaires for food allergic patients have been developed and translated to different languages and cultures. It is important to perform lingual and cultural translations of existent questionnaires in order to ensure its suitability in a specific region or country with its own socioeconomic reality and culture. Tools aimed at assessing the impact of food allergy on HRQL should be always part of the diagnostic work up, in order to provide a complete basal assessment, to highlight target of intervention as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to cure food allergy. HRQL may be the only meaningful outcome measure available for food allergy measuring this continuous burden.

Abnormal chemokine receptor profile on circulating T lymphocytes from nonallergic asthma patients.

BACKGROUND: T lymphocytes are involved in the pathogenesis of nonallergic asthma. The objective of this study was to characterize the subset distribution and pattern of chemokine receptor expression in circulating T lymphocyte subsets from nonallergic asthma patients. METHODS: Forty stable nonallergic asthma patients and 16 sex- and age-matched healthy donors were studied. Twelve patients did not receive inhaled steroids (untreated patients), 16 received 50-500 µg b.i.d. of inhaled fluticasone propionate (FP) (standard-dose patients), and 12 received over 500 µg b.i.d. of inhaled FP (high-dose patients) for at least 12 months prior to the beginning of this study and were clinically well controlled. Flow cytometry was performed using a panel of monoclonal antibodies (4 colors). RESULTS: Nonallergic asthma patients treated with high doses of inhaled FP showed a significant reduction in the percentages of CD3+ T lymphocytes compared to healthy controls. Untreated patients showed a significant increase in CCR6 expression in CD8+CD25+ and CD8+CD25+bright T cells compared to healthy controls. The results were similar for CXCR3 and CCR5 expression. In patients treated with standard doses of FP, CCR5 expression was significantly increased in CD3+ T lymphocytes relative to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: The different groups of clinically stable nonallergic asthmatic patients showed distinct patterns of alterations in subset distribution as well as CCR6, CXCR3, and CCR5 expression on circulating T lymphocytes. .