[A MULTICENTER CLINICAL SURVEY ABOUT THE PREVALENCE OF JAPANESE CYPRESS POLLINOSIS AND THE EFFICACY OF SUBLINGUAL IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH JAPANESE CEDAR POLLEN EXTRACT DURING JAPANESE CYPRESS POLLEN DISPERSAL PERIOD].

BACKGROUND: Little is known whether sublingual immunotherapy using Japanese cedar pollen extract (cedar SLIT) is effective for not only Japanese cedar pollinosis but also Japanese cypress pollinosis. We investigated the prevalence rate of Japanese cypress pollinosis, efficacy of cedar SLIT on cypress pollinosis and patients' wish to receive cypress SLIT. METHODS: We investigated a multi-center (31 institutions), cross-sectional survey using a self-administrated questionnaire with four questions for patients received cedar SLIT aged from 5 to 69 years old. RESULTS: 2523 subjects were enrolled for analysis. 83.4% of them had pollinosis symptoms during cypress season before cedar SLIT. In such patients, 37.4% experienced lessened efficacy of cedar SLIT during cypress season. Both the prevalence of cypress pollinosis and the lessened efficacy of cedar SLIT on cypress pollinosis were significantly seen in western Japan as compared to eastern Japan. 76.1% of the subject having cypress pollinosis before SLIT wished to receive cypress SLIT if it is available. CONCLUSION: A lessened efficacy of cedar SLIT during cypress season was broadly seen in Japan, and further showed a regional difference. Together with the finding of high wish by patients, these results suggest a development of cypress SLIT is desirable.

Influence of aging on electrogustometry thresholds.

Taste thresholds were measured using electrogustometry by the same researcher at three pairs of sites in the mouth (soft palate, tongue tip and tongue base) in both smokers and non-smokers (n = 461; age range 15-94 years). Comparison of the results by decades showed that the threshold increased significantly with age, starting at age 60 for areas innervated by the chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal nerves and at age 70 for areas innervated by the greater petrosal nerve. For the older teenage subjects, females had significantly lower thresholds than males and thresholds for women tended to be lower than those for men at all sites examined. Thresholds for the two sides of the tongue were within approximately 6 dB of each other. Thresholds on the soft palate were consistently higher than those on the tongue tip and tongue base. Little difference was detected between thresholds on the tongue tip and those on the tongue base except in older teenage subjects, in whom thresholds on the tongue tip were significantly lower than those on the tongue base. Male smokers in their 30s and 40s had significantly lower thresholds on the soft palate than non-smokers in this age group.