Implementation of guidelines for seasonal allergic rhinitis: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a common disease altering quality of life. Its treatment is well established and guidelines have been proposed. However, their efficacy has never been tested.

Comparison of ebastine to cetirizine in seasonal allergic rhinitis in adults.

Background: Second-generation histamine H1-receptor antagonists are accepted first-line systemic therapy for seasonal allergic rhinitis. Ebastine is a new histamine H1-receptor blocker that may differ in efficacy from currently used second-generation agents.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of daily treatment with ebastine, 10 mg, ebastine, 20 mg, or cetirizine, 10 mg, for relieving symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis in adults.

Overview of allergic mechanisms. Ebastine has more than an antihistamine effect.

Histamine antagonists together with topical steroids are the treatment of choice in allergic rhinitis. Many of these histamine antagonists exhibit effects in addition to blockade of the histamine receptor. In this study we have investigated the effects of ebastine and carebastine on the release of eicosanoids and cytokines from human dispersed polyp cells and the effect of these compounds on the release of inflammatory mediators into nasal lavage fluid after allergen challenge.

Isotypic analysis of grass pollen-specific immunoglobulins in human plasma. 1. Specialization of certain classes and subclasses in the immune response.

The specificity and isotypic profile of humoral immune responses to Dactylis glomerata (Cocksfoot) pollen was studied by isoelectric focusing (IEF)-immunoprint analysis using 26 human plasma samples with high levels of Dactylis pollen-specific IgG4 (IgG4+ plasma) and 25 human plasma samples with low levels of specific IgG4 (normal plasma). Over 60 individual protein components in an aqueous pollen extract were separated by IEF and immunoprinted onto nitrocellose (NC). Following plasma incubation, bound IgE, IgG1-4, IgA1, IgA2 and IgM antibodies were detected on separate immunoprints with isotype-specific antibodies.

Isotypic analysis of grass-pollen-specific immunoglobulins in human plasma. 2. Quantification of the IgE, IgM, IgA class and the IgG subclass antibodies.

Previously, the specificity of human immune responses to Dactylis pollen was analyzed in 26 plasma samples with high levels of grass-pollen-specific IgG4 ('IgG4+ plasma', largely from grass-pollen-allergic patients), as compared to 25 plasma samples with low grass-pollen-specific IgG4 ('normal plasma', from nonatopic individuals). In the present study, a quantification of the Dactylis-pollen-specific IgE, IgM, IgA class and IgG subclass antibodies in these plasma samples is proposed. Isotypic distribution in IgG4+ plasma was 68% IgG [IgG2 (38%) > IgG4 (30%) > IgG1 (19%) > IgG3 (13%)], 27% IgM, 4% IgA and 0.

Immunogenicity of Haemophilus influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide and its tetanus toxoid conjugate in patients with recurrent infections or humoral immunodeficiency.

The antibody response to the capsular polysaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae type b was evaluated after vaccination with the capsular polysaccharide or its tetanus toxoid conjugate in 41 randomized patients with recurrent infections, IgA deficiency, common variable immunodeficiency, or the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. Serum antibodies were measured using a Farr assay for total antibodies and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibodies of the three main immunoglobulin classes and of each IgG subclass. Antibody levels reached concentrations generally considered as protective in the majority of cases, the best response being observed after two injections of the conjugate vaccine with a 1-month interval.

Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy for prevention of infection in high-risk premature infants: report of a multicenter, double-blind study.

The effectiveness of intravenously administered immunoglobulin (Ig) therapy for prophylaxis of infection was evaluated in high-risk preterm infants. Two hundred thirty-five premature newborns were randomly assigned, in a double-blind controlled trial, to treatment and placebo groups. Thirty-five infants (29%) of the Ig group and 29 (25%) of the placebo group had one or more episodes of certain infection.

[Deficiencies in humoral immunity].

B cell immune deficiencies are characterized by inadequate production of antibodies and/or low levels of one or more classes of immune globulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) or IgG sub-classes. They include: 1) severe deficiencies involving all the immune globulins (Bruton agammaglobulinemia, variable hypogammaglobulinemia); 2) selective deficiencies in immune globulins (IgA deficiency, IgM deficiency, deficiencies in IgG sub-classes, dysgammaglobulinemias); 3) transient infantile hypogammaglobulinemia; 4) B cell immune deficiencies with normal gammaglobulin levels. Symptoms of B cell immune deficiencies are variable but respiratory manifestations are usually more prominent than the other features that include digestive disorders, fungal infections, autoimmune conditions, joint manifestations, and severe bacterial or viral infections (pneumococcus, meningococcus, enterovirus).

The antibody spectrum in individuals with defect expression of HLA class II and the LFA-1 glycoprotein family genes.

HLA class II antigens and the LFA-1 (lymphocyte function-associated type 1) glycoprotein family are cell surface structures of central importance in many lymphocyte reactions. Specific antibodies are normally restricted to particular IgG subclasses. In order to study the mechanism of isotype restriction we have analysed specific IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 antibodies directed against a number of different protein and polysaccharide antigens in individuals with HLA class II or LFA-1 deficiency.

[Prevalence of anti-HIV antibodies in immunoglobulins recipients].

Seven hundred and forty subjects who, between 1980 and 1985, had received intravenous or intramuscular injections of immunoglobulins (Ig) prepared by Cohn fractionation of plasma pools from more than 2000 donors were investigated for anti-HIV antibodies. Anti-HIV antibodies were detected in only one subject, a female drug addict and therefore belonging to a group at high risk of AIDS. In contrast with the huge amounts of Ig received by the remaining 739 subjects (976 litres intravenously, 128 litres intramuscularly), this young woman had only received 10 ml of anti-HBs Ig intramuscularly.

Serum IgG subclass deficiency in ataxia-telangiectasia.

Serum IgG subclass levels were determined using a competitive indirect immunoenzymatic assay with monoclonal antibodies in 16 patients with ataxia-telangiectasia. Eight children had IgA deficiency, two had IgG and IgA deficiency and six patients showed no immunoglobulin class abnormality. However, IgG4 and IgG2 levels were undetectable or low in almost every patient.

[LAV infections and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in infants].

The clinical and immunologic abnormalities of 7 infants with Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus (LAV) infection are reported. Indicative immune changes, positive anti-LAV serologic test and/or virus isolation led to the diagnosis. In a case with a particularly severe form of the disease, whose mother died from AIDS, serologic tests and virus isolation were negative.

[LAV virus infections in children].

The clinical signs and immunological abnormalities in ten babies with lymphadenopathy associated virus infections (LAV) are described. We have made this diagnosis based on the association of specific immunological abnormalities, serological tests or the positive isolation of the virus. In one very severe case, whose mother died of AIDS, the serology and attempts to isolate the virus were both negative.

[Prognosis of the systemic forms of juvenile chronic arthritis. Apropos of 100 cases].

The records of 100 children presenting with systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were studied retrospectively. The precocity of onset and intensity of initial extra-articular signs did not seem to be correlated with a more severe outcome. On the other hand, the number of arthritides present during the first 6 months seemed to be associated with a different prognosis: the oligo- or abarticular forms generally had a better prognosis.