Correlation of serum total IgE, eosinophil granule cationic proteins, sensitized allergens and family aggregation in atopic dermatitis patients with or without rhinitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a complex disease with both a genetic background and environmental interactions. Although multiple linkage-analyses about AD have been studied, there have been only a few family aggregation tests of AD or perennial allergic rhinitis (AR) to date. The association of allergen-specific IgE in AD and atopic dermatitis with allergic perennial rhinitis (ADR) have also been seldom discussed.

Reorientational optical nonlinearity of nematic liquid-crystal cells near the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature.

We address the reorientational optical nonlinearity of homogeneously aligned neamtic liquid-crystal (NLC) cells. The propagation of light in NLC cells depend strongly on temperature. At a temperature approaching the clearing point, an undulating beam and multifocal points are observed in the NLC cell by use of a polarizing optical microscope.