A generally applicable translational strategy identifies S100A4 as a candidate gene in allergy.

The identification of diagnostic markers and therapeutic candidate genes in common diseases is complicated by the involvement of thousands of genes. We hypothesized that genes co-regulated with a key gene in allergy, IL13, would form a module that could help to identify candidate genes. We identified a T helper 2 (TH2) cell module by small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of 25 putative IL13-regulating transcription factors followed by expression profiling.

Preterm infants' early developmental status is associated with later developmental outcome.

Aim: To assess the development of preterm infants from 40 weeks gestational age to 18 months corrected age to identify early predictors of later development.

Methods: Fifty-one infants were involved. Infant development was assessed at 40 and 44 weeks gestational age with the Brazelton neonatal behavioral assessment scale and a self-regulation scale and at 3, 6, 10, 18 months corrected age with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.

Fatty acid patterns early after premature birth, simultaneously analysed in mothers' food, breast milk and serum phospholipids of mothers and infants.

Background: The supply of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids via the placenta is interrupted in premature infants, making them exclusively dependent on breast milk, which varies in fatty acid (FA) concentrations depending on the mother's diet.

Objective: To in a longitudinal study explore the relation between FA status in mothers and infants from an unselected cohort of prematures, not requiring intensive care.

Design: Breast milk and mothers' and infants' plasma phospholipid FA concentrations from birth to 44 weeks of gestational age were analysed and compared with mothers' food intake, assessed using a 3-day diary.