Diet during Pregnancy and Infancy and the Infant Intestinal Microbiome.

Objectives: To determine the association between diet during pregnancy and infancy, including breastfeeding vs formula feeding, solid food introduction, and the infant intestinal microbiome.

Study Design: Infants participating in the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial were included in this study (n = 323). Maternal and infant diets were assessed by questionnaire.

Prenatal and early-life triclosan and paraben exposure and allergic outcomes.

Background: In cross-sectional studies triclosan and parabens, ubiquitous ingredients in personal care and other products, are associated with allergic disease.

Objectives: We investigated the association between prenatal and early-life triclosan and paraben exposure and childhood allergic disease in a prospective longitudinal study.

Methods: Subjects were enrollees in the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial.

A prospective microbiome-wide association study of food sensitization and food allergy in early childhood.

Background: Alterations in the intestinal microbiome are prospectively associated with the development of asthma; less is known regarding the role of microbiome alterations in food allergy development.

Methods: Intestinal microbiome samples were collected at age 3-6 months in children participating in the follow-up phase of an interventional trial of high-dose vitamin D given during pregnancy. At age 3, sensitization to foods (milk, egg, peanut, soy, wheat, walnut) was assessed.

Transfusion and component characteristics are not associated with allergic transfusion reactions to apheresis platelets.

Background: Transfusion-related characteristics have been hypothesized to cause allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) but they have not been thoroughly studied. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the associations of infusion rate, infusion volume, ABO mismatching, component age, and pretransfusion medication with the incidence and severity of ATRs. A secondary objective is to compare the risk of these attributes relative to the previously reported risk factor for aeroallergen sensitization in transfusion recipients, as measured by an aeroallergen-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)E antibody screen.

Temporal trends and racial/ethnic disparity in self-reported pediatric food allergy in the United States.

Background: The prevalence of food allergy is thought to be increasing, but data from the United States have not been systematically synthesized.

Objective: To summarize the data on prevalence of food allergy in the US pediatric population and to estimate the effects of time, race/ethnicity, and method of assessing food allergy on the estimated prevalence.

Methods: Embase, MEDLINE, bibliographies of identified reports, and data from publically available data sets were searched.

Scratching the surface of allergic transfusion reactions.

Allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) are a spectrum of hypersensitivity reactions that are the most common adverse reaction to platelets and plasma, occurring in up to 2% of transfusions. Despite the ubiquity of these reactions, little is known about their mechanism. In a small subset of severe reactions, specific antibody has been implicated as causal, although this mechanism does not explain all ATRs.

Kinetics of mast cell, basophil, and oral food challenge responses in omalizumab-treated adults with peanut allergy.

Background: Monoclonal antibodies directed at IgE demonstrate clinical efficacy in subjects with peanut allergy, but previous studies have not addressed the kinetics of the clinical response or the role of mast cells and basophils in the food-induced allergic response.

Objective: We sought to determine the kinetics of the clinical response to omalizumab and whether clinical improvement is associated with either mast cell or basophil suppression.

Methods: Subjects with peanut allergy were treated with omalizumab for 6 months and assessed for clinical and cellular responses.

Suppression of the basophil response to allergen during treatment with omalizumab is dependent on 2 competing factors.

Background: A recent study of subjects with peanut allergy treated with omalizumab generated some results that were concordant with a study of subjects with cat allergy treated with omalizumab. However, there were differences that provided additional insight into the nature of the cellular responses in allergic subjects.

Objective: We sought to determine the cause for failure to suppress the allergen-induced basophil response during treatment with omalizumab.

Urinary levels of triclosan and parabens are associated with aeroallergen and food sensitization.

Background: Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) have immune-modulating effects. We were interested in determining their association with allergic sensitization.

Objective: We sought to determine the association between EDCs and allergic sensitization and whether this relationship depends on the antimicrobial properties of the EDCs, sex, or both.

Allergic agonists in apheresis platelet products are associated with allergic transfusion reactions.

Background: The mechanisms that underlie allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) are not well characterized, but likely involve recipient, donor, and product factors. To assess product factors associated with ATRs, we investigated candidate mediators in apheresis platelet (PLT) products associated with ATRs and controls.

Study Design And Methods: Using bead-based and standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, we tested supernatants from 20 consecutive apheresis PLT transfusions associated with ATRs and 30 control products for concentrations of mediators in three categories: acute inflammatory mediators, direct agonists of basophils and mast cells, and growth and/or priming factors of basophils and mast cells.

Atopic predisposition of recipients in allergic transfusion reactions to apheresis platelets.

Background: The biologic mechanisms of allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) are largely unknown. We sought to compare the atopic predisposition of platelet (PLT) recipients who experienced an ATR to nonreactive control recipients.

Study Design And Methods: We identified 37 consecutive apheresis PLT recipients who experienced an ATR and 26 matched controls.

The natural history of soy allergy.

Background: Soy allergy is very common, affecting approximately 0.4% of children. It is generally thought that the majority of children with soy allergy develop tolerance in early childhood; however, this has not been examined in a large cohort with soy allergy.

Environmental stimulation, parental nurturance and cognitive development in humans.

The effects of environmental stimulation and parental nurturance on brain development have been studied extensively in animals. Much less is known about the relations between childhood experience and cognitive development in humans. Using a longitudinally collected data set with ecologically valid in-home measures of childhood experience and later in-laboratory behavioral measures of cognitive ability, we were able to test hypotheses concerning the effects of environmental stimulation and parental nurturance.

The natural history of egg allergy.

Background: Egg allergy is very common, affecting 1% to 2% of children. It is generally thought that the majority of children with egg allergy develop tolerance in early childhood; however, this has not been examined in a large cohort with egg allergy.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to estimate the proportion of children with egg allergy who develop egg tolerance and to identify predictors of tolerance development.

Childhood poverty: specific associations with neurocognitive development.

Growing up in poverty is associated with reduced cognitive achievement as measured by standardized intelligence tests, but little is known about the underlying neurocognitive systems responsible for this effect. We administered a battery of tasks designed to tax-specific neurocognitive systems to healthy low and middle SES children screened for medical history and matched for age, gender and ethnicity. Higher SES was associated with better performance on the tasks, as expected, but the SES disparity was significantly nonuniform across neurocognitive systems.