Comparison of systemic reactions in rush, cluster, and standard-build aeroallergen immunotherapy.

Background: Given the choice of standard, cluster, and rush build-up for aeroallergen immunotherapy, standard-build immunotherapy has generally been preferred because of a perceived high rate of systemic reactions (SRs) associated with cluster and rush immunotherapy.

Objective: To characterize the incidence of SRs during standard, cluster, and rush build-up immunotherapy in an allergy practice during a 5-year period.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted among patients receiving standard-build, 8- to 10-step cluster, or 2-day rush immunotherapy from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2014, at Family Allergy & Asthma clinics in Louisville, Kentucky.

Portable spirometry in the deployed setting.

Recent studies suggest an increased risk of respiratory complaints associated with deployment. The objective measurement of lung function provided by portable spirometry is likely to improve the ability of military providers to diagnose and treat lung disease. A portable spirometer was taken to southern Afghanistan on a recent deployment and used at both a level I aid station and a level II medical facility, which were colocated on a forward operating base in the Kandahar Province.

Hymenoptera of Afghanistan and the central command area of operations: assessing the threat to deployed U.S. service members with insect venom hypersensitivity.

Insect venom hypersensitivity can pose a threat to personnel deployed to a combat zone but the exposure risk in Afghanistan is currently unknown. This study was designed to assess the threat of Hymenoptera stings and associated allergic reactions in Afghanistan. Hymenoptera species were collected during a deployment to southern Afghanistan from June 2010 through January 2011.

The autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome: A rare disorder providing clues about normal tolerance.

The autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) is characterized by chronic, non-malignant lymphoproliferation, autoimmunity often manifesting as multilineage cytopenias, and an increased risk of lymphoma. While considered a rare disease, there are currently over 250 patients with ALPS being followed at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Most of these patients have a mutation in the gene for the TNF receptor-family member Fas (CD 95, Apo-1), and about one-third have an unknown defect or mutations affecting function of other signaling proteins involved in the apoptotic pathway.

Applying principles of physics to the airway to help explain the relationship between asthma and gastroesophageal reflux.

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and asthma have been linked, but the true nature of this relationship is incompletely understood. Most of the literature examining this association has implicated GER as the factor contributing to asthma. GER has also been linked to conditions of the upper airway like sinusitis and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and once again, usually presumed to be the causative factor.