Evolving concepts in how viruses impact asthma: A Work Group Report of the Microbes in Allergy Committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Over the past decade, there have been substantial advances in our understanding about how viral infections regulate asthma. Important lessons have been learned from birth cohort studies examining viral infections and subsequent asthma and from understanding the relationships between host genetics and viral infections, the contributions of respiratory viral infections to patterns of immune development, the impact of environmental exposure on the severity of viral infections, and how the viral genome influences host immune responses to viral infections. Further, there has been major progress in our knowledge about how bacteria regulate host immune responses in asthma pathogenesis.

Positive Family History, Infection, Low Absolute Lymphocyte Count (ALC), and Absent Thymic Shadow: Diagnostic Clues for All Molecular Forms of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID).

Background: Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is a syndrome uniformly fatal during infancy unless recognized and treated successfully by bone marrow transplantation or gene therapy. Because infants with SCID have no abnormal physical appearance, diagnosis is usually delayed unless newborn screening is performed.

Objective: In this study, we sought to evaluate the presenting features of all 172 patients with SCID transplanted at this institution over the past 31 years.

The human fetal lymphocyte lineage: identification by CD27 and LIN28B expression in B cell progenitors.

CD27, a member of the TNFR superfamily, is used to identify human memory B cells. Nonetheless, CD27(+) B cells are present in patients with HIGM1 syndrome who are unable to generate GCs or memory B cells. CD27(+)IgD(+) fetal B cells are present in umbilical cord blood, and CD27 may also be a marker of the human B1-like B cells.

Future therapies for food allergy.

Food allergy affects 3.9% of US children and is increasing in prevalence. The current standard of care involves avoidance of the triggering food and treatment for accidental ingestions.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage in wegener granulomatosis: a case report and review of the literature.

Wegener granulomatosis (WG) is an uncommon, idiopathic disorder that is characterized by granulomatous inflammation of the upper and lower respiratory tract, disseminated vasculitis involving small and medium-sized vessels, and focal segmental glomerulonephritis. Approximately 25% to 50% of patients have nervous system involvement. The brain is less frequently involved.

AID expression during B-cell development: searching for answers.

Expression of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) by germinal center (GC) B cells drives the processes of immunoglobulin (Ig) somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) necessary for the generation of high affinity IgG serum antibody and the memory B-cell compartment. Increasing evidence indicates that AID is also expressed at low levels in developing B cells but to date, this early, developmentally regulated AID expression has no known function. Does the timing and extent of AID expression in developmentally immature, non-GC B cells provide clues to reveal its physiologic role?