Personalized Pollen Monitoring and Symptom Scores: A Feasibility Study in Grass Pollen Allergic Patients.

Pollen is a major trigger for allergic symptoms in sensitized individuals. Airborne pollen is usually monitored by Hirst type pollen samplers located at rooftop level, providing a general overview of the pollen distribution in the larger surroundings. In this feasibility study, grass pollen-sensitized subjects monitored the pollen in their direct environment using a portable pollen sampler (Pollensniffer) and scored their symptoms, to study the relation between symptom severity and personal grass pollen exposure.

A new portable sampler to monitor pollen at street level in the environment of patients.

Allergic rhinitis caused by pollen exposure is one of the most common allergic diseases. Therefore monitoring pollen levels in ambient air is an important tool in research and health care. Most European monitoring stations collect airborne pollen at rooftop levels for measurements in the larger surrounding of the sampling station, and not in the direct environment of sensitized subjects.

Clinical impact of five large-scale screening projects for chronic hepatitis B in Chinese migrants in the Netherlands.

Background & Aims: In low-endemic countries it is debated whether first-generation migrants should be screened for chronic hepatitis B infection. We describe the clinical impact of five large-scale Dutch screening projects for hepatitis B in first-generation Chinese migrants.

Methods: Between 2009 and 2013 five independent outreach screening projects for hepatitis B targeting first-generation Chinese migrants were conducted in five main Dutch regions.

Identification and treatment of chronic hepatitis B in Chinese migrants: results of a project offering on-site testing in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Background & Aims: Migrants born in countries where hepatitis B is endemic are a risk group for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Treatment options have improved, but due to the asymptomatic nature of chronic HBV infection, the majority of patients remain unidentified.

Methods: In 2009, a campaign targeting the Chinese community was held in the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Paired, quantitative measurements of hepatitis B virus DNA in saliva, urine and serum of chronic hepatitis B patients.

Objectives: Despite an abundance of epidemiological evidence for horizontal transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), the transmission route remains to be fully elucidated. In a new approach, we evaluated quantitative HBV DNA content in serum, saliva and urine as a first step in exploring possible modes of horizontal transmission.

Methods: In an outpatient setting of an academic hospital, paired serum, saliva and urine samples were collected from 150 chronically infected HBV patients.