Ocular surface disorders: office procedures for the allergist/clinical immunologist.

Purpose Of Review: Ocular surface disorders (OSDs) are a prevalent and often debilitating condition encountered in clinical practice, particularly by allergists and clinical immunologists.

Recent Findings: A comprehensive guide to office procedures for evaluating and managing OSDs, with a specific focus on ocular allergies, would assist in the evaluation process that begins with an initial patient assessment utilizing standardized forms to systematically gather detailed medical history, symptomatology, and environmental exposure data. This structured approach ensures a thorough understanding of the patient's condition and facilitates targeted interventions.

Comparative Impact of Asthma Biologics: A Nationwide US Claim-Based Analysis.

Background: Biologic modifiers targeting type 2 (T2) airway inflammation are effective in reducing asthma exacerbation. However, real-world and comparative effectiveness studies remain limited.

Objective: To examine and compare the real-world impact of anti-T2 asthma biologics.

A systematic review of quality and consistency of clinical practice guidelines on the primary prevention of food allergy and atopic dermatitis.

Background And Aims: With an increasing number of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) addressing primary prevention of food allergy and atopic dermatitis, it is timely to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the quality and consistency of recommendations and evaluation of their implementability in different geographical settings.

Methods: We systematically reviewed CPGs from 8 international databases and extensive website searches. Seven reviewers screened records in any language and then used the AGREE II and AGREE REX instruments to critically appraise CPGs published between January 2011 and April 2022.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Allergen Immunotherapy Prescription for Allergic Rhinitis.

Background: Racial and ethnic differences exist in the severity of various atopic diseases including allergic rhinitis (AR). Patients of under-represented races and ethnicities may be subjected to disparate subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy (SCIT) prescription practices.

Objective: To explore the racial and ethnic disparities in the use of SCIT among patients with AR.

Management of pediatric hereditary angioedema types 1 and 2: A search for international consensus.

The management of hereditary angioedema has rapidly changed over the past decade. With these changes there has been increased recognition of the unique challenges of diagnosing and managing hereditary angioedema in pediatric populations. The objective of this review was to identify and compare recently published consensus guidelines for the management of hereditary angioedema types 1 and 2 to identify areas of agreement and conflict.

SMART - is it practical in the United States?

Purpose Of Review: The 2020 focused updates to the asthma management guidelines by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Coordinating Committee Expert Panel Working Group advocate for inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)-formoterol combinations as single maintenance and reliever therapy (SMART) for patients with persistent asthma. We review the rationale, the evidence supporting SMART use in asthma, and barriers limiting its wide adoption in the United States.

Recent Findings: A growing body of evidence supports the use of SMART over the conventional use of controller medicaments with an as-needed short-acting β2 agonist for rescue therapy for the purpose of reducing the risk of asthma exacerbation and maintaining asthma control in adolescents and adults with persistent disease.

Comparison of structural components and functional mechanisms within the skin vs. the conjunctival surface.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to highlight and compare the structural and functional differences between the ocular surface and the skin. The goal is to further understand how these components interact from an immunobiological standpoint, which may inform future therapeutic uses.

Recent Findings: Treatment agents, such as Dupilumab and Apremilast are traditionally indicated for integumentary conditions, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, respectively.

Assessment of receptor affinities of ophthalmic and systemic agents in dry eye disease.

Purpose Of Review: To explore our current understanding of receptor profiles acted upon by medications used to treat dry eye disease (DED).

Recent Findings: Research into histaminic and muscarinic receptor affinities for drugs targeting the ocular surface has not kept up with bench research pertaining to the receptor profile of the ocular surface. These insights are necessary for better evaluation of medications used in DED and other allergic disorders.

Psychosocial impact of ocular surface allergic inflammatory disorders.

Purpose Of Review: Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis is one of the most common ocular surface allergic inflammatory conditions seen in primary care that impacts patient's quality of life. Allergic conjunctivitis is increasingly being recognized as its own symptom complex that negatively impacts patient's quality of life separate from allergic rhinitis. This article reviews the psychosocial impact of ocular surface allergic inflammatory disorders (namely seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, ocular allergy, perennial allergic conjunctivitis, and atopic keratoconjunctivitis) on adult and pediatric populations.

In vivo nuclear RNA structurome reveals RNA-structure regulation of mRNA processing in plants.

Background: mRNA processing is critical for gene expression. A challenge in regulating mRNA processing is how to recognize the actual mRNA processing sites, such as splice and polyadenylation sites, when the sequence content is insufficient for this purpose. Previous studies suggested that RNA structure affects mRNA processing.

Use of allergen immunotherapy for treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the literature pertaining to the use of allergen immunotherapy for treatment of allergic conjunctivitis with an emphasis on recent developments.

Recent Findings: Both subcutaneous (SCIT) and sublingual (SLIT) immunotherapy continue to show efficacy in treating allergic conjunctival disease, subcutaneous more than sublingual. Adverse effects of sublingual therapy continue to be reported since the FDA's approval of SLIT tablets in 2014.

Intact RNA structurome reveals mRNA structure-mediated regulation of miRNA cleavage in vivo.

MicroRNA (miRNA)-mediated cleavage is involved in numerous essential cellular pathways. miRNAs recognize target RNAs via sequence complementarity. In addition to complementarity, in vitro and in silico studies have suggested that RNA structure may influence the accessibility of mRNAs to miRNA-induced silencing complexes (miRISCs), thereby affecting RNA silencing.

Scalable Syntheses of Methoxyaspartate and Preparation of the Antibiotic Cystobactamid 861-2 and Highly Potent Derivatives.

An improved scalable synthesis of orthogonally functionalized methoxyaspartate, the chiral hinge region element in cystobactamids, is reported. This improvement sets the stage for the total synthesis of four new cystobactamids along with cystobactamid 861-2, whose antibacterial properties are determined and compared. The cyano derivative of cystobactamide 861-2 shows superior antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria to any natural cystobactamide tested so far.

Cystobactamids 920-1 and 920-2: Assignment of the Constitution and Relative Configuration by Total Synthesis.

Total synthesis of cystobactamid 920-1 and its epimer has allowed an unambiguous assignment of the relative and absolute configuration of the natural product. A careful structural analysis of each isomer using both NMR and computational techniques also prompted a constitutional revision of the structures originally reported for cystobactamids 920-1 and 920-2, and has provided further insight into the unique conformational preferences of the cystobactamid family.

Seasonal ocular allergy and pollen counts.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of the article is to provide a historical overview of literature regarding pollen sensitization and ocular allergy with an emphasis on developments that have occurred over the past 5 years.

Recent Findings: Currently, pollen studies have examined the molecular and cellular pathways involved in initiating allergic conjunctivitis to find targets for therapeutics. Studies have also documented the threshold, linear increase and plateau point in the relationship between pollen levels and allergic conjunctivitis symptoms.

Rice In Vivo RNA Structurome Reveals RNA Secondary Structure Conservation and Divergence in Plants.

RNA secondary structure plays a critical role in gene regulation. Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important food crops in the world. However, RNA structure in rice has scarcely been studied.

Total synthesis and structural elucidation of spongosoritin A.

Two putative structures of spongosoritin A, with syn (6R,8R) and anti (6S,8R) configurations, were each synthesised in a total of 11 linear steps with only 8 purification procedures. The key steps in our strategy included Evans alkylation and olefin dihydroxylation to install the C8 and C6 stereocentres, a transacetalisation/dehydration cascade to construct the furanylidene core, and chromatographic separation of 9E- and 9Z-isomers of the final compounds with silver nitrate impregnated silica. Comparison of the H and C NMR data for the synthetic syn- and anti-isomers to that reported for the natural product revealed that the relative configuration of spongosoritin A is syn.

Dysfunction in emotion processing underlies functional (psychogenic) dystonia.

Objective: We sought to determine whether abnormalities in emotion processing underlie functional (psychogenic) dystonia, one of the most common functional movement disorders.

Methods: Motor and emotion circuits were examined in 12 participants with functional dystonia, 12 with primary organic dystonia, and 25 healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging at 4T and a finger-tapping task (motor task), a basic emotion-recognition task (emotional faces task), and an intense-emotion stimuli task.

Results: There were no differences in motor task activation between groups.

A light-sensitive mutation in Arabidopsis LEW3 reveals the important role of N-glycosylation in root growth and development.

Plant roots have the potential capacity to grow almost indefinitely if meristematic and lateral branching is sustained. In a genetic screen we identified an Arabidopsis mutant showing limited root growth (lrg1) due to defects in cell division and elongation in the root meristem. Positional cloning determined that lrg1 affects an alpha-1,2-mannosyltransferase gene, LEW3, involved in protein N-glycosylation.