The Dose-Response Association between Nitrogen Dioxide Exposure and Serum Interleukin-6 Concentrations.

Systemic inflammation is an integral part of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and air pollution is associated with cardiorespiratory mortality, yet the interrelationships are not fully defined. We examined associations between nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) exposure (as a marker of traffic-related air pollution) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and investigated effect modification and mediation by post-bronchodilator airflow obstruction (post-BD-AO) and cardiovascular risk. Data from middle-aged participants in the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS, = 1389) were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression, using serum interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) as the outcome.

Repeat pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in Indigenous Australian adults is associated with decreased immune responsiveness.

Background: Indigenous adults residing in the Northern Territory of Australia experience elevated rates of invasive pneumococcal disease despite the routine use of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (23vPPV). We hypothesised that the limited protection from 23vPPV may be due to hyporesponsiveness as a result of vaccine failure from repeated vaccination. To explore this possibility, we evaluated the immune response to a first and second dose of 23vPPV in Indigenous adults and a first dose of 23vPPV in non-Indigenous adults.

Debunking the Myth of Wool Allergy: Reviewing the Evidence for Immune and Non-immune Cutaneous Reactions.

Although wool is commonly believed to cause irritant (non-immune) and hypersensitivity (immune) cutaneous reactions, the evidence basis for this belief and its validity for modern garments have not been critically examined. Publications from the last 100 years, using MEDLINE and Google Scholar, were analysed for evidence that wool causes cutaneous reactions, both immune-mediated (atopic dermatitis exacerbation, contact urticaria, allergic contact dermatitis) and non-immune-mediated (irritant contact dermatitis, itch). Secondary aims of this paper were to examine evidence that lanolin and textile-processing additives (formaldehyde, chromium) cause cutaneous reactions in the context of modern wool-processing techniques.

Food Challenge and Community-Reported Reaction Profiles in Food-Allergic Children Aged 1 and 4 Years: A Population-Based Study.

Background: Oral food challenge is the main tool for diagnosing food allergy, but there is little data on the reaction profiles of young children undergoing challenges, nor how these reactions compare to reactions on accidental ingestion in the community.

Objectives: To compare reaction profiles from food challenges and parent-reported reactions on accidental ingestion, and assess predictors of severe reactions.

Methods: HealthNuts is a longitudinal population-based cohort study of 5276 1-year-old infants.

Food allergy: is prevalence increasing?

It is generally accepted that the prevalence of food allergy has been increasing in recent decades, particularly in westernised countries, yet high-quality evidence that is based on challenge confirmed diagnosis of food allergy to support this assumption is lacking because of the high cost and potential risks associated with conducting food challenges in large populations. Accepting this caveat, the use of surrogate markers for diagnosis of food allergy (such as nationwide data on hospital admissions for food anaphylaxis or clinical history in combination with allergen-specific IgE (sIgE) measurement in population-based cohorts) has provided consistent evidence for increasing prevalence of food allergy at least in western countries, such as the UK, United States and Australia. Recent reports that children of East Asian or African ethnicity who are raised in a western environment (Australia and United States respectively) have an increased risk of developing food allergy compared with resident Caucasian children suggest that food allergy might also increase across Asian and African countries as their economies grow and populations adopt a more westernised lifestyle.

Hypoallergenic Variant of the Major Egg White Allergen Gal d 1 Produced by Disruption of Cysteine Bridges.

Gal d 1 (ovomucoid) is the dominant allergen in the chicken egg white. Hypoallergenic variants of this allergen can be used in immunotherapy as an egg allergy treatment approach. We hypothesised that disruption of two of the nine cysteine-cysteine bridges by site-directed mutagenesis will allow the production of a hypoallergenic variant of the protein; Methods: Two cysteine residues at C192 and C210 in domain III of the protein were mutated to alanine using site-directed mutagenesis, to disrupt two separate cysteine-cysteine bridges.

Fish oil supplementation attenuates neuroinflammation and alleviates depressive-like behavior in rats submitted to repeated lipopolysaccharide.

Purpose: Depression is frequently associated with inflammation, whereas omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) primarily found in fish oil possess anti-inflammatory properties. Although converging studies suggest an antidepressant effect of PUFAs, there is limited evidence directly linking the neuro-immune modulating features of PUFAs to the antidepressant actions.

Methods: Therefore, we assessed the effects of fish oil (FO) supplementation on behavioral changes, inflammatory cytokine expression and oxidative reactions in frontal cortex and hippocampus of rats following repeated peripheral immune challenge by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 2 weeks (500 μg/kg every other day).

The Impact of Timing of Introduction of Solids on Infant Body Mass Index.

Objectives: To evaluate the associations between breastfeeding duration, age at solids introduction, and their interaction in relation to infant (age 9-15 months) above normal body mass index (BMI).

Study Design: Cross-sectional, population-based study with 3153 infants from Melbourne (2007-2011). Above normal BMI (z score > 2, equivalent to >97.

Early gut colonization by Bifidobacterium breve and B. catenulatum differentially modulates eczema risk in children at high risk of developing allergic disease.

Background: An altered compositional signature and reduced diversity of early gut microbiota are linked to development of allergic disease. We investigated the relationship between dominant Bifidobacterium species during the early post-natal period and subsequent development of allergic disease in the first year of life.

Methods: Faecal samples were collected at age 1 week, 1 month and 3 months from 117 infants at high risk of allergic disease.

Associations between outdoor fungal spores and childhood and adolescent asthma hospitalizations.

Background: Childhood asthma is a significant public health problem and severe exacerbations can result in diminished quality of life and hospitalization.

Objective: We sought to examine the contribution of outdoor fungi to childhood and adolescent asthma hospitalizations.

Methods: The Melbourne Air Pollen Children and Adolescent study is a case-crossover study of 644 children and adolescents (aged 2-17 years) hospitalized for asthma.

Understanding the feasibility and implications of implementing early peanut introduction for prevention of peanut allergy.

Background: A recent randomized trial (the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy [LEAP] study) provided evidence that earlier dietary peanut introduction reduces peanut allergy prevalence in high-risk infants. However, questions remain as to how to identify and target the "at-risk" population to facilitate timely introduction of peanut.

Objective: We sought to use population-based infant peanut allergy data to understand feasibility and implications of implementing the LEAP trial intervention.

Formula and breast feeding in infant food allergy: A population-based study.

Aim: To determine whether infant-feeding practices, including duration of exclusive breastfeeding and use of partially hydrolysed formula, modify the risk of developing infant food allergy.

Methods: In an observational population-based study, 1 year olds were recruited from community immunisation clinics in Melbourne, Australia. Parent-reported data on infant-feeding practices and potential confounders were collected prior to infant skin prick testing for four food allergens.

Long Chain Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Supplementation Alleviates Doxorubicin-Induced Depressive-Like Behaviors and Neurotoxicity in Rats: Involvement of Oxidative Stress and Neuroinflammation.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a chemotherapeutic agent widely used in human malignancies. Its long-term use can cause neurobiological side-effects associated with depression. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs), the essential fatty acids found in fish oil, possess neuroprotecitve and antidepressant activities.

Statewide prevalence of school children at risk of anaphylaxis and rate of adrenaline autoinjector activation in Victorian government schools, Australia.

Background: The prevalence of school students at risk of anaphylaxis in Victoria is unknown and has not been previously studied. Similarly, rates of adrenaline autoinjector usage in the school environment have yet to be determined given increasing prescription rates.

Objectives: We sought to determine time trends in prevalence of school children at risk of anaphylaxis across all year levels and the annual usage rate of adrenaline autoinjectors in the school setting relative to the number of students at risk of anaphylaxis.

Perinatal microbial exposure may influence aortic intima-media thickness in early infancy.

Background: The maternal and infant microbiome may influence infant cardiovascular risk through immune programming. The maternal vagino-enteric microbiome is often sampled for group B streptococcus (GBS) colonization during pregnancy. Our aim was to investigate the association between maternal GBS colonization, intrapartum antibiotics, antenatal pet exposure and infant aortic intima-media thickness (aIMT), an intermediate vascular phenotype, and whether this association varied by mode of delivery.

Maternal diet of polyunsaturated fatty acid altered the cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus of hippocampus and influenced glutamatergic and serotoninergic systems of neonatal female rats.

Background: Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are major components of the phospholipids that forming the cell membrane. Insufficient availability of PUFAs during prenatal period decreases accretion of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the developing brain. DHA deficiency is associated with impaired attention and cognition, and would precipitate psychiatric symptoms.

Molecular and immunological analysis of hen's egg yolk allergens with a focus on YGP42 (Gal d 6).

Allergy to hen's (Gallus domesticus) egg white is one of the most common forms of food allergy. Allergy to hen's yolk also exists however, to a lesser extent when compared to egg white allergy. Two minor allergens from the hen's egg yolk known as α-livetin (Gal d 5) and YGP42 (Gal d 6) were discovered recently.

Effect of Antiepileptic Therapy on Serum 25(OH)D3 and 24,25(OH)2D3 Levels in Epileptic Children.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is not only associated with the adverse effects of chronic treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), but also with epilepsy. Although emerging evidence suggests that AEDs can accelerate the vitamin D catabolism, resulting in suboptimal vitamin D status, there are a limited number of studies examining the vitamin D status in epileptic patients, especially in first-episode or AEDs-naïve children.

Methods: Determined with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, circulating 25(OH)D3 and 24,25(OH)2D3 levels, and 24,25(OH)2D3:25(OH)D3 ratio were compared between AEDs-treated epileptic (n = 363) and control (n = 159) children.

Cord blood monocyte-derived inflammatory cytokines suppress IL-2 and induce nonclassic "T(H)2-type" immunity associated with development of food allergy.

Food allergy is a major health burden in early childhood. Infants who develop food allergy display a proinflammatory immune profile in cord blood, but how this is related to interleukin-4 (IL-4)/T helper 2 (T(H)2)-type immunity characteristic of allergy is unknown. In a general population-derived birth cohort, we found that in infants who developed food allergy, cord blood displayed a higher monocyte to CD4(+) T cell ratio and a lower proportion of natural regulatory T cell (nT(reg)) in relation to duration of labor.