Keeping up with Recent Developments in Immunodeficiency.

Inborn Errors of Immunity are a rapidly expanding group of monogenetic disorders affecting the immune system. Advancements in genetic testing and functional validation studies have accelerated the pace of IEI gene discovery and mechanism of disease, particularly in the past five years. To keep up with this rapid expansion, the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) Expert Committee has periodically, since 1999, released updated IEI classifications with corresponding genotypic and phenotypic catalogues with its most recent update in 2022.

A nurse-driven penicillin allergy risk score in the preoperative setting was associated with increased cefazolin use perioperatively.

Study Objective: To characterize and assess the effects of a preoperative, nurse-driven penicillin allergy risk stratification tool on rates of perioperative cefazolin and second-line antibiotic use.

Design: Quasi-experimental quality improvement study of penicillin-allergic surgical patients undergoing procedures for which cefazolin is indicated.

Setting: Outpatient Perioperative Care Clinic (PCC) for preoperative surgical patients at a tertiary care center.

Comparing body mass index and obesity-related comorbidities as predictors in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

The association between body mass index (BMI) and poor COVID-19 outcomes in patients has been demonstrated across numerous studies. However, obesity-related comorbidities have also been shown to be associated with poor outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether BMI or obesity-associated comorbidities contribute to elevated COVID-19 severity in non-elderly, hospitalized patients with elevated BMI (≥25 kg/m ).

Concurrent asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adult ED patients: A national perspective.

Objectives: Emergency department (ED) visits for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are common. The designation of Asthma-COPD overlap (ACO) has been used to describe patients with features of both diseases. Studies show that ACO patients may be at increased risk of poor outcomes relative to patients with either disease alone.

Targeting the IL-5 pathway in eosinophilic asthma: a comparison of mepolizumab to benralizumab in the reduction of peripheral eosinophil counts.

Background: Mepolizumab and benralizumab are biologics approved for severe eosinophilic asthma. Mepolizumab is an anti-interlukin-5 (IL-5) antibody while benralizumab is an anti-interleukin-5 receptor alpha (IL-5Rα) antibody targeting the IL-5 receptor on eosinophils. Both therapies reduce oral corticosteroid requirements and asthma exacerbations.

Eligibility of monoclonal antibody-based therapy for patients with severe asthma: a Canadian cross-sectional perspective.

Background: Based on immunologic phenotypes underlying asthma, use of monoclonal antibody based therapies is becoming the new standard of care for severe, corticosteroid refractory clinical symptoms. Patients may qualify for one or more of these targeted treatments, based on clinical characteristics and approved indications. However, the statistics are not well characterized, particularly in the Canadian population.

High rate of house dust mite sensitization in a shrimp allergic southern Ontario population.

Background: Shrimp and house dust mite (HDM) allergies are common in Canadians. Often, both of these allergies occur in the same patient. This may be due to homology of tropomyosin or other potentially shared proteins.

Maternal High-Fat Diet-Induced Loss of Fetal Oocytes Is Associated with Compromised Follicle Growth in Adult Rat Offspring.

Maternal obesity predisposes offspring to metabolic and reproductive dysfunction. We have shown previously that female rat offspring born to mothers fed a high-fat (HF) diet throughout pregnancy and lactation enter puberty early and display aberrant reproductive cyclicity. The mechanisms driving this reproductive phenotype are currently unknown thus we investigated whether changes in ovarian function were involved.