New approaches to allergen immunotherapy.

Objective: New insights into mechanisms should enable strategic improvement of allergen immunotherapy, aiming to make it safer, faster, more effective, and able to induce long-term tolerance. We review novel approaches with potential to translate into clinical use.

Data Sources: Database searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar.

Risk of anaphylaxis in complementary and alternative medicine.

Purpose Of Review: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is widespread across the world. Patients with asthma and allergy regularly use CAM therapies. Allergic and anaphylactic reactions to CAM have been reported.

Experimental rhinovirus infection in COPD: implications for antiviral therapies.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health problem and will be one of the leading global causes of mortality over the coming decades. Much of the morbidity, mortality and health care costs of COPD are attributable to acute exacerbations, the commonest causes of which are respiratory infections. Respiratory viruses are frequently detected in COPD exacerbations but direct proof of a causative relationship has been lacking.