Effects of thermal treatment on walnut detection and allergenicity.

Background: Peanuts and tree nut allergies pose an increasing food safety problem. The aim of our study was to test the accuracy of different commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits in the detection of the presence of walnuts in untreated and heat exposed food samples. The effects of thermal treatment of samples were evaluated by exposing walnuts to different heat treatments.

Galactose-α-1,3-galactose syndrome: an Italian survey.

The term of α-Gal syndrome, which includes the delayed allergy to red meat and the allergic reactions following the administration of cetuximab, is associated to the presence of specific IgE to α-Gal. In Italy, only anecdotal cases were reported so far. The Association of Italian Allergists (AAITO) carried out a survey with the aim of evaluating presence, characteristics, clinical features, and distribution of the syndrome in Italy.

Shrimp Allergy: Analysis of Commercially Available Extracts for In Vivo Diagnosis.

Background And Objective: Skin prick testing (SPT) with commercial extracts is the first step in the diagnosis of shrimp allergy, although its clinical efficiency is unknown. Objective: To analyze the clinical usefulness of all commercial crustacean extracts available for SPT in Italy.

Methods: We performed a multicenter study of 157 shrimp-allergic patients who underwent SPT with 5 commercial crustacean extracts and with house dust mite (HDM) extract.