Caregiver worry about COVID-19 as a predictor of social mitigation behaviours and SARS-CoV-2 infection in a 12-city U.S. surveillance study of households with children.

Objective: Understanding compliance with COVID-19 mitigation recommendations is critical for informing efforts to contain future infectious disease outbreaks. This study tested the hypothesis that higher levels of worry about COVID-19 illness among household caregivers would predict lower (a) levels of overall and discretionary social exposure activities and (b) rates of household SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Methods: Data were drawn from a surveillance study of households with children ( = 1913) recruited from 12 U.

Doing More with Less.

Peanut allergy affects 1 to 3% of children in Western countries and is increasing in prevalence in Africa and Asia. In most patients, peanut allergy develops early in life and continues into adulthood. Peanut allergy is the most common cause of food-related anaphylaxis and death and creates significant medical, financial, and psychosocial burdens on patients and their families.

Eosinophil-mediated suppression and anti-IL-5 enhancement of plasmacytoid dendritic cell interferon responses in asthma.

Background: Virus-induced IFN-α secretion by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) is negatively impacted by IgE and has been linked to asthma exacerbations. Eosinophils, another contributor to type 2 inflammation, are also associated with asthma severity.

Objective: We sought to investigate the impact of eosinophils on pDC antiviral interferon responses and determine whether anti-IL-5/5Rα therapy enhances pDC antiviral function.

Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Hypereosinophilic Syndrome.

Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is a diverse group of disorders characterized by peripheral blood eosinophilia of 1.5 × 10/L (1,500/μL) or greater with evidence of end-organ damage attributable to eosinophilia and no other cause of the end-organ damage. The HES is rare, especially in children.

Aiolos regulates eosinophil migration into tissues.

Expression of Ikaros family transcription factor IKZF3 (Aiolos) increases during murine eosinophil lineage commitment and maturation. Herein, we investigated Aiolos expression and function in mature human and murine eosinophils. Murine eosinophils deficient in Aiolos demonstrated gene expression changes in pathways associated with granulocyte-mediated immunity, chemotaxis, degranulation, ERK/MAPK signaling, and extracellular matrix organization; these genes had ATAC peaks within 1 kB of the TSS that were enriched for Aiolos-binding motifs.

Epigenetic Analysis of the Chromatin Landscape Identifies a Repertoire of Murine Eosinophil-Specific PU.1-Bound Enhancers.

Eosinophils develop in the bone marrow from hematopoietic progenitors into mature cells capable of a plethora of immunomodulatory roles via the choreographed process of eosinophilopoiesis. However, the gene regulatory elements and transcription factors (TFs) orchestrating this process remain largely unknown. The potency and resulting diversity fundamental to an eosinophil's complex immunomodulatory functions and tissue specialization likely result from dynamic epigenetic regulation of the eosinophil genome, a dynamic eosinophil regulome.

Monitoring Eosinophilic Esophagitis Disease Activity With Blood Eosinophil Progenitor Levels.

Objectives: A minimally invasive biomarker to monitor disease activity is one of the greatest unmet clinical needs of the pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) population. We aimed to determine whether circulating eosinophil progenitors (EoPs) could be used as a biomarker to identify pediatric patients with active EoE.

Methods: In a prospective observational study, peripheral blood samples, symptom history, and laboratory data were collected from pediatric patients undergoing endoscopy for evaluation of EoE on dietary therapy at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Association Between Endoscopic and Histologic Findings in a Multicenter Retrospective Cohort of Patients with Non-esophageal Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Background: Little is known about the endoscopic and histologic findings of non-esophageal eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (EGID).

Aim: To characterize the presenting endoscopic and histologic findings in patients with eosinophilic gastritis (EG), eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE), and eosinophilic colitis (EC) at diagnosis and 6 months after initiating the treatment.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at 6 US centers associated with the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Researchers.

The Association of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Inflammatory Markers in Hospitalized Children.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure is associated with altered cytokine levels in children. We sought to examine ETS exposure prevalence and the relationship between ETS exposure and cytokine levels in a sample of hospitalized children. (2) Methods: Inflammatory markers (IL-8, IL-1β, IL-10, and TNF-α) and cotinine were measured in saliva of hospitalized, nonsmoking children (N = 112).

Pediatric Hypereosinophilia: Characteristics, Clinical Manifestations, and Diagnoses.

Background: Eosinophilia is associated with various conditions, including allergic, infectious, and neoplastic disorders. The diagnostic differential is broad, and data on hypereosinophilia in pediatric patients are limited.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to identify cases of hypereosinophilia in a tertiary pediatric medical center, determine clinical characteristics and disease associations, and estimate the incidence of hypereosinophilia in the hospital and geographic populations.

Increasing Rates of Diagnosis, Substantial Co-Occurrence, and Variable Treatment Patterns of Eosinophilic Gastritis, Gastroenteritis, and Colitis Based on 10-Year Data Across a Multicenter Consortium.

Objectives: The literature related to eosinophilic gastritis (EG), gastroenteritis (EGE), and colitis (EC) is limited. We aimed to characterize rates of diagnosis, clinical features, and initial treatments for patients with EG, EGE, and EC.

Methods: In this retrospective study, data were collected from 6 centers in the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Researchers from 2005 to 2016.

Eosinophil progenitor levels correlate with tissue pathology in pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis.

Blood eosinophil progenitors (EoPs) correlate with tissue pathology during active eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), providing additional evidence for blood EoP levels as a biomarker for disease activity and suggesting a role for EoPs in EoE pathogenesis.

An Approach to the Evaluation of Persistent Hypereosinophilia in Pediatric Patients.

Hypereosinophilia (HE) is currently defined by a peripheral blood absolute eosinophil count (AEC) of ≥1,500 cells/microL. Although mild blood eosinophilia (AEC 500-1,500 cells/microL) is observed relatively frequently within the pediatric population, persistent HE is uncommon and should prompt additional clinical evaluation. While the clinical manifestations and underlying etiologies of HE in adults have been well-characterized, there is a paucity of data on HE in children.

Chromatin Preparation from Murine Eosinophils for Genome-Wide Analyses.

Dynamic gene expression is a major mechanism that directs hematopoietic lineage commitment and differentiation. Recent advances have revealed an association between chromatin signatures and functional genetic sequences such that these chromatin signatures can be used to predict regulatory elements such as enhancers that may direct lineage differentiation. Our understanding of the genetic elements that regulate eosinophil development is very limited, likely due to the technical challenges in working with a rare complex cell.

Reuse of public, genome-wide, murine eosinophil expression data for hypotheses development.

The eosinophil (Eos) surface phenotype and activation state is altered after recruitment into tissues and after exposure to pro-inflammatory cytokines. In addition, distinct Eos functional subsets have been described, suggesting that tissue-specific responses for Eos contribute to organ homeostasis. Understanding the mechanisms by which Eos subsets achieve their tissue-specific identity is currently an unmet goal for the eosinophil research community.

Eosinophil Development, Disease Involvement, and Therapeutic Suppression.

Human eosinophils have characteristic morphologic features, including a bilobed nucleus and cytoplasmic granules filled with cytotoxic and immunoregulatory proteins that are packaged in a specific manner. Eosinophil production in the bone marrow is exquisitely regulated by timely expression of a repertoire of transcription factors that work together via collaborative and hierarchical interactions to direct eosinophil development. In addition, proper granule formation, which occurs in a spatially organized manner, is an intrinsic checkpoint that must be passed for proper eosinophil production to occur.

Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis Endotypes: Are We Closer to Predicting Treatment Response?

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, food antigen-driven gastrointestinal disease that is characterized by esophageal eosinophilia. Currently, there are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatments for EoE, but the two most commonly prescribed therapies include topical corticosteroids and food elimination diets. Clinical trials have revealed a significant proportion of cases that are resistant to topical corticosteroids, and although we define EoE as a food antigen-driven disease, not all patients with EoE respond to elimination diets or even elemental diets.