Spirometry and provocation tests for vocal fold dysfunction diagnosis: a retrospective case series.

Aims: Vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) is characterised by paradoxical inspiratory laryngeal motion and is often misdiagnosed as asthma. Definitive diagnosis of VCD is difficult, because laryngoscopy is positive only during symptomatic episodes or upon provocation with exercise or inhaled irritants. The aims of the study were to better characterise the symptomatology of patients with VCD and to evaluate the potential usefulness of less-invasive diagnostic tools, namely provocation tests and spirometry.

Prevalence of ragweed allergy in rural Geneva - a pilot study.

Objective: The prevalence of ragweed allergy is increasing worldwide. Ragweed distribution and abundance is spreading in Europe in a wide area ranging from the Rhone valley in France to Hungary and Ukraine, where the rate of the prevalence can peak at as high as 12%. Low-grade ragweed colonisation was seen in Geneva and Ticino, less than two decades ago.

Exhaled nitric oxide decreases after positive food-allergen challenge.

Background: Exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a well described marker of airway inflammation in asthma and is also known to increase after chronic exposure to inhaled allergens. It is not known whether monitoring FeNO could be useful during food challenges to detect early or subclinical reactions.

Methods: Forty children aged 3 to 16 years undergoing an allergen-food challenge at two centres were prospectively recruited for this study.

Use of omalizumab in a severe asthma clinic.

There is an urgent need to define new treatment strategies for severe persistent asthma. Using a severe asthma clinic model, it is possible to systematically assess diagnosis, self-management skills, and treatment efficacy. The addition of single-patient trials of therapy is useful to detect individual responders to drugs where use is limited because of access, cost, or toxicity.

[Allergic seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis without indigenous pollen sensitization: the example of the Arizona cypress].

A 37-year old man from Lithuania presented with the typical symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis that appeared in spring this and the year preceding presentation. Skin prick tests for aeroallergens indigenous in Switzerland were all negative. A detailed history revealed that the patient was working in a building of a United Nation's agency surrounded by a park with numerous cypresses of Arizona trees.