Smartphone-Based Interventions to Foster Simple Activity and Personal Satisfaction in People With Advanced Alzheimer's Disease.

Objectives: This study assessed a smartphone-based program to promote practical and mildly demanding arm responses and personal satisfaction and increase physical exertion (heart rates) in people with advanced Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: The program relied on a Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone with Android 6.0 operating system.

Technology-Based Behavioral Interventions for Daily Activities and Supported Ambulation in People With Alzheimer's Disease.

Objectives: These 2 studies evaluated technology-based behavioral interventions for promoting daily activities and supported ambulation in people with mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease, respectively.

Methods: Study 1 included 8 participants who were taught to start and carry out daily activities on their own using a tablet or smartphone device, which provided activity reminders, step instructions, and praise. Study 2 included 9 participants who were taught to engage in brief periods of ambulation using a walker combined with a tilt microswitch and a notebook computer, which monitored step responses and provided stimulation and prompts.

Pitfalls in respiratory allergy management: alexithymia and its impact on patient-reported outcomes.

Objectives: Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by a limited ability to identify and express emotions and it represents a possible risk factor for disease development and management. The objective of the study is to evaluate alexithymia in patients with persistent asthma and comorbid rhinitis and its relation with patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

Methods: Alexithymia, quality of life, illness perception, and stress were assessed, as well as rhinitis symptoms and asthma control in out-patients classified according to GINA and ARIA guidelines.

Levocetirizine in the treatment of allergic diseases.

Background: Levocetirizine, the R-enantiomer of cetirizine dihydrochloride, is a new molecule with a potent and selective antihistamine activity.

Objective: To investigate the evidence that levocetirizine is an effective therapy for allergic disease.

Methods: Evaluation of published articles in English, or having an English abstract.

Levocetirizine in persistent allergic rhinitis: continuous or on-demand use? A pilot study.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a high-prevalence disease that affects quality of life (QOL), sleep quality and productivity of patients. According to the ARIA initiative, it is classified as intermittent and persistent, the latter being the most troublesome.

Methods: The aim of this randomized, open-label, 6-month, pilot study was to determine whether levocetirizine 5 mg administered continuously once daily in the morning was better than levocetirizine 5 mg on-demand in symptomatic subjects with persistent allergic rhinitis.

Perturbations of natural killer cell regulatory functions in respiratory allergic diseases.

Background: Allergic diseases are characterized by abnormal responses to allergens favored by an inappropriate regulation of the T(H)1-T(H)2 polarization. Natural killer (NK) cells give rise to a complex NK/dendritic cell (DC) cross-talk that would help T(H)1 responses.

Objective: By analyzing peripheral blood NK cells from 12 patients with either allergic rhinitis or rhinitis and intermittent asthma, we evaluated whether these cells were impaired in their ability to interact with DCs.

Role of contact sensitization in chronic urticaria.

We tested the hypothesis that contact allergy plays a role in chronic urticaria, and included the Italian series of patch tests in the diagnostic workup. Of 121 patients with chronic urticaria, 50 (41%) tested positive to contact allergens. In all patients, avoidance measures led to a complete remission within 1 month.

Adherence to treatment: assessment of an unmet need in asthma.

Background: In asthma, as in other chronic conditions, poor adherence to treatment and to medical advice is common and contributes to substantial worsening of the disease and increased health care costs.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate patients' self-reported adherence to asthma medication regimens and to identify possible correlations between treatment adherence and depression, anxiety, and coping strategies.

Methods: Sixty-three asthmatic outpatients (27 men and 36 women; mean age +/- SD, 38.

Aerobiological diagnosis of respiratory allergy by a personal sampler: two case reports.

We describe two cases of respiratory allergy (asthma), which were difficult to diagnosis from an etiological viewpoint. The routine diagnostic tests were not able to determine the causal allergens, although the clinical history suggested that allergens were confined to restricted environments. Therefore, an aerobiological sampling by means of a battery-powered portable device was carried out.

Germline APC mutation on the beta-catenin binding site is associated with a decreased apoptotic level in colorectal adenomas.

Germline mutations in APC tumor suppressor gene are responsible for familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). A major role of these genetic changes is the constitutive activation of beta-catenin-Tcf-4 mediated transcription of nuclear target genes, but other cellular functions can be misregulated. To assess how different APC mutations can drive the early steps of colonic tumorigenesis, we studied the effect of 10 different germline-truncating alterations on the phenotype of the corresponding adenomas.

Single-dose oral tolerance test with alternative compounds for the management of adverse reactions to drugs.

Background: Adverse reactions to drugs are common in the clinical practice. Many outpatients are frequently referred to allergists in order to determine which drugs they can safely take in the future.

Objective: We set up an oral single-dose tolerance test procedure to find out for each patient one or more alternative drugs that can be taken when needed.

On the functional consequences of bronchial basement membrane thickening.

Reticular basement membrane (RBM) thickness and airway responses to inhaled methacholine (MCh) were studied in perennial allergic asthma (n = 11), perennial allergic rhinitis (n = 8), seasonal allergic rhinitis (n = 5), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n = 9). RBM was significantly thicker in asthma (10.1 +/- 3.

The natural history of respiratory allergy: a follow-up study of 99 patients up to 10 years.

A strict relationship between allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma has been seen recently, and in many ways respiratory allergy could be seen as a single disorder of the airways. The link between rhinitis and asthma can be elucidated only by studying the natural history of the disease over long periods. We describe the follow-up of 99 allergic patients up to 10 years and the evolution of their disease.

Relationship between degree of nonspecific hyperresponsiveness and number of positive skin tests in asthmatics.

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) is a typical feature of asthma, and is, at least in part, related to the chronic inflammation. Allergen exposure is a major trigger and cause of allergic inflammation. The possible relationship between the degree of bronchial reactivity and the number of positive skin test was studied.

Aeropollinic sampling at three different heights by personal volumetric collector (Partrap FA 52).

Background: Aeropollinic sampling is usually performed by volumetric pollen traps located on the top of buildings at a height of 15-20 m. The present study aimed to determine whether pollen concentration is similar, at the same time, at different heights.

Methods: Pollen concentrations were measured at the same time for 3 days each month (March-October 1997), with three Partrap FA 52 devices respectively located at 1.

Airborne pollens and prevalence of pollenosis in western Liguria: a 10-year study.

During the last 15 years aerobiology has become a relevant branch of allergy, making possible the partial clarification of the relationships between clinical diseases and environment. We performed a 10-year survey of pollen counts and pollen sensitization in a confined area on the western Ligurian coast of Italy in order to evaluate possible changes in aerobiological pattern and to correlate them with the prevalence of sensitization. Pollen counts for the area surrounding Bordighera in the period from 1988-1997 were analyzed; the occurrence of skin sensitization in outpatients were also studied during the same period.

Pollen, mite and mould samplings by a personal collector at high altitude in Nepal.

The new personal portable sampler for detection of environmental biologic particles (Partrap FA52, Coppa, Biella, Italy) was used to evaluate both atmospheric and indoor biologic particles in bedding at high altitudes during two Italian scientific expeditions in Nepal, in 1994 and 1996 respectively. The sampling was performed outdoors and indoors at the following altitudes: Katmandu 1,330 meters (m), LuKla 2,800 m, Namche 3,500 m, Pericle 4,200 m and Piramide 5,050 m. In both expeditions each sample of outdoor and indoor air was obtained by sucking air into the sampler either against the wind during a 6-h period, from 9 am to 3 pm, or from bedding of inhabitants resident at the different altitudes for 5 min.

Aerobiologic particle sampling by a new personal collector (Partrap FA52) in comparison to the Hirst (Burkard) sampler.

A new personal portable sampler of biologic particles (Partrap FA52, Coppa, Biella, Italy) was used for pollen sampling in comparison with Hirst's (Burkard) fixed device. The aerobiologic samplings were carried out simultaneously outdoors with the two devices coupled on the same axis, during the daytime of 10 dry, nonconsecutive spring days. The total amount and the percentages of the pollens most often trapped by the two collectors were compared by Student's t-test for paired samples.

Inhibition of adhesion molecules by budesonide on a human epithelial cell line (lung carcinoma).

Inhaled corticosteroids in the treatment of asthma have been shown to produce marked reductions in the number of inflammatory cells (mainly mast cells and eosinophils) and their products at bronchial level (such as cytokines). Recently, it has been demonstrated that epithelial cells express ICAM-1/CD54 in allergic patients both during natural allergen exposure and after allergen challenge. We have previously demonstrated that deflazacort (a systemic steroid) reduces the expression of ICAM-1 on conjunctival epithelial cells.

Long-term follow-up of nasal immunotherapy to Parietaria: clinical and local immunological effects.

Background: Local nasal immunotherapy (LNIT) with extracts in powder has been demonstrated clinically effective and devoid of side-effects in several controlled trials; nevertheless, no data concerning the long-term effects of LNIT are presently available.

Methods: In a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled study of LNIT to Parietaria pollen we observed, by means of specific nasal provocation test (SNPT) that LNIT is able to modify the local allergic inflammatory response. In the present study we followed up the same patients in open fashion for 2 further years.