Nine years of patch testing with isocyanates in a clinic of occupational dermatology.

Background: Isocyanates are used as starting materials of polyurethane (PU) products. They are relatively important occupational skin sensitizers.

Objectives: To analyse results of a large isocyanate patch test series of 19 isocyanate test substances and 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (MDA), a marker of 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) hypersensitivity.

Severely compromised supply of patch test allergens in Europe hampers adequate diagnosis of occupational and non-occupational contact allergy. A European Society of Contact Dermatitis (ESCD), European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) task forces 'Contact Dermatitis' and 'Occupational Skin Disease' position paper.

Patch testing is the only clinically applicable diagnostic method for Type IV allergy. The availability of Type IV patch test (PT) allergens in Europe, however, is currently scarce. This severely compromises adequate diagnostics of contact allergy, leading to serious consequences for the affected patients.

Occupational asthma, rhinitis and contact urticaria from greenhouse work.

Background: The current knowledge about occupational allergic diseases among greenhouse workers is scant.

Aims: To describe greenhouse workers' occupational allergic diseases.

Methods: We identified 28 greenhouse workers with occupational allergic diseases in 2002-2020 by conducting a systematic search in the patient register of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

High Prevalence of Sensitization to Mites and Insects in Greenhouses Using Biologic Pest Control.

Background: Mites and insects are widely used as biologic pest control in greenhouses. A few studies have reported sensitization to mites among greenhouse workers, but the prevalence of sensitization to pest control insects is not known.

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence of IgE-mediated sensitization to pests and their control organisms in the population of exposed greenhouse workers and the relationship between sensitization and allergic symptoms.

Occupational IgE-mediated psyllium allergy in contemporary gluten-free and vegan baking: A case of allergic rhinitis.

Psyllium (from Plantago ovata; ispaghula) is used as a dietary supplement and is supplied in the form of husk, granules, capsules, or powder. Consumers using psyllium-containing laxatives, healthcare workers handling these, and pharmaceutical workers in laxative-manufacturing plants are known to be at risk of sensitization and subsequent rhinitis, asthma, contact urticaria, and even anaphylaxis. To our knowledge, the case we present here is the first of baker's immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated occupational allergy due to psyllium exposure.

Machine-learning-driven biomarker discovery for the discrimination between allergic and irritant contact dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis tremendously impacts the quality of life of suffering patients. Currently, diagnostic regimes rely on allergy testing, exposure specification, and follow-up visits; however, distinguishing the clinical phenotype of irritant and allergic contact dermatitis remains challenging. Employing integrative transcriptomic analysis and machine-learning approaches, we aimed to decipher disease-related signature genes to find suitable sets of biomarkers.

Microbe-host interplay in atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

Despite recent advances in understanding microbial diversity in skin homeostasis, the relevance of microbial dysbiosis in inflammatory disease is poorly understood. Here we perform a comparative analysis of skin microbial communities coupled to global patterns of cutaneous gene expression in patients with atopic dermatitis or psoriasis. The skin microbiota is analysed by 16S amplicon or whole genome sequencing and the skin transcriptome by microarrays, followed by integration of the data layers.

Allergic reactions to lower concentrations of nickel sulfate and formaldehyde often appear later than reactions to higher concentrations.

Background: A late-appearing patch test reaction may be a sign of active sensitization or represent a delayed elicitation reaction.

Objectives: To retrospectively study the effect of concentration on the time course of allergic reactions to routine concentration dilution series of formaldehyde and nickel sulfate.

Methods: We tested concentration dilution series of 2%, 1%, 0.

Occupational allergic contact dermatitis caused by colophonium.

Background: Colophonium is a common contact allergen that is present not only in household products but also in occupational settings.

Objectives: To describe the sources of occupational exposure to colophonium and the occupations at risk of colophonium allergy.

Methods: We reviewed patch test files from the years 2002 to 2017 at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health for patients with allergic reactions to colophonium and abietic acid.

The Psoriasis Risk Allele Shows Evidence of Association with Chronic or Recurrent Streptococcal Tonsillitis.

Pharyngeal tonsillitis is one of the most common upper respiratory tract infections, and group A streptococcus is the most important bacterial pathogen causing it. While most patients experience tonsillitis only rarely, a subset of patients suffers from recurrent or chronic tonsillitis or pharyngitis. The predisposing factors for recurring or chronic forms of this disease are not yet fully understood, but genetic predisposition has been suggested.

Intracellular signalling pathways and cytoskeletal functions converge on the psoriasis candidate gene CCHCR1 expressed at P-bodies and centrosomes.

Background: CCHCR1 (Coiled-Coil α-Helical Rod protein 1) is a putative psoriasis candidate gene with the risk alleles CCHCR1*WWCC and *Iso3, the latter inhibiting the translation of isoform 1. CCHCR1 was recently shown to be a centrosomal protein, as well as a component of cytoplasmic processing bodies (P-bodies) that regulate mRNA turnover. The function of CCHCR1 has remained unsettled, partly because of the inconsistent findings; it has been shown to play a wide variety of roles in divergent processes, e.

3-(Bromomethyl)-2-chloro-4-(methylsulfonyl)- benzoic acid: a new cause of sensitiser induced occupational asthma, rhinitis and urticaria.

Objectives: 3-(Bromomethyl)-2-chloro-4-(methylsulfonyl)-benzoic acid (BCMBA) has not previously been identified as a respiratory sensitiser. We detected two cases who presented respiratory and urticaria symptoms related to BCMBA and had positive skin prick tests to the agent. Subsequently, we conducted outbreak investigations at the BCMBA-producing factory and performed clinical examinations to confirm occupational diseases.

Current knowledge on biomarkers for contact sensitization and allergic contact dermatitis.

Contact sensitization is common and affects up to 20% of the general population. The clinical manifestation of contact sensitization is allergic contact dermatitis. This is a clinical expression that is sometimes difficult to distinguish from other types of dermatitis, for example irritant and atopic dermatitis.

Calorimetric measurement of work for a driven harmonic oscillator.

A calorimetric measurement has recently been proposed as a promising technique to measure thermodynamic quantities in a dissipative superconducting qubit. These measurements rely on the fact that the system is projected into energy eigenstates whenever energy is exchanged with the environment. This requirement imposes a restriction on the class of systems that can be measured in this way.

Comparison between quantum jumps and master equation in the presence of a finite environment.

We study the equivalence between the recently proposed finite environment quantum jump model and a master equation approach. We derive microscopically the master equation for a qubit coupled to a finite bosonic environment and show that the master equation is equivalent to the finite environment quantum jump model. We analytically show that both the methods produce the same moments of work when the work is defined through the two-measurement protocol excluding the interaction energy.

Occupational contact dermatitis caused by 1,3-benzenedimethanamine, N-(2-phenylethyl) derivatives in hardeners for epoxy paints and coatings.

Background: Amines in epoxy hardeners are significant causes of occupational allergic contact dermatitis among workers who use epoxy resin systems.

Objectives: To describe a novel group of contact allergens: N-(2-phenylethyl) derivatives of the reactive amine 1,3-benzenedimethanamine (1,3-BDMA).

Methods: We describe the clinical examinations and exposure of 6 patients with occupational contact allergy to derivatives of 1,3-BDMA.