Background: The increase of work-related respiratory complaints in artificially ventilated buildings has multiple causes, and the role of allergen exposure and symptoms is still controversial.
Study Objectives: To analyze the risk factors and the association of work-related symptoms with allergen exposure and different conditions of the same air conditioning system in São Paulo, Brazil.
Design: Workers were classified according to characteristics of the air conditioning system: the first group (group 1) with ventilation machinery and ducts with > 20 years of use, the second group (group 2) with ventilation machinery with > 20 years of use and ventilation ducts with < 2 years of use, and the third group (group 3) with ventilation machinery and ducts with < 2 years of use. Logistic regression was performed to check the associations between air conditioning groups, allergen exposure (fungi, mites, animal dander, and cockroach), and symptoms.
Results: There was a higher prevalence of building-related worsening of respiratory symptoms (p = 0.004; odds ratio [OR], 8.53) and symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis (p = 0.01; OR, 8.49) in group 1. There was a lower relative humidity (p = 0.05) and nonsignificant lower temperature in group 1, when compared to the other groups. The viable mold spores totals were higher outdoors than in the indoor samples (n = 45, p = 0.017). There were higher levels of Der p 1 in group 2 (p = 0.032). All allergen levels were considered low.
Conclusion: There was a strong association of building-related upper-airway symptoms with places having ventilation systems with > 20 years of use.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1378/chest.122.2.729 | DOI Listing |
Food Chem Toxicol
January 2025
TNO, The Netherlands Organisation of Applied Scientific Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Insight into symptoms at low doses of protein from priority allergenic foods may support decision making and acceptance of harmonized reference doses for Precautionary Allergen Labeling (PAL). Symptoms were extracted from double-blind placebo-controlled food challenges underlying the full range Eliciting Dose (ED) distributions (Houben et al., 2020).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Transl Med
January 2025
Allergy Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Affiliated Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Background: House dust mite (HDM) is the leading allergen for allergic rhinitis (AR). Although allergic sensitisation by inhaled allergens renders susceptible individuals prone to developing AR, the molecular mechanisms driving this process remain incompletely elucidated.
Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying HDM-induced AR.
Semin Immunol
January 2025
Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address:
Once regarded as distinct systems, the nervous system and the immune system are now recognized for their complex interactions within the barrier tissues. The neuroimmune circuitry comprises a dual-network system that detects external and internal disturbances, providing critical information to tailor a context-specific response to various threats to tissue integrity, such as wounding or exposure to noxious and harmful stimuli like pathogens, toxins, or allergens. Using the skin as an example of a barrier tissue with the polarized sensory neuronal responses of itch and pain, we explore the molecular pathways driving neuronal activation and the effects of this activation on the immune response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFoods
January 2025
Department of Nutrition, Nursing School, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Alfredo Balena Avenue, 190, Room 314, Santa Efigênia, Belo Horizonte 30130-100, MG, Brazil.
This scoping review aims to understand the cell-based meat production process, including the regulations, potential hazards, and critical points of this production. This review includes studies on cultured meat production processes, health hazards, and regulatory guidelines, excluding those without hazard analysis, incomplete texts, or studies published before 2013. The search was performed in eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, LILACS, and Google Scholar) using MeSH terms and adaptations for each database.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
December 2024
Inmunotek SL Laboratories, 28000 Madrid, Spain.
Climate change is significantly altering the dynamics of airborne allergens, affecting their seasonality, allergenicity, and geographic distribution, which correlates with increasing rates of allergic diseases. This study investigates aeroallergen sensitization among populations from Tenerife, Spain, and Lima, Peru-two regions with similar climates but distinct socio-economic conditions. Our findings reveal that Spanish individuals, particularly those with asthma, demonstrate higher sensitization levels to a broader range of allergens, especially mites, with 85% of participants reacting to at least one mite allergen.
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