Background: Early life pet exposure may protect against allergic sensitization during childhood. Few studies have evaluated the effect of prenatal pet exposure on potential neonatal markers of allergic risk.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether maternal exposure to pets affects cord blood IgE levels in a population-based, general risk, ethnically mixed birth cohort.
Methods: Pet keeping during pregnancy was ascertained from women residing in a defined area of Wayne County Michigan and recruited from five staff model obstetric clinics. Maternal venous blood was analysed for total and allergen-specific IgE along with cord blood total IgE from 1049 infants.
Results: Compared with infants from households with no cats or dogs kept indoors during pregnancy, infants whose homes had either cats or dogs had significantly reduced mean cord IgE levels [0.34 IU/mL (95% CI 0.30-0.38) vs. 0.24 IU/mL (0.20-0.27), P=0.025]. Similar effects were apparent in cat-only households [0.21 IU/mL (0.16-0.27), P=0.020] and dog-only households [0.24 IU/mL (0.19-0.29), P=0.045]. There was no effect on results when excluding mothers who reported avoiding pets due to allergy-related concerns.
Conclusion: Mothers with either cats or dogs in their home during pregnancy deliver children with lower cord blood IgE levels compared with mothers who do not live with these pets, supporting the hypothesis that pet exposure influences immune development in a manner that is protective for atopy and is operant even before birth.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2222.2008.03079.x | DOI Listing |
JAMA Netw Open
January 2025
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Importance: The D842V platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRA) mutation identifies a molecular subgroup of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), primarily resistant to standard tyrosine kinase inhibitors and with an overall more indolent behavior. Although functional imaging with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-labeled positron emission tomography ([18F]FDG-PET) plays a proven role in GISTs, especially in early assessment of tumor response, less is known about [18F]FDG uptake according to the GIST molecular subtypes.
Objective: To evaluate the degree of [18F]FDG uptake in PDGFRA-mutant GISTs and better define the role of functional imaging in this rare and peculiar subset of GISTs.
Diseases
January 2025
Departamento de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Oviedo, ES-33006 Oviedo, Spain.
Background/objective: Neurotoxic soluble amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers are key drivers of Alzheimer's pathology, with evidence suggesting that early targeting of these soluble forms may slow disease progression. Traditional intravenous (IV) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) face challenges, including limited brain penetration and risks such as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA). This hypothetical study aimed to model amyloid dynamics in early-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) and compare the efficacy of IV mAn with intrathecal pseudodelivery, a novel method that confines mAbs in a subcutaneous reservoir for selective amyloid clearance in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) without systemic exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Biol Eng Comput
January 2025
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging plays a pivotal role in oncology for the early detection of metastatic tumors and response to therapy assessment due to its high sensitivity compared to anatomical imaging modalities. The balance between image quality and radiation exposure is critical, as reducing the administered dose results in a lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and information loss, which may significantly affect clinical diagnosis. Deep learning (DL) algorithms have recently made significant progress in low-dose (LD) PET reconstruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemosphere
January 2025
Department of Environmental Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 24341, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
Exploiting biomimetic perception of invisible spectra in flexible artificial human vision systems (HVSs) is crucial for real-time dynamic information processing. Nevertheless, the fast processing of motion objects in natural environments poses a challenge, necessitating that these artificial HVSs simultaneously have swift photoresponse and nonvolatile memory. Here, inspired by the human retina, we propose a flexible UV neuromorphic visual synaptic device (NeuVSD) based on GaO@GaN-composited nanowires for dynamic visual perception.
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