published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

Efforts to estimate the population prevalence of chemical sensitivities have been limited and have yielded different estimates of the prevalence of affected individuals. Researchers recognize that people differ in their biological susceptibility to environmental contaminants as well as the amount of contaminant to which they are potentially exposed. Lack of information on the population prevalence of people, who report sensitivity to a chemical or many chemicals, as well as variables associated, has been recognized in previous studies (Kreutzer et al., 1999). In a more recent report, Berg et al., in 2007 reported the prevalence and consequences related to inhalation of chemicals in a Danish population. They concluded that the symptoms related to inhalation of airborne chemicals were common, especially among women. A small part of that population reported that these symptoms affected social life or occupational conditions. Details in prevalence on severity of symptoms caused by inhaled odors, chemicals and irritants have not been investigated comparing populations based on ethnical differences. These differences could influence how individuals report their symptoms. This study evaluated the differences between Americans and Hispanics in sensitivity and symptoms related to inhalation of strong odors, chemical and irritants. We also evaluated the differences between both ethnic groups on quality of life due to these symptoms. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between December 2008 and March 2009. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a total of 290 adults and 205 were selected for the analysis. American and Hispanic individuals of 16 years old or more were included. The responses were cross-tabulated and comparisons between means were performed using t-test and ANOVA. 29.8% of study population reported being more sensitive than the average person and women reported more than men (75%). These findings were consistent with previous reported in the literature. The reaction more frequent reported was to cigarette smoke (60%). Statistically significant differences were identified between Americans and Hispanics regarding to sensitivity to chemicals, irritants, odors or strong fragrances and reaction to cigarette smoke when history of Allergy is present. Significant differences between both ethnic groups were detected with Lower Respiratory, Neuro-psychological and Non-specific symptoms; and Quality of life. These differences were disclosed when history of Allergy, smoking habit, used steroids or antibiotics within the last 4 weeks, and age were considered. Americans reported being more sensitive with exposure to recognized everyday irritants, react more to cigarette smoke and reported more Non-specific symptoms than Hispanics. Hispanic smokers tend to report Lower Respiratory symptoms more than the Americans. Hispanics between 50 to 59 years old reported more Neuro-psychological symptoms than Americans. Quality of life was more affected among Americans if they are exposed to common irritants, when Allergy history and use of steroids or antibiotics were considered.

No description available.

Influence of food allergy and importance of diet therapy for children with atopic dermatitis Atopinis dermatitas yra dažna vaikų lėtinė odos liga, kuri sparčiai plinta visame pasaulyje [304, 369, 370]. Lietuvos mokslininkų duomenimis, atopinis dermatitas nustatytas apie 4-17% vaikų, gyvenančių Lietuvoje [38, 92]. Vienas svarbiausių atopinio dermatito patogenezės veiksnių yra alergija maistui. Įvairūs mokslininkai nurodo, kad 35-80% atopiniu dermatitu sergančių vaikų yra alergiški maistui [13, 40, 82]. Dažniausiai, atsižvelgiant į vaiko amžių, šeimą ir šalies mitybos tradicijas, kiekvienas alergiškas vaikas yra jautrus skirtingiems maisto produktams. Daugelio mokslininkų duomenimis, maisto alergenai – pienas, soja, kiaušiniai, kviečiai, riešutai ir žuvis – apibūdinami kaip vieni pagrindinių, sąlygojančių atopinio dermatito atsiradimą [48, 292]. Dauguma alergijų maistui kyla per pirmuosius 3 – 4 gyvenimo metus, kuomet virškinimo sistemos barjeras yra dar nesubrendęs, o imuninė sistema dar tobulinama gebėjimui toleruoti maistą. Visa tai lemia vaikų virškinimo sistemos reakciją į atskirus maisto produktus ir sukelia įvairius virškinimo sistemos sutrikimus [175, 288, 294]. Kiekvienam atopiniu dermatitu sergančiam vaikui labai svarbu išaiškinti jį alergizuojančius maisto produktus ir skirti dietą, kurioje ne tik nebūtų alergizuojančių maisto produktų, bet kuri užtikrintų pagrindinių maisto medžiagų, vitaminų, mineralinių medžiagų ir energijos reikiamą paros poreikį ir normalų... [to full text]

The object I purposed to myself was to sift from top to bottom nutrition of the dogs and the main problems that are close to it, to describe it and to make inferences about it. To find what harm commercial food does for the organism of the dog. We discussed about the allergies, bad breath, bad teeth, fatty degeneration, digestive troubles and decisions. The operation was made with reference to the results of the blood test, nutriment analysis, questioning data and communication with kennels and veterinarians. We produced detailed information about what nutriment should we feed our dogs and about the after-effects, that will visit if the dog feeding is incorrect. Summarised data is offered in tables and diagrams. We find that dogs, which are feeding by middle and low class commercial dog food, are often suffering by diseases of the digestive tract. 40 percent of dogs fall ill by allergic reactions, till 45 percent appears lesions of the teeth and gum. Dogs, which were fed by home-made food, were more active, the structure of their coat was very good and the colour was bright, digestive tract was food change resistant. Those dogs had stronger immunity. The blood test showed, that dog’s, which were fed by home-made food, cholesterol was less, than dog’s, which ate commercial dog food. So, if we feed our dogs by a commercial food, the probability to display diseases of some organs (as kidney, liver, blood-vessels) and allergy. We recommend feed our dogs by home-made food, or the... [to full text]

An estimated 70,000 preventable medication errors occur in Canada annually, causing up to 23,750 deaths. Medication errors increase when the number of medications being administered increases. Therefore, people with multi-morbidity who take several medications at once are more vulnerable to medication errors. Medication errors can be prevented by developing and managing an efficient healthcare system integrated with technology. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, in particular, has been shown to improve the quality of health care and increase patient safety. NFC has a powerful ability to identify and track objects such as patients and medications; its identification and tracking abilities give it significant potential especially in detecting drug interaction and drug allergy. The main objective of this thesis is to present a novel solution using NFC-enabled smartphone integrated with NFC application to detect and update drug allergies and drug interactions for people with multi-morbidity during medication administration. / The system has been implemented using Samsung Nexus S smartphone with Android 2.3.6 platform, MIFARE Classic 1K tags, and a database populated with 10 patients’ record and 30 medications. The system was validated for the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy, and computational and communicational cost.

The analysis of microarray data is a challenging task because of the large dimensionality and small sample size involved. Although a few methods are available to address the problem of small sample size, they are not sufficiently successful in dealing with microarray data from extremely small (~<20) sample sizes. We propose a method to incorporate information from diverse sources to analyze the microarray data so as to improve the predictability of significant genes. A transformed data set, including statistical parameters, literature mining and gene ontology data, is evaluated. We performed classification experiments to identify potential allergy-related genes. Feature selection is used to identify the effect of features on classifier behaviour. An exploratory and domain knowledge analysis was performed on noisy real-life allergy data, and a subset of genes was selected as positive and negative class. A new set of transformed variables, depending on the mean and standard deviation statistics of the data distribution and other data sources, was identified. Significant allergy- and immune-related genes from the microarray data were selected. Experiments showed that classification predictability of significant genes can be improved. Important features from the transformed variable set were also identified.

No description available.

Asthma is a heterogeneous condition characterised by variable airflow obstruction, airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness. Fungal sensitisation has been associated with asthma severity; and airways colonisation by the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus has been associated with a progressive lung function decline in allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. Interest in the home environment as a source of fungal exposure is increasing; however, there are still no accepted guidelines or standardised methods for the quantification of indoor fungal levels. We sought to i) investigate typical airborne fungal spore concentrations in homes and to compare exposure levels in asthma patients grouped according to either A. fumigatus sensitisation or sputum culture; ii) fully characterise the fungal biota capable of colonising the airways in patients with asthma; and iii) define the clinical characteristics of fungal colonisation. Aspergillus/Penicillium-type conidia exhibited indoor predominance and independence of season, and were highest in old, terraced, non-insulated properties. A. fumigatus was the predominant fungus isolated from sputum and IgE sensitisation to A. fumigatus was associated with reduced post-bronchodilator FEV1 in patients with asthma. Sputum culture of filamentous fungi was also associated with reduced lung function, with predominant fungi comprising Aspergillus and Penicillium species; notably Penicillium piceum and species of Aspergillus section Nigri. Higher levels of airborne A. fumigatus were detected in homes of asthmatics with a positive sputum culture for A. fumigatus. In conclusion, sensitisation to A. fumigatus and airways colonisation by fungi are associated with reduced lung function in moderate to severe asthma; and this study provides a direct link between home exposure and airways colonisation.

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are important effector cells in host defense and the inflammatory response to antigen. The involvement of PMNs in inflammation is mainly mediated by the Fc receptor family, including IgE receptors. Recently, we have shown that human PMNs from allergic asthmatic subjects express the high affinity receptor, FceRI. In this study, we have examined the regulation of FceRI by human PMNs in vitro and in vivo during the allergic pollen season. First we studied the pattern of expression of FceRI in PMNs during the pollen allergic and outside the pollen season. Peripheral blood neutrophils were isolated from adult atopic asthmatics (AA) (n=17), allergic non asthmatics (ANA) (n=15) and healthy donors (n=16) by dextran, ficoll gradient centrifugation and magnetic cell sorting (MACS). Surface, total protein and mRNA expression of FceRI were investigated in the three groups by FACS, immunocytochemistry (ICC) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) respectively. Secondly, we investigated the effect of Th-2 cytokines which are known to regulate IgE receptor expression. PMNs from atopic asthmatic subjects were stimulated in vitro with Th-2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-9, GM-CSF) and Th-1 cytokine IFN-gamma. Finally we determined whether the expression of FceRIbeta chain correlated with the surface expression of FceRIalpha chain in PMNs. Irrespective of the season, PMNs from atopic asthmatic subjects showed increased expression of FceRIalpha chain in surface, total protein and mRNA compared to atopic non asthmatics and healthy donors (n=20). Interestingly, FceRIalpha chain surface and mRNA expression increased significantly during pollen season compared to non pollen season (P=0.001) in PMNs isolated from AA (n=9) in contrast to healthy donors and ANA (n=8). Furthermore similar pattern of FceRI expression were observed in vitro when PMNs were stimulated with Th2 cytokines. IL-4, IL-9 and GM-CSF showed increased protein and mRNA expression of FceRIalpha chain at 6 and 18hrs (n=6) whereas IFN-gamma down regulated the mRNA expression of FceRIalpha chain at 6hrs. Also, irrespective of season AA (n=11) subjects showed increased expression of FceRI beta chain when compared to ANA (n=10) and healthy donors (n=9). Western blot analysis showed increased FceRI beta protein in atopic asthmatic subjects (n=4). Interestingly irrespective of the groups, there was a positive correlation r = 0.8054 between total protein expression of beta chain with surface expression of alpha chain of FceRI in neutrophils. Our data suggest that the expression of FceRI in neutrophils of atopic asthmatic patients is highly regulated. Our in vitro studies provide evidence that Th-2 cytokines such as IL-9, IL-4 and GM-CSF up-regulate the expression of FceRI. Furthermore we show evidence of increased expression of FceRIbeta chain in neutrophils of atopic asthmatic subjects. Collectively these results suggest that FceRI mediated neutrophil dependent activation may play a key role in allergic diseases.