Los objetivos fueron conocer la incidencia atmosférica de polen en Santander y su repercusión sobre la población MÉTODOS: Método volumétrico de Hirst; influencia de la meteorología en el periodo de mayo a julio de 1998 a 2002, mediante medidas de asociación lineal entre variables meteorológicas diarias y los recuentos de polen diarios de gramíneas; pruebas cutáneas; relación entre las ventas mensuales de antihistamínicos en la ciudad y los recuentos mensuales de polen de gramíneas; y la relación entre los recuentos diarios y semanales de polen y variables meteorológicas y de contaminación con las asistencias a urgencias por rinoconjuntivitis y por asma en niños. Encuesta sobre síntomas de asma de la IUATLD y un cuestionario sobre 11 factores del interior. RESULTADOS: La media anual de polen total fue 8.604, el polen de familia poaceae supuso el mayoritario (28 %). La temperatura máxima fue la única variable explicativa de los recuentos de polen en su periodo. El 100% de los pacientes estaban sensibilizados a poaceae. Se encontró relación mensual de los recuentos de poaceae con las ventas de antihistamínicos (rs= 0,7; p<0,01) y relación diaria y semanal de dichos recuentos con las asistencias por rinoconjuntivitis en niños y adultos. Las asistencias a urgencias por asma en niños (2.396) y adultos (1.665) fueron más frecuentes de septiembre a diciembre. Se encontró relación durante el periodo de mayo a julio de los recuentos semanales de poaceae y de temperatura con las asistencias a urgencias en niños. La prevalencia de síntomas de asma en adultos fue de 15% (9,8 - 20,2). Mayor frecuencia de síntomas de asma entre quienes tenían un animal en casa : 41% frente a 14%; OR: 4,2 (1,9 - 9,2) y quienes habían vivido en Santander sus primeros 10 años de vida: 22% frente a 11%; OR: 2,9 (1,1 - 7,5). CONCLUSIONES: El polen de poaceae es el predominante en la atmósfera de Santander y el que sensibiliza a todos los polínicos. Se demostró una relación del mismo con la rinoconjuntivitis en niños y adultos, y en el asma bronquial en niños. Existe una elevada prevalencia de síntomas de asma en adultos de Santander, con probable implicación de factores de interior. / Objectives: To determine the atmospheric pollen counts in Santander and their effect on this population. METHODS: Hirst volumetric method; analysis of the effect of weather on the pollen counts from 1998 to 2002 by linear association measures; skin tests; association between antihistamine sales and pollen counts; association between daily and weekly pollen counts and weather and pollution variables and Emergency Room admittances caused by rhinitis-conjunctivitis and asthma in children. Survey about asthma symptoms (IUATLD) and indoor risks for asthma. RESULTS: Average annual pollen count was 8,604. Poaceae family predominated (28%). Maximum temperature was the only explanatory variable for pollen counts during its period. All the hay fever patients were sensitized to poaceae. We found a relationship between monthly pollen counts and monthly antihistamine sales (rs= 0.7; p<0.01) and daily and weekly association with admittances for rhinitis-conjunctivitis in children and adults. Admittances to E.R. caused by asthma in children (2396) and in adults (1665) were more frequent from september to december. During the period from may to july the asthma admittances of children were associated with weekly poaceae counts and weekly temperature. Prevalence of asthma symptoms in adults was 15% (9.8 - 20.2). Symptoms were more frequent among those with a pet: 41% vs 14%; OR: 4,2 (1.9-9.2) and among people who had lived in Santander during their first ten years of life: 22% vs 11%; OR: 2.9 (1.1-7.5). CONCLUSIONS: Poaceae pollen is the predominant in the atmosphere of Santander, all the hay fever patients are sensitised to it and there is a relationship between it and rhinitis-conjunctivitis in children and adults and between it and asthma in children. There is a high prevalence of symptoms of asthma in Santander; indoor factors are probably involved.

Background. Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is a chronic disease affecting about 23% of the European population with increasing prevalence rates. Beside classical symptoms (i.e. sneezing, nasal congestion), patients frequently complain about subjective impairments in cognitive functioning during periods of acute allergic inflammation. However, objective evidence for such deficits or the role of potential modulators and underlying mechanisms is limited. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of SAR on attention-related cognitive processes. In addition, relationships between attention performance, sleep and mood disturbances as well as specific disease characteristics as potential modulators of this link were explored. Method. SAR patients (n = 41) and non-allergic healthy controls (n = 42) completed a set of attention tasks during a symptomatic allergy period and during a non-symptomatic period. Influences of sleep, mood, total immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels and individual allergy characteristics on cognitive performance were evaluated. Results. Compared to healthy controls, SAR patients had a slower processing speed during both symptomatic and nonsymptomatic allergy periods. Additionally, they showed a more flexible adjustment in attention control, which may serve as a compensatory strategy. Reduction in processing speed was positively associated with total IgE levels whereas flexible adjustment of attention was linked with anxious mood. No association was found between SAR-related attention deficits and allergy characteristics or sleep. Conclusions. SAR represents a state that is crucially linked to impairments in information processing and changes in attentional control adjustments. These cognitive alterations are more likely to be influenced by mood and basal inflammatory processes than sleep impairments or subjective symptom severity.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is a disease caused by allergens from both environmental and genetic factors. Some researchers have studied the SAR based on traditional genetic methodologies. As technology develops, a new technique called single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is developed, which can generate high-dimension data. We apply two machine learning (ML) algorithms, random forest (RF) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), for cell source classification and gene selection based on the SAR scRNA-seq time-series data from three allergic patients and four healthy controls denoised by single-cell variational inference (scVI). We additionally propose a new fitting method consisting of bootstrap and cubic smoothing splines to fit the averaged gene expressions per cell from different populations. To sum up, we find that both RF and PLS-DA could provide high classification accuracy, and RF is more preferable, considering its stable performance and strong gene-selection ability. Based on our analysis, there are 10 genes having discriminatory power to classify cells of allergic patients and healthy controls at any timepoints. Although there is no literature founded to show the direct connections between such 10 genes and SAR, the potential associations are indirectly confirmed by some studies. It shows a possibility that we can alarm allergic patients before a disease outbreak based on their genetic information. Meanwhile, our experiment results indicate that ML algorithms may discover something between genes and SAR compared with traditional techniques, which needs to be analyzed in genetics in the future.