Allergology international : official journal of the Japanese Society of Allergology
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Acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) is characterized by febrile illness, diffuse pulmonary infiltrates with eosinophilia. The pathogenesis is not well understood. We report a case of 22-year-old men who never smoke presented with AEP 2 days after acute passive smoke exposure. ⋯ In the absence of other causes, passive smoking may cause lung inflammatory responses. The level of urinary cotinine, which is a biomarker of smoke exposure, was considerably higher (0.198 μg/ml [201 ng/mg Creatinine]) than that in nonsmokers, but never detected following period. This case suggests that short-term passive smoking may cause AEP.
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Comparative Study
Antitussive effects of the leukotriene receptor antagonist montelukast in patients with cough variant asthma and atopic cough.
Chronic cough is the only symptom of cough variant asthma (CVA) and atopic cough (AC). Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonists have been shown to be effective in CVA, but there are no reports on their effectiveness in AC. To evaluate the antitussive effect of montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, in CVA and AC. ⋯ Montelukast was confirmed to suppress chronic non-productive cough in CVA, whereas it was not effective in non-productive cough in AC.
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Diagnosis of food allergy should be based on the observation of allergic symptoms after intake of the suspected food. The oral food challenge test (OFC) is the most reliable clinical procedure for diagnosing food allergy. ⋯ The Japanese Society of Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology issued the 'Japanese Pediatric Guideline for Oral Food Challenge Test in Food Allergy 2009' in April 2009, to provide information on a safe and standardized method for administering the OFC. This review focuses on the clinical applications and procedure for the OFC, based on the Japanese OFC guideline.
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Review Comparative Study
Physiological differences and similarities in asthma and COPD--based on respiratory function testing.
Physiological differences and similarities in asthma and COPD are documented based on respiratory function testing. (1) The airflow reversibility is usually important for the diagnosis of asthma. However, patients with long disease histories may have poor reversibility. The reversibility test in COPD is useful for predicting the treatment response. (2) In some of the stable asthmatic patients without attack, the concave downslope of flow-volume curve is present. ⋯ However, many COPD cases also have it. (6) Impulse oscillation system (IOS) revealed that the predominant airway disorders in asthma and COPD are central and peripheral respiratory resistance, respectively. However, some asthma patients have larger values of peripheral component. (7) D(LCO) reflects the extent of pathological emphysema and it is useful for the follow-up of COPD, whereas D(LCO) is not decreased in asthma. (8) The patient with widened A-aDO(2) and alveolar hypoventilation may lead to the life threatening hypoxia in severe asthma attack or severe COPD. When PaCO(2) overcomes PaO(2), the patient should immediately be treated by mechanical ventilation.
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In studies on allergies in mouse models, IgE production is an essential parameter to be evaluated. Here, we examine the effect of commercially available immunoreaction enhancer solutions and different blocking reagents in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for total or antigen-specific murine IgE in order to improve the assays. ⋯ Enhancer solutions are effective in improving ELISAs for total and antigen-specific murine IgE. Selection of blocking reagents was important to decrease unwanted enhancement of background signals and was effective in enhancing signals for positive samples. The ELISAs improved in this study are useful for the study of allergies in mouse models.