Human leucocyte antigen class I and class II and chronic idiopathic urticaria associated with aspirin and/or NSAIDs hypersensitivity.

Relationship Between Human Leucocyte Antigen Class I and Class II and Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria Associated With Aspirin and/or NSAIDs Hypersensitivity

Background. HLA genes play a role in the predisposition of several diseases. The aim was to analyze the prevalence of HLA class I phenotypes and HLA-DRB1*genotype in patients with CIU associated with ASA and NSAIDs hypersensitivity (AICU).Methods. 69 patients with AICU, and 200 healthy subjects.Results. Subjects with HLA-B44 and HLA-Cw5 antigens were more represented in patients with AICU than in control group. Subjects with HLA-A11, HLA-B13, HLACw4, and HLA-Cw7 antigen were more represented in control group than in patients with AICU. Multiple logistic regression demonstrated an association of HLA-Cw4 and HLA-Cw7 with a lower risk of AICU, whereas carriers of HLA-B44 phenotype had a higher…

Monosodium benzoate hypersensitivity in subjects with persistent rhinitis

Background:  Very few data are available from the literature on whether nonatopic subjects affected by persistent rhinitis may show the appearance of objective symptoms of rhinitis after the ingestion of food additives such as tartrazine (E102), erythrosine (E127), monosodium benzoate (E211), p-hydroxybenzoate (E218), sodium metabisulphite (E223), and monosodium glutamate (E620). It is still unclear whether the ingestion of food additive may cause, as well, a consensual reduction of nasal peak inspiratory flow (NPIFR). Therefore, we used a double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) study to evaluate this hypothesis. Patients and methods:  Two hundred and twenty-six consecutive patients (76 male…

Comparison of topical tacrolimus 0.1 % in pectin ointment with clobetasol 0.5% ointment in adults with moderate to severe desquamative gingivitis: A 4-week, randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Desquamative gingivitis (DG) is a clinical condition characterized by red, painful, glazed, and friable gingiva, which might be a manifestation of some autoimmune mucocutaneous diseases. The time from the development of initial signs of DG to diagnosis can vary from months to years. Based on a literature search, no data concerning patients with DG without signs of autoimmune disease were available. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this trial was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of monotherapy with topical tacrolimus 0.1% in pectin ointment versus clobetasol propionate 0.5% ointment in adults affected by DG. METHODS: This randomized, double-blind clinical trial was conducted at the …

Clinical importance of eosinophil count in nasal fluid in patients with allergic and non-allergic rhinitis

Eosinophil count in nasal fluid (ECNF) was used to differentiate nasal pathologies. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and the area under the curve (AUC) were performed to evaluate the ECNF's accuracy in distinguishing allergic rhinitis (AR) from non-allergic rhinitis (NAR). We also evaluated the accuracy of ECNF in recognizing patients with mild and severe symptoms of rhinitis and patients with ineffective and effective clinical responses to antihistamines. 1,170 consecutive adult patients with a clinical history of rhinitis were studied. ECNF's median in AR was 6.0 and 2.0 in NAR and the best cut-off value was > 3.0, AUC = 0.75. ECNF's median in AR with mild nasal …

Randomized placebo-controlled trial comparing fluticasone aqueous nasal spray in mono-therapy, fluticasone plus cetirizine, fluticasone plus montelukast and cetirizine plus montelukast for seasonal allergic rhinitis.

BACKGROUND: Corticosteroids are considered to be particularly effective in reducing nasal congestion and are therefore recommended as first-line treatment in allergic rhinitis patients with moderate to severe and/or persistent symptoms. OBJECTIVE: We compared the clinical efficacy of fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal spray (FPANS) 200 microg given once daily, administered in mono-therapy or combined therapy with a H1 receptor antagonist (cetirizine, CTZ) or with a leukotriene antagonist (montelukast, MSK), and the combined therapy of CTZ plus MSK in the treatment of patients affected by allergic rhinitis to Parietaria during natural pollen exposure. In addition, we examined the effect of…

Differences and Similarities between Allergic and Nonallergic Rhinitis in a Large Sample of Adult Patients with Rhinitis Symptoms

<i>Background:</i> Allergic rhinitis (AR) and nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) may present with different clinical and laboratory characteristics. <i>Methods:</i> A total of 1,511 consecutive patients, aged 18–81 years, diagnosed with rhinitis, 56% females and 44% males, underwent complete allergic evaluation including skin prick test, blood eosinophil counts, nasal eosinophil counts, peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF) measurement and evaluation of nasal symptoms using a visual analog scale (VAS). <i>Results:</i> A total of 1,107 patients (73%)had AR, whereas 404 (27%) had NAR. Patients with NAR were older and predominantly female. A higher nasal eosinophils co…

Polymorphisms of cyclo-oxygenases and 5-lipo-oxygenase-activating protein are associated with chronic spontaneous urticaria and urinary leukotriene E4

The mechanisms of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) continue to be unknown. Our working hypothesis is that polymorphisms of cyclo-oxygenases and 5-lipo-oxygenase-activating protein may be involved in the pathways leading to CSU. We examined five candidate polymorphisms of cyclo-oxygenases 1 and 2 and of 5-lipo-oxygenase-activating protein in 109 controls and in 94 CSU patients from Northern Italy. We also examined the levels of urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) before and after challenge with ASA. A multiple regression model was found to show that COX-2 5'UTR T/G, COX-2 Exon 10 T/C, and FLAP -336 G/A polymorphisms were significantly associated with CSU, with the minor allele more represented …

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE WITH "EXTREME LDL-C PHENOTYPES"

Comparing tacrolimus ointment and oral cyclosporine in adult patients affected by atopic dermatitis: a randomized study

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic allergic inflammatory disease, which manifests itself with eczematous skin lesions. OBJECTIVE: We compared the clinical efficacy of tacrolimus ointment (0.1%) given twice a day and oral cyclosporine (3 mg/kg) given once daily. Rescue medication for itching included cetirizine 10-20 mg (equal to one or two tables). METHODS: Thirty patients, aged 13-45 years (mean+/-SD 27.1+/-10.9), with a history of moderate-to-severe AD were randomized to treatments, 15 patients for each treatments. Assessment of efficacy was based on SCORAD, on scores of daily itching, erythema, interference with sleep, due to the skin condition and days without use of cetiri…

Large-scale association analysis identifies 13 new susceptibility loci for coronary artery disease

1. The CARDIoGRAM Consortium. Large-scale association analysis identifies 13 new susceptibility loci for coronary artery disease. Nature Genetics. 2011;43:333–338. ### Study Hypothesis Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several common variants that are associated with risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI). The authors state that the current loci discovered in CAD and MI GWAS explain only a small fraction of the heritability of this complex disease. The authors hypothesized that a larger study would provide more power to discover common variants with modest effect sizes. Therefore, they formed the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-wid…

Comparative effect of tacrolimus 0.1% ointment and clobetasol 0.05% ointment in patients with oral lichen planus.

Background Oral lichen planus (OLP) is considered to be an autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology that affects the mucosae, especially the oral cavity. Objective We compared tacrolimus 0.1% ointment and clobetasol 0.05% ointment for the treatment of OLP. Patients and methods A total of 32 patients (20 females and 12 males; all white, Italian origin, mean age of 43.6+/-18.4 years; 16 patients per treatment group) were treated with tacrolimus or clobetasol ointment for 4 weeks in a randomized, double-blind, clinical trial. Pain severity, burning sensation, and mucosal lesion extension were assessed using a four-point scale. Results At the end of the treatment period, symptom scores were sign…

Tacrolimus ointment in patients with allergic contact dermatitis to nickel sulphate

Plasma HDL cholesterol and risk of myocardial infarction: a mendelian randomisation study

BACKGROUND: High plasma HDL cholesterol is associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction, but whether this association is causal is unclear. Exploiting the fact that genotypes are randomly assigned at meiosis, are independent of non-genetic confounding, and are unmodified by disease processes, mendelian randomisation can be used to test the hypothesis that the association of a plasma biomarker with disease is causal. METHODS: We performed two mendelian randomisation analyses. First, we used as an instrument a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the endothelial lipase gene (LIPG Asn396Ser) and tested this SNP in 20 studies (20,913 myocardial infarction cases, 95,407 controls). Se…

Large-scale gene-centric analysis identifies novel variants for coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) has a significant genetic contribution that is incompletely characterized. To complement genome-wide association (GWA) studies, we conducted a large and systematic candidate gene study of CAD susceptibility, including analysis of many uncommon and functional variants. We examined 49,094 genetic variants in ∼2,100 genes of cardiovascular relevance, using a customised gene array in 15,596 CAD cases and 34,992 controls (11,202 cases and 30,733 controls of European descent; 4,394 cases and 4,259 controls of South Asian origin). We attempted to replicate putative novel associations in an additional 17,121 CAD cases and 40,473 controls. Potential mechanisms through w…

Randomized placebo-controlled trial comparing desloratadine and montelukast in monotherapy and desloratadine plus montelukast in combined therapy for chronic idiopathic urticaria

BACKGROUND: H 1 -receptor antagonists are considered to be particularly effective in reducing pruritus, and they are therefore recommended as first-line treatment in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). Recently, antileukotriene receptors have been used in patients with CIU, either administered as monotherapy or combined with H 1 -receptor antagonists. OBJECTIVE: We compared the clinical efficacy of 5 mg of desloratadine administered once daily either as monotherapy or combined with a leukotriene antagonist, 10 mg of montelukast daily, and 10 mg of montelukast administered daily as monotherapy for the treatment of patients affected by CIU with placebo. METHODS: One hundred sixt…

rs629301 CELSR2 polymorphism confers a ten-year equivalent risk of critical stenosis assessed by coronary angiography

Abstract Background and aims Novel genetic determinants associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) have been discovered by genome wide association studies. Variants encompassing the CELSR2- PSRC1-SORT1 gene cluster have been associated with CAD. This study is aimed to investigate the rs629301 polymorphism association with the extent of CAD evaluated by coronary angiography (CAG), and to evaluate its associations with an extensive panel of lipid and lipoprotein measurements in a large Italian cohort of 2429 patients. Methods and results The patients were collected by four Intensive Care Units located in Palermo and Verona (Italy). Clinical Records were filed, blood samples were collected,…

Evaluation of serum s-IgE/total IgE ratio in predicting clinical response to allergen-specific immunotherapy.

Background: To date, no predictive tests for the clinical response to allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASI) are available. Therefore an in vivo or in vitro test would be of great value. Objective: We sought to evaluate pretreatment parameters used in diagnosing allergic rhinitis and determining serum specific IgE (s-IgE) levels, serum total IgE (t-IgE) levels, and blood eosinophil counts and to identify whether can be used to predict clinical improvement in monosensitized patients with allergic rhinitis with or without asthma treated with immunotherapy. Methods:We analyzed 279 patients who had undergone 4 years of ASI administered either by means of the subcutaneous immunotherapy (76 patien…

Levocetirizine as a treatment for perennial allergic rhinitis