It is shown in a large number of experiments that short ragweed extract, mixed-grass pollen extract, and pu.rified protein derivative (PPD) can produce very substantial tritiated thymidine uptake and lymphocyte blast transformation of peripheral blood leukocytes from normal individuals. Cord blood lymphocytes were also stimulated by pollen extracts. Differing conditions of culture probably expl...

BACKGROUND Environment-mediated pollen production varies over time and space, influencing pollen exposure risk and ultimately patient sensitization trends. In order to assess temporal variation of pollen incidence and patient sensitization, we set up a pollen incidence and patient sensitization survey in the city of Elche, Spain, over a 10-years interval. METHODS Pollen counts were obtained f...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Pollens from the Cupressaceae family are considered important allergens in the Mediterranean area, though reports of the prevalence of allergic symptoms have ranged from 1.04% to 35.4%. Our aim was to detect the prevalence of cypress pollen sensitization and determine its clinical importance in patients with seasonal respiratory allergy. METHODS We used skin prick tes...

Terminal drought during the reproductive stage is a major constraint to yield of chickpea in many regions of the world. Termination of watering (WS) during podding in a small-seeded desi chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivar, Rupali, and a large-seeded kabuli chickpea cultivar, Almaz, induced a decrease in predawn leaf water potential (LWP), in the rate of photosynthesis, and in stomatal condu...

BACKGROUND Grass pollens are significant elicitors of IgE-mediated allergic disease in the world and timothy (Phleum pratense) is one of the most important pollens of the family. Molecular and biochemical characterization of Phleum pratense has revealed several allergen components: rPhl p 1 and rPhl p 5 have been shown to be "Species Specific Allergens", while the profilin rPhl p 12 and the cal...

BACKGROUND Pollen is one of the main causes of allergic sensitization. It is not easy to make an etiological diagnosis of pollen-allergic patients because of the wide variety of sensitizing pollens, association with food allergy, and increasing incidence of polysensitization, which may result from the presence of allergens that are common to different species, as is the case of panallergens. ...

BACKGROUND Many insects feed on pollen surface lipids and contents accessible through the germination pores. Pollen walls, however, are not broken down because they consist of sporopollenin and are highly resistant to physical and enzymatic damage. Here we report that certain Microlepidoptera chemically dissolve pollen grains with exudates from their mouthparts. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS...

The Chinese hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida Bge. var. major N.E.Br.) is uniquely originated in northern China. The ecological and horticultural importance of Chinese hawthorn is considerable and some varieties are valued for their fruit or medicine extracts. Its taxonomy and phylogeny remain poorly understood. Apart from general plant morphological traits, pollen is an important trait for the c...

Group I allergens are the major allergens of grass pollen, but their biological function is unknown. These proteins are shown here to be structurally related to expansins, which are able to induce extension (creep) of plant cell walls. Extracts of maize pollen possess potent expansin-like activity, as measured in wall extension and wall stress-relaxation assays. This activity is selective for g...

BACKGROUND non-injective routes of immunotherapy in respiratory allergy have being proposed as an alternative to conventional immunotherapy. We carried out a study to evaluate the clinical efficacy and effects sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) in patient with Cupressaceae pollen respiratory allergy. METHODS twenty patients with Cupressaceae pollen (C. sempervirens) rhinoconjunctivitis, mild ast...