Hevea brasiliensis is an important industrial crop for natural rubber production. Latex biosynthesis occurs in the cytoplasm of highly specialized latex cells and requires sucrose as the unique precursor. Ethylene stimulation of latex production results in high sugar flow from the surrounding cells of inner bark towards the latex cells. The aim of this work was to understand the role of seven s...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the force decay of two brands of orthodontic elastics, both offering latex and non-latex products. Samples were subjected to continuous stretching, measuring force at 5 seconds, 8 hours, and 24 hours in both dry and wet conditions. Five hundred samples were used, GAC® and Lancer® 0.25 inch and 4 oz, divided into testing sample sizes of n = 25 per group. For...

BACKGROUND Natural rubber latex allergy is a "new" illness whose prevalence has reached epidemic proportions in highly exposed populations such as health care professionals. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of reactions to latex and risk factors due to glove use in health care workers (HCW) in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. METHODS We evaluated latex-rela...

Allergic or immediate hypersensitivity reactions to latex have been reported in children with increasing frequency in the past. The reported prevalence varies greatly depending upon the population studied and the methods used to detect sensitization. Children's subpopulations at particular risk include: atopics, individuals with spina bifida, children undergoing surgical procedure during the ne...

A system for detection of trace amounts of protein was developed. Two different monoclonal antibodies against human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were covalently bound to latex particles. When the latex particles were mixed with a sample containing hCG, a latex-protein-latex complex (immunocomplex) was formed. The complex was separated from the single latex particles using capillary electrophore...

A 78-year-old woman visited the division of cardiovascular disease in our hospital. She underwent a cardiac catheter examination, and a Swan-Ganz catheter was inserted. Several minutes later, she developed anaphylactic shock. She had no past history of latex allergy, but did have a banana allergy. Skin prick tests showed a positive reaction to an extract of latex gloves and an extract of the ba...

This article describes the motivation, achievements and future of the LATEX3 Project∗, which was established to produce a new version of LATEX, the widelyused and highly-acclaimed document preparation system. It also describes how you can help us to achieve our aims. Note for Archive maintainers, Authors, Publishers and Distributors: The project team request that, whenever possible, you include...

Natural rubber latex (NRL) allergy has become an important occupational health problem in recent years. However, the prevalence of sensitization to NRL among allergic asthmatic patients is unknown. This study was undertaken evaluate the levels specific IgE in sera of 70 adult asthmatic patients (27 male and 43 female) with mild (32 patients) and moderate (38 patients) asthma, whose diagnosis wa...

The most common agents that are responsible for intraoperative anaphylaxis are muscle relaxants. However, latex accounts for a significant number of these reactions, and the incidence of intraoperative anaphylaxis caused by latex is increasing. It is now probably the second most important cause of intraoperative anaphylaxis. Following muscle relaxants and latex are probably antibiotics and anes...

During the last decade, latex IgE-mediated allergy has been recognized as a very important medical problem. At the same time, many studies have dealt with allergic cross-reactions between aeroallergens and foods. Recently, a "latex-fruit syndrome" has been postulated, because there is clear evidence of the existence of a significant clinical association between allergies to latex and certain fr...