Skin prick testing is an essential test procedure to confirm sensitization in IgE-mediated allergic disease in subjects with rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma, urticaria, anapylaxis, atopic eczema and food and drug allergy. This manuscript reviews the available evidence including Medline and Embase searches, abstracts of international allergy meetings and position papers from the world allergy litera...

One of the key features of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes is the frequent occurrence of trans-species polymorphism, that is 'the passage of allelic lineages from ancestral to descendant species' (Klein et al. 2007). Selectively maintained ancestral polymorphism may, however, be hard to distinguish from introgression of MHC alleles between hybridizing species (Fig. 1). In this issu...

Phloem-feeding aphids cause serious damage to plants. The mechanisms of plant-aphid interactions are only partially understood and involve multiple pathways, including phytohormones. In order to investigate whether salicylic acid (SA) is involved and how it plays a part in the defense response to the aphid Macrosiphoniella sanbourni, physiological changes and gene expression profiles in respons...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Leishmaniasis is a major public health problem, and the alarming spread of parasite resistance underlines the importance of discovering new therapeutic products. The present study aims to investigate the in vitro antileishmanial activity and cytotoxicity of the ethanolic extract of Berberis vulgaris fruits and chloroform extract of Nigella sativa seeds against Leishmania...

Nonessential heavy metals are toxic to human health. In this study, mercury, a hazardous metal, was detected by colorimetric analysis using Artemisia vulgaris-mediated silver nanoparticles (AgNP) without any modification in an aqueous solution. The UV–vis spectroscopy showed characteristic SPR band of Ag0 at 418 nm, indicating the formation AgNPs. AgNPs were crystalline, with average size 7 as ...

Hyperuricemia is a metabolic disease generally characterized by high uric acid levels in the blood. The general treatment strategy for hyperuricemia to decrease production using xanthine oxidation reductase inhibitors such as allopurinol and uricosuric agents. However, drugs showed side effects, including skin rashes, diarrhoea liver damage. To overcome effects of synthetic drugs, alternatives ...