Allergic rhinitis (AR) and perennial nonallergic rhinitis (PNAR) represent conditions affecting millions of individuals across the world. Although the diagnosis of AR might be presumptively based on the types of symptoms and the history of allergen triggers, confirmation requires documentation of specific IgE reactivity. In contrast, PNAR is a condition with similar symptomatology but in which ...

The Hippocratic Oath, emphasizing sacred principles of caring for our patients with professionalism and compassion, is considered the moral compass guiding health care provision. More recently, however, the regulation of health care quality has become the prerogative of federal and other agencies rather than the individual health care professional. The US health care system is currently in tran...

Weber-Christian disease (WCD) is an inflammatory disease of subcutaneous fat first described in 1892. Panush et al. I analysed the clinical and laboratory features of WCD, including chronic relapsing fever with subcutaneous non-sup­ purative nodules predominantly on lower extremities, arthralgia or ar­ thritis and myalgia. The laboratory features were elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, an...

1Baylor National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Cooperative Center for Translational Research on Human Immunology, INSERM U899, Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, Dallas, TX; 2Baylor University, Waco, TX; 3University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX; and 4Department of Microbiology, Emerging Pathogens Institute, and NIAID Center for Investigating Virus Immunity and...

The World Allergy Organization Journal (WAO Journal) has recently published a number of position papers, statements and guidelines on topics of global importance in allergy and clinical immunology, including hereditary angioedema [1], urticaria and angioedema [2], probiotics in pediatrics [3], biodiversity and allergic disease [4], as well as the latest ICON, or International Consensus document...

The prevalences of asthma and obesity have increased substantially in recent decades in many countries, leading to speculation that obese persons might be at increased risk of asthma development. In adults cross-sectional, case-control, prospective, and weight-loss studies are in the aggregate consistent with a role for obesity in the pathogenesis of asthma. In children 3 of 4 prospective studi...

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is a consequence of evaporative water loss in conditioning the inspired air. The water loss causes cooling and dehydration of the airway surface. One acute effect of dehydration is the release of mediators, such as prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and histamine, that can stimulate smooth muscle, causing contraction and a change in vascular permeability. I...