BACKGROUND Asthma afflicts 6% to 8% of the United States population, and severe asthma represents approximately 10% of asthmatic patients. Several epidemiologic studies in the United States and Europe have linked Alternaria sensitivity to both persistence and severity of asthma. In order to begin to understand genetic risk factors underlying Alternaria sensitivity and asthma, in these studies w...

Blight symptoms on pigeonpea were observed in alarming proportion since 2009 onwards in Andhra Pradesh state of India. Alternaria blight infected pigeonpea plants were collected from Andhra Pradesh state of India to isolate and characterize the pathogen. The isolate proved pathogenic on pigeonpea cultivar ICPL 87119. Genetic characteristics were analyzed based on the sequence of the rDNA-intern...

The concept of graph symmetry is explained in terms of the vertex automorphism group, which is a subgroup of the complete vertex permutation group. The automorphism group can be deduced from the automorphism partition of graph vertices. An algorithm is described which constructs the automorphism group of a graph from the automorphism vertex partitioning. The algorithm is useful especially for g...

BACKGROUND Sensitivity to mold has been associated with asthma incidence, persistence, and severity. OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between skin test reactivity (STR) to molds and specifically to Alternaria and asthma severity in a group of ethnically diverse children in Connecticut. METHODS Demographics and STR to 14 local allergens, including Alternaria, Penicillium, and mold mix, ...

Late reactions consisting of fever, malaise, and swelling at the site, 4 to 6 hr after injections of Alternaria extract occurred in several patients receiving immunotherapy with Alternaria. These patients had in common serum IgG precipitins and exquisite leukocyte histamine release sensitivity to Alternaria. Such precipitins were 3 times more frequent in patients receiving Alternaria immunother...

BACKGROUND Fungi may be involved in asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from CRS patients produce interleukin (IL)-5, IL-13 and interferon (IFN)-γ in the presence of Alternaria. In addition, Alternaria produces potent Th2-like adjuvant effects in the airway. Therefore, we hypothesized that Alternaria may inhibit Th1-type defense mechanisms against virus i...

BACKGROUND Alternaria is the most important fungal species belonging to the class Deuteromycetes which causes allergic respiratory diseases. The fungus pattern often shows a pronounced seasonal periodicity and with fluctuations related to meteorological conditions. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of outdoor Alternaria spore concentrations on monthly lung function tests, sympto...

The fungal allergen, Alternaria, is specifically associated with severe asthma, including life-threatening exacerbations. To better understand the acute innate airway response to Alternaria, naive wild-type (WT) mice were challenged once intranasally with Alternaria. Naive WT mice developed significant bronchoalveolar lavage eosinophilia following Alternaria challenge when analyzed 24 h later. ...

BACKGROUND Exposure to the fungal allergen Alternaria alternata as well as ryegrass pollen has been implicated in severe asthma symptoms during thunderstorms. We have previously shown that Alternaria extract induces innate type 2 lung inflammation in mice. We hypothesized that the innate eosinophilic response to Alternaria extract may enhance lung inflammation induced by ryegrass. METHODS Mic...

BACKGROUND The fungal allergen Alternaria alternata is implicated in severe asthma and rapid onset life-threatening exacerbations of disease. However, the mechanisms that underlie this severe pathogenicity remain unclear. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate the mechanism whereby Alternaria was capable of initiating severe, rapid onset allergic inflammation. METHODS IL-33 levels were quantifi...