OBJECTIVES Allergic rhinitis and atopy are more common in urban than rural environments. Non-allergic rhinitis has not been studied to a great extent. We aimed to assess the relationship of rhinitis symptoms with different profiles of allergic sensitization, comparing this in rural and urban environments. METHODS The study population consisted of population-based cohorts of adults aged 26-60 ...

RATIONALE Both atopy and smoking are known to be associated with increased bronchial responsiveness. Fraction of nitric oxide (NO) in the exhaled air (FE(NO)), a marker of airways inflammation, is decreased by smoking and increased by atopy. NO has also a physiological bronchodilating and bronchoprotective role. OBJECTIVES To investigate how the relation between FE(NO) and bronchial responsiv...

BACKGROUND Rural residence is protective against atopy and wheeze-rhinitis-eczema symptoms in developed countries, an effect attributed to farming and poor hygiene exposures. There are few data from developing countries addressing this question. We compared atopy and wheeze-rhinitis-eczema symptoms between urban and rural Ecuador, and explored the effects of farming and poor hygiene exposures. ...

BACKGROUND/AIM The "hygiene hypothesis" addresses the correlation between the occurrence of atopy and the frequency of infections in the earliest age, explaining an increase in the incidence of atopic diseases by living in good, infection-free, hygienic conditions. The aim of our study was to determine the conection between atopy and Camplobacter infection, and to analyze the association betwee...

BACKGROUND Atopy and rhinitis are among the factors affecting exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) values and may contribute to difficulties in the clinical interpretation of FeNO measurements. However, data assessing their effects on FeNO values had never been summarized. This review aims to evaluate the effect of atopy and rhinitis in FeNO values in otherwise healthy individuals. METHODS A systemati...

Changes in immune system functions are one of the most important consequences of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Studies have reported a higher prevalence of disease mediated by immunological hypersensitivity mechanisms in HIV-positive patients. This study aims to observe how immunological changes in HIV-infected children interfere in atopy determinants. Fifty-seven HIV-positive c...

Atopy is widely used as a discriminant in selection for employment involving exposure to allergenic substances. The validity of this has been tested in a population with a known burden of what is largely considered to be an IgE mediated disease, laboratory animal allergy. The findings suggest that atopy is insufficiently sensitive and specific for this purpose and that this is probably true for...

HLA antigens and various aspects of atopy were studied in 42 Finnish children and adolescents with coeliac disease, and the results were compared with findings of recent population studies. The HLA associations were as expected: relative risks for coeliac disease in individuals with HLA-B8, DR3, and DR7 were 8 . 0, 18 . 6, and 15 . 0, respectively. Children with coeliac disease were significant...

Asthma is a hereditary disease associated with IgE-mediated reaction. Whether maternal atopy and paternal atopy have different impacts on perinatal IgE production and asthma development remains unclear. This paper reviews and summarizes the effects of maternal and paternal atopy on the developmental aspects of IgE production and asthma. Maternal atopy affects both pre- and postnatal IgE product...

AIMS To describe the change in the prevalence of wheeze, diagnosed asthma, and atopy in Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia, between 1992 and 1997, and to compare this to the increase in prevalence reported between 1982 and 1992. METHODS A cross sectional study of the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and atopy in schoolchildren aged 8-11 years (n = 1016, response rate 71%) in 1997 compared with stu...