Animal allergens are common causes of both acute and chronic allergic disease. The most important animal allergens are derived from mammals, principally cats, dogs, rats, mice, horses, and cows, which secrete or excrete allergens into the environment. Allergic sensitization may occur at home or in the workplace. Cat and dog allergens commonly cause allergies in the home and affect the general p...

The prevalence of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) in children under 5 has commonly been attributed to exposure to polluted indoor air from biomass combustion. In Kenya, Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) accounted for 67% of outpatient morbidity cases in children under 5 and 41% of outpatient morbidity cases in children under 5 in Nakuru Town. The cause that has been attributed to the high c...

Despite much speculation, the principal factors controlling concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in settled house dust (SHD) have not yet been identified. In response to recent reports that dust from pavement with coal-tar-based sealcoat contains extremely high concentrations of PAH, we measured PAH in SHD from 23 apartments and in dust from their associated parking lots, on...

Human occupants are an important source of microbes in indoor environments. In this study, we used DNA sequencing of filter samples to assess the fungal and bacterial composition of air in an environmental chamber under different levels of occupancy, activity, and exposed or covered carpeting. In this office-like, mechanically ventilated environment, results showed a strong influence of outdoor...

Open-plan offices (OPOs) have been around for more than half a century now, chronicling the vicissitudes of workplace topography amongst other factors. This paper addresses one such factor - sound environment in occupied OPOs relation to several objective parameters, using measurements contemporary and comparisons with studies over last 50 years. Omnidirectional binaural were conducted 43 durin...

Arlian L, Neal J, Morgan M, Rapp C, and Clobes A. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2001;87:296–302 Purpose of the Study. To characterize the distribution of dog (Can f 1), cat (Fel d 1), and mite (Der p 1 and Der f 1) allergens on hard surfaces in homes with and without pets and to evaluate the efficiency of removing allergen from hard surfaces by wiping with a dry dust cloth and by vacuum cleaning ...

OBJECTIVE Few tests of functional motor behavior are useful for rapidly screening people for lower extremity peripheral neuropathy. The goal of this study was to improve the widely used tandem walking (TW) test. METHODS We tested "normal" (control) adult and ambulatory patients with peripheral neuropathy (PN) with their eyes open and eyes closed while they performed TW on industrial carpeting...

BACKGROUND The specific cause or causes of asthma development must be identified to prevent this disease. OBJECTIVE Our hypothesis was that specific mold exposures are associated with childhood asthma development. METHODS Infants were identified from birth certificates. Dust samples were collected from 289 homes when the infants were 8 months of age. Samples were analyzed for concentrations...

The prevalence of allergic diseases, especially asthma and allergic rhinitis, has dramatically increased during the last decades. Mite and cockroach, which are the most common allergens in house dust, are the major indoor allergens in asthmatic and allergic rhinitis patients. The aim of this study was to compare the association between age of dwelling and some other home characteristics in asth...