Objective: Cow's milk (CM) hypersensitivity is one of the most frequent hypersensitivities in infants. The objective of our study was to investigate the prevalence of immediate hypersensitivity to CM based on skin prick test results and to evaluate associated allergic conditions ascertained by questionnaire in infants living in Istanbul.Methods: All infants born between June 2001 and May 2002 were recalled to the hospital according to their dates of birth, and 1015 infants aged between 8-18 months were included in the study. An interview was conducted with each mother and a questionnaire requesting data on cow's milk hypersensitivity and other allergic diseases was completed during this interview. A cow's milk skin prick test (SPT) was applied to all infants. An open CM challenge test was then carried out on infants with a positive SPT to CM.Results: Among the 1015 infants who underwent SPT six (0.59 %) demonstrated immediate hypersensitivity to the CM allergen and three (0.29 %) developed a positive response to the CM challenge test. The results of the questionnaire revealed that 112 (11.0 %) of the infants had family history of allergic diseases, 96 infants (9.5 %) had a positive history of recurrent wheezing, and 166 (16.4 %) had a history of skin rash resembling atopic dermatitis.Conclusions: Our results suggest that CM hypersensitivity, with its low prevalence, might not be a serious health concern in Turkish infants.

AIM:Egg allergy is one of the most frequent allergies in infants. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of sensitization to egg in infants based on skin prick test results and to evaluate associated allergic conditions by questionnaire.METHODS:All infants born between June 2001 and May 2002 were recalled to the hospital according to their dates of birth, and 1015 infants aged between 8-18 months were included in the study. An interview was conducted with each mother and a questionnaire requesting data on food allergy and other allergic diseases was completed during this interview. An egg skin prick test (whole egg) was applied to all infants.RESULTS:Positive skin prick test results were recorded in 19 infants (1.87 %). There was no difference between the prick test-positive and -negative groups with respect to any of the demographic characteristics investigated (gender, age, birth weight, egg consumption, age of introduction of egg and other solids, breastfeeding). No significant association was demonstrated between sensitization to egg and family history of allergy. Moreover, there was no association between sensitization to egg and occurrence of atopic dermatitis, recurrent wheezing, gastrointestinal symptoms and doctor diagnosis of asthma.CONCLUSION:The prevalence of egg sensitization based on skin prick test results has been found as 1.87 % among Turkish infants in Istanbul. However, no significant relationship was found between allergic sensitization to egg and occurrence of allergic diseases in this study population.

The substance 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is an amphetamine derivative that has gained significant popularity in recent years and has become the recreational drug of choice for many adolescents and young adults. The drug has various addictive psychoactive properties, and its abuse has led to an alarming increase in emergency department visits worldwide. This designer drug must be recognized by the ED physician because of its tremendous abuse potential and unpredictable toxicity. The popularity of these club drugs is due to their low cost and convenient distribution as small pills or liquids that can be taken orally. MDMA ingestion increases the release of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine from presynaptic neurons and prevents their metabolism by inhibiting monoamine oxidase. MDMA increases alertness, reduces fatigue, and leads to feelings of increased physical and mental powers, and euphoria.

RATIONALE: Mucosal tolerance is suggested to be one of the most promising therapeutic approaches in treatment of asthma.METHODS: In order to test whether the administration of antigen OVA intranasally (IN) and by intragastric (IG) route before the establishment of

Rationale To test whether the administration of the antigen, OVA IN and IG route after the establishment of chronic asthma model could reverse the characteristicfeatures of lung histopathology in BALB/c mice. Methods Mice were divided into 4 groups. Chronic asthma model was established in groups I, II and III as per protocol. Mice in group I were treated with 100 μg ovalbumin (OVA) intranasally route on consecutive days starting from day 68. (days 68-73). Mice in group II were treated with 5 mg of ovalbumin (OVA) in 300 μl saline by intragastric route on alternate day (68-71-74). Group IV served as controls. On day 92 lungs were taken out for histopathologic evaluation. Results All of the histopathological parameters in all airways were significantly more in group III when compared to controls. All of the histopathologic parameters were significantly less in group I when compared with group III. No significant difference was detected between in any of the parameters in the comparison of Group I and controls. Comparison of Group II with that of Group III revealed that all the parameters were significantly less in Group II. Comparison of Group II with controls revealed no significant difference. There was no significant difference is any of the evaulated airway histopathological parameters in the comparison of Group I and Group II. Conclusions We concluded that low dose intranasal allergen immunotherapy, as well as high dose intragastric allergen immunotherapy are efficent therapeutic strategies for ameliorating the choronic histopathological changes iin asthmatic airways of BALB/c mice.

RATIONALE: Although eotaxin-1 and eotaxin-2 are functionally related cytokines, they are differentially expressed in the asthmatic lung as demonstrated by in situ hybridization and Northern blot analysis.We hypothesized that eotaxin-1 and eotaxin-2 would therefore have independent roles in the induction of allergen-induced airway eosinophilia.METHODS: Wild type and eotaxin-I deficient Balb/c mice were subjected to an OVA/alum induced model of allergic airway inflammation (OVA/alum sensitization followed by 2 OVA challenges 3 days apart).Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was obtained, analyzed for cell counts, and used as a chemotactic stimulus in eosinophil transmigration assays in vitro.The role of eotaxin-2 was assessed with eotaxin-2 specific antisera. RESULTS:The numbers of eosinophils were comparable in the BALF of both wild type and eotaxin-1 deficient mice.Additionally, the BALF from OVA-challenged wild type and eotaxin-1 deficient mice induced a strong dose-dependent eosinophil transmigration in vitro compared with BALF from saline challenged mice.The chemoattractant activity in the BALF from both wild type and eotaxin-I deficient mice was ablated >75% by anti-eotaxin-2 pretreatment.CONCLUSIONS: Taken together with other previous results, these findings demonstrate that eotaxin-I and eotaxin-2 function independently; suggesting a critical role for eotaxin-2 in eosinophil recruitment into the airway lumen.

This work explores the concept of blackbody radiation pumping of CO2 gas as a step toward utilization of solar radiation as a pumping source for laser action. To demonstrate this concept, an experiment was performed in which laser gas mixtures were exposed to 1500 K thermal radiation for brief periods of time. A gain of 2.8 x 10 to the -3rd reciprocal centimeters has been measured at 10.6 microns in a CO2-He gas mixture of 1 Torr pressure. A simple analytical model is used to describe the rate of change of energy of the vibrational modes of CO2 and to predict the gain. Agreement between the prediction and experiment is good.