How safe are the biologicals in treating asthma and rhinitis?

A number of biological agents are available or being investigated for the treatment of asthma and rhinitis. The safety profiles of these biologic agents, which may modify allergic and immunological diseases, are still being elucidated. Subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy, the oldest biologic agent in current use, has the highest of frequency of the most serious and life-threatening reaction, anaphylaxis. It is also one of the only disease modifying interventions for allergic rhinitis and asthma. Efforts to seek safer and more effective allergen immunotherapy treatment have led to investigations of alternate routes of delivery and modified immunotherapy formulations. Sublingual immunotherapy appears to be associated with a lower, but not zero, risk of anaphylaxis. No fatalities have been reported to date with sublingual immunotherapy. Immunotherapy with modified formulations containing Th1 adjuvants, DNA sequences containing a CpG motif (CpG) and 3-deacylated monophospholipid A, appears to provide the benefits of subcutaneous immunotherapy with a single course of 4 to 6 preseasonal injections. There were no serious treatment-related adverse events or anaphylaxis in the clinical trials of these two immunotherapy adjuvants. Omalizumab, a monoclonal antibody against IgE, has been associated with a small risk of anaphylaxis, affecting 0.09% to 0.2% of patients. It may also be associated with a higher risk of geohelminth infection in patients at high risk for parasitic infections but it does not appear to affect the response to treatment or severity of the infection

K0(S) production in tau decays

From a sample of about 160k Z→τ+τ− candidates collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP between 1991 and 1995, τ lepton decays involving K0S→π+π− are studied. The K0SK0L associated production in τ decays is also investigated. The branching ratios are measured for the inclusive decay B(τ−→K0SX−ντ)=(9.70\pm0.58±0.62)×10−3 , where X− can be anything, and for the exclusive decays B(τ−→K¯¯¯0π−ντ)=(8.55±1.17±0.66)×10−3, B(τ−→K¯¯¯0π−π0ντ)=(2.94±0.73±0.37)×10−3, B(τ−→K¯¯¯0K−ντ)=(1.58±0.42±0.17)×10−3, B(τ−→K¯¯¯0K−π0ντ)=(1.52\pm0.76±0.21)×10−3. The decay τ−→K0SK0Lπ−ντ is studied for the first time, giving a branching ratio B(τ−→K0SK0Lπ−ντ)=(1.01±0.23±0.13)×10−3. The channels τ−→K0SK0Sπ−ντ , τ−→K0SK0Sπ−π0ντ , τ−→K0SK0Lπ−π0ντ , τ−→K¯¯¯0π−π0π0ντ , τ−→K0K−π0π0ντ and τ−→K0h+h−h−ντ are also investigated. In addition, mass spectra in the K0Sh− and K0Sh−π0 final states are analysed to provide information on the intermediate states produced in the decays