Food-Dependent Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis: A Case Related to Chickpea Ingestion and Review

Abstract Food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA) is recognized as a distinct category of exercise-induced anaphylaxis (EIA) but is very likely underdiagnosed. This report describes a 41-year-old Indian woman who experienced two separate episodes of anaphylaxis while dancing after she had eaten chickpea-containing foods. The chickpea, a small legume, is a staple ingredient in culinary traditions from around the world, especially in India, the Middle East, and North Africa. Chickpea-containing dishes are also becoming more widespread in the Western world with the growing popularity of South Asian, Middle Eastern, and African cuisines. It is important to consider FDEIA in cases of unexplained anaphylaxis as reactions can occur several hours after ingesting the culprit food(s). Furthermore, no reaction occurs if a sensitized individual eats the culprit food(s) without exercising afterward; therefore, triggering foods can easily be overlooked. Current ideas on the pathophysiology, predisposing factors, workup, and treatment of FDEIA are also summarized here

Protein Fingerprinting: A Domain-Free Approach to Protein Analysis

An alternative method for analyzing proteins is proposed. Currently, protein search engines available on the internet utilize domains (predefined sequences of amino acids) to align proteins. The method presented converts a protein sequence with the use of 1200 numeric codes that represent a unique three—amino-acid protein sequence. Each numeric code starts with one of three specific amino acids, followed by any two additional amino acids. With the use of the FPC (FingerPrinted Contig) program, the total protein database (including “redundant” records) from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has been processed and placed into “bins/contigs” based on associations of these triplet codes. When analyzed with FPC, proteins are “contigged” together based on the number of shared fragments, regardless of order. These associations were supported by additional analysis with the standard BLASTP utility from NCBI. Within the created contig sets, there are numerous examples of proteins (allotypes and orthotypes) that have evolved into different, seemingly unrelated proteins. The power of this domain-free technique has yet to be explored; however, the ability to bin proteins together with no a priori knowledge of domains may prove a powerful tool in the characterization of the hundreds of thousands of available, yet undescribed expressed protein and open reading frame sequences

Rotordynamic Stability - A Simplified Approach.

LecturePg. 3-10Straightforward mechanics are used to give a physical understanding of the important parameters involved in rotor dynamic instability. A concise analysis procedure is proposed for assembling available information into a meaningful design stability analysis of between-bearing rotors. The technique combines the destabilizing effects on the rotor into an equivalent single source at the rotor mid-span, and uses an excitation "threshold value" to rate the system stability. Results of applying this design analysis technique to an unstable compressor and the benefit from bearing redesign are presented

Asymptotic silence-breaking singularities

We discuss three complementary aspects of scalar curvature singularities: asymptotic causal properties, asymptotic Ricci and Weyl curvature, and asymptotic spatial properties. We divide scalar curvature singularities into two classes: so-called asymptotically silent singularities and non-generic singularities that break asymptotic silence. The emphasis in this paper is on the latter class which have not been previously discussed. We illustrate the above aspects and concepts by describing the singularities of a number of representative explicit perfect fluid solutions.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Ancient Host–Pathogen Associations Maintained by Specificity of Chemotaxis and Antibiosis

Switching by parasites to novel hosts has profound effects on ecological and evolutionary disease dynamics. Switching requires that parasites are able to establish contact with novel hosts and to overcome host defenses. For most host–parasite associations, it is unclear as to what specific mechanisms prevent infection of novel hosts. Here, we show that parasitic fungal species in the genus Escovopsis, which attack and consume the fungi cultivated by fungus-growing ants, are attracted to their hosts via chemotaxis. This response is host-specific: Escovopsis spp. grow towards their natural host cultivars more rapidly than towards other closely related fungi. Moreover, the cultivated fungi secrete compounds that can suppress Escovopsis growth. These antibiotic defenses are likewise specific: in most interactions, cultivars can inhibit growth of Escovopsis spp. not known to infect them in nature but cannot inhibit isolates of their naturally infecting pathogens . Cases in which cultivars are susceptible to novel Escovopsis are limited to a narrow set of host–parasite strain combinations. Targeted chemotactic and antibiotic responses therefore explain why Escovopsis pathogens do not readily switch to novel hosts, consequently constraining long-term dynamics of host–parasite coevolution within this ancient association

Evaluation of indigenous Trichoderma isolates from Manipur as biocontrol agent against Pythium aphanidermatum on common beans

Pythium aphanidermatum is one of the common causal pathogen of damping-off disease of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in Manipur. A total of 110 indigenous Trichoderma isolates obtained from North east India were screened for their biocontrol activity which can inhibit the mycelial growth of P. aphanidermatum, the causal organism of damping-off in beans. Out of the total isolates, 32% of them showed strong antagonistic activity against P. aphanidermatum under in vitro condition and subsequently 20 best isolates were selected based on their mycelial inhibition capacity against P. aphanidermatum for further analysis. Different biocontrol mechanisms such as protease, chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase activity, cellulase and production of volatile and non-volatile compounds were also assayed. Based on their relative biocontrol potency, only three indigenous Trichoderma isolates (T73, T80 and T105) were selected for pot culture experiment against damping-off diseases in common beans. In greenhouse experiment, Trichoderma isolates T-105 significantly reduced the pre- and post-emergence damping-off disease incidence under artificial infection with P. aphanidermatum and showed highest disease control percentage

The late-time behaviour of vortic Bianchi type VIII Universes

We use the dynamical systems approach to investigate the Bianchi type VIII models with a tilted $\gamma$-law perfect fluid. We introduce expansion-normalised variables and investigate the late-time asymptotic behaviour of the models and determine the late-time asymptotic states. For the Bianchi type VIII models the state space is unbounded and consequently, for all non-inflationary perfect fluids, one of the curvature variables grows without bound. Moreover, we show that for fluids stiffer than dust ($1<\gamma<2$), the fluid will in general tend towards a state of extreme tilt. For dust ($\gamma=1$), or for fluids less stiff than dust ($0<\gamma< 1$), we show that the fluid will in the future be asymptotically non-tilted. Furthermore, we show that for all $\gamma\geq 1$ the universe evolves towards a vacuum state but does so rather slowly, $\rho/H^2\propto 1/\ln t$.Comment: 19 pages, 3 ps figures, v2:typos fixed, refs and more discussion adde

New insights into the classification and nomenclature of cortical GABAergic interneurons.

A systematic classification and accepted nomenclature of neuron types is much needed but is currently lacking. This article describes a possible taxonomical solution for classifying GABAergic interneurons of the cerebral cortex based on a novel, web-based interactive system that allows experts to classify neurons with pre-determined criteria. Using Bayesian analysis and clustering algorithms on the resulting data, we investigated the suitability of several anatomical terms and neuron names for cortical GABAergic interneurons. Moreover, we show that supervised classification models could automatically categorize interneurons in agreement with experts' assignments. These results demonstrate a practical and objective approach to the naming, characterization and classification of neurons based on community consensus

Characterizing genomic alterations in cancer by complementary functional associations.

Systematic efforts to sequence the cancer genome have identified large numbers of mutations and copy number alterations in human cancers. However, elucidating the functional consequences of these variants, and their interactions to drive or maintain oncogenic states, remains a challenge in cancer research. We developed REVEALER, a computational method that identifies combinations of mutually exclusive genomic alterations correlated with functional phenotypes, such as the activation or gene dependency of oncogenic pathways or sensitivity to a drug treatment. We used REVEALER to uncover complementary genomic alterations associated with the transcriptional activation of β-catenin and NRF2, MEK-inhibitor sensitivity, and KRAS dependency. REVEALER successfully identified both known and new associations, demonstrating the power of combining functional profiles with extensive characterization of genomic alterations in cancer genomes