Immunotherapy in Allergic Rhinitis: It's Effect on the Immune System and Clinical Symptoms

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis is one of the most common allergic diseases and characterised by sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion and nasopharyngeal itching. Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) for specific allergens is an effective treatment and induces the inhibitory effect of T regulatory lymphocytes and decreases clinical symptoms in allergic rhinitis. AIM: In this study effect of subcutaneous immunotherapy with specific allergens on clinical symptoms and T regulatory and T Helper cells cytokines, in patients with allergic rhinitis are evaluated. METHODS: In this study, 30 patients with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis according to clinical criteria and positive skin prick test for aeroallergens were selected and treated by SCIT. Clinical symptoms and T cells cytokines IL4, IL17, IFN gamma, TGF beta, GITR, FOXP3 and IL-10 (by RT-PCR) were evaluated before and one year after initiation of treatment. RESULTS: Thirty (30) patients with allergic rhinitis at age range 15-45 years old were treated by SCIT, and 23 (14 female, 9 male) patients continued the study, and 7 patients did not continue treatment. After immunotherapy, clinical symptoms decreased significantly. The specific cytokines TGF beta and IL10 levels increased and changes were statistically significant. (Respectively P = 0.013 and P = 0.05) The IL17 level was also increased, but not statistically significant. (P = 0.8) IFN gamma, IL4, GITR, FOXP3, all decreased, but the changes were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Subcutaneous Immunotherapy for specific allergens decreases clinical symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis and induces tolerance in T lymphocytes, especially by increasing T regulatory cells cytokines, TGF beta and IL10

Immunotherapy in Allergic Rhinitis: It’s Effect on the Immune System and Clinical Symptoms

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis is one of the most common allergic diseases and characterised by sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion and nasopharyngeal itching. Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) for specific allergens is an effective treatment and induces the inhibitory effect of T regulatory lymphocytes and decreases clinical symptoms in allergic rhinitis. AIM: In this study effect of subcutaneous immunotherapy with specific allergens on clinical symptoms and T regulatory and T Helper cells cytokines, in patients with allergic rhinitis are evaluated. METHODS: In this study, 30 patients with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis according to clinical criteria and positive skin prick test for aeroallergens were selected and treated by SCIT. Clinical symptoms and T cells cytokines IL4, IL17, IFN gamma, TGF beta, GITR, FOXP3 and IL-10 (by RT-PCR) were evaluated before and one year after initiation of treatment. RESULTS: Thirty (30) patients with allergic rhinitis at age range 15-45 years old were treated by SCIT, and 23 (14 female, 9 male) patients continued the study, and 7 patients did not continue treatment. After immunotherapy, clinical symptoms decreased significantly. The specific cytokines TGF beta and IL10 levels increased and changes were statistically significant. (Respectively P = 0.013 and P = 0.05) The IL17 level was also increased, but not statistically significant. (P = 0.8) IFN gamma, IL4, GITR, FOXP3, all decreased, but the changes were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Subcutaneous Immunotherapy for specific allergens decreases clinical symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis and induces tolerance in T lymphocytes, especially by increasing T regulatory cells cytokines, TGF beta and IL10

Immunotherapy in Allergic Rhinitis: It’s Effect on the Immune System and Clinical Symptoms

BACKGROUND: Allergic rhinitis is one of the most common allergic diseases and characterised by sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion and nasopharyngeal itching. Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) for specific allergens is an effective treatment and induces the inhibitory effect of T regulatory lymphocytes and decreases clinical symptoms in allergic rhinitis.AIM: In this study effect of subcutaneous immunotherapy with specific allergens on clinical symptoms and T regulatory and T Helper cells cytokines, in patients with allergic rhinitis are evaluated.METHODS: In this study, 30 patients with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis according to clinical criteria and positive skin prick test for aeroallergens were selected and treated by SCIT. Clinical symptoms and T cells cytokines IL4, IL17, IFN gamma, TGF beta, GITR, FOXP3 and IL-10 (by RT-PCR) were evaluated before and one year after initiation of treatment.RESULTS: Thirty (30) patients with allergic rhinitis at age range 15-45 years old were treated by SCIT, and 23 (14 female, 9 male) patients continued the study, and 7 patients did not continue treatment. After immunotherapy, clinical symptoms decreased significantly. The specific cytokines TGF beta and IL10 levels increased and changes were statistically significant. (Respectively P = 0.013 and P = 0.05) The IL17 level was also increased, but not statistically significant. (P = 0.8) IFN gamma, IL4, GITR, FOXP3, all decreased, but the changes were not statistically significant (P > 0.05).CONCLUSION: Subcutaneous Immunotherapy for specific allergens decreases clinical symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis and induces tolerance in T lymphocytes, especially by increasing T regulatory cells cytokines, TGF beta and IL10

Does treatment of gastro-esophageal reflux disease with omeprazole decrease allergic rhinitis symptoms?

Background: Allergic rhinitis is the most common type of allergic disease among population. Its accurate treatment is very important for cutting of allergic march. On the other hand, gasteroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal problems among allergic patients mainly asthmatic cases. It might conflict treatment. Despite of asthma, a few studies have been conducted on the impact of GERD treatment on allergic rhinitis symptoms. In this study, we assessed GERD treatment and its effects on improving of allergic rhinitis patients with GERD. Materials and Methods: In a prospective cross-sectional study, March - September 2012, 103 consecutive patients with persistent moderate to severe seasonal allergic rhinitis enrolled. For allergic rhinitis patients with GERD 20 mg omeperazole once daily for 6 weeks prescribed, empirically. Conventional allergy treatment continued and finally the allergic rhinitis symptoms were assessed clinically and recorded before, 5th, 10th and 30th days of omeprazole treatment period. Results: Our study included 103 patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis who were divided into GERD (n=33, 38%) and non-GERD (n=70, 68%) groups with the mean age 28 and 25.7 years, respectively. The first group developed significant improvement for GERD symptoms on days 5, 10 and 30 after beginning of therapy (P=0.03). No association was found between GERD treatment and relief of allergic symptoms or TNSS improvement (P>0.05). Data analyzed by Epi info (ver 7) and SPSS software (ver 11.5), and by Chi squeare test and paired T test. P lower than 0.05 was considered as significant. Conclusion: This study showed no significant association between empirical treatment of GERD and improvement of allergic symptoms in patients with allergic rhinitis. However, further studies with a larger sample size might be needed

International Journal of Farming and Allied Sciences Performance evaluation of drip, surface and pitcher irrigation systems: A case study of prevalent urban landscape plant species

ABSTRACT: Urban landscape water use is undoubtedly one of the main water consumptions in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, performance of surface, drip and pitcher irrigation systems on Ligustrum vulgare, Berberis thunbergii, Pyracantha and Rosa hybrid, which are locally known as prevalent urban landscape plant species, is evaluated in a semi-arid region. Twelve treatments were arranged in completely randomized design with three replications. Growth parameters such as the height of plants, number of leaves and qualitative plant appearance score (QPAS) were determined biweekly. Volume of water applied was also recorded weekly. Root, stem, leaf and total water content of plants were calculated by measuring their total fresh and dry weights. Leaf area was determined at the end of the experiment. Results indicated that plants were appropriately grown under pitcher irrigation. Performance of pitcher irrigation resulted in growth of more leaves, more increase in height of plants and superior QPASs within the experiment. Even if there were some preferences in plants under drip and surface irrigations, the difference was negligible in almost all items. It was also found out that pitcher irrigation could save up to 60% and 30% of water compared to surface and drip irrigations, and it facilitates water absorption due to its continuous and auto-regulative seepage

Multiple Right and Left Pulmonary Arteries and Subdivisions of Inferior Mesenteric Artery Aneurysms in Behcet’s Disease Case: A Rare Clinical Presentation

Behcet’s disease is a multi-systemic inflammatory disorder with cutaneous acneiform eruptions, orogenital aphthae, uveitis, arthritis and systemic vascular inflammation. One of the rare vascular manifestations is thoraco-abdominal aortic and pulmonary aneurysm that is associated with high risk of morbidity and mortality. We report a 36-year-old man with chronic cough, hemoptysis, significant weight loss, and orogenital ulcers from one year before referral. Initial assessments revealed multiple parahillar nodules in chest X-ray, chronic inflammatory anemia, erythrocyte sedimentation rate more than 100, and positive Human Leukocyte Antigen B5 and B51. Evaluation for infection and malignancies was unremarkable. Open exploratory lung study showed multiple pulsatile nodules in both lungs. AMIGO computed tomogram confirmed multiple right and left pulmonary artery aneurysms and impending to rupture aneurysm at subdivision of inferior mesenteric artery. After beginning of three methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide pulse doses, the clinical aspect of the patient dramatically improved. Although pulmonary aneurysm is a rare manifestation of Behcet’s disease and it is more infrequent in the distal branches, it can be seen in patients presenting with inflammatory disease and respiratory manifestations and with Behcet’s disease diagnosis. Corticosteroid pulse-therapy could be considered as the first line of medical treatment in these patient

Association of ADAM33 gene polymorphisms with allergic asthma

Objective(s): Asthma results from the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. ADAM33 gene on chromosome 20p13 is associated with asthma and airway hyperresponsiveness. Materials and Methods: This is a case-control study, where four SNPs S1 (rs3918396), T1 (rs2280091), T2 (rs2280090), V4 (rs2787094) of ADAM33 gene have been assessed in patients with allergic asthma and normal controls (95 patients and 86 normal). Blood samples of these participants have been genotyped by PCR and the RFLP method. Results: There was no association between asthmatic patients and polymorphisms of alleles, genotypes and haplotypes of the ADAM33 gene. When categorizing the asthmatic patients in severe, moderate and mild groups, associations in the subcategories of asthmatic patients were found. There were associations between polymorphisms of C allele of T1 SNP with severe asthmatic patients and G allele of V4 SNP with moderate asthmatics respectively (P=0.006, P=0.01). There was a significant association between sensitivity to mite and polymorphism of C allele of T1 SNP (P=0.02). Besides, there was a significant association between sensitivity to weeds and genotype GG of V4 SNP (P=0.05). Conclusion: Polymorphisms of ADAM33 gene might be associated with severe asthma and sensitivity to aeroallergens in northeast of Iran, but further studies are needed to determine the polymorphisms in this area and other regions of our country

Optic nerve head neurovascular assessments in patients with schizophrenia: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract Objective The retina is a protrusion of the brain, so researchers have recently proposed retinal changes as a new marker for studying central nervous system diseases. To investigate optic nerve head neurovascular structure assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in schizophrenia compared to healthy subjects. Methods The study was conducted from 2019 to 2021 at the Ibn Sina Psychiatric Hospital in Mashhad, Iran. We enrolled 22 hospitalized known cases of schizophrenia, treated with risperidone as an antipsychotic drug, and 22 healthy subjects. The two groups were matched in age and gender. In the schizophrenic group, the positive and negative syndrome scale test was used to assess the illness severity. All subjects underwent complete ophthalmic evaluations and OCTA imaging. Results We found that the cup/disc area ratio, vertical cup/disc ratio, and horizontal cup/disc ratio are significantly higher in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy subjects (with p‐values of 0.019, 0.015, and 0.022, respectively). No statistically significant difference in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer and vascular parameters of the optic nerve head was observed between schizophrenia and healthy groups. Conclusion We found evidence regarding the difference in the optic nerve head tomographic properties in schizophrenia compared to healthy subjects. However, ONH vascular parameters showed no significant difference. More studies are needed for a definite conclusion