Time to revisit the definition and clinical criteria for anaphylaxis?

Anaphylaxis represents the severe end of the spectrum of allergic reactions. A number of different definitions for anaphylaxis are currently foundin the literature (Table 1).[1-6]Manydefine anaphylaxis as a life-threatening reaction. However, data from large case series and patient registries have demonstrated that despite the fact thatthe vast majority of anaphylaxisreactionsare not treated appropriately with prompt administration of epinephrine/adrenaline, ingeneral this does not result in increased mortality or morbidity(such as hospitalization);[7-9]this observation is also consistent with national epidemiological datafor food anaphylaxis, which indicate that fatal anaphylaxis is a rare (but unpredictable) event.[10-12]Therefore, the majority of anaphylaxis reactions cannot be described as life-threatening in themselves,althoughdue to our inability to predict severity of reaction, [12]we emphasise that all anaphylaxis must be appropriately treated with intramuscular epinephrine/adrenaline. Both the descriptions used by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA)[4] and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)[5] refer to anaphylaxis as a serious allergic reaction, and acknowledge the spectrum of severity in terms of identifying the potential for anaphylaxis to be life-threatening

Partitioning the Heritability of Tourette Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Reveals Differences in Genetic Architecture

The direct estimation of heritability from genome-wide common variant data as implemented in the program Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA) has provided a means to quantify heritability attributable to all interrogated variants. We have quantified the variance in liability to disease explained

The impact of internet use on interfirm relationships in Australian service industries

Sally Rao, Chad Perr