Early introduction oral immunotherapy for IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy: A follow-up study confirms this approach as safe and appealing to parents

Introduction: Early introduction oral immunotherapy (E-OIT) in the first year of life can be a safe treatment for infants with cow's milk allergy (CMA). Once the protocol is completed, doubts remain whether children achieve tolerance or remain desensitized. According to current guidelines, this is determined by an avoidance period followed by a re-exposure to the food allergen during an in-hospital oral food challenge (OFC). In real life, this approach can be complicated, time-consuming, and anxiety-provoking for parents. We assessed the long-term safety of E-OIT for CMA in a cohort of children who switched to an unrestricted diet without testing the achievement of tolerance at the end of the OIT protocol. Materials and Methods: We performed a descriptive analysis of the clinical follow-up of a cohort of children diagnosed with IgE-mediated CMA and undergoing E-OIT protocol in their first year of life. In a previous publication, the same cohort of patients had been studied to assess the feasibility of E-OIT for CMA. In the present study, we reported the results of a telephone survey, carried out through a questionnaire to their families enquiring about milk consumption and other ongoing atopic conditions of children. Results: After an average of 4 years from the start of E-OIT, 62/73 patients (85% of the historical cohort) participated in the survey. Among them, all 56 patients who had previously successfully completed the protocol reported an unrestricted cow's milk intake. Ninety–three percent of these children did not experience any further allergic reactions, while the remaining 7% described only mild and transitory reactions until the 6-month period after the end of the protocol. Conclusions: This study confirmed the long-term safety of E-OIT for CMA and challenged the paradigm of the need for allergen food withdrawal to discern between desensitization and tolerance. It could be a starting point for planning future trials on this issue

Atomistic characterization of the active-site solvation dynamics of a model photocatalyst

The interactions between the reactive excited state of molecular photocatalysts and surrounding solvent dictate reaction mechanisms and pathways, but are not readily accessible to conventional optical spectroscopic techniques. Here we report an investigation of the structural and solvation dynamics following excitation of a model photocatalytic molecular system [Ir-2(dimen)(4)](2+), where dimen is para-diisocyanomenthane. The time-dependent structural changes in this model photocatalyst, as well as the changes in the solvation shell structure, have been measured with ultrafast diffuse X-ray scattering and simulated with Born-Oppenheimer Molecular Dynamics. Both methods provide direct access to the solute-solvent pair distribution function, enabling the solvation dynamics around the catalytically active iridium sites to be robustly characterized. Our results provide evidence for the coordination of the iridium atoms by the acetonitrile solvent and demonstrate the viability of using diffuse X-ray scattering at free-electron laser sources for studying the dynamics of photocatalysis.1

COVID-19 lockdown beneficial effects on lung function in a cohort of cystic fibrosis patients

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Folding of Phase Spectrum in Phase-Locked Loops

In charge-pump phase-locked loops used as frequency synthesizers, the phase error between the reference and the divider output is sampled at the reference rate. This operation is an inherent sub-sampling of the VCO phase and it causes conversion of VCO noise and disturbances from highto low-frequency offsets, which may dominate over reference and charge-pump noise. Starting from the discrete-time linear model of PLLs, this paper proposes a model, which takes into account spectrum folding and allows deriving closed-form expressions of output noise as a function of noise contributors

Solvation of a probe molecule by fluid supercooled water in a hydrogel at 200 K

By combining electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements on a nitroxide probe and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), we demonstrate existence of liquid supercooled water in a silica hydrogel with high hydration level down to temperatures of at least 198 K. Besides the major fraction of liquid supercooled water, a minor fraction crystallizes at about 236 K during cooling and melts at 246 K during heating. The liquid domains are of sufficient size to solvate the nearly spherical paramagnetic probe molecule TEMPO with a diameter of about 6 angstrom. Analysis of EPR spectra provides the rotational correlation time of the probe that is further used to compare the viscosity of the supercooled water with the one of bulk water. In the temperature interval investigated, the supercooled water behaves as a fragile liquid and eventually solidifies at 120 K to a glass that incorporates the probe molecules