Guidelines for the use and interpretation of diagnostic methods in adult food allergy

Food allergy has an increasing prevalence in the general population and in Italy concerns 8 % of people with allergies. The spectrum of its clinical manifestations ranges from mild symptoms up to potentially fatal anaphylactic shock. A number of patients can be diagnosed easily by the use of first- and second-level procedures (history, skin tests and allergen specific IgE). Patients with complex presentation, such as multiple sensitizations and pollen-food syndromes, frequently require a third-level approach including molecular diagnostics, which enables the design of a component-resolved sensitization profile for each patient. The use of such techniques involves specialists' and experts' skills on the issue to appropriately meet the diagnostic and therapeutic needs of patients. Particularly, educational programs for allergists on the use and interpretation of molecular diagnostics are needed

Cholera Toxin Effects on Body Temperature Changes Induced by Morphine

BASILICO, L., M. PARENTI, A. FUMAGALLI, D. PAROLARO, AND G. GIAGNONI. Cholera toxin effects on body temperature changes induced by morphine. PHARMACOL BIOCHEM BEHAV 56(3) .-The present study evaluates the influence of cholera toxin and its B-subunit on thermic responses to morphine in the rats. The holotoxin (1 g/rat) and the B-subunit (5 g) were administered ICV and three days later rats were challenged ICV with morphine and tested for changes of body temperature. Cholera toxin, but not its B-subunit, modified the time course of the hyperthermic response induced by a low dose of morphine (2.5 g), converted the hypothermia due to a higher dose of morphine (18 g) to a consistent hyperthermia and only partially reduced the greater hypothermia induced by 36 g of morphine. Cholera toxin-induced modifications of thermic responses to morphine were paralleled with a decreased G s␣ immunoreactivity and a reduced ability for the toxin to catalyse the "in vitro" ADP-ribosylation of G s␣ in hypothalamic membranes. In contrast, at the same time when morphine-induced effects on body temperature were assessed, no changes in pertussis toxin-mediated ADP-ribosylation of G i␣ /G o␣ , or basal adenylate cyclase activity, or binding of -opioid receptor selective ligand [ 3 H]-DAMGO were observed in hypothalamic areas from rats treated with cholera toxin. These findings suggest that adaptative events secondary to prolonged activation of Gs ␣ play a role in the modifications of thermic responses to morphine induced by CTX

Light dazzles from the black box: whole-cell biosensors are ready to inform on fundamental soil biological processes

Whole-cell biosensors are natural or engineered microorganisms producing signals in response to specific stimuli. This review introduces the use of whole-cell biosensors for the study of the soil system, discuss the recent developments and some current limitations and draws future prospects of the whole-cell biosensors for application to the study of the agro-ecosystems. The review focuses mainly on the lux- and gfp-inserted whole-cell biosensors producing bioluminescence and multicoloured fluorescent proteins, which allow an easy and reproducible detection of the signals from a large number of prokaryotic and eukaryotic soil-borne microorganisms. This review also points out how the whole-cell biosensors indicate the bioavailability of selected analyte, an information that cannot be straight forwardly extrapolated using the chemical methods of soil analysis. However, regardless of the immense progress in biotechnology and genetics that allows to construct whole-cell biosensors for virtually detecting any chemical at ultra low concentrations, the soil still remains the most extreme natural system to be studied with these biotechnological analytical tools. Although a lack of standardization for most of the constructed whole-cell biosensors along with the scarce knowledge of their performance concur to prevent their use in the official methods of soil and environmental analysis, owing to their stability and selectivity we restate that the whole-cell biosensors are ready to provide information on the main processes occurring in soil, and represent unprecedented sensitive tools for improving agriculture and for soil monitoring