Alteration of superconductivity of suspended carbon nanotubes by deposition of organic molecules

We have altered the superconductivity of a suspended rope of single walled carbon nanotubes, by coating it with organic polymers. Upon coating, the normal state resistance of the rope changes by less than 20 percent. But superconductivity, which on the bare rope shows up as a substantial resistance decrease below 300 mK, is gradualy suppressed. We correlate this to the suppression of radial breathing modes, measured with Raman Spectroscopy on suspended Single and Double-walled carbon nanotubes. This points to the breathing phonon modes as being responsible for superconductivity in carbon nanotubes

Investigation of photoplethysmographic signals and blood oxygen saturation values on healthy volunteers during cuff-induced hypoperfusion using a multimode PPG/SpO2 sensor

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a technique widely used to monitor volumetric blood changes induced by cardiac pulsations. Pulse oximetry uses the technique of PPG to estimate arterial oxygen saturation values (SpO2). In poorly perfused tissues, SpO2 readings may be compromised due to the poor quality of the PPG signals. A multimode finger PPG probe that operates simultaneously in reflectance, transmittance and a combined mode called “transreflectance”’ was developed, in an effort to improve the quality of the PPG signals in states of hypoperfusion. Experiments on 20 volunteers were conducted to evaluate the performance of the multimode PPG sensor and compare the results with a commercial transmittance pulse oximeter. A brachial blood pressure cuff was used to induce artificial hypoperfusion. Results showed that the amplitude of the transreflectance AC PPG signals were significantly different (p\0.05) than the AC PPG signals obtained from the other two conventional PPG sensors (reflectance and transmittance). At induced brachial pressures between 90 and 135 mmHg, the reflectance finger pulse oximeter failed 25 times (failure rate 42.2 %) to estimate SpO2 values, whereas the transmittance pulse oximeter failed 8 times (failure rate 15.5 %). The transreflectance pulse oximeter failed only 3 times (failure rate 6.8 %) and the commercial pulse oximeter failed 17 times (failure rate 29.4 %)

Real-life impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the management of pediatric and adult asthma: A survey by the EAACI Asthma Section

Background: The restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic impact heavily the management of chronic diseases like asthma. This study aimed to evaluate the management of adults and children with asthma during COVID-19-related lockdown. Methods: A survey was launched by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) via e-mail, website, and social media to EAACI members and members of peer societies. Results: The survey was completed by 339 healthcare professionals from 52 countries. 79% of follow-up consultations were replaced by phone calls, whereas 49% of newly referred patients attended the clinic. 62%, 76%, 66%, 76%, and 87% of responders did not conduct spirometry, impulse oscillometry, bronchodilator test, FeNO, or methacholine provocation, respectively, for asthma diagnosis in adults. The numbers were similar for children. 73% of responders based the initial asthma diagnosis and the prescription of inhaled therapy on clinical parameters only. Lung function tests were used in 29% of cases to monitor asthma worsening, and only 56% of participants were recommended to their patients ambulatory peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements. Using a 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much) scale, the responders considered that the quality of healthcare provided and the patients’ asthma status had deteriorated during the lockdown with 3.2 points and 2.8 points, respectively. Conclusion: Collectively, these results suggest that all necessary resources should be allocated to ensure the performance of lung function tests for initial diagnosis, whereas digital remote monitoring should be reinforced for the follow-up of children and adults with asthma

EAACI statement on the diagnosis, management and prevention of severe allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines

The first approved COVID-19 vaccines include Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162B2, Moderna mRNA-1273 and AstraZeneca recombinant adenoviral ChAdOx1-S. Soon after approval, severe allergic reactions to the mRNA-based vaccines that resolved after treatment were reported. Regulatory agencies from the European Union, Unites States and the United Kingdom agree that vaccinations are contraindicated only when there is an allergy to one of the vaccine components or if there was a severe allergic reaction to the first dose. This position paper of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) agrees with these recommendations and clarifies that there is no contraindication to administer these vaccines to allergic patients who do not have a history of an allergic reaction to any of the vaccine components. Importantly, as is the case for any medication, anaphylaxis may occur after vaccination in the absence of a history of allergic disease. Therefore, we provide a simplified algorithm of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of severe allergic reactions and a list of recommended medications and equipment for vaccine centres. We also describe potentially allergenic/immunogenic components of the approved vaccines and propose a workup to identify the responsible allergen. Close collaboration between academia, regulatory agencies and vaccine producers will facilitate approaches for patients at risks, such as incremental dosing of the second injection or desensitization. Finally, we identify unmet research needs and propose a concerted international roadmap towards precision diagnosis and management to minimize the risk of allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines and to facilitate their broader and safer use

Microbial ligand costimulation drives neutrophilic steroid-refractory asthma

Funding: The authors thank the Wellcome Trust (102705) and the Universities of Aberdeen and Cape Town for funding. This research was also supported, in part, by National Institutes of Health GM53522 and GM083016 to DLW. KF and BNL are funded by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, BNL is the recipient of an European Research Commission consolidator grant and participates in the European Union FP7 programs EUBIOPRED and MedALL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Considerations on biologicals for patients with allergic disease in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: An EAACI statement

The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2-induced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic re-shaped doctor-patient interaction and challenged capacities of healthcare systems. It created many issues around the optimal and safest way to treat complex patients with severe allergic disease. A significant number of the patients are on treatment with biologicals, and clinicians face the challenge to provide optimal care during the pandemic. Uncertainty of the potential risks for these patients is related to the fact that the exact sequence of immunological events during SARS-CoV-2 is not known. Severe COVID-19 patients may experience a “cytokine storm” and associated organ damage characterized by an exaggerated release of pro-inflammatory type 1 and type 3 cytokines. These inflammatory responses are potentially counteracted by anti-inflammatory cytokines and type 2 responses. This expert-based EAACI statement aims to provide guidance on the application of biologicals targeting type 2 inflammation in patients with allergic disease. Currently, there is very little evidence for an enhanced risk of patients with allergic diseases to develop severe COVID-19. Studies focusing on severe allergic phenotypes are lacking. At present, noninfected patients on biologicals for the treatment of asthma, atopic dermatitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, or chronic spontaneous urticaria should continue their biologicals targeting type 2 inflammation via self-application. In case of an active SARS-CoV-2 infection, biological treatment needs to be stopped until clinical recovery and SARS-CoV-2 negativity is established and treatment with biologicals should be re-initiated. Maintenance of add-on therapy and a constant assessment of disease control, apart from acute management, are demanded

Allergen manufacturing and quality aspects for allergen immunotherapy in Europe and the United States:An analysis from the EAACI AIT Guidelines Project

Adequate quality is essential for any medicinal product to be eligible for marketing. Quality includes verification of the identity, content and purity of a medicinal product in combination with a specified production process and its control. Allergen products derived from natural sources require particular considerations to ensure adequate quality. Here, we describe key aspects of the documentation on manufacturing and quality aspects for allergen immunotherapy products in the European Union and the United States. In some key parts, requirements in these areas are harmonized while other fields are regulated separately between both regions. Essential differences are found in the use of Reference Preparations, or the requirement to apply standardized assays for potency determination. Since the types of products available are different in specific regions, regulatory guidance for such products may also be available in one specific region only, such as for allergoids in the European Union. Region-specific issues and priorities are a result of this. As allergen products derived from natural sources are inherently variable in their qualitative and quantitative composition, these products present special challenges to balance the variability and ensuring batch-to-batch consistency. Advancements in scientific knowledge on specific allergens and their role in allergic disease will consequentially find representation in future regulatory guidelines

Modeling a teacher in a tutorial-like system using Learning Automata

The goal of this paper is to present a novel approach to model the behavior of a Teacher in a Tutorial- like system. In this model, the Teacher is capable of presenting teaching material from a Socratic-type Domain model via multiple-choice questions. Since this knowledge is stored in the Domain model in chapters with different levels of complexity, the Teacher is able to present learning material of varying degrees of difficulty to the Students. In our model, we propose that the Teacher will be able to assist the Students to learn the more difficult material. In order to achieve this, he provides them with hints that are relative to the difficulty of the learning material presented. This enables the Students to cope with the process of handling more complex knowledge, and to be able to learn it appropriately. To our knowledge, the findings of this study are novel to the field of intelligent adaptation using Learning Automata (LA). The novelty lies in the fact that the learning system has a strategy by which it can deal with increasingly more complex/difficult Environments (or domains from which the learning as to be achieved). In our approach, the convergence of the Student models (represented by LA) is driven not only by the response of the Environment (Teacher), but also by the hints that are provided by the latter. Our proposed Teacher model has been tested against different benchmark Environments, and the results of these simulations have demonstrated the salient aspects of our model. The main conclusion is that Normal and Below-Normal learners benefited significantly from the hints provided by the Teacher, while the benefits to (brilliant) Fast learners were marginal. This seems to be in-line with our subjective understanding of the behavior of real-life Students

Efficacy and safety of treatment with omalizumab for chronic spontaneous urticaria: A systematic review for the EAACI Biologicals Guidelines

This systematic review evaluates the efficacy and safety of omalizumab for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for RCTs. Critical and important CSU-related outcomes were considered. The risk of bias and the certainty of the evidence were assessed using GRADE. Ten RCTs including 1620 subjects aged 12 to 75 years old treated with omalizumab for 16 to 40 weeks were evaluated. Omalizumab 150 mg does not result in clinically meaningful improvement (high certainty) of the urticaria activity score (UAS)7 (mean difference (MD) −5; 95%CI −7.75 to −2.25), and the itch severity score (ISS)7 (MD −2.15; 95% CI −3.2 to −1.1) does not increase (moderate certainty) quality of life (QoL) (Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI); MD −2.01; 95%CI −3.22 to −0.81) and decreases (moderate certainty) rescue medication use (MD −1.68; 95%CI −2.95 to −0.4). Omalizumab 300 mg results in clinically meaningful improvements (moderate certainty) of the UAS7 (MD −11.05; 95%CI −12.87 to −9.24), the ISS7 (MD −4.45; 95%CI −5.39 to −3.51), and QoL (high certainty) (DLQI; MD −4.03; 95% CI −5.56 to −2.5) and decreases (moderate certainty) rescue medication use (MD −2.04; 95%CI −3.19 to −0.88) and drug-related serious AEs (RR 0.77; 95%CI 0.20 to 2.91)