Could it be hereditary angioedema?—Perspectives from different medical specialties

Abstract Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare autosomal dominant disease, with patients often suffering with associated symptoms for many years before receiving a correct diagnosis. The symptoms greatly impact a patient's quality of life (QoL) and include excruciating abdominal pain and angioedema of the skin and submucosa. Angioedema of the larynx represents a significant mortality risk in undiagnosed patients, and a large proportion of patients with HAE receive incorrect diagnoses and undergo unnecessary surgery. HAE‐specific treatments can control and prevent acute life‐threatening episodes, in addition to improving QoL, emphasizing the value of early diagnosis for patients. Diagnostic delay may be due to a lack of HAE awareness by healthcare professionals and the similarity of HAE symptoms with those of more common conditions, complicating differential diagnosis. The multifaceted nature of the condition may result in visits to one of many different medical settings, for example: the Emergency Room, pediatrics, general practice, otolaryngology, gastroenterology, and dermatology. Therefore, it is crucial that physicians in multiple healthcare specialties are aware of the disease to ensure that patients with HAE receive a timely diagnosis. Using patient cases from various medical specialties, this review highlights the necessity for cross‐specialty awareness of HAE and outlines the essential information for the various healthcare professionals that may encounter a patient with HAE symptoms, in order to effectively treat and/or diagnose HAE

Immunochromatographic determination of beta-lactoglobulin and its antigenic peptides in hypoallergenic formulas

The use of hydrolysed formulas for feeding babies is efficient for preventing allergic diseases. Several hypoallergenic formulas (HF) based on hydrolysed cows’ milk proteins have been commercialised. However, some children fed such formulas suffer allergic reactions. b-lactoglobulin (bLG) is the main allergen present in cows’ milk. In addition to the whole protein, bLG fragments have also shown allergenic character. Detection of bLG and its peptides can be a useful marker of the presence of milk in food. Enzyme linked immunoassays (ELISAs) are general methods used to analyse allergens in foods. These techniques are sensitive and selective but they have several drawbacks. Immunoassay methods performed in chromatographic systems keep the advantages of classic ELISA while avoiding the disadvantages. A sandwich enzyme linked immunoaffinity chromatography (ELIAC) method was applied to determine bLG and its peptides in several commercial HF based on different milk proteins. Samples were also fractionated by employing membranes with different molecular weight cut-offs, and the antigenicity of the peptide fractions was determined. Applying the ELIAC method, for which one analysis takes 30 min, bLG was determined at the pM level in formulas based only on caseins, and at the nM to mM level in formulas based on hydrolysed whey proteins. Peptides of molecular weight less than 3000 derived from bLG showed positive results in ELIAC assays, indicating antigenic character.A.P. acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology for a predoctoral grant. This work has been supported by CICYT (projects AGL2000-1480 and TIC2003-1906).Peer reviewe

Advanced technologies for satellite navigation and geodesy

This manuscript reviews recent progress in optical frequency references and optical communication systems and discusses their utilizations in global satellite navigation systems and satellite geodesy. Lasers stabilized with optical cavities or spectroscopy of molecular iodine are analyzed, and a hybrid architecture is proposed to combine both forms of stabilization with the aim of achieving a target frequency stability of 1e-15 [s/s] over a wide range of sampling intervals. The synchronization between two optical frequency references in real-time is realized by means of time and frequency transfer on optical carriers. The technologies enabling coherent optical links are reviewed, and the development of an optical communication system for synchronization, ranging and data communication in space is described. An infrastructure exploiting the capabilities of both optical technologies for the realization of a modernized constellation of navigation satellites emitting highly synchronized signals is reviewed. Such infrastructure, named Kepler system, improves satellite navigation in terms intra-system synchronization, orbit determination accuracy, as well as system monitoring and integrity. The potential impact on geodetic key parameters is addressed