Exacerbation of atopic dermatitis on grass pollen exposure in an environmental challenge chamber

Background: It has frequently been speculated that pruritus and skin lesions develop after topical exposure to aeroallergens in sensitized patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). Objective: We sought to study cutaneous reactions to grass pollen in adult patients with AD with accompanying clear IgE sensitization to grass allergen in an environmental challenge chamber using a monocenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study design. Methods: Subjects were challenged on 2 consecutive days with either 4000 pollen grains/m3 of Dactylis glomerata pollen or clean air. The severity of AD was assessed at each study visit up to 5 days after challenge by (objective) scoring of AD (SCORAD). Additionally, air-exposed and non-air-exposed skin areas were each scored using local SCORAD scoring and investigator global assessments. Levels of a series of serum cytokines and chemokines were determined by using a Luminex-based immunoassay. The primary end point of the study was the change in objective SCORAD scores between prechallenge and postchallenge values. Results: Exposure to grass pollen induced a significant worsening of AD. Apronounced eczema flare-up of air-exposed rather than covered skin areas occurred. In grass pollen-exposed subjects a significantly higher increase in CCL17, CCL22, and IL-4 serum levels was observed. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that controlled exposure to airborne allergens of patients with a so-called extrinsic IgE-mediated form of AD induced a worsening of cutaneous symptoms

CMS physics technical design report: Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

This report presents the capabilities of the CMS experiment to explore the rich heavy-ion physics programme offered by the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The collisions of lead nuclei at energies ,will probe quark and gluon matter at unprecedented values of energy density. The prime goal of this research is to study the fundamental theory of the strong interaction - Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) - in extreme conditions of temperature, density and parton momentum fraction (low-x). This report covers in detail the potential of CMS to carry out a series of representative Pb-Pb measurements. These include "bulk" observables, (charged hadron multiplicity, low pT inclusive hadron identified spectra and elliptic flow) which provide information on the collective properties of the system, as well as perturbative probes such as quarkonia, heavy-quarks, jets and high pT hadrons which yield "tomographic" information of the hottest and densest phases of the reaction.0info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe