HPV vaccine education: enhancing knowledge and attitudes of community counselors and educators

Educational efforts targeting parents of preadolescents may help them make informed decisions about having their children vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV). We conducted a pilot study examining knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of community-based health educators and counselors who routinely disseminate sexual health and prevention information through counseling and supporting these parents. We evaluated the impact of a single, brief workshop by administering questionnaires before and after the session. The workshop consisted of an educational intervention that was presented orally by an expert in gynecological oncology and was followed by an open discussion period. Following the information and discussion session, improvements were seen in knowledge accuracy, confidence in being able to discuss HPV vaccine issues with parents, greater willingness to recommend the vaccine, and a better understanding of potential barriers to vaccine uptake. These results suggest that health educators and counselors may be better prepared to encourage their clients to make well-informed decisions regarding HPV vaccination.

Oral application of bacterial lysate in infancy diminishes the prevalence of atopic dermatitis in children at risk for atopy

Numerous interventions such as avoidance of food allergens, prolonged breast feeding and supplementation of pro-and/or prebiotics have been tried as primary prevention of atopic dermatitis. Recent data suggest that prevention of infantile eczema is possible in a subgroup of children by feeding bacterial lysates early in life. Bacterial lysates of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis were found to impair allergic immune responses in rats. An interventional trial in 606 infants at risk for atopy showed a reduction of atopic dermatitis at the end of the treatment phase (month 2 until month 7) of 50% in a subgroup of children with single heredity for atopy. This was even more pronounced in the group of children with paternal heredity for atopy. This effect was still seen at age 1 year. There was no effect on food sensitisation. In conclusion, an immune modulation in terms of prevention of atopic dermatitis in infancy if single atopic family history is present seems to be possible by feeding bacterial lysates early in life.

Global classification and coding of hypersensitivity diseases - An EAACI - WAO survey, strategic paper and review

Hypersensitivity diseases are not adequately coded in the International Coding of Diseases (ICD)-10 resulting in misclassification, leading to low visibility of these conditions and general accuracy of official statistics. To call attention to the inadequacy of the ICD-10 in relation to allergic and hypersensitivity diseases and to contribute to improvements to be made in the forthcoming revision of ICD, a web-based global survey of healthcare professionals' attitudes toward allergic disorders classification was proposed to the members of European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) (individuals) and World Allergy Organization (WAO) (representative responding on behalf of the national society), launched via internet and circulated for 6 week. As a result, we had 612 members of 144 countries from all six World Health Organization (WHO) global regions who answered the survey. ICD-10 is the most used classification worldwide, but it was not considered appropriate in clinical practice by the majority of participants. The majority indicated the EAACI-WAO classification as being easier and more accurate in the daily practice. They saw the need for a diagnostic system useful for nonallergists and endorsed the possibility of a global, cross-culturally applicable classification system of allergic disorders. This first and most broadly international survey ever conducted of health professionals' attitudes toward allergic disorders classification supports the need to update the current classifications of allergic diseases and can be useful to the WHO in improving the clinical utility of the classification and its global acceptability for the revised ICD-11.

Early onset preeclampsia in subsequent pregnancies correlates with early onset preeclampsia in first pregnancy

OBJECTIVE

Preeclampsia is a major complication of pregnancy and its occurrence in a first pregnancy is a major risk factor for recurrence in subsequent pregnancies. Whether the time of onset or the severity of preeclampsia in a first pregnancy is associated with the incidence of recurrent preeclampsia is not clear. We performed a retrospective study to analyse the incidence of recurrent preeclampsia and associations of the time of onset and the severity of preeclampsia between first preeclampsia and recurrent preeclampsia.

STUDY DESIGN

Ninety-two women with previous preeclampsia who had a second pregnancy in a 4 year period were included. Data on the first and second pregnancies were obtained and included maternal age, maternal height and weight, gestation week at onset of preeclampsia and at delivery, blood pressure, proteinuria, interval between pregnancies and birth weights.

RESULTS

Fifty-five women with previous preeclampsia developed recurrent preeclampsia (59.8%). The difference in the incidence of recurrent early and late onset preeclampsia was not significant different (65.3% versus 53.4%, p>0.05). The difference in the incidence of mild or severe disease in those who experienced recurrent preeclampsia was also not significant (59.6% versus 60%, p>0.05). The severity of preeclampsia in second pregnancy was not associated with the severity of preeclampsia in first pregnancy. However 93.7% women with previous early onset preeclampsia developed early onset preeclampsia in second pregnancy and 56.5% women with previous late onset preeclampsia developed early onset preeclampsia in second pregnancy. In addition, 76.2% women with previous mild preeclampsia developed severe preeclampsia in second pregnancy. The baby weight in recurrent preeclampsia was significantly decreased compared to that in first pregnancy with preeclampsia.

CONCLUSION

Our data demonstrate that there was no association between the incidence of recurrent preeclampsia and the time of onset or severity of preeclampsia in first pregnancy. But our data here may suggest that women with early onset preeclampsia in first pregnancy are more likely to experience early onset preeclampsia in second pregnancy. The severity of recurrent preeclampsia is increased regardless the severity in first pregnancy.

Think twice: misleading food-induced respiratory symptoms in children with food allergy

Reported food-related symptoms of patients may sometimes be misleading. A correct delineation of food-induced symptoms is often difficult and various differential diagnoses have to be considered. We report on two cases of food-induced, predominantly respiratory symptoms (in one case life-threatening) in children with food allergy. First, a two-year-old boy with no history of allergies and suspected foreign body aspiration which was finally diagnosed as an anaphylactic reaction to fish, and secondly a six-year-old girl with multiple food allergies and allergic asthma who during an electively performed oral food challenge developed severe respiratory distress, drop in blood pressure, and asphyxia not due to an anaphylactic reaction but due to choking on an unnoticed sweet. These two cases represent challenging, life-threatening symptom constellations involving food-induced reactions in food allergic children, reminding us to question first impressions.

Magnetoencephalography signals are influenced by skull defects

OBJECTIVE

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals had previously been hypothesized to have negligible sensitivity to skull defects. The objective is to experimentally investigate the influence of conducting skull defects on MEG and EEG signals.

METHODS

A miniaturized electric dipole was implanted in vivo into rabbit brains. Simultaneous recording using 64-channel EEG and 16-channel MEG was conducted, first above the intact skull and then above a skull defect. Skull defects were filled with agar gels, which had been formulated to have tissue-like homogeneous conductivities. The dipole was moved beneath the skull defects, and measurements were taken at regularly spaced points.

RESULTS

The EEG signal amplitude increased 2-10 times, whereas the MEG signal amplitude reduced by as much as 20%. The EEG signal amplitude deviated more when the source was under the edge of the defect, whereas the MEG signal amplitude deviated more when the source was central under the defect. The change in MEG field-map topography (relative difference measure, RDM(∗)=0.15) was geometrically related to the skull defect edge.

CONCLUSIONS

MEG and EEG signals can be substantially affected by skull defects.

SIGNIFICANCE

MEG source modeling requires realistic volume conductor head models that incorporate skull defects.

Genome-wide association study of body mass index in 23 000 individuals with and without asthma

BACKGROUND

Both asthma and obesity are complex disorders that are influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Shared genetic factors between asthma and obesity have been proposed to partly explain epidemiological findings of co-morbidity between these conditions.

OBJECTIVE

To identify genetic variants that are associated with body mass index (BMI) in asthmatic children and adults, and to evaluate if there are differences between the genetics of BMI in asthmatics and healthy individuals.

METHODS

In total, 19 studies contributed with genome-wide analysis study (GWAS) data from more than 23 000 individuals with predominantly European descent, of whom 8165 are asthmatics.

RESULTS

We report associations between several DENND1B variants (P = 2.2 × 10(-7) for rs4915551) on chromosome 1q31 and BMI from a meta-analysis of GWAS data using 2691 asthmatic children (screening data). The top DENND1B single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) were next evaluated in seven independent replication data sets comprising 2014 asthmatics, and rs4915551 was nominally replicated (P < 0.05) in two of the seven studies and of borderline significance in one (P = 0.059). However, strong evidence of effect heterogeneity was observed and overall, the association between rs4915551 and BMI was not significant in the total replication data set, P = 0.71. Using a random effects model, BMI was overall estimated to increase by 0.30 kg/m(2) (P = 0.01 for combined screening and replication data sets, N = 4705) per additional G allele of this DENND1BSNP. FTO was confirmed as an important gene for adult and childhood BMI regardless of asthma status.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

DENND1B was recently identified as an asthma susceptibility gene in a GWAS on children, and here, we find evidence that DENND1B variants may also be associated with BMI in asthmatic children. However, the association was overall not replicated in the independent data sets and the heterogeneous effect of DENND1B points to complex associations with the studied diseases that deserve further study.

Testing children for allergies: why, how, who and when: an updated statement of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Section on Pediatrics and the EAACI-Clemens von Pirquet Foundation

Allergic diseases are common in childhood and can cause a significant morbidity and impaired quality-of-life of the children and their families. Adequate allergy testing is the prerequisite for optimal care, including allergen avoidance, pharmacotherapy and immunotherapy. Children with persisting or recurrent or severe symptoms suggestive for allergy should undergo an appropriate diagnostic work-up, irrespective of their age. Adequate allergy testing may also allow defining allergic trigger in common symptoms. We provide here evidence-based guidance on when and how to test for allergy in children based on common presenting symptoms suggestive of allergic diseases.