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Grass pollen allergens
Published in Richard F. Lockey, Dennis K. Ledford, Allergens and Allergen Immunotherapy, 2020
Variations in a patient's allergic symptoms during the year depend, in part, on the pattern of seasonal pollen exposure. The expected seasonal levels of grass pollen for a given geographic locality in the United States can be obtained from various sources including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's (AAAAI) Aerobiology Committee's Annual Pollen and Spore Reports [6]. Grass pollen are most abundant during the spring and summer months and account for a significant portion of the total pollen count during this time. Because whole pollen grains are too large to be respirable, it has been difficult to explain how grass pollen provoke asthmatic symptoms. Several possibilities, including the presence of submicronic particles possessing allergenic activity, are suggested as the trigger of asthma attacks. The existence of such particles is confirmed by specialized airborne sampling and immunochemical detection methods [7,8] and correlates to weather (e.g., thunderstorms) and epidemics of asthma [9]. A primary source of such particles is starch granules (0.6–2.5 μm in diameter) that are released from grass pollen upon contact with moisture. Other sources, including pollen fragments [10,11], orbicules [12], and allergen-adsorbed aerosols, remain to be investigated.
Asthma and Allergens
Published in Jonathan A. Bernstein, Mark L. Levy, Clinical Asthma, 2014
James L. Friedlander, Sachin Baxi, Wanda Phipatanakul
Pollen and fungal spore counts are collected the previous day and then counted; therefore, the reports that we see on television or on websites are a day late. The National Allergy Bureau (NAB) is part of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and it supplies the public with estimates of pollen and spore counts (www.aaaai.org/nab). The most common type of sampling devices is volumetric samplers that draw pollens and mold spores from the air. Studies have shown that there is a variation in pollen counts even between locations in the same city.36,37 Therefore, one pollen count may not represent the entire city, but the information does inform people when their pollen season begins and pollen counts roughly correlate with the severity of symptoms.
Extrapulmonary – Treatable traits
Published in Vibeke Backer, Peter G. Gibson, Ian D. Pavord, The Asthmas, 2023
Vibeke Backer, Peter G. Gibson, Ian D. Pavord
Rhinitis and asthma are two diseases with many similar features; similar inflammatory mechanisms, epidemiological patterns and symptoms affect the nose and the airways. Patients suffering from both asthma and rhinitis frequently have exacerbations, need more systemic corticosteroids and make more visits to emergency rooms. Therefore, pulmonologists treating asthmatics should be aware of nasal symptoms suggestive of AR, while allergologists and ear-nose-throat (ENT) surgeons treating patients with AR should be aware of potential comorbidity with asthma. Patients with seasonal AR often have asymptomatic signs of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) during the pollen season, and they may develop respiratory symptoms (asthma) during that period, especially when the pollen count is high. They may also have AHR all year round, and they have an increased risk of developing perennial asthma. In general, asthma and rhinitis are substantially undertreated and having both diseases does not change this pattern. Patients with symptomatic rhinitis and a high nasal score measured with the Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) indicate a poor quality of life, whereas a low score indicates a relatively low burden. Contradictive, patients with symptomatic asthma with a low asthma score measured with the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) are suffering from asthma with a high disease burden and a low quality of life; patients with both asthma and rhinitis often have substantial impairment on both the RQLQ and AQLQ, with very high and very low scores, respectively.
Family, neighborhood and psychosocial environmental factors and their associations with asthma in Australia: a systematic review and Meta-analysis
Published in Journal of Asthma, 2022
K. M. Shahunja,, Peter D. Sly,, Tahmina Begum, Tuhin Biswas, Abdullah Mamun
Besides TRAP, pollen was also identified as a potential air pollutant associated with asthma-symptoms in Australian studies. Most of the studies showed a significant association between pollen count in the air and the exacerbation of asthma-symptoms. Many types of flowering plants depend on the wind to distribute their pollen. These small, light, dry pollen grains can be easily breathed in by humans. When inhaled, proteins and glycoproteins associated with these pollens can interact with the immune systems of sensitive individuals to produce an allergic response in the form of hay fever or allergic asthma (81). In Australia, the pollen count varies with seasons, geographic locations, and wind direction (82). Thus, variabilities of the association of pollen with asthma were found in our reviewed studies.
A quality-of-life mapping function developed from a grass pollen sublingual immunotherapy trial to a tree pollen sublingual immunotherapy trial
Published in Journal of Medical Economics, 2020
Katherine Dick, Andrew Briggs, Robert Ohsfeldt, Tobias Sydendal Grand, Sarah Buchs
The GT-08 trial (EudraCT No. 2004-000083-27) was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 5-year Phase III trial designed to assess the efficacy and safety of the SQ grass sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT)-tablet to treat rhinoconjunctivitis in subjects with seasonal grass pollen allergy14,23. The grass pollen season was defined between the first and last day of 3 consecutive days with pollen count larger than or equal to 10 grains/m3. At the start of the trial, 634 subjects were enrolled and randomized to active treatment or placebo groups. Eligible subjects included healthy adults with a clinical history of grass pollen-induced allergic rhinoconjunctivitis suffering from moderate-to-severe symptoms despite pharmacotherapy use. Throughout the trial, all subjects had access to symptom-relieving medications including desloratadine, olopatadine, budesonide, prednisone, and asthma inhalers to control residual symptoms.
Unraveling racial disparities in asthma emergency department visits using electronic healthcare records and machine learning
Published in Journal of Asthma, 2022
Adeboye A. Adejare, Yadu Gautam, Juliana Madzia, Tesfaye B. Mersha
Environmental exposure data: The air pollution data included particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone. Daily air quality data for the Cincinnati metropolitan area were downloaded from the US EPA (https://www.epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data). Pollen (23 pollen types) and mold data (26 mold types) were obtained from Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency based in Cincinnati using a Rotorod sampler. The data recorded as grains per cubic meter of air for pollen levels and spores per cubic meter of air for mold levels. The unit of measurement for pollen levels was pollen count/m3 and for mold levels it was mold count/m3.