Search
The impact of breast milk feeding on susceptibility to asthma in childhood is highly controversial, due in part to failure of the majority of studies in the...
Whereas asthma was rare in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the marked increase in its incidence and prevalence since the 1960s points to substantial gene ×...
This genome-wide association study (GWAS) utilises data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels...
This paper examines whether a Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy affects the child's lung function predisposition towards lung disease such as asthma.
This paper examined the link between low serum Vitamin D levels and development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adolescents between 14 and 17...
The relative importance of respiratory viral infections vs inhalant allergy in asthma pathogenesis is the subject of ongoing debate.
This paper is an editorial comment by Professor Patrick Holt on the potential for developing early intervention strategies in children with allergies and asthma
The respiratory tract is an attractive target organ for novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications with nano-sized carriers, but their immune effects and...
Rhinovirus (RV) C can cause asymptomatic infection and respiratory illnesses ranging from the common cold to severe wheezing. The aim was to identify how age and other individual-level factors are associated with susceptibility to RV-C illnesses. Longitudinal data from the COAST (Childhood Origins of Asthma) birth cohort study were analyzed to determine relationships between age and RV-C infections. Neutralizing antibodies specific for RV-A and RV-C (three types each) were determined using a novel PCR-based assay.
In asthma, a significant portion of the interaction between genetics and environment occurs through microbiota. The proposed mechanisms behind this interaction are complex and at times contradictory. This review covers recent developments in our understanding of this interaction: the "microbial hypothesis" and the "farm effect"; the role of endotoxin and genetic variation in pattern recognition systems; the interaction with allergen exposure; the additional involvement of host gut and airway microbiota; the role of viral respiratory infections in interaction with the 17q21 and CDHR3 genetic loci; and the importance of in utero and early-life timing of exposures.