Articles

Hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone in COVID-19: who won and who lost?

On June 30, 2020, the WHO reported over 10 millions of COVID-19 cases worldwide with over half a million deaths. In severe cases the disease progresses into an Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), which...

Authors: Claudio Ortolani and Elide A. Pastorello

Tranexamic acid adverse reactions: a brief summary for internists and emergency doctors

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a synthetic lysine analogue that is well known as antifibrinolytic agent. It can reduce blood loss in clinical use, especially in conditions where fibrinolysis or hyperfibrinolysis are...

Authors: Giuseppe Murdaca, Monica Greco, Chiara Vassallo and Sebastiano Gangemi

Allergic rhinitis and asthma symptoms in a real-life study of MP-AzeFlu to treat multimorbid allergic rhinitis and asthma

Asthma affects up to nearly 40% of patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). Poor control of AR symptoms is associated with poor asthma control. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of AR treatment wi...

Authors: David Price, Ludger Klimek, Gabriella Gálffy, Melanie Emmeluth, Arkady Koltun, Ferdinand Kopietz, Duc Tung Nguyen, Ranny van Weissenbruch, Wolfgang Pohl, Hans-Christian Kuhl, Glenis Scadding and Joaquim Mullol

A gendered magnifying glass on COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemia is affecting Countries worldwide with a gendered death excess as being a male represents, especially in the 50–69 years age group, an unfavourable factor. Females are constitutionally prone t...

Authors: Lorenzo Salvati, Benedetta Biagioni, Emanuele Vivarelli and Paola Parronchi

SIRM-SIAAIC consensus, an Italian document on management of patients at risk of hypersensitivity reactions to contrast media

Hypersensitivity reactions (HRs) to contrast media (CM) can be distinguished in immune-mediated (including allergic reactions) and non-immune-mediated reactions, even if clinical manifestations could be simila...

Authors: Maria Teresa Costantino, Laura Romanini, Francesco Gaeta, Fulvio Stacul, Rocco Luigi Valluzzi, Matteo Passamonti, Patrizia Bonadonna, Giovanni Cerri, Stefano Pucci, Paolo Ricci, Eleonora Savi, Michele Galluzzo, Marina Mauro, Emanuele Grassedonio, Mona Rita Yacoub, Alfonso Reginelli…

Rich at risk: socio-economic drivers of COVID-19 pandemic spread

COVID-19, the novel coronavirus affecting the most part of worldwide countries since early 2020, is fast increasing its prevalence around the world, representing a significant emergency for the population and ...

Authors: Sebastiano Gangemi, Lucia Billeci and Alessandro Tonacci

Sensitization to storage proteins in peanut and hazelnut is associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers in asthma

Sensitization to peanuts and hazelnuts is common among young asthmatics and can be primary or a result of cross-reactivity. Sensitization as a result of cross-reactivity to birch pollen is typically associated...

Authors: Jennifer Johnson, Andrei Malinovschi, Jonas Lidholm, Carl Johan Petersson, Lennart Nordvall, Christer Janson, Kjell Alving and Magnus P. Borres

New perspectives in allergen specific immunotherapy driven by big trials with house dust mite sublingual SQ^® tablets

House-dust mites (HDM) allergy is the prevailing condition in subjects allergic to inhalants. Clinical studies with HDM extracts—either subcutaneous (SCIT) or sublingual (SLIT) have long been characterized by ...

Authors: Gianfranco Vitiello, Lucia Maltagliati and Oliviero Rossi

Adverse reaction to Ficus Carica: reported case of a possible cross-reactivity with Der p1

Ficus carica is an edible fruit, belonging to the Moraceae family, rarely described as cause of food allergy. We describe the first case of fig allergy that occurred as a cross-reactivity between fig and Derp 1.

Authors: S. Urbani, A. Aruanno and E. Nucera

Urticaria: recommendations from the Italian Society of Allergology, Asthma and Clinical Immunology and the Italian Society of Allergological, Occupational and Environmental Dermatology

Urticaria is a disorder affecting skin and mucosal tissues characterized by the occurrence of wheals, angioedema or both, the latter defining the urticaria-angioedema syndrome. It is estimated that 12–22% of t...

Authors: Eustachio Nettis, Caterina Foti, Marina Ambrifi, Ilaria Baiardini, Leonardo Bianchi, Alessandro Borghi, Marco Caminati, Giorgio Walter Canonica, Marco Casciaro, Laura Colli, Giselda Colombo, Monica Corazza, Antonio Cristaudo, Giulia De Feo, Ornella De Pita’, Mario Di Gioacchino…

Association of 25-hydroxy vitamin D with asthma and its severity in children: a case–control study

Universally, asthma has high prevalence rates and this has led numerous studies done into its causes. Despite extensive study on asthma the association between 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D (25(OH) vit. D) and asthma r...

Authors: Alireza Sharif, Hamed Haddad Kashani and Mohammad Reza Sharif

Evidence for eosinophil and IL-17 mediated inflammation in allergic rhinitis

The aim was to determine the level of inflammatory cytokines, eosinophil cationic protein and IgE in allergic rhinitis (AR) patients.

Authors: Kawa Amin, Sulaf Mosa Issa, Kosar Mohammad Ali, Muaid Ismiel Aziz, Huner Mohamed Hama Amieen, Jonas Bystrom and Christer Janson

The gut microbiota, environmental factors, and links to the development of food allergy

Food allergy appears to have its roots in an insufficient exposure to a diverse range of environmental microbiota during early life. Microbial exposure ensures the colonization of the gastrointestinal tract wi...

Authors: Khui Hung Lee, Yong Song, Weidong Wu, Kan Yu and Guicheng Zhang

Near-fatal anaphylaxis with Kounis syndrome caused by Argas reflexus bite: a case report

The pigeon tick Argas reflexus is a temporary parasite of pigeons. It bites during night hours and lies briefly on its prey, as long as it takes the blood meal. When pigeons are not accessible, ticks look for oth...

Authors: Elisa Boni and Cristoforo Incorvaia

Fingolimod-associated macular edema controlled with nepafenac non-steroidal anti-inflammatory opthalmologic applications

Fingolimod, an immunomodulatory agent, is used for the treatment of relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Fingolimod-associated macular edema (FAME) is a known complication with an incidence of 0.4%. ...

Authors: Rachel Husmann, John B. Davies, Malik Ghannam, Brent Berry and Praful Kelkar

Cetirizine use in childhood: an update of a friendly 30-year drug

Cetirizine is a second-generation antihistamine, derived from the metabolism of hydroxyzine, highly specific for the H1 receptors, and with marked antiallergic properties. Although its history began more than ...

Authors: Giuseppe Fabio Parisi, Salvatore Leonardi, Giorgio Ciprandi, Angelo Corsico, Amelia Licari, Michele Miraglia del Giudice, Diego Peroni, Carmelo Salpietro and Gian Luigi Marseglia

Allergic reactions to genus Morus plants: a review

Mulberry is a plant belonging to the family Moraceae, and genus Morus. Allergic sensitization to mulberries has been reported as both food allergy or respiratory allergy, and cross-reactivity between mulberries a...

Authors: F. Papia, C. Incorvaia, L. Genovese, S. Gangemi and P. L. Minciullo

IgE level in newborn umbilical cord and its relationship with some maternal factors

Allergic diseases are among major pediatric issues as they are highly prevalent and chronic. Therefore, identification of factors contributing to allergic disease could play a significant role in prevention of...

Authors: Iraj Mohammadzadeh, Mohsen Haghshenas, Samaneh Asefi and Reza Alizadeh-Navaei

Unexpected inflammation in the sympathetic ganglia in thromboangiitis obliterans: more likely sterile or infectious induced inflammation?

The aim of this study was to determine if the inflammation of the sympathetic ganglia (SG) in thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) is induced by an infectious pathogen inside or if it is a reactive sterile inflamm...

Authors: Behzad Mousazadeh, Hiva Sharebiani, Hossein Taheri, Narges Valizedeh and Bahare Fazeli

Immunosuppressive therapy with rituximab in common variable immunodeficiency

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most frequent symptomatic primary antibody deficiency in adulthood and is characterized by the marked reduction of IgG and IgA serum levels. Thanks to the success...

Authors: Antonio Pecoraro, Ludovica Crescenzi, Maria Rosaria Galdiero, Giancarlo Marone, Felice Rivellese, Francesca Wanda Rossi, Amato de Paulis, Arturo Genovese and Giuseppe Spadaro

Sensitization profile in patients with respiratory allergic diseases: differences between conventional and molecular diagnosis (a cross-sectional study)

Component-resolved diagnosis (CRD) allows to identify single molecular allergen components, and constitutes a routine practice in many allergy units. However, skin prick test (SPT) remains the technique of cho...

Authors: Guillermo Til-Pérez, Claudio Carnevale, Pedro Luis Sarría-Echegaray, Diego Arancibia-Tagle, Sendy Chugo-Gordillo and Manuel David Tomás-Barberán

Non-digestible oligosaccharides scFOS/lcFOS facilitate safe subcutaneous immunotherapy for peanut allergy

Improving the safety of subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) for food allergy is necessary to reduce side effects and achieve long-term tolerance. We determined the effect of dietary supplementation with 1% non-d...

Authors: Laura Wagenaar, Manon van Roest, Laura J. W. Kruijssen, Peter J. Simons, Louis Boon, Marlotte M. Vonk, Betty C. A. M. van Esch, Leon M. J. Knippels, Johan Garssen, Raymond H. H. Pieters and Joost J. Smit

IgE sensitization in a cohort of adolescents in southern Sweden and its relation to allergic symptoms

There is a strong and consistent association between IgE sensitization and allergy, wheeze, eczema and food hypersensitivity. These conditions are also found in non-sensitized humans, and sensitization is foun...

Authors: Therese Sterner, Ada Uldahl, Åke Svensson, Magnus P. Borres, Sigrid Sjölander, Alf Tunsäter, Jonas Björk, Cecilia Svedman, Magnus Bruze, Laura von Kobyletzki and Hampus Kiotseridis

Rapid clinical improvement of atopic dermatitis in an Omalizumab treated patient

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder, whose symptoms and severity grossly depend on individual trigger factors. The majority of patients are satisfactorily treated with emollients together...

Authors: Susanna Bormioli, Andrea Matucci, Laura Dies, Francesca Nencini, Francesca Grosso, Enrico Maggi and Alessandra Vultaggio

Cytology and molecular study for GSTP1 effect on asthma Iraqi patients

GST belongs to a super family of phase II detoxification enzyme and it plays an important role in preventing the damage that may occur due to reactive water-soluble compounds generated by the association of re...

Authors: Israa Hussein Hamzah, Farha A. Ali Shafi, Sahar A. H. Al Sharqi and Suaad Almas Brakhas

Recovery of smell sense loss by mepolizumab in a patient allergic to Dermatophagoides and affected by chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) frequently presents with dysfunction or loss of the sense of smell, resulting in a significant impairment in quality of life. The medical treatments currently ...

Authors: Carlo Cavaliere, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Franco Frati, Daniela Messineo, Mario Ciotti, Antonio Greco, Marco de Vincentiis and Simonetta Masieri

Use of complementary medicine among patients with allergic rhinitis: an Italian nationwide survey

A growing use of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) has been found in Europe as well in Italy for chronic diseases, including the allergic rhinitis. The study aims at investigating the prevalence and the...

Authors: G. Bonizzoni, M. Caminati, E. Ridolo, M. Landi, M. T. Ventura, C. Lombardi, G. Senna, M. Crivellaro and F. Gani

PPI adverse drugs reactions: a retrospective study

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are drugs capable of blocking the gastric pump H,K-ATPase in order to inhibit gastric acid secretion. Omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole, rabeprazole and esomeprazole belong t...

Authors: Marco Casciaro, Michele Navarra, Giuseppina Inferrera, Marta Liotta, Sebastiano Gangemi and Paola Lucia Minciullo

Comorbidities are associated with different features of severe asthma

According to ATS/ERS document on severe asthma (SA), the management of these patients requires the identification and proper treatment of comorbidities, which can influence the control of asthma.

Authors: Federica Novelli, Elena Bacci, Manuela Latorre, Veronica Seccia, Maria Laura Bartoli, Silvana Cianchetti, Federico Lorenzo Dente, Antonella Di Franco, Alessandro Celi and Pierluigi Paggiaro

Focus on the role of substance P in chronic urticaria

Emerging data have strengthened the importance of substance P (SP) as a proinflammatory mediator in human pathology. A role for SP in the pathogenesis of urticaria has long been hypothesized.

Authors: Gino A. Vena, Nicoletta Cassano, E. Di Leo, G. F. Calogiuri and Eustachio Nettis

Markers of atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma in pediatric patients: correlation with filaggrin, eosinophil major basic protein and immunoglobulin E

Allergic reactions have been implicated as contributions in a number of atopic disorders, including atopic dermatitis (AD), allergic rhinitis (AR) and bronchial asthma (BA). However, the potential for filaggri...

Authors: Zafar Rasheed, Khaled Zedan, Ghada Bin Saif, Ragaa H. Salama, Tarek Salem, Ahmed A. Ahmed, Alaa Abd El-Moniem, Maha Elkholy, Ahmad A. Al Robaee and Abdullateef A. Alzolibani

Rapid desensitization for brentuximab vedotin (Adceteris^®) allergy: a case report

Brentuximab vedotin (BV) is an antibody–drug conjugate formed by an anti-CD30 chimeric IgG₁ conjugated with monomethyl-auristatin-E. BV targets the CD30⁺ cells, which characterize Hodgkin lymphoma as well as anap...

Authors: Attilio Di Girolamo, Marcello Albanesi, Alessandro Sinisi, Eustachio Nettis, Danilo Di Bona, Maria Filomena Caiaffa and Luigi Macchia

Drug induced Kounis syndrome: does oxidative stress play a role?

Kounis syndrome (KS) has been described as the coincidental occurrence of acute coronary syndromes during an allergic reaction with cardiac anaphylaxis. It is caused by inflammatory mediators released after ex...

Authors: Luisa Ricciardi, Fabiana Furci, Marco Casciaro, Eleonora Di Salvo, Mariateresa Cristani, Valeria Tigano, Paola Lucia Minciullo and Sebastiano Gangemi

Urban air pollution and climate change: “The Decalogue: Allergy Safe Tree” for allergic and respiratory diseases care

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is closely associated with climate change and, in particular, with global warming. In addition to melting of ice and snow, rising sea level, and floodi...

Authors: Vincenzo Patella, Giovanni Florio, Diomira Magliacane, Ada Giuliano, Maria Angiola Crivellaro, Daniela Di Bartolomeo, Arturo Genovese, Mario Palmieri, Amedeo Postiglione, Erminia Ridolo, Cristina Scaletti, Maria Teresa Ventura and Anna Zollo

The involvement of osmolarity in the safety of contrast media

New non-ionic contrast agents, classified into low osmolar agents and iso-osmolar agents, present different biochemical characteristics that may influence the allergic reactions they cause. The aim of our stud...

Authors: Stefania Isola, Fabiana Furci and Sebastiano Gangemi

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Tryptase as a marker of severity of aortic valve stenosis

Severe aortic valve stenosis is one of the most common cause of mortality in adult patients affected with metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with an active inflammatory process involving also mast cell...

Authors: Laura M. Losappio, Corrado Mirone, Michel Chevallard, Laura Farioli, Fabrizio De Luca and Elide A. Pastorello

Focus on the agents most frequently responsible for perioperative anaphylaxis

Adverse reactions (ARs) to drugs administered during general anesthesia may be very severe and life-threatening, with a mortality rate ranging from 3 to 9%. The adverse reactions to drugs may be IgE and non-Ig...

Authors: E. Di Leo, P. Delle Donne, G. F. Calogiuri, L. Macchia and E. Nettis

House dust mite-related respiratory allergies and probiotics: a narrative review

The socio-economic burden of allergic respiratory conditions on continental Europe is even higher than that of mainstream diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as allergic rhinitis alone accou...

Authors: Filippo Fassio and Fabio Guagnini

Sublingual grass allergen specific immunotherapy: a retrospective study of clinical outcome and discontinuation

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is effective, tolerable, and convenient for many allergic patients. Still, real-world evidence is scarce and the aim of this study is to assess the patient reported outcome of t...

Authors: Christer Janson, Fredrik Sundbom, Peter Arvidsson and Mary Kämpe

Regulation of IgE activity in inhalational tolerance via formation of IgG anti-IgE/IgE immune complexes

Allergic asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways that results from inappropriate production of IgE against harmless, environmental antigens. Sequestration of free IgE using humanized IgG anti-IgE is ...

Authors: Sonali J. Bracken, Alexander J. Adami, Ektor Rafti, Craig M. Schramm and Adam P. Matson

Low incidence of pneumonia in COPD patients treated with inhaled corticosteroids undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation

Based on meta-analyses results, it is currently acknowledged that there is an increased risk of pneumonia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) undergoing inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) ...

Authors: Erminia Ridolo, Cristoforo Incorvaia, Irene Martignago, Laura Pessina, Fulvio Lauretani, Luciano Loperfido, Gian Galeazzo Riario-Sforza, Annalisa Broglia, Bruna L. Gritti and Lorenzo Panella

Involvement of miR-126 in autoimmune disorders

Micro-RNA represent a great family of small non-condign ribonucleic acid molecules; in particular microRNA-126 is an important member of this family and is expressed in many human cells such as cardiomyocytes,...

Authors: Marco Casciaro, Eleonora Di Salvo, Teresa Brizzi, Carmelo Rodolico and Sebastiano Gangemi

Hymenoptera sting reactions in southern Italy forestry workers: our experience compared to reported data

Hymenoptera sting reactions are among life-threatening causes of allergy. Several epidemiology studies have assessed the risk of these kind of reactions, among the general population, around 3% of adults. This...

Authors: Luisa Ricciardi, Francesco Papia, Giuseppe Cataldo, Mario Giorgianni, Giovanna Spatari and Sebastiano Gangemi

A case of atopic dermatitis caused by Ascaris lumbricoides infection

Parasite infections stimulate total and specific IgE production that, in the case of Toxocara canis infection, corresponds to chronic allergic symptoms. There may also be other infections which have similar sympt...

Authors: Rosanna Qualizza, Laura M Losappio and Fabiana Furci

Role of genetic variations of chitinase 3-like 1 in bronchial asthmatic patients

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) are associated with bronchial severity and pulmonary function. CHI3L1 proteins are involved in both innate and adaptive immune responses; howe...

Authors: Kazuyuki Abe, Yutaka Nakamura, Kohei Yamauchi and Makoto Maemondo

Importance of hypersensitivity in adverse reactions to drugs in the elderly

The use of drugs in the elderly is very extensive because of the frequent occurrence of chronic diseases. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) commonly occur in geriatric patients receiving multiple therapeutic regim...

Authors: Maria Teresa Ventura, Elisa Boni, Rosa Cecere, Rosalba Buquicchio, Gian Franco Calogiuri, Irene Martignago, Cristoforo Incorvaia and Erminia Ridolo

Bench to bedside review of myositis autoantibodies

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies represent a heterogeneous group of autoimmune diseases with systemic involvement. Even though numerous specific autoantibodies have been recognized, they have not been includ...

Authors: Boaz Palterer, Gianfranco Vitiello, Alessia Carraresi, Maria Grazia Giudizi, Daniele Cammelli and Paola Parronchi

A critical appraisal on AIT in childhood asthma

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is the only disease-modifying treatment approved for allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma and represents a suitable therapeutic option, especially in childhood, to modify the prog...

Authors: Matteo Ferrando, Francesca Racca, Lorena Nascimento Girardi Madeira, Enrico Heffler, Giovanni Passalacqua, Francesca Puggioni, Niccolò Stomeo and Giorgio Walter Canonica

Allergic sensitization to common pets (cats/dogs) according to different possible modalities of exposure: an Italian Multicenter Study

The query “are there animals at home?” is usually administered for collecting information on anamnesis. This modality to consider exposure to pet allergens constitutes a potential bias in epidemiological studi...

Authors: G. Liccardi, L. Calzetta, G. Baldi, A. Berra, L. Billeri, M. Caminati, P. Capano, E. Carpentieri, A. Ciccarelli, M. A. Crivellaro, M. Cutajar, M. D’Amato, I. Folletti, F. Gani, D. Gargano, D. Giannattasio…