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  • 1
    ISSN: 1398-9995
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Background:  An increasing number of studies report pet exposure to be associated with lower risk of asthma and allergies. This ‘protective pet effect’ has been suggested to result from a modified T-helper (Th)2-cell response, or because of increased microbial load in homes where pets are kept. We examined the associations between pet contact and the occurrence of asthma and allergies in children of the rural Allergy and Endotoxin (ALEX) population, taking farm animal contact, endotoxin and cat allergen levels in mattress dust into account.Methods:  Information about contact with pets and farm animals, asthma and allergy were collected for 812 children by a standardized parents’ questionnaire and an interview. Mattress dust endotoxin and cat allergen levels as well as specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies to Fel d1 were determined.Results:  Current contact with dogs was inversely associated with diagnosed hay fever (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.11–0.57), diagnosed asthma (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.12–0.71), sensitization to cat allergen (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.23–0.99) and to grass pollen (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33–0.94), but not with increased IgG4 levels. Early and current contact with cats were associated with reduced risk of wheezing (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.23–1.00, and OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26–0.92, respectively) and grass pollen sensitization. Adjustment for farm animal contact but not for endotoxin and cat allergen exposure attenuated these associations and the effect of pet was stronger among farmers’ children.Conclusion:  Although pet exposure was very frequent in this rural population, the inverse relation between current dog contact, asthma and allergy was mostly explained by simultaneously occurring exposure to stable animals or was restricted to farm children. In addition, a subtle form of pet avoidance may contribute to the protective effect of pet.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 2
    ISSN: 1365-2222
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Background Growing up on a farm and an anthroposophic lifestyle are associated with a lower prevalence of allergic diseases in childhood. This might be related to increased inhalatory exposure to microbial agents.Objective To assess the association between microbial agents in house dust and atopic wheeze in farm children, Steiner school children and reference children.Methods Levels of bacterial endotoxin, fungal β(1,3)-glucans and fungal extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) in mattress and living room floor dust were measured in a population of 270 atopic (=Phadiatop-positive) children with self-reported wheezing, including 168 current atopic wheezers, and 441 non-atopic, non-symptomatic controls. These children were selected from a cross-sectional study in five European countries.Results In the study population as a whole, average levels of mattress dust endotoxin, EPS and glucans were slightly (1.1–1.2-fold; P〈0.10) higher in control children than in atopic wheezers. Atopic wheeze was related to mattress levels of endotoxin, EPS and glucans in farm and farm-reference children. However, when adjusting for group (farm vs. farm-reference children), the associations became non-significant whereas the group effect remained. No associations between atopic wheeze and microbial agents were observed in Steiner and Steiner-reference children. For current atopic wheeze, the farm effect became non-significant after adjustment for microbial agent levels.Conclusion Not only bacterial endotoxin but also mould components might offer some protection against atopic wheeze in children. However, the protective effect of being raised on a farm was largely unexplained by the mattress microbial agent levels measured in this study.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 3
    ISSN: 1365-2222
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Background Lower frequencies of asthma and hayfever have been observed in children with contact to livestock. At school age, the amount of endotoxin measured in the dust of children's mattresses is inversely related to the occurrence of atopic asthma, hayfever and atopic sensitization both in children from farming and non-farming households.Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate which home and lifestyle characteristics of farm and non-farm families contribute to endotoxin levels measured in different indoor home environments.Methods In the framework of the Allergy and Endotoxin (ALEX) Study, endotoxin was measured in dust samples from the living room floor and the child's mattress of 319 farmers' families and 493 non-farming families, and in settled dust from stables. Endotoxin content of all dust samples was determined by a kinetic Limulus assay (Limulus-Amebocyte-Lysate test). Information about the child's activities on farms, home characteristics and cleaning behaviours was obtained from parental questionnaires.Results Endotoxin levels in stables did not predict the amount of endotoxin measured in floors or mattresses. However, a dose-dependent association between the child's activity on the farm and indoor home endotoxin levels was observed, both in farm and non-farm children. In non-farm children pet keeping and the frequency of floor cleaning were additionally associated with endotoxin levels, whereas in farm children parental farm activities, study area, time since last cleaning, the mattress type as well as younger age of the children contributed to increased microbial exposure.Conclusion These results demonstrate that regular contact to farm animals increases indoor home endotoxin concentrations, both in farm and non-farm children, and might thus explain the protective effect of contact to livestock on atopic outcomes. To assess children's individual exposure to a microbial environment, measures of mattress dust exposure are needed as stable endotoxin concentrations were not associated with indoor home levels.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 4
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Amsterdam : Elsevier
    Biochimie 72 (1990), S. 279-283 
    ISSN: 0300-9084
    Keywords: Enterococcus ; electroporation ; improved electroporation unit ; shuttle-vector ; transformation
    Source: Elsevier Journal Backfiles on ScienceDirect 1907 - 2002
    Topics: Biology , Chemistry and Pharmacology
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 5
    ISSN: 1398-9995
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Background:  Growing up on a farm and an anthroposophic lifestyle are associated with a lower prevalence of allergic diseases in childhood. It has been suggested that the enhanced exposure to endotoxin is an important protective factor of farm environments. Little is known about exposure to other microbial components on farms and exposure in anthroposophic families.Objective:  To assess the levels and determinants of bacterial endotoxin, mould β(1,3)-glucans and fungal extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) in house dust of farm children, Steiner school children and reference children.Methods:  Mattress and living room dust was collected in the homes of 229 farm children, 122 Steiner children and 60 and 67 of their respective reference children in five European countries. Stable dust was collected as well. All samples were analysed in one central laboratory. Determinants were assessed by questionnaire.Results:  Levels of endotoxin, EPS and glucans per gram of house dust in farm homes were 1.2- to 3.2-fold higher than levels in reference homes. For Steiner children, 1.1- to 1.6-fold higher levels were observed compared with their reference children. These differences were consistently found across countries, although mean levels varied considerably. Differences between groups and between countries were also significant after adjustment for home and family characteristics.Conclusion:  Farm children are not only consistently exposed to higher levels of endotoxin, but also to higher levels of mould components. Steiner school children may also be exposed to higher levels of microbial agents, but differences with reference children are much less pronounced than for farm children. Further analyses are, however, required to assess the association between exposure to these various microbial agents and allergic and airway diseases in the PARSIFAL population.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 6
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 13 (1994), S. 12-18 
    ISSN: 1435-4373
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Clinical and laboratory data on infectious complications in 100 consecutive heart transplant recipients were analyzed retrospectively. The mean length of follow-up was 651±466 days. All patients received a basic immunosuppressive regimen including cyclosporine (whole blood target trough level 400–600 µg/l), azathioprine (1 mg/kg/day) and prednisone (0.15 mg/kg/day). Early rejection prophylaxis consisted of polyclonal rabbit antithymocyte globulin (ATG) (4 mg/kg/day for 4 days) in the first 57 patients and monoclonal murine OKT-3 (5 mg/day for 14 days) in the remaining patients. The primary cause of death was infection in three patients and rejection in 16 (p〈0.001). The incidence of infection was 0.96/patient/year (n=179); 95 infections were nosocomial (53 %), 47 community-acquired (26 %) and 37 opportunistic (21 %). The number of hospitalizations due to infections was fewer than that due to rejection (53 versus 246 respectively, p〈0.0001), but the mean length of hospital stay was longer in the first group (13.85±10.92 days versus 3.48±2.28 days, p〈0.001). Previous early rejection prophylaxis with OKT-3 was associated with a greater number of opportunistic and nosocomial infections compared to prophylaxis with ATG (p〈0.05), as was treatment with ATG and steroid pulses compared to steroid pulses alone in cases of opportunistic infection (p〈0.05).
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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