Bee pollen sensitivity in airborne pollen allergic individuals

BACKGROUND

Physicians who practice alternative medicine often prescribe bee pollen as a food supplement and a treatment for various ailments.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the qualitative and quantitative composition of bee pollen and to investigate the cutaneous reactivity of atopic patients to bee pollen extracts.

METHODS

The absolute number of pollen grains per gram of bee pollen was calculated, and morphologic identification of the botanical family was performed. Five extracts of bee pollen were prepared for skin prick testing, according to standard methods. Two hundred two volunteers participated in the study; 145 were atopic patients with respiratory allergy. The remaining 57 were healthy volunteers or nonatopic patients and served as a control group. All participants underwent skin prick testing with a standard battery of 6 aeroallergens (olive, grasses mix, Parietaria, mugwort, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, and Dermatophagoides farinae) and with all homemade bee pollen extracts.

RESULTS

All samples of bee pollen contained Oleaceae pollen in high concentrations. Small amounts of anemophilous pollen (Compositeae, Chenopodiaceae) were detected in various samples. A strong positive correlation was observed between cutaneous reactivity to bee pollen extracts and olive, grasses, and mugwort.

CONCLUSIONS

Bee pollen contains a large amount of pollen, which belongs to various allergenic families of plants. Bee pollen retains its allergenic potential as demonstrated by strong cutaneous responses to bee pollen extracts observed in atopic patients in contrast to nonatopic subjects. Regarding pollen allergic individuals, further studies are needed to evaluate the safety of ingesting large amounts of bee pollen.

Associations among pollen sensitizations from different botanical species in patients living in the northern area of Madrid

OBJECTIVE

To determinate the existence of associations among sensitizations to antigens produced by pollen grains of different botanical species as assessed by skin prick tests in patients with respiratory disorders.

METHODS

Six hundred twenty nine consecutive patients living in the northern area of Madrid who underwent clinical evaluation because of rhinoconjunctivitis, and/or asthma were studied. All patients were tested with a skin prick test using a battery of inhalants including pollens, dust mites, molds and danders. The exploratory multivariate technique of Multiple Correspondence Analysis was used to compare the homogeneity of sensitizations between groups. Of the 629 patients, 459 (73.0%) had positive skin prick tests to pollen and were selected as the study group.

RESULTS

The most prevalent pollen sensitization was to Gramineae pollen (83.7%) followed by Oleaceae sensitisation (75.8%). Multiple Correspondence Analysis revealed the existence of an association among pollen sensitizations, showing that they clustered two groups: sensitizations to Gramineae, Oleaceae, Cupressaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Plantaginaceae (group I), and sensitizations to Betulaceae, Platanaceae, Compositae (group II). Sensitization to Parietaria was not included in any of the sensitization groups and showed an independent behaviour.

CONCLUSION

Pollen sensitizations in our area cluster into two association groups which have not previously been reported.

Immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides isolated from Salicornia herbacea

Several types of immunomodulatory polysaccharides originated from plants or mushrooms have been used as immunotherapeutic agents in the treatment of cancers. Here, we describe an immunomodulatory polysaccharide that cannot only activate monocytic cells strongly, but also induce differentiation of monocytic cells into macrophages. High molecular weight substances, SHE, were isolated from Salicornia herbacea, which has been used to treat a variety of diseases including cancers in traditional oriental remedy. The immunomodulatory activities of SHE were examined on a mouse monocytic cell line, RAW 264.7 cells. We found that SHE activated RAW cells to produce cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1beta, and nitric oxide (NO) dose dependently. SHE also induced the expression of co-stimulatory molecules such as B7-1 and CD40, and increased phagocytic activity on opsonized sheep red blood cells. While increasing these parameters of macrophage activation, SHE inhibited the growth of RAW cells dose dependently inducing morphological changes from slightly adherent monocytic cells to strongly adherent macrophages. The active components of SHE appeared to be polysaccharides, and not an endotoxin. These results show that polysaccharides originated from S. herbacea possess potent immunomodulatory activity on monocyte/macrophage lineage cells.

Correlation between Chenopodiacea/Amaranthacea pollen counts and allergic symptoms in Salsola kali monosensitized patients

We performed a prospective observational study to establish a relationship between pollen counts of Chenopodiacea/Amaranthacea and clinical symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma in a group of monosensitised patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 60 patients (19 with asthma) were included in the study. All patients collected daily symptom scores during the summer months of 1999, 2000 and 2001. The questionnaire included ocular, nasal and pulmonary symptoms. Pollen counts were expressed as pollen grains/m3. Symptom scores and pollen counts were correlated using correlation coefficients and Log transformed variables.

RESULTS

In the 3 seasons studied we identified a peak of pollen and clinical symptoms in the second half of August and first half of September. In 1999, there was a significant positive correlation between total symptoms and daily pollen grains/m3 (p<0.005, r = 0.347). This correlation was not significant for the summers of 2000 and 2001. After further analysis, and by displacing one of both variables between 11 to 17 days, the correlation coefficients for total symptoms, improved for 1999 (r = 0. 744; p < 0.0001) and became significant for 2000 (r = 0. 521; p < 0.0001) and 2001 (r = 0.635; p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

We identified a significant time lag between pollen counts and symptom scores in S. kali monosensitized patients.

The seasonal variation in allergic rhinitis and its correlation with outdoor allergens in Kuwait

BACKGROUND

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the most common allergic problem in Kuwait. Most of the patients who have either AR or asthma are referred to the Al-Rashed Allergy Center.

OBJECTIVE

To determine if there is a seasonal variation in AR in Kuwait and to correlate it with the daily pollen count.

METHODS

Information about the new patients referred to the center over a 5-year study period (1996-2000) was extracted from the center's records. The daily pollen count in Kuwait city was obtained from the Air Biology Laboratory.

RESULTS

There was a significant seasonal variation with a bimodal increase in the number of patients with AR referred to the center. The main peak in the number of patients occurred in September-October, and there was a smaller peak in April-May. The mean number +/- SD of new patients per month over the 5-year period varied from 87 +/- 32 for December to 367 +/- 104 for September. Similarly, the average daily pollen count varied from 3.7 +/- 1.0 pollens per mm3 in January to 124 +/- 92 in October. There was high correlation between the number of new AR patients and the average total pollen count (Pearson correlation, r=0.77, p<0.001), as well as with Chenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae (weed) pollens (r=0.75, p<0.001), while there was no correlation between the number of new patients and either tree or grass pollens.

CONCLUSION

Seasonal AR occurs during two periods in Kuwait, i.e. September-October and April-May, with September-October being the main season. The rise in AR during late summer in Kuwait is mainly associated with the pollination of Chenopodiaceae species.

Allergenic pollen in the subdesert areas of the Iberian peninsula

The yearly distribution of Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae, two of the most common types of pollen in a rural area located in the southeastern part of the Iberian peninsula, was studied over a 3-year period (1995-1997). The particular bioclimatic conditions of the area, such as its subdesert climate, extreme dryness and high mountain location (1,000 m above sea level), have led to the adaptation and abundance of these species in this area. They usually flower in the second half of the year, and are the main pollen types collected in the samples in that time period. The Artemisia pollen levels recorded are the highest in Spain, since there are several species in the area which flower at different times. Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae pollen counts are also very high. The severity of both pollen types was also analyzed. The height of the sampler was taken into account because the quantities at human height can be considerably higher than those recorded at 20 m off the ground. It was concluded that both pollen types should be considered some of the main causes of allergy in this area.

Quantitative analysis and model simplification of an epidemic model with primary and secondary infection

Models of particular epidemiological systems can rapidly become complicated by biological detail which can obscure their essential features and behaviour. In general, we wish to retain only those components and processes that contribute to the dynamics of the system. In this paper, we apply asymptotic techniques to an SEI-type model with primary and secondary infection in order to reduce it to a much simpler form. This allows the identification of parameter groupings discriminating between regions of contrasting dynamics and leads to simple approximations for the model's transient behaviour. These can be used to follow the evolution of the developing infection process. The techniques examined in this paper will be applicable to a large number of similar models.