In the memory of Professor Felicidad Cua-Lim.

Abstract

It was truly sad that Professor Felicidad Cua Lim who was the Founding President of the Philippine Society of Allergology and Immunology (1972-1978) and the President of Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology, APAAACI (1999-2000) passed away on August 28, 2014 (Fig. 1) [1]. It was a great loss for us. All thoughts and prayers from the Asia Pacific region were with the family, and the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. I would like to echo the condolences from Professor Ashok Shah, one of the editorial board members of Asia Pacific Allergy on her funeral day. Fig. 1 Professor Felicidad Cua-Lim who was the Founding President of the Philippine Society of Allergology and Immunology (1972-1978) and the President of Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology, APAAACI (1999-2000). Today is the day to say good bye to our much respected Professor Felicidad Cua-Lim and to celebrate her achievements. An outstanding personality in the field of allergy, she always greeted everyone with a million dollar smile. She was the one of the first faces of allergy from Asia and we are all proud of her accomplishments. I will cherish fond memories of meeting her at many allergy meetings in many different countries. May God give peace to the departed soul. Ashok Shah This issue of the Asia Pacific Allergy features important reviews and articles on asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder on the airways. The readers of this issue will find the possible role of inflammasome and S100A9 in the pathogenesis of asthma [2]. Innate lymphoid cells are, of course, one of the hot issues at the moment in the field of asthma research. Sherkat et al. [3] suggest innate lymphoid cells and cytokines of the novel subtypes of helper T cells in asthma. Upper airway diseases may affect the course of asthma. In this issue, Kim et al. [4] reported the impact of sinusitis on the long term clinical outcomes of asthma. House dust mites are the most important inhalant allergens in respiratory allergic diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. Yu et al. [5] reviewed the environmental evaluation on house dust mites and also reviewed the literatures on the possible role of probiotics. Readers of this journal will also find several other interesting articles on Brassica pollen, chronic urticaria, atopic dermatitis, drug and food allergy. Rapeseed-mustard is the second most important source of edible oil in India and several species of Brassica are cultivated in the different regions [6]. In this issue, the readers will also find very unique data on the hypersensitivity to pollen of four different species of Brassica from India [6]. There is another interesting study on serum interleukin (IL) 18 and IL-6 levels in relation with the clinical disease severity in Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria [7]. For those who are interested in atopic dermatitis, I recommend to read a review article by Lee et al. [8] on the role of antiseptic agents in atopic dermatitis. Recently granulysin, a cytotoxic protein produced by CTLs or natural killer (NK) cells, has been reported to be the key mediator for disseminated keratinocyte death in Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis [9]. Won et al. [10] present an interesting case on lamotrigine-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis confirmed by in vitro granulysin and cytokine assays. Omalizumab, an anti-IgE monoclonal antibody, has originally been approved for the use in case of severe asthma [11]. However, it is also recommended in the management of severe urticaria [12]. What about in food allergy? Nilsson et al. [13] present interesting case series on the successful management of severe cow's milk allergy with omalizumab treatment and CD-sens monitoring.