History Of Allergic Disorders Research Articles

Serum total immunoglobulin E levels in Canadian adults

A history of respiratory and allergic disorders was obtained in a white, rural population with ages 20 to 65 yr. Allergy skin testing was performed, and total IgE was measured by PRIST method. One thousand eight hundred and fourteen subjects were studied. Those subjects with positive allergic skin reactions and a history of allergic disorders and smoking were excluded to provide a reference group to derive “normal” values of total IgE. The mean level of the total IgF of this reference group was 12.1 Ulml. The upper limit of the normal range of total IgE levels was estimated at 87.3 Ulml. IgE levels did not differ between the sexes or with age in our adult population.

Rapidly fatal pulmonary fibrosis: the accelerated variant of interstitial pneumonitis.

We sought to explore immunological factors in patients who died with rapidly fatal fibrosing lung diseases (Hamman-Rich syndrome). A retrospective review of cases of interstitial lung disease showed 12 recent deaths from Hamman-Rich syndrome. The mean age was 62, men outnumbering women 3 : 1. Five patients had proved collagen vascular disease (rheumatoid arthritis three, lupus two). Four others had a history of allergic disorders, syphilis, chronic eosinophilia, or hypersensitivity reactions. One patient showed disappearance of immunofluorescence as fibrosis advanced, which has not previously been reported. The study suggests a possible aetiological link between disorders of immunity and Hamman-Rich syndrome. The evidence also supports the notion that Hamman-Rich syndrome is an accelerated variant of the more indolent interstitial pneumonias.

The effects of psychological stress as measured by a decrease in the number of circulating eosinophiles

Abstract Eight healthy control subjects who had no history of allergic disorders were run through a series of experimental conditions which were interposed between eosinophile counts taken at 8:OO a.m. and noon, In three of the situations a few additional “normal” controls were added. Six patients diagnosed as having atopic dermatitis were studied in one of the hypnotic conditions, viz., suggested “personal stress,” and four other atopics were exposed to a simulated murder. An analysis of the results indicated that “normals” had significant differences in their eosinophile counts before and after a control run and hypnosis. However, direct reference to the raw data revealed an abnormally low average count before one of the intervening stresses which then rose more than 48y0 on the entire group by noon. The increase, which could hardly have been due to the experimental situation, created such a difference between the means of the hypnotic conditions, that a spurious significance level of greater than -05 b...