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Asthma and allergies in a cohort of adolescents conceived with ARTResearch question: Are asthma and allergies more common in adolescents conceived with assisted reproductive technologies (ART) compared with adolescents conceived without?
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Protection against severe infant lower respiratory tract infections by immune training: Mechanistic studiesResults from recent clinical studies suggest potential efficacy of immune training (IT)-based approaches for protection against severe lower respiratory tract infections in infants, but underlying mechanisms are unclear.
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Remission of peanut allergy is associated with rewiring of allergen-driven T helper 2-related gene networksThe immunological changes underpinning acquisition of remission (also called sustained unresponsiveness) following food immunotherapy remain poorly defined. Limited access to effective therapies and biosamples from treatment responders has prevented progress. Probiotic peanut oral immunotherapy is highly effective at inducing remission, providing an opportunity to investigate immune changes.
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Protection against neonatal respiratory viral infection via maternal treatment during pregnancy with the benign immune training agent OM-85Incomplete maturation of immune regulatory functions at birth is antecedent to the heightened risk for severe respiratory infections during infancy. Our forerunner animal model studies demonstrated that maternal treatment with the microbial-derived immune training agent OM-85 during pregnancy promotes accelerated postnatal maturation of mechanisms that regulate inflammatory processes in the offspring airways.
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The intersect of genetics, environment, and microbiota in asthma-perspectives and challengesIn asthma, a significant portion of the interaction between genetics and environment occurs through microbiota. The proposed mechanisms behind this interaction are complex and at times contradictory. This review covers recent developments in our understanding of this interaction: the "microbial hypothesis" and the "farm effect"; the role of endotoxin and genetic variation in pattern recognition systems; the interaction with allergen exposure; the additional involvement of host gut and airway microbiota; the role of viral respiratory infections in interaction with the 17q21 and CDHR3 genetic loci; and the importance of in utero and early-life timing of exposures.
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Progressive increase of FcεRI expression across several PBMC subsets is associated with atopy and atopic asthma within school-aged childrenThe expression pattern of FcεRI on DC and basophils differentiates asthmatic from non-asthmatic atopic children
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Pregnancy Induces a Steady-State Shift in Alveolar Macrophage M1/M2 Phenotype That Is Associated With a Heightened Severity of Influenza Virus InfectionPregnancy is associated with an alternatively activated phenotype of alveolar macrophage before infection
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Maternal diet modulates the infant microbiome and intestinal Flt3L necessary for dendritic cell development and immunity to respiratory infectionPoor maternal diet during pregnancy is a risk factor for severe lower respiratory infections in the offspring, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that in mice a maternal low-fiber diet led to enhanced LRI severity in infants because of delayed plasmacytoid dendritic cell recruitment and perturbation of regulatory T cell expansion in the lungs.
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OPTIMUM study protocol: an adaptive randomised controlled trial of a mixed whole-cell/acellular pertussis vaccine scheduleCombination vaccines containing whole-cell pertussis antigens were phased out from the Australian national immunisation programme between 1997 and 1999 and replaced by the less reactogenic acellular pertussis (aP) antigens. In a large case-control study of Australian children born during the transition period, those with allergist diagnosed IgE-mediated food allergy were less likely to have received whole-cell vaccine in early infancy than matched population controls (OR: 0.77 (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.95)). We hypothesise that a single dose of whole-cell vaccine in early infancy is protective against IgE-mediated food allergy.
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Oestrogen amplifies pre-existing atopy-associated Th2 bias in an experimental asthma modelThe role of oestrogen in experimental atopic asthma, and guide future research on sex-related variations in atopic asthma susceptibility/intensity