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The intersect of genetics, environment, and microbiota in asthma-perspectives and challenges

In 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.

Time spent outdoors through childhood and adolescence - assessed by 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration - and risk of myopia at 20 years

To investigate the relationship between time spent outdoors, at particular ages in childhood and adolescence, and myopia status in young adulthood using serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration as a biomarker of time spent outdoors. Participants of the Raine Study Generation 2 cohort had 25(OH)D concentrations measured at the 6-, 14-, 17- and 20-year follow-ups. Participants underwent cycloplegic autorefraction at age 20 years, and myopia was defined as a mean spherical equivalent -0.50 dioptres or more myopic. Logistic regression was used to analyse the association between risk of myopia at age 20 years and age-specific 25(OH)D concentrations. Linear mixed-effects models were used to analyse trajectory of 25(OH)D concentrations from 6 to 20 years.

Whole-cell pertussis vaccine in early infancy for the prevention of allergy

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives were to assess the efficacy and safety of whole‐cell pertussis (wP) vaccinations in comparison to acellular pertussis (aP) vaccinations in early infancy for the prevention of atopic diseases in children.

Interaction between filaggrin mutations and neonatal cat exposure in atopic dermatitis

Recent birth cohort studies showed a significant interaction between cat ownership at birth and mutations in FLG on the development of early‐onset atopic dermatitis

Whole-Cell Pertussis Vaccination and Decreased Risk of IgE-Mediated Food Allergy: A Nested Case-Control Study

Australian infants who received whole-cell pertussis vaccines were less likely to be diagnosed with food allergy in childhood

Persistent and compartmentalised disruption of dendritic cell subpopulations in the lung following influenza A virus infection

Immunological homeostasis in the respiratory tract is thought to require balanced interactions between networks of dendritic cell (DC) subsets in lung...

Anti-infective proteins in breast milk and asthma-associated phenotypes during early childhood

The impact of breast milk feeding on susceptibility to asthma in childhood is highly controversial, due in part to failure of the majority of studies in the...

Elucidation of pathways driving asthma pathogenesis: Development of a systems-level analytic strategy

Whereas asthma was rare in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the marked increase in its incidence and prevalence since the 1960s points to substantial gene ×...

Genome-wide association study of vitamin D levels in children: replication in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) study

This genome-wide association study (GWAS) utilises data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels...

Vitamin D deficiency at 16 to 20 weeks' gestation is associated with impaired lung function and asthma at 6 years of age

This paper examines whether a Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy affects the child's lung function predisposition towards lung disease such as asthma.