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Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol 2021 May 10;17(1):46. Epub 2021 May 10.

1st Department of Pediatrics, Allergology and Cardiology, Wroclaw Medical University, ul. Chalubinskiego 2a, 50-368, Wroclaw, Poland.

Background: Worldwide, allergy affects more than one billion people, with particularly rising prevalence in industrialised areas. Specifically, young adults appear to be predominantly targeted for an allergy diagnosis. Allergic diseases in pregnancy are mainly pre-existing but could also occur de novo. Read More

J Pediatr 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Newborn Brain Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Weill Institute for Neuroscience, UCSF, San Francisco, CA; Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. Electronic address:

Objective: To evaluate neurologic morbidity among offspring during their first year of life in association with prenatal maternal immune activation (MIA), using an inclusive definition.

Study Design: This retrospective cohort study included singletons born in California between 2011 and 2017. MIA was defined by International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis of infection, autoimmune disorder, allergy, asthma, atherosclerosis, or malignancy during pregnancy. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 May 7;11(1):9790. Epub 2021 May 7.

Center On the Early Life Origins of Disease, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

The prevalence of maternal obesity has increased dramatically with adverse consequences on infant health. Prior studies have reported associations between maternal obesity and childhood wheeze, asthma as well as lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). However, studies examining the association of obesity with early-life LRTIs in low-income urban minority populations are still lacking. Read More

Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2021 May 6:1-9. Epub 2021 May 6.

Department of Pediatrics, Childhood Asthma Atopy Center, Humidifier Disinfectant Health Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Background: It is still debatable whether dog ownership during early childhood is a risk factor for the development of allergic diseases.

Objective: We investigated the association of dog ownership in early life with sensitization and asthma in childhood.

Methods: Data from the Cohort for Childhood Origin of Asthma and Allergic diseases were used to investigate the association between dog ownership at any time from pregnancy to 1 year of age and sensitization to aeroallergens at 3 and 7 years old, bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), and asthma at 7 years old. Read More

Am J Obstet Gynecol 2021 May 3. Epub 2021 May 3.

Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Electronic address:

Background: Antenatal corticosteroids improve newborn outcomes for preterm infants. However, predicting which women presenting for threatened preterm labor will have preterm infants is inaccurate and many women receive antenatal corticosteroids but then go on to deliver at term.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the short-term outcomes of infants born at term to women who received betamethasone (BMZ) for threatened preterm labor to infants who were not exposed to BMZ in utero. Read More

Eur Ann Allergy Clin Immunol 2021 May 3. Epub 2021 May 3.

Medical doctor, Pulmonology Department, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, EPE, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.

Summary: Adherence to asthma medications is a significant problem among pregnant women. Objective. To evaluate asthma medication adherence in pregnant women and to determine the factors that may predict non-adherence in a real-life setting. Read More

Eur Ann Allergy Clin Immunol 2021 May 3. Epub 2021 May 3.

Department of Experimental Medicine, Postgraduate School of Respiratory Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Summary: Anaphylaxis is the most severe systemic hypersensitivity reaction, it can be caused by a number of well identified triggers such as foods, drugs, stinging insects and facilitated by predisposing clinical conditions. However, sometimes anaphylaxis shows up with uncommon or peculiar characteristics which could delay diagnosis and therapeutic treatment. In this report we aimed to describe less accounted / difficult-to-approach shapes of anaphylaxis to facilitate clinicians to suspect these severe reactions even in uncommon conditions. Read More

Allergol Immunopathol (Madr) 2021 1;49(3):146-152. Epub 2021 May 1.

Medical School, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Introduction And Objectives: In order to investigate food allergy's prevalence, risk factors and eating behavior of children with relevant anamnesis, a study was performed in Cypriot primary schools.

Patients: A specially composed questionnaire for self-reported adverse reactions to food, created in the context of the EuroPrevall study, was distributed in 13 representative primary schools across the country. Participants were sub-grouped into three groups; healthy (H), those with unconfirmed food hypersensitivity reactions (FA) and children with a confirmed diagnosis by a physician IgE-mediated food allergy (FA). Read More

Int J Gynaecol Obstet 2021 Apr 30. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Department of Woman, Child and General and Specialized Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli," Naples, Italy.

Background: Besides reducing the quality of obstetric care, the direct impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and postpartum is uncertain.

Objective: To evaluate the characteristics of pregnant women deceased due to COVID-19.

Search Strategy: Cochrane Library, Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to February 2020. Read More

J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 2021 Apr 29:1-7. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Allergy Center, CUF Descobertas Hospital and CUF Tejo Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal.

Asthma is a fairly common health problem for pregnant women and a potentially serious medical condition that may complicate pregnancy. Most complications are related to lack of disease control, which can adversely affect both maternal quality of life and perinatal outcomes. In this article, we review recent literature concerning asthma in pregnancy, describing the course of the disease and associated complications. Read More

Nutrients 2021 Apr 10;13(4). Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), 30120 Murcia, Spain.

The Mediterranean diet represents one of the most studied dietary patterns; however, there is no single tool for measuring the grade of adherence and no single set of criteria for adapting these indices to pregnant women. We characterized the adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MDA) of pregnant women participating in the NELA (Nutrition in Early Life and Asthma) cohort and identified the sociodemographic determinants and lifestyle habits associated with a higher risk of a low MDA. Maternal diet during gestation was assessed by a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) ( = 665). Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 Apr 9;18(8). Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), 30120 Murcia, Spain.

It is suggested that programming of the immune system starts before birth and is shaped by environmental influences acting during critical windows of susceptibility for human development. Prenatal and perinatal exposure to physiological, biological, physical, or chemical factors can trigger permanent, irreversible changes to the developing immune system, which may be reflected in cord blood of neonates. The aim of this narrative review is to summarize the evidence on the role of the prenatal and perinatal environment, including season of birth, mode of delivery, exposure to common allergens, a farming environment, pet ownership, and exposure to tobacco smoking and pollutants, in shaping the immune cell populations and cytokines at birth in humans. Read More

ERJ Open Res 2021 Apr 19;7(2). Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Dept of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.

Exhaled nitric oxide fraction () is an indicator of allergic airway inflammation. However, it is unknown how asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR) and allergic sensitisation relate to , particularly among adolescents and in overlapping conditions. We sought to determine the associations between asthma, AR, and aeroallergen immunoglobulin (Ig)E and in adolescents. Read More

Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2021 Apr 24. Epub 2021 Apr 24.

Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.

Background: Childhood asthma is a common chronic disease that likely has prenatal origins. Gestational diabetes alters maternal physiology and may influence fetal risk for childhood-onset disease. However, the association between gestational diabetes and child asthma is not well characterized. Read More

Arch Dis Child 2021 Apr 21. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Intergenerational Health Research Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Objective: Assess the mental health, physical health, cognitive and language development of 10-year old children in families where mothers have reported intimate partner violence (IPV) compared with children with no reported IPV exposure.

Design: Prospective pregnancy cohort. Maternal report of IPV (Composite Abuse Scale) at 1, 4 and 10 years. Read More

Am J Perinatol 2021 Apr 21. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

Objective:  This study aimed to assess the impact of common asthma medication regimens on asthma symptoms, exacerbations, lung function, and inflammation during pregnancy.

Study Design:  A total of 311 women with asthma were enrolled in a prospective pregnancy cohort. Asthma medication regimen was categorized into short-acting β agonist (SABA) alone, SABA + inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), SABA + ICS + long-acting β agonist (LABA), and no asthma medications (reference). Read More

Pediatrics 2021 May 19;147(5). Epub 2021 Apr 19.

University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada;

Background And Objectives: Maternal immunization with tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) is routinely recommended in many countries as a strategy to protect young infants against severe pertussis infection; few studies have assessed whether prenatal exposure to the vaccine is associated with any longer-term adverse health effects in children. We evaluated the long-term safety of exposure to Tdap vaccination during pregnancy.

Methods: Population-based retrospective cohort study conducted in Ontario, Canada using multiple linked province-wide health administrative databases. Read More

Ann Glob Health 2021 04 6;87(1):36. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.

Background: Smoking during pregnancy is one of the main modifiable factors associated with perinatal morbidity and mortality and maternal complications. Literature is scant regarding smoking habits of pregnant women in Jordan.

Objectives: To investigate smoking patterns and attitudes of Jordanian pregnant women towards smoking. Read More

Front Genet 2021 1;12:624561. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States.

Environmental exposures have been linked to increased asthma risk, particularly during pregnancy and in early life. Here we use a mouse model of allergic lung disease to examine the effects of pre- and perinatal house dust mite (HDM) allergen exposure on offspring phenotypic and transcriptional outcomes in three generations. We show that maternal HDM exposure (F0) acts synergistically with adult HDM exposure, leading to enhanced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and lung inflammation when compared to mice exposed solely in adulthood. Read More

Environ Health 2021 Apr 17;20(1):46. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Unit of Epidemiology, Meyer Children's University Hospital, Viale Pieraccini 24, 50139, Florence, Italy.

Background: The first 1000 days of life -including pregnancy and the first 2 years after birth- represent a critical window for health interventions. This systematic review aimed to summarize the evidence on the relationship between traffic-related air pollutants exposure in the first 1000 days of life and the development of wheezing and asthma, with a particular focus on windows of exposure.

Methods: Medline and Embase were searched from January 2000 to May 2020 to retrieve population-based birth-cohort studies, including registries, providing quantitative information on the association between exposure to traffic-related air pollutants during pregnancy or early life, and the risk of developing wheezing and asthma in childhood. Read More

Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol 2021 Apr 18. Epub 2021 Apr 18.

Department of Children Healthcare, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, 120 Longshan Road, Yubei District, Chongqing, China.

Background: Vitamin D is closely related to childhood allergic diseases, such as food allergies, atopic dermatitis, and asthma. However, it is unclear whether vitamin D status in the cord blood from mothers is related to food allergies in infants.

Objective: We performed a prospective cohort study on the relationship between the cord blood vitamin D [i. Read More

PLoS One 2021 16;16(4):e0250255. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

Background: The influence of mothers' and fathers' educational levels in separate evaluations of asthma has not been fully investigated. This study aims to examine the associations of the mother's and fathers' educational levels with childhood wheeze and asthma adjusting for crude and pre-and post-natal modifiable risk factors.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study using data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study, which recruited pregnant women from 2011 to 2014. Read More

Placenta 2021 Mar 29;108:64-72. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Pregnancy and Development Group, Mater Research Institute-University of Queensland, Translational Research Institute, Brisbane QLD, Australia. Electronic address:

Introduction: The human placenta expresses multiple glucocorticoid receptor (GR) isoforms that may be partially regulated by the untranslated 5' exon 1 GR gene promoter region which consists of 9 different promoters and 13 splice variants. The objective of this study was to determine which GR exon 1 variants are expressed in the human placenta and relate these findings to GR mRNA and protein expression.

Methods: Placental extracts from pregnancies with or without the complication of maternal asthma and trophoblast cells exposed to an inflammatory challenge in vitro were examined using PCR and Western blot to measure GR exon 1 variants, GR splice variant mRNA and GR protein isoforms, respectively. Read More

Placenta 2021 Mar 16;108:32-38. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Magee-Womens Research Institute, Department of OBGYN and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA. Electronic address:

Programmed cell death is a central process in the control of tissue development, organismal physiology, and disease. Ferroptosis is a recently identified form of programmed cell death that is uniquely defined by redox-active iron-dependent hydroxy-peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-containing phospholipids and a loss of lipid peroxidation repair capacity. This distinctive form of lipotoxic cell death has been recently implicated in multiple human diseases, spanning ischemia-reperfusion heart injury, brain damage, acute kidney injury, cancer, and asthma. Read More

Vaccines (Basel) 2021 Mar 19;9(3). Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Vaccinology Section, Sociedad Mexicana de Salud Pública, Mexico City 11590, Mexico.

Limited information is available to determine the effectiveness of Mexico's national influenza vaccination guidelines and inform policy updates. We aim to propose reforms to current influenza vaccination policies based on our analysis of cost-effectiveness studies. This cross-sectional epidemiological study used influenza case, death, discharge and hospitalization data from several influenza seasons and applied a one-year decision-analytic model to assess cost-effectiveness. Read More

Nutrients 2021 Mar 4;13(3). Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), 30120 Murcia, Spain.

Maternal supplementation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) during pregnancy has been recommended due to its role in infant development, but its effect on materno-fetal DHA status is not well established. We evaluated the associations between DHA supplementation in pregnant women with obesity or gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and maternal and neonatal DHA status. Serum fatty acids (FA) were analyzed in 641 pregnant women (24 weeks of gestation) and in 345 venous and 166 arterial cord blood samples of participants of the NELA cohort. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 03 9;18(5). Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.

The association of co-occurring prenatal stress and tobacco exposures on childhood wheezing and asthma are not well established. In this study, we compared maternal prenatal hair cortisol concentration (HCC) to the maternal report of infant wheezing (y/n) in the first year of life among mother-infant dyads exposed to tobacco smoke and socioeconomic adversity. Data were obtained from the Vitamin C to Decrease Effects of Smoking in Pregnancy on Infant Lung Function study. Read More

Nutrients 2021 Mar 21;13(3). Epub 2021 Mar 21.

Cell Biology and Immunology Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6708 WD Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Worldwide, the prevalence of allergies in young children, but also vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and in newborns is rising. Vitamin D modulates the development and activity of the immune system and a low vitamin D status during pregnancy and in early life might be associated with an increased risk to develop an allergy during early childhood. This review studies the effects of vitamin D during gestation and early life, on allergy susceptibility in infants. Read More

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2021 Apr 1. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

ICMR-Regional Occupational Health Centre (Sothern), ROHC(S), ICMR Complex, Devanahalli TK, Bangalore, 562110, India.

Background: Women contribute fifty percent of the total work force in tea plantation sector. The continuous use of chemical pesticides in plantation may increase the risk of exposure and can cause detrimental health effects.

Objectives: To assess the health status of women worker exposed to pesticides in tea plantation and to evaluate the pesticide levels in work environment. Read More

JBI Evid Synth 2021 Mar 31. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Robinson Research Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia Early Origins of Adult Health Research Group, Health and Biomedical Innovation, UniSA: Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia Mater Medical Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Objective: The primary objective of this systematic review is to synthesize the best available evidence on the relationship between in utero exposure to maternal asthma and postnatal allergy. Secondary objectives are to investigate the impact of asthma loss of control, asthma exacerbation, and asthma severity during pregnancy on risks of allergy and asthma in progeny.

Introduction: Maternal asthma is a well-known risk factor for childhood asthma, with recent evidence suggesting that children of asthmatic mothers are also at increased risk of allergic diseases. Read More