The aim of this study was to investigate whether oral allergy syndrome (OAS) in Japan has a particular assosiation with Japanese cedar (JC) hay fever and which kinds of food allergen cause OAS. Subjects and method : The questionnaire was answered by 463 adult asthmatics. Each patient was submitted to skin scratch tests with fresh foods and commercial food extracts. Result : Of the 463 patients 45 (9.7%) were diagnosed as OAS. The foods, which most often provoked a reaction, were in order of frequency, melon, kiwi, carb and shrimp. The prevalence of OAS was higher found in house dust mite antibody positive patients than negative patients. There was no difference in the prevalence of OAS between JC hay fever and house dust mite antibody positive patients. Conclusion : It is suggested that OAS has no paticular association with JC hay fever. OAS in Japan is associated with different foods from other countries such as Scandinavia where apple is frequently associated with OAS.

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To investigate the development of airway hyperresponsiveness in infantile guinea pigs, animals (10 days old) were immunized twice and challenged by inhalation of 1% ovalbumin for 10 min with 7 days intervals. Similar to adult guinea pigs, infantile ones developed an increased airway responsiveness to acetycholine 24 hr after after antigen challenge. There was a marked increase in the number of total leukocytes, eosinophilas and lymphocytes in bronchoalveolara lavage fluid (BALF). Suplatast tosilate (suplatast) and pemirolast potassium (pemirolast) given orally throughout the experiments suppressed the development of airway hyperresponsiveness in infantile animals. They showed similar potency in the suppression of eosinophil accumulation in BALF and lung tissue, while suplatast inhibited lymphocyte accumulation stronger than pemirolast. Collectively, the present model of airway hyperresponsiveness in infantile guinea pigs may be useful in predicting the efficacy of antiallergic agents in the treatment of asthmatic children.

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We performed skin-prick tests (SPT) for 8 food and inhalent allergens on 55 infants (between 3 months and 2 years of age) with atopic dermatitis (AD) at their initial visit to our allergy clinic. SPT results were compared with those of radioallergosorbent tests (RAST) and the severity of AD symptoms. We also administered a questionnaire-based survey of 46 patient mothers to see how they evaluated SPT compared to blood tests. SPT for egg white had the highest positive rate (91%) and far exceeded that for other allergens. More than two allergens showed positive in more than half of the patients, and about 30% of them showed positive reactions to more than three allergens. Concordance rate between SPT and RAST was 78.6%. Patients showing positive reactions to multi-allergens tended to have more severe AD symptoms. Mothers appreciated the SPT test and felt that quick results for multi-allergens was the greatest advantafe of SPT. More than 90% of the mothers wanted the allergic status of their next children to be evaluated with SPT. Especially, more than 30% of the mothers preferred SPT than RAST as initial screening test. As SPT is harmless, easy to administer even in infancy, and has different advantages for those of RAST, this method deserves further re-evaluation as a means of identifying allergic status especially among infants.

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Theophylline has been used as a bronchodilator in acute and chronic asthma management but recent evidences suggest that it has anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, we investigated the therapeutic effect of slow-release theophylline in mild to moderate asthmatic patients. Symptomatic 19 patients with mild asthma who were treated with inhaled β_2-agonist alone, and 17 subjects with moderate asthma who were treated with moderate dose of inhaled corticosteroid (beclomethasone dipropionate, BDP, 400-800 μg/day) were enrolled to the present study. After two-week run-in period, slow-release theophylline was administered for six to eight weeks and asthma symptoms, respiratory function, airway inflammation evaluated by the inhalation of hypertonic saline, and airway reactivity to histamine were investigated during observation period and after treatment. Asthma symptom score was significantly improved after theophylline treatment in both groups. Morning peak expiratory flow was significantly elevated but FEV_1 was not significantly improved by the additional treatment with slow-release theophylline in both groups. Significant decreases in the percentages of total and EG2+ eosinophils in induced sputum demonstrated that slow-release theophylline has anti-inflammatory effect in patients with asthma despite the treatment with inhaled corticosteroid. Because recent reports suggest that theophylline may act as an anti-inflmmatory drug even in low dose concentration, we also investigated the effect of plasma theophylline concentration on the airway inflammation. Patients were divided into two groups by the plasma concentration of theophylline, more than 10μg/mL which is necessary to dilate airway and below 10μg/mL, referred to as low dose concentration of theophylline. The results suggest that the administration of slow-release theophylline significantly decreased the percentages of both total and EG2+ eosinophils in induced sputum in both concentration groups. However, airway reactivity to histamine did not significantly change by the treatment. Taken together, we conclude that low dose treatment of slow-release theophylline has as anti-inflammatory effect and treatment with slow-release theophylline alone or the additional use wity inhaled corticosteroid is an effective therapy for the management of mild to moderate asthma.

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We determined the levels of specific IgE antibody against mite in 91 infants with atopic dermatitis by CAP RAST system and LUMIWARD immunoassay system, and observed them for about two years. The correlation between CAP RAST and LUMIWARD was weak. The cut off point was set up at 0.06 IU/ml, most of the patients who had asthma attack or whose atopic dermatitis were poorly controled during two years judges to be positive. In conclusion, the determination of low levels of specific IgE antibody against mite in infants with atopic dermatitis was reliable to prediction of allergy.

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