Digital Commons Network^™

Epigenetics And Social Inequalities In Asthma And Allergy, Elizabeth S. Clausing, Cassidy J. Tomlinson, Amy L. Non

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Respiratory illnesses, such as asthma and allergy disorders, are disproportionately more common among minority racial/ethnic groups and those of low socioeconomic status. In the United States, asthma prevalence and severity are highest among Puerto Ricans (19.2%), American Indians/Alaska Natives (13%), and Black Americans (12.7%) and higher in families living below the poverty threshold than among those living above it (11% vs 8%–9%).¹ Many studies of asthma/allergy inequalities assume that genetic differences underlie racial/ethnic differences in these disorders, pointing to genetic ancestry differences between races, but most genetic variants fail to explain racial/ethnic differences and are usually studied only in …

Using Bioinformatics Tools To Evaluate Potential Risks Of Food Allergy And To Predict Microbiome Functionality, Mohamed Abdelmoteleb

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Novel foods and Genetically Engineered (GE) organisms are being developed for nutritional, industrial, and environmental applications. Dietary interventions have been used recently to mitigate methane emissions in ruminants. In this project, bioinformatics tools have been used to answer two main questions. The first question is the potential allergy risks for consumption of novel foods and GE organisms. The second question is the effects of dietary interventions on microbiome functionality related to methane production in ruminants.

To answer the first question, regulatory authorities in the United States and Europe now expect an evaluation of new proteins in novel foods or genetically …

Global Research Output On Eosinophilia Literature: A Scientometric Analysis, Chithiraivel S., Sivasekaran K, Jeyshankar Ramalinagam

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study analyses that research output on eosinophilia from 1998-2017 on different parameters including the literature growth, year -wise cited records, number of authors & h-index. The relative growth rate (RGR) and doubling time (Dt), the time series analysis for articles, contribution of various subject fields, highest research productivity of journals and their citation with impact factor and keyword analysis. The higher numbers of publications 793 were published in 2016, the scientists most preferred journals are Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Journal of immunology, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The high frequency keywords were: Eosinophilia (3175), …

Edible Insects As A Source Of Food Allergens, Lee Palmer

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing global population increasingly limited by resources has spurred interest in novel food sources. Insects may be an alternative food source in the near future, but consideration of insects as a food requires scrutiny due to risk of allergens. Currently, the insect Dactylopius coccus, known as cochineal, is used to produce carmine, a natural red pigment used in food, which has caused allergic reactions. This study investigated allergens of cochineal focusing on purification from the pigment. Mass spectrometry identified a previously described major allergen of cochineal and a tropomyosin, although further work is required.

Tropomyosin is a major cross-reactive allergen …

Evaluation Of Qualitative Food Allergen Detection Methods And Cleaning Validation Approaches, Rachel C. Courtney

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Allergen control plans are increasingly used by the food industry to prevent allergen cross-contact and validation of these plans involves methods to detect allergen protein residues. A commonly used rapid allergen detection method is lateral flow devices, although research about their validation is lacking. The objective of this research was to investigate lateral flow devices, their specificity and sensitivity to milk proteins and milk-derived ingredients, swabbing conditions, and applications in cleaning validation.

Several lateral flow devices advertised to detect total milk did not detect whey proteins or whey-derived ingredients. The overload level of the kits was highly variable (ranging from …

Immunotherapy Using Algal-Produced Ara H 1 Core Domain Suppresses Peanut Allergy In Mice, James A. Grgeory, Ariel Shepley-Mctaggart, Michelle Umpierrez, Barry K. Hurlburt, Soheila J. Maleki, Hugh A. Sampson, Stephen P. Mayfield, M. Cecilia Berin

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Peanut allergy is an IgE-mediated adverse reaction to a subset of proteins found in peanuts. Immunotherapy aims to desensitize allergic patients through repeated and escalating exposures for several months to years using extracts or flours. The complex mix of proteins and variability between preparations complicates immunotherapy studies. Moreover, peanut immunotherapy is associated with frequent negative side effects and patients are often at risk of allergic reactions once immunotherapy is discontinued. Allergen-specific approaches using recombinant proteins are an attractive alternative because they allow more precise dosing and the opportunity to engineer proteins with improved safety profiles. We tested whether Ara h …

Wild Buckwheat Is Unlikely To Pose A Risk To Buckwheat-Allergic Individuals, Julie A. Nordlee, Rakhi Panda, Joseph L. Baumert, Richard E. Goodman, Steve Taylor

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a commonly allergenic food especially in Asia where buckwheat is more commonly consumed. Wild buckwheat (Polygonum convolvulus, recently changed to Fallopia convolvulus) is an annual weed prevalent in grain-growing areas of the United States. Wild buckwheat is not closely related to edible buckwheat although the seeds do have some physical resemblance. A large shipment of wheat into Japan was halted by the discovery of the adventitious presence of wild buckwheat seeds over possible concerns for buckwheat-allergic consumers. However, IgE-binding was not observed to an extract of wild buckwheat using sera from …

Threshold Dose For Peanut: Risk Characterization Based Upon Diagnostic Oral Challenge Of A Series Of 286 Peanut-Allergic Individuals, Steve L. Taylor, D. A. Moneret-Vautrin, Rene W. R. Crevel, David Sheffield, Martine Morisset, P. Dumont, Benjamin C. Remington, Joseph L. Baumert

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Clinical records of 286 consecutive patients reacting positively with objective symptoms to double-blind, placebo-controlled oral peanut challenges at University Hospital, Nancy, France were examined for individual No Observed Adverse Effect Levels (NOAELs) and Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Levels (LOAELs). After fitting to a log-normal probability distribution model, the ED₁₀ and ED₀₅ were 14.4 and 7.3 mg (expressed as whole peanut), respectively, with 95% lower confidence intervals of 10.7 and 5.2 mg, respectively. Compared to results from a previous study where the ED₁₀ was based upon individual peanut thresholds gleaned from 12 publications, a statistically significant difference was …

A Consensus Protocol For The Determination Of The Threshold Doses For Allergenic Foods: How Much Is Too Much?, S. L. Taylor, S. L. Hefle, C. Bindslev-Jensen, F. M. Atkins, C. Andre, C. Bruijnzeel-Koomen, A. W. Burks, R. K. Bush, M. Ebisawa, P. A. Eigenmann, A. Host, Jonathan O. B. Hourihane, E. Isolauri, D. J. Hill, A. Knulst, G. Lack, H. A. Sampson, D. A. Moneret-Vautrin, F. Rance, P. A. Vadas, J. W. Yunginger, R. S. Zeiger, J. W. Salminen, C. Madsen, P. Abbott

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background:While the ingestion of small amounts of an offending food can elicit adverse reactions in individuals with IgE-mediated food allergies, little information is known regarding these threshold doses for specific allergenic foods. While low-dose challenge trials have been conducted on an appreciable number of allergic individuals, a variety of different clinical protocols were used making the estimation of the threshold dose very difficult.

Objective: A roundtable conference was convened to develop a consensus clinical protocol for low-dose challenge trials for the estimation of threshold doses for specific allergenic foods.

Methods: In May 2002, 20 clinical allergists and other interested parties …

Factors Affecting The Determination Of Threshold Doses For Allergenic Foods: How Much Is Too Much?, Steve L. Taylor, Susan L. Hefle, Carsten Bindslev-Jensen, S. Allan Bock, A. Wesley Burks Jr., Lynn Christie, David J. Hill, Arne Host, Jonathan O'B. Hourihane, Gideon Lack, Dean D. Metcalfe, Denise Anne Moneret-Vautrin, Peter A. Vadas, Fabienne Rance, Daniel J. Skrypec, Thomas A. Trautman, Ingrid Malmheden Yman, Robert S. Zeiger

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background: Ingestion of small amounts of an offending food can elicit adverse reactions in individuals with IgE-mediated food allergies. The threshold dose for provocation of such reactions is often considered to be zero. However, because of various practical limitations in food production and processing, foods may occasionally contain trace residues of the offending food. Are these very low, residual quantities hazardous to allergic consumers? How much of the offending food is too much? Very little quantitative information exists to allow any risk assessments to be conducted by the food industry.

Objective: We sought to determine whether the quality and quantity …