|
|
| |
|
May 25, 2005 |
| |
|
Welcome to ACAAI eNews — a bi-weekly aggregated news service
from the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. To be
removed from this distribution list, please see instructions at
bottom. |
| |
 |
Top
Stories |
| |
|
|
|
Drugs and Devices |
|
|
|
|
|
Distance Learning |
|
|
|
|
|
Association
News |
| |
|
|
|
Fellows-in-Training |
| |
|
|
|
Calendar |
| |
|
|
|
Archive |
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIT Archive |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Patients should own and control interactive personal health
records, say 63 percent of readers responding. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Distance Learning |
2004 ACAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Nov. 12-17, Boston
Link
From the 2003 ACAAI ANNUAL MEETING
Nov. 7-12, 2003, New Orleans
• Two Symposia Online
Link
• Plenary Sessions CD-ROM and DVD
Link
Patient-Centered Allergy Practice
Endorsed by ACAAI, Sponsored by Physicians Practice
Link
|
|
Calendar |
|
JUNE
World Allergy Congress
June 26 – July 1
Munich, Germany
Link
JULY
Association of Asthma
Educators (AAE) Annual Conference
July 22-24, Las Vegas
Tel: 888-988-7747
E-mail
Link
AAE's National Asthma Educator Certification Review Course
July 24-25, Las Vegas
Tel: 888-988-7747
E-mail
Link
23rd Annual Aspen Allergy
Conference
July 27-30
Aspen, Colo.
Contact: Kathleen Goldy
Tel: 303-282-0491
E-mail
Link
8th Annual Scientific Session of
the Intermountain West
Allergy Association
July 28-30, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Link
AUGUST
Hong Kong
Allergy Convention
Jointly sponsored by ACAAI
Aug. 6-7, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre
Tel: 852-2559-5888
Fax: 852-2559-6910
E-mail
OCTOBER
New Trends & Recent Applications
in Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Oct. 6-8, Taormina, Sicily
E-mail:jbella007@aol.com
or IRConsult@aol.com
Link
ONGOING
World Allergy Organization Society Meetings
|
Sponsored
By |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Top
Stories |
| |
Family history of celiac disease? Wait to give wheat.
Parents of babies with a family history of either celiac
disease or type 1 diabetes (a risk factor for celiac disease)
should introduce wheat between 4 and 6 months, says a study in
the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers at University of Colorado at Denver and Health
Sciences Center identified 1,560 newborns at increased risk of
celiac disease in the Denver area from 1994 to 2004, tracking
their health outcomes for an average of five years, using parent
interviews, blood tests and diet monitoring. Of the 1,560, 51
developed celiac disease during the study. Children fed gluten
before 3 months had a fivefold increase in risk for celiac
disease, while children first fed gluten at 7 months or later
were at a marginally increased risk of the disease, compared
with babies first fed gluten between 4 and 6 months.
Asthma more than doubles pneumococcal
disease risk
People with asthma are twice as likely to contract invasive
pneumococcal disease than people without asthma, according to a
study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers
at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn., used the CDC and
TennCare Medicaid program databases to identify 635 patients
from 2 to 49 with invasive pneumococcal disease, matching each
subject with 10 age-matched controls. Risk of pneumococcal
infection was 2.4 times higher for people with asthma. Those
with more serious asthma were 2.6 times more likely to contract
invasive pneumococcal disease, compared to 1.7 times higher for
patients with less severe asthma.
Effective spring cleaning may ease
allergy symptoms
As part of National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, the
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is promoting the
importance of appropriate and effective cleaning methods to
reduce common indoor allergy triggers, such as dust mites and
pet dander. Some AAFA tips:
• Maintain home humidity below 50 percent.
• Vacuum regularly using two bags or a HEPA filter.
• Encase mattresses and pillows in allergen-proof covers.
• Wash bed linens weekly in hot water.
• Keep pets off furniture.
• Bathe cats and dogs weekly.
|
| |
 A
word from President Myron Zitt, M.D.
As we did in 2004, members of the ACAAI Board of Regents
held meetings on Capitol Hill with their states’ lawmakers
in the House and Senate on May 5 to lobby for issues
important to our allergy practices and, most important, to
our patients.
Prior to our meetings at the Capitol, we heard remarks by
Richard A. Deem, Vice President of Government Affairs for
the American Medical Association and Debra Havens,
president of Capitol Associates Inc., to help prepare for
our meetings with our senators and representatives.
An important focus of our morning together was Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) proposed bill, the
“Family Asthma Act.” In discussions with Ann Gavaghan,
legislative aide to Sen. Clinton, the College indicated
support for the bill, while urging modification of the
legislation to recognize allergens as major trigger
factors for asthma, and allergists as the experts in
disease diagnosis and management.
In my meeting with Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and Deborah
Darcy, his health legislative assistant, we discussed
these needs:
a) to fix the Medicare physician fee schedule
b) to institute medical liability reform
c) to support legislative initiatives to improve asthma
care
d) to address the shortfall in allergists anticipated over
the next 10 years by obtaining increased funding for
allergy/immunology training programs.
Mr. Israel told me that I was “preaching to the choir” in
that he fully supported the position of the ACAAI.
The Medicare physician payment formula is a critical
issue. Unless Congress acts this year, the first in a
series of cuts will go into effect next January that will
amount to a 4.3-percent cut in physician payments in 2006
and a projected 26-percent cut in Medicare payment rates
from 2006 through 2011. We are asking Congress to stop the
cut from taking effect in 2006 and to permanently fix the
payment formula so that it more accurately reflects
medical practice costs in future years.
Action also is needed now on medical liability reforms,
with the medical malpractice insurance crisis threatening
healthcare affordability and access to care. The Senate
failed in the 108th Congress three times to move and pass
a medical liability bill. In the 108th, the House of
Representatives passed a comprehensive medical malpractice
bill (HR5), but it went no further. We are asking Congress
to support, cosponsor and vote for a comprehensive medical
malpractice insurance reform bill.
I was joined by Rose Marie Young, M.D., Speaker of the
House of Delegates, and Tao N. Tran, M.D., Senior
Fellow-in-Training Representative, both of who are Board
members from New York, to discuss these same initiatives
with Missy Rohrbach, health legislative assistant, from
Sen. Charles E. Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office. Later that
day, our New York contingent again met with Ms. Gavaghan,
to not only address these issues but to make specific
recommendations for the modification of the Family Asthma
Act. Although no promises were made, she seemed receptive
to our suggestions.
Altogether, Board members had 19 House meetings and 38
Senate meetings, many of which built on the rapport
established during our initial meetings last year. As
medical lobbyists, nobody does it better than the
allergist.
On a final note, I must tell you that I received quite a
bit of feedback regarding the blast e-mail I sent to the
membership providing information that the Embryonic Stem
Cell Research bill (HR 810) sponsored by Rep. Michael N.
Castle (R-Del.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), will come to the House floor for a vote in the very near
future. Needless to say, this legislation to expand the
number of stem cell lines eligible for federally funded
research is quite controversial.
It is important for our membership to understand that the
ACAAI is not choosing sides on this issue, but it is
simply recommending that those individuals who feel
strongly either for or against the bill should contact
their representatives in Congress to express their
opinions.
I believe it is essential for the ACAAI to keep its
members informed regarding all issues that affect our
patients. When issues of medical importance arise, it is
so often the trusted and respected allergist to whom the
patient turns for advice.
Myron Zitt, M.D.
President, ACAAI |
|
|
|
|
|
Association
News |
| |
|
 Jay
Leno will entertain you at the ACAAI gala fundraiser
Jay Leno, host of Emmy Award-winning and top-rated The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno, will headline the annual
Fundraising Dinner on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005, at the ACAAI
Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
Leno has appeared in hundreds of comedy shows across the
United States for the past 20 years and remains passionate
about performing in front of live audiences. Striving not to
offend, Leno offers non-racist, non-sexist, anti-drug humor.
His focus is on ridiculing the mundane, the idiocies of social
life. Despite his penchant for politically liberal jokes, Leno
insists that his humor is non-ideological and thus apolitical.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which airs weeknights
at 11:35 Eastern time, has experienced numerous highlights
during its reign, including winning two Emmy Awards. The first
was in 1995 for Outstanding Comedy, Variety or Music Series,
and the second in 1996 for Outstanding Technical Direction. In
1999 and 2000, The Tonight Show took home the trophy
for Favorite Late Night Show in the annual TV Guide Awards. He
received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and is the first
person to drive the pace car at all major NASCAR events.
Register for ACAAI jointly sponsored symposium in Sicily by
June 1
The ACAAI is partnering with four organizations to present an
International Symposium: New Trends & Recent Applications
in Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Oct. 6-8,
2005. The conference will be held at the Russott Hotel,
Giardini Naxos, Italy, near beautiful Taormina, Sicily.
The final program is available on the member section of the
College Web
site. The deadline for registration is June 1. Make your
travel plans to arrive in Catania. Contact: Jacqueline Roberts
at: jbella007@aol.com
or IRConsult@aol.com
for further details. Join your colleagues in sunny Sicily this
fall.
 World
Allergy Day to be July 8, 2005
The first World Allergy Day will be July 8, 2005. Associated
with the biennial World Allergy Congress, WAO hopes this
initiative will contribute to increasing the visibility of
allergy among the public, health care authorities, and other
related specialties.
Join ACAAI and other sponsoring allergy societies from around
the world to recognize World Allergy Day.
Click here to access the World Allergy Day kit and join in
the New Online Discussion Forum.
Allergy Practice Tip: Answer
The Call
Advice from The Patient-Centered Allergy Practice
Most allergy practices get phone calls in sudden spurts.
Calls typically peak three times a day: When the practice
opens, after lunch and just before close. But no practice can
hire a receptionist just for those hours.
Instead, cross-train staff so that anyone — nurses, billers,
whoever — can grab a phone when it’s ringing. Or, hire very
flexible, part-time help who can answer phones at peak times
on peak days. Students, retirees and new moms may welcome the
short hours.
Click here for more advice on phone management in the
allergy practice.
These tips are drawn from The Patient-Centered Allergy
Practice, a CME Series in Practice Management, supported
through an educational grant from sanofi-aventis Group
and endorsed by the American College of Allergy, Asthma &
Immunology. |
|
|
|
Fellows-in-Training |
| |
Welcome to the Board Review Corner prepared by Thao Ngoc Tran,
M.D., a representative of ACAAI’s fellows-in-training (FITs) to
the Board of Regents. The Board Review Corner is your chance to
test your Board preparedness.
To refer to a previous Board Review Corner, click the “Archive”
link in the left column.
Immunology Review Corner: Chapter 48 of the 6th edition
of Middleton’s Allergy Principles and Practice, edited by N.
Franklin Adkinson, et al. Review questions were written by
fellows-in-training Drs. Thao Tran and Karla Lowe.
 |
|
