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Asthma care disproportionate among Puerto Rican, black children
U.S. children from African and Puerto Rican descent receive different asthma care, according to a study in Chest. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston studied data from 6,554 children part of an asthma intervention program in Hartford, Conn., who were screened for asthma. They found that the Puerto Rican subjects with asthma made 30 percent more outpatient clinic visits than the black subjects with the same disease severity. But the black subjects spent three times more days in the hospital for asthma treatment than the Puerto Rican subjects.

PAT study followup: Specific immunotherapy
may lower kids’ asthma risk
Specific immunotherapy may prevent asthma in children with seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis, according to a study in Allergy. Researchers at University Children's Hospital, Charite, in Berlin, Germany, studied 183 6- to 14-year-old children with seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis enrolled in the Preventive Allergy Treatment study, looking for potential long-term preventive effects on asthma development. They then evaluated the children two years after they had completed a three-year course of specific immunotherapy. Subjects who received specific immunotherapy were 2.68 times more likely to remain asthma free than the control subjects. 

SSA proposes revisions to immune system disorders criteria
The Social Security Administration recently announced a proposed rule to revise the Listing of Impairments criteria used to evaluate claims involving immune system disorders. The proposed regulations would affect disability determinations under title II and title XVI. The Social Security Administration defines a disability as "the result of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that is expected to result in death or which has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months." The SSA also is proposing to update the list regarding immune system disorders and how these disorders are evaluated. The revisions being proposed include making medical terminology easier to understand, as well as adding criteria to the listings. You may submit comments until October 3 via e-mail to regulations@ssa.gov , fax at (410) 966-2830 or mail at Commissioner of Social Security, P.O. Box 17703, Baltimore, MD 21235-7703.  

U.S. loosens gift rules to encourage digital medical record use
U.S. officials recently announced new rules that would allow hospitals and other health care providers to give doctors computers, software, and high-tech services without breaking federal fraud and abuse laws. The rules, set to take effect in October, were changed to encourage wider acceptance and use of digital health records. Under the new rules, physicians may receive unlimited components for systems that meet certification standards, but they must pay 15 percent of the costs.  

Register early for the ACAAI Annual Meeting in Philly
Register online for the 64th ACAAI Annual Meeting, We’ve Only Just Begun, at the Philadelphia Convention Center, Nov. 9-15.

“As this year's title implies, I believe that allergy is on the brink of important clinical breakthroughs based on the enormous recent advances in immunobiology,” said Dr. Daniel Ein, president-elect and annual program chair. “Our program this year continues in the College tradition of presenting state-of-the-art clinical information, but also will incorporate sessions in basic immunology of relevance to our future practices.”

Meeting highlights include:

•	The XII International Food Allergy Symposium, Thursday, Nov. 9
•	The Annual Literature Review, Friday, Nov. 10
•	“Walk Through the Parameter on Contact Dermatitis” at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Tuesday, Nov. 14, and “The Challenge of Pediatric Urticaria” and DERM FEST, Wednesday, Nov. 15
•	Meet the Professor breakfasts
•	Workshops, including computer courses
•	Concurrent oral and poster presentations of selected abstracts
•	Technical exhibits providing information on commercially available products and services germane to allergy and immunology
•	Special courses for allied health professionals, office administrators, clinical research coordinators, and asthma educators

A Preliminary Program containing registration and housing information was mailed to all members and is available on the meeting Web site.

FDA to pharmacies: Stop mass-producing
unapproved inhalation drugs
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned three firms, RoTech Healthcare, Inc., CCS Medical, and Reliant Pharmacy Services, to stop manufacturing and distributing thousands of doses of compounded, unapproved inhalation drugs nation-wide.

The FDA states that the products in question are not approved for safety or efficacy and typically are not sterile. Consumers using inhalation drugs are urged to discuss their medications with their physicians and verify with their pharmacists that the medications they received are what their physicians ordered.

ACAAI is a member of the Consumer Health Alliance for Safe Medication (CHASM), a national working group of patient advocates and medical professional associations that welcomes the FDA warnings to the three national pharmacies to stop manufacturing unlawful nebulizer medication.

“While we commend the FDA for sending out these warning letters, we need the agency to go one step further and force these companies to notify patients who are in receipt of unlawful and potentially unsafe medications,” said Nancy Sander, president and founder of Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics, a CHASM member.

“Millions of doses have been manufactured and distributed, but patients and prescribers alike are often unaware that their prescriptions for FDA-approved medications were substituted with unapproved, unlawful medications made by Rotech, Reliant, and CCS Medical.”

Join teleconference on study results of asthma camp participants
The Consortium of Children’s Asthma Camps (CCAC), a coalition of non-profit organizations including ACAAI, invites College members to join its teleconference Tuesday, Aug. 22, on “Clinical Profile and Quality of Life of Children with Asthma from a Large Survey of Children Attending Asthma Camps.”

Approximately 150 asthma camps presently serve more than 15,000 children nationwide. Using a standardized universal health history camp application, detailed information was collected and analyzed from a large sample of children with asthma, helping to improve our understanding of how children in this country are affected by asthma.
 

•	The call will be one hour long, starting at 3 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Central and noon Pacific time.
•	Call information: 866-275-2355 or 303-262-0519—Participant Pin# 33341.
•	Please RSVP to Penny Fena at penny.fena@alamn.org if you plan to join the call.

FAAN Walk for Food Allergy
The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) will host the 3rd Annual Walk for Food Allergy: Moving Toward A Cure, Sept. 16, in Chicago. The Walk is one of more than 18 walks to be held across the country and will help FAAN continue its mission to raise public awareness, provide advocacy and education, and advance research on behalf of all those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis. More than 12 million Americans suffer from food allergies, and 3 million are school-aged children.

Members in the spotlight
On July 26, Dr. Bruce S. Dobozin, Brooklyn, N.Y., spoke at the International Conference & Master Class: “High Technologies in Ophthalmology” at the Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Eye Diseases in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

“I was part of a group of a dozen ophthalmologists and several vision researchers from the U.S. and one from Ankara, Turkey,” Dr. Dobozin said. “There were 230 physician attendees, mostly from the sponsoring eye institute in Almaty. While the ophthalmologists did demo surgery, I met with a family practice doc who practices allergology and uses bacterial vaccines with much confidence. I am not sure our sub-specialty is actually represented there.”

Have you written a new book? Have you won a prestigious award? Are you doing something that ACAAI members would really find interesting? Submit notable achievements and read about those of your peers in ACAAI eNews. Please e-mail member news notices to joannfaber@acaai.org.

Immunology Review Corner
Welcome to the Board Review Corner, prepared by Dr. Karla R. Davis, senior 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 75 of the 6th edition of Middleton’s Allergy Principles and Practice, edited by N. Franklin Adkinson, et al. Review questions were written by Drs. Karla R. Davis, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany; Anne K. Ellis, McMaster University; and Soo Kim-Delio, Walter Reed Army Medical Center.