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Final Program for the ACAAI Annual Meeting now online
Plan your itinerary for the Nov. 9-15 ACAAI Annual Meeting using the complete Final Program now available online.

Scan the scientific program for up-to-date sessions and speakers. Select the workshops and Meet the Professor Breakfasts tailored to your needs. Note which concurrent sessions and poster presentations you don’t want to miss. Jot down the social events in your calendar and make those last-minute tour reservations.

Order your tickets today for the Sunday evening, Nov. 12, Annual Fundraising Dinner with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops.

Online registration is closed, but it’s not too late to register in advance so your package will be ready to pick-up at Registration. Downloadable Meeting Registration Forms also are online for faxing.

For more information, contact ACAAI by e-mail: meetings@acaai.org, by telephone: (847) 427-1200, or fax: (847) 427-1294.

Symposium impacted by extended release
of new asthma guidelines
An extended release date for the new NAEPP Asthma Guidelines has resulted in changes in the Sunday, Nov. 12, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. symposium.

“Like everyone else, I was looking forward to a first look at the long-awaited update to the NAEPP Asthma Guidelines," says Dr. Jay Portnoy, chair of the Pharmaceutical Symposium Committee. “Though the symposium won’t have specific information from the new guidelines, it will have a stellar faculty to discuss issues related to the use and implementation of Guidelines and to discuss what they anticipate the new document will, and won’t, address. This should lead to a fascinating preview of what is to come.”

The featured symposium, “Controversial Issues Involving Asthma Disease Management: Implications for Asthma Guidelines,” moderated by Dr. Michael B. Foggs, will include the following presentations:

What the Guidelines Didn’t Say
— Dr. Thomas A.E. Platts-Mills

Controversies in Beta-agonist Therapy: Implications for Evidence-Based — Asthma Guidelines Dr. John Oppenheimer

Implementing Asthma Guidelines Emphasizing Evidence-Based Parameters — Dr. Sheldon L. Spector

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to: 1) describe the limits of the guidelines; 2) recognize the importance of variability of response to treatment of asthma; 3) evaluate the role of allergies in asthma; 4) implement practical aspects of guidelines; and 5) discuss concepts from guidelines.

Win a free 30 GB Video iPod at the ACAAI Annual Meeting
Doctors and allied health professionals who register for the Annual Meeting will be given a raffle ticket in their registration packets for a chance to win one of 10 30 GB video iPods. The ticket must be deposited into a collection box in the Exhibit Hall to qualify for the drawing and participants must be present to win.

The drawings will be held 10:20 a.m., 12:20 p.m., and 3:20 p.m. on Monday in the back of Exhibit Hall D. Three iPod winners will be drawn during each of the two breaks, and four at lunch time.

Annual Meeting programs will be available as video podcasts
The College announces a new initiative to electronically deliver scientific presentations from this year’s Annual Meeting directly to its members as Vodcasts (video podcasts) beginning in November.

Bi-weekly, members can view or download 30-minute Vodcasts of key sessions to their computers or portable media players. Users can retrieve files manually from the College Web site or subscribe at no cost to a feed that automatically downloads Vodcasts each time a new presentation is posted.

The first Vodcasts will contain the slides and audio from this year’s Food Allergy Symposium and Literature Review Course. Other key scientific sessions and non-meeting related material also will be broadcast throughout the year.

Watch for more information about this new and exciting service sponsored by an education grant from GlaxoSmithKline.

Online registration now open for the Board Review Course
Register online for the ACAAI/AAAAI Certification/Maintenance of Certification Board Review Course, April 19-22, 2007, at the Renaissance Hotel in Chicago.

The Allergy and Immunology Review Course 2007 is developed and presented by a conjoint committee appointed by ACAAI and AAAAI. As ABAI is the certifying organization for the specialty — and separate from these educational organizations — ABAI Directors responsible for preparing the 2007 ABAI examinations are not involved with the course presentations. Content outlines for the examination are available on the ABAI Web site.

The Conjoint Planning Committee includes Drs. Emil J. Bardana Jr. (co-chair), Dennis Ledford (co-chair), Thomas A. Fleisher, David A. Khan, Phillip Lieberman, Kathleen R. May, Dennis R. Ownby, and William T. Shearer.

Board Review Course programs have been mailed to all College and AAAAI members.

Look for your copy of the flu vaccination pocket guide
The 2006-07 Influenza Vaccination Pocket Information Guide has been mailed with your copy of ACAAI News.

The handy quick reference card includes the following:
• Indications
• Contraindications and precautions
• Vaccine dosing and administration
• Side effects
• Talking points with patients

The Immunization Action Coalition (www.immunize.org) created the cards in collaboration with the National Influenza Vaccine Summit.

Patient information “Flu Vaccine and Egg Allergy” online
New patient education information about “Flu Vaccine and Egg Allergy,” developed by the College’s Public Education Committee and the Drugs and Anaphylaxis Committee, is available online.

“Patients with egg allergy should understand the risks associated with some flu vaccines,” said Dr. A. M. Aminian, Public Education Committee chair. “They also should be informed that allergists have expertise to administer the vaccine even for some people with egg allergy, which is especially important for those with respiratory or age-related risk factors attributed to complications caused by influenza.”

Immunology Review Corner
Welcome to the Board Review Corner prepared by Karla R. Davis, M.D., 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 80 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 in Germany, and Soo Kim-Delio, Walter Reed Army Medical Center.