| |
|
March 11, 2009 |
|
|
|
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 |
| |
|
|
|
Association News |
| |
|
|
|
Fellows-in-Training |
| |
|
|
|
Periodicals |
| |
|
|
|
Calendar |
| |
|
|
|
Archive |
| |
|
|
|
FIT Archive |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Distance
Learning |
Conferences
On Line Allergy Initiative (COLA)
2008 ACAAI Annual Meeting CME Symposium
2008 ACAAI Annual Meeting Podcasts and Vodcasts
2008 ACAAI/AAAAI Certification/Maintenance of Certification Board Review Course
Link
|
|
Periodicals |
Annals of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology
Current issue
AllergyWatch
Current issue
|
|
Calendar |
|
MARCH
2009 AAAAI Annual Meeting
March 13-17, Washington, D.C.
Tel: 888-869-0189 (US/Canada)
Tel: 415-979-2277 (International/Local)
Email
Link
First Middle East-Asia Allergy Asthma Immunology Congress
ACAAI Collaborating Partner
March 26-29, Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 341 5663
Email
Link
MAY
2009 Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Society of Georgia Meeting
Pending ACAAI Joint Sponsorship
May 1-3, Pine Mountain, Ga.
Contact: Leslie Morris
Tel: 770-534-0534
Email
Atopy Patch Testing in Food Allergy
New York Allergy & Asthma Society
Pending ACAAI Joint Sponsorship
May 13, New York, N.Y.
Contact: Robert M. Klein, MD
Tel: 973-773-7400
Email
JULY
CSAAI’s 17th Annual Meeting
A Midsummer Night’s Wheeze
July 10-12, Huntington Beach, Calif.
Contact: David Arriola
Tel: 323-442-2546
Email
27th Annual Asthma Allergy Conference
Pending ACAAI Joint Sponsorship
July 29 - Aug. 1, Aspen, Colo.
Contact: Jill Hibbeln
Tel: 303-520-7660
Email
ONGOING
World
Allergy Organization Society Meetings
ACAAI
CME JOINT SPONSORSHIP ACCREDITATION
Contact: Mary Campbell
Tel: 847-427-1200
Email
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top
Stories |
|
|
Antibiotic use in first year linked to developing asthma
Antibiotic use during the first year of life may increase a child’s risk for developing asthma, and the risk increases with the number of courses of antibiotics prescribed, according to a study in Pediatrics. Scientists at several centers in Canada used administrative data from 1997 to 2003 birth cohorts to assess antibiotic exposure in 251,817 infants during their first year. They also looked at incidence of asthma after 24 months in both groups: exposed and not exposed to antibiotics during the first year. After adjusting for other potential confounders, antibiotic exposure during the first year was associated with a small risk for developing asthma in early childhood. The risk was highest among children treated with more than four courses of antibiotics.
Home visits improve low-income children’s asthma outcomes
Adding home visits by community health workers to clinic-based asthma education led to more symptom-free days and improvement in caretaker quality of life during a study of low-income children in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Researchers, led by James Krieger, M.D., at University of Washington School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Community Medicine, studied 393 children with asthma who lived in low-income households. They all received nurse-provided asthma education, but some were randomized also to receive in-home community health worker support.
The community health worker group had more symptom-free days in the previous two weeks (1.9 vs. 1.3) and the proportion of children who used urgent health services in the previous three months also was lower in the community care group (23.1 percent vs. 17.6 percent). Total symptom-free days per year overall was 24.4 days greater in the community care group than in the nurse-only group.
Compound in broccoli sprouts may help cut inflammation
Sulforaphane, a compound in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, may help lower respiratory inflammation linked to diseases such as asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a small study in Clinical Immunology. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, enrolled 65 people for a placebo-controlled dose escalation trial to investigate the in vivo effects of sulforaphane. Subjects received preparations of either broccoli sprouts, the richest natural source of sulforaphane, or alfalfa sprouts, which don’t contain sulforaphane, for three days. The authors saw a twofold to threefold increase in antioxidant enzymes in the nasal airway cells of subjects who had received the broccoli sprouts preparation.
|
| |
A message from John A. Winder, M.D., FACAAI,
chair, Nationwide Asthma Screening Program
Screening program arrives at right time for thousands
At a time when families are cutting back expenditures on nearly everything, including health care, the Nationwide Asthma Screening Program enables you to provide a much-needed public service to your community.
The deadline to participate in this year’s program is March 15.
Thanks to the support of the Find an Allergist, Find Relief public education and advocacy campaign, we’re moving forward with the 13th year of the program that helps people with breathing problems find out if they might be at risk for asthma. It also helps those who’ve been diagnosed with asthma to see if their disease is under control.
The program would not be possible without the support of the many allergists who volunteer their time to select a location for a free screening, publicize it and conduct the event. During the past 12 years more than 1,000 College members have conducted screenings in their local communities. The result: more than 115,000 people have been screened, with half referred for a diagnosis. Last year 650 media stories about the program reached a cumulative audience of 446.2 million, informing them about asthma and the role of allergists. Through this program, we are personally touching people who need our help the most.
College members who sign up to coordinate a program in their communities receive a free support kit that includes an instruction manual (this year for the first time on CD), registration forms and public education materials, including special materials for children.
Although the deadline for signing up is March 15, you have until April 30 to decide when and where your screening will be held. We will provide you with recommendations for locations, based on 12 years of experience.
Screenings can be held any time between now and December, although most take place in May as part of Allergy and Asthma Awareness Month.
You can register to coordinate an asthma screening by downloading forms on the Asthma Screening Program page of the member Web site. A Help Line (312-558-1175) also is available to assist you with any questions you have in planning your event.
In this time when everyone seems to be cutting back, I hope all College members will consider giving back. Please join this public service campaign and offer asthma screening in your community. It’s a simple step we can take to help our communities breathe easier.
|
| |
|
Association
News |
| |
Overview of diagnostic testing published for health care professionals
The ACAAI/AAAAI Specific IgE Test Task Force published the monograph “Pearls and Pitfalls of Allergy Diagnostic Testing” in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology to provide a general overview of allergy diagnostics for health care professionals who care for patients with allergic disease.
Available on the College’s member Web site (see “What’s New”), the monograph’s key message is that a positive allergy test (skin or blood) indicates only the presence of allergen-specific IgE. It does not necessarily mean clinical allergy. For this reason, allergy evaluation should be based on the patient’s history and directed by a health care professional with sufficient understanding of allergy diagnostic testing to use the information obtained from his/her evaluation of the patient to determine: what allergy diagnostic tests to order; how to interpret the allergy diagnostic test results; and how to use the information obtained from the allergy evaluation to develop an appropriate therapeutic treatment plan.
The members of the SETTaF-Specific IgE Testing Task Force who contributed to the article are Linda S. Cox, M.D., FACAAI (chair); Brock Williams, Ph.D.; Scott H. Sicherer, M.D.; John J. Oppenheimer, M.D., FACAAI; Lawrence D. Sher, M.D., FACAAI; Robert G. Hamilton, Ph.D., FACAAI (SC); and David B.K. Golden, M.D., FACAAI.
Webcasts from the Seattle meeting are available for CME credit
The following scientific symposia from the ACAAI's 2008 Annual Meeting are available as Webcasts and offer complimentary CME credit to those who did not receive credit from attending the Seattle meeting:
-
“Update in Hereditary Angioedema: A Disease in Rapid Evolution” – Supported by an educational grant from Dyax Corporation
- “Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) for Allergic Rhinitis: The Latest Evidence” – Supported by an educational grant from Schering-Plough
- “Advances in Hereditary Angioedema Treatment: Considerations, Criteria & the New Therapy Options for Treatment and Prevention of HAE Attacks” – Supported by an educational grant from Viro Pharma
Annual Meeting vodcasts available weekly
The College is now offering complimentary vodcasts of 2008 ACAAI Annual Meeting scientific sessions for viewing or downloading from the Distance Learning page of ACAAI Web site.
Members can view new streaming 30-minute vodcasts of key sessions on a computer weekly, or download them as a file directly to a portable media player. The first vodcasts contain the slides and audio from the 2008 half-day conferences in Seattle on Tracking Oral Immunotherapy: Should We Begin the SLIT Express? and Dermatology and Your Practice. Future vodcasts will feature selected sessions from the Literature Review Course and the named lectures.
This convenient service is sponsored by an educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline.
|
| |
|
AMA Corner
|
| |
Welcome to the AMA Corner, prepared by Alnoor A. Malick, M.D., FACAAI, the College’s Delegate to the AMA House of Delegates. AMA Corner helps keep you abreast of important AMA news and developments impacting allergy-immunology.
Health system reform briefing papers, details of stimulus law available online
In an effort to keep physicians informed and to help prepare them for active participation in current and future discussions about health system reform, the AMA has developed an action kit outlining its perspective on many of the key issues involved. The AMA also has compiled a summary of the new economic stimulus law, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
New resource covers medical home recognition
Along with public and private payers launching medical home pilots, Bridges to Excellence (BTE) recently partnered with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to offer an incentive program for physicians that is based on the medical home model. The AMA resource “Achieving medical home recognition” features the BTE and NCQA models, notes AMA policy regarding the medical home concept, and details other BTE and NCQA programs that are integral to physician practices being recognized as medical homes.
AMA resource can help physicians evaluate business models
Are you seeking ways to simplify your practice and reduce administrative overhead? The AMA’s Practice Management Center has created the educational resource “Cash practice alternatives: 20 Considerations for physicians” to assist in evaluating whether limiting your practice’s financial dependence upon health insurer contracts might be a viable option. This resource covers the various cash practice alternatives and helps assess which business model best suits a practice’s particular situation.
|
| |
|
Fellows-in-Training |
| |
Have any questions, suggestions or comments? Feel free to contact your regional or national FIT representatives listed on the Fellows-in-Training page of the College Web site.
Board Review Corner
Welcome to the Board Review Corner prepared by Jennifer W. Mbuthia, M.D., and Christopher R. Martin, M.D., Senior and Junior Representatives of ACAAI’s fellows-in-training (FITs) to the Board of Regents. The Board Review Corner is an opportunity to help hone your Board preparedness.
To refer to a previous Board Review Corner, click the "FIT Archive" link in the
left column.
Review Questions: Chapter 48 of Pediatric Allergy: Principles & Practices, edited by Donald Y.M. Leung, et al. Review questions were written by Gregory Metz, M.D., Duke University, and Christopher R. Martin, M.D., Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
|
|
