(Press-News.org) Monash University researchers are working on a vaccine that could completely cure asthma brought on by house dust mite allergies.
If successful, the vaccine would have the potential to cure sufferers in two to three doses.
Allergies to house dust mites is a leading cause of asthma and the respiratory condition affects more than 2 million Australians and costs more than $600 million in health expenditure each year.
Currently, people allergic to house dust mites must continually clean their environments to remove the microscopic creatures from soft furnishings to avoid an allergic attack. Medications can bring relief for some sufferers, but must be taken regularly. Others respond less well to medications.
Professor El Meeusen, who is working with Professor Robyn O'Hehir, both from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Services, believes that a vaccine for people with house dust mite allergies will have a range of health and financial benefits for patients and the government.
"We are aiming to develop a vaccine that can be completely delivered in two to three doses. That means a person suffering from a house dust mite allergy will be able to breathe easily from their final dose," Professor Meeusen said.
"Allergies cost the Australian economy approximately seven billion dollars every year. The potential reduction in cost to the patient and to the government by eradicating a common allergy such as this is immense."
Professor O'Hehir has also made significant gains in developing a vaccine for people with peanut allergies. Currently there is no specific treatment for peanut allergy with avoidance and emergency treatment of anaphylaxis with adrenaline as the only options. Allergen immunotherapy is available for selected patients with house dust mite allergy but typically injections need to be given regularly for three to five years.
"This method of immunisation is quite precarious, because modern medicine still isn't entirely sure how it really works," Professor Meeusen said.
"The immunisation is administered in small doses. Too much can cause anaphylactic shock. It's a very fine line."
Laboratory testing has shown that a genetic predisposition exists to be allergic to more than one allergen.
"We have already found that being allergic to peanuts also represents the likelihood of developing an allergy to house dust mites," Dr Meeusen said.
"In humans it is difficult to look at how the very early stages of allergy occur, because you don't get to see the patient until it is well developed in their allergic response. Our testing enables us to look at the very first time that our models are exposed to the allergen."
From there, the scientists can see which models are going to develop an allergy and which are not, to determine the difference between them.
This research involves using the scientist's knowledge of normal vaccines for infectious diseases to better understand how allergy vaccines work in order to develop more effective and safer products.
### END
Allergy vaccine is nothing to sneeze at
2011-03-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Ancient trash heaps gave rise to Everglades tree islands
2011-03-22
SANTA FE, N.M. – Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development.
Tree islands are patches of relatively high and dry ground that dot the marshes of the Everglades. Typically a meter (3.3 feet) or so high, many of them are elevated enough to allow trees to grow. They provide a nesting site for alligators and a refuge for birds, panthers, and other wildlife.
Scientists have ...
Fault-finding coral reefs can predict the site of coming earthquakes
2011-03-22
In the wake of the devastating loss of life in Japan, the urgent question is where the next big earthquake will hit. To answer it, geologist Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham and his doctoral student Gal Hartman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Physics and Planetary Sciences in the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences are examining coral reefs and submarine canyons to detect earthquake fault zones.
Working with an international team of Israelis, Americans and Jordanians, Prof. Ben-Avraham and his team are developing a new method to determine what areas in a ...
A dose of safflower oil each day might help keep heart disease at bay
2011-03-22
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A daily dose of safflower oil, a common cooking oil, for 16 weeks can improve such health measures as good cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity and inflammation in obese postmenopausal women who have Type 2 diabetes, according to new research.
This finding comes about 18 months after the same researchers discovered that safflower oil reduced abdominal fat and increased muscle tissue in this group of women after 16 weeks of daily supplementation.
This combination of health measures that are improved by the safflower oil is associated with metabolic ...
Feeling angry? Say a prayer and the wrath fades away
2011-03-22
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Saying a prayer may help many people feel less angry and behave less aggressively after someone has left them fuming, new research suggests.
A series of studies showed that people who were provoked by insulting comments from a stranger showed less anger and aggression soon afterwards if they prayed for another person in the meantime.
The benefits of prayer identified in this study don't rely on divine intervention: they probably occur because the act of praying changed the way people think about a negative situation, said Brad Bushman, co-author of ...
K-State research channels powerful Kansas wind to keep electricity running
2011-03-22
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- One of Kansas' most abundant natural resources may hold the key to preventing major power outages. A team of Kansas State University engineers is researching ways to use Kansas wind and other distributed energy sources to avoid cascading failures.
Sakshi Pahwa, doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering, India, explored the topic for her recently completed master's project, "Distributed Sources and Islanding to Mitigate Cascading Failures in Power Grid Networks." The project was a winner at the recent Capitol Graduate Research Summit in ...
Medically underserved girls receive less frequent evaluation for short stature
2011-03-22
Primary care doctors are less likely to refer short girls than short boys for diagnostic testing that can reveal underlying medical reasons for their short stature, according to a new study of an urban pediatric population in Philadelphia. Girls with medical conditions causing their short stature may go undiagnosed, or may be diagnosed later than boys, limiting timely treatment.
Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia published their study online today in the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics.
The study team analyzed referral patterns for growth faltering ...
Nueva York Responsabilidad Premesis
2011-03-22
La manta "responsabilidad del edificio" abarca una amplia variedad de lesiones que occurren en la propiedad de otra persona. La propiedad puede ser propiedad de una pequena empresa, familia, corporacion gigante o municipio, pero independientemente, cada propietario tiene la obligacion de mantener sus tierras en condiciones razonablemente seguras para proteger a las personas que puedan entrar en el.
Que es la Responsabilidad del Edificio?
Como se ha senalado, el termino "responsabilidad del edificio" se puede utilizar para describir una serie de diferentes causas legales ...
Seeing in stereo: Engineers invent lens for 3-D microscope
2011-03-22
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Engineers at Ohio State University have invented a lens that enables microscopic objects to be seen from nine different angles at once to create a 3D image.
Other 3D microscopes use multiple lenses or cameras that move around an object; the new lens is the first single, stationary lens to create microscopic 3D images by itself.
Allen Yi, associate professor of integrated systems engineering at Ohio State, and postdoctoral researcher Lei Li described the lens in a recent issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America A.
Yi called the lens a ...
New York City Motorcycle Accident Attorney, Proner & Proner, Challenges Motorcycle-Only Checkpoints
2011-03-22
Motorcycle riders nationwide are eagerly awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit in federal court in New York challenging motorcycle-only checkpoints. The lawsuit is the first in the country to raise constitutional objections to the law enforcement practice of setting up checkpoints to stop all motorcyclists traveling to or from popular motorcycle events.
Police began using these checkpoints in New York State in 2008, using grant money from the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee. Recently, the federal government has begun funding motorcycle-only checkpoint initiatives in ...
Stress affects the balance of bacteria in the gut and immune response
2011-03-22
New York, 21 March 2011 – Stress can change the balance of bacteria that naturally live in the gut, according to research published this month in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
"These bacteria affect immune function, and may help explain why stress dysregulates the immune response," said lead researcher Michael Bailey.
Exposure to stress led to changes in composition, diversity and number of gut microorganisms, according to scientists from The Ohio State University. The bacterial communities in the intestine became less diverse, and had greater numbers ...