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Book
Author Prescott, Susan L.

Title The allergy epidemic : a mystery of modern life / Susan L. Prescott
Published Crawley, W.A. : UWA Publishing, 2011

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  616.97 Pre/Aea  AVAILABLE
Description xiv, 275 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents Contents note continued: 9.The practicalities: current allergy prevention strategies -- How good are we at identifying infants ̀at risk' of allergic disease? -- How good are our current prevention strategies? -- What strategies have been used and are they still justified? -- Previous allergen avoidance strategies that are no longer recommended -- Current prevention strategies -- Future research opportunities (probiotics, prebiotics, fish oil and other strategies) -- Where does this leave us? -- 10.Allergy in practice -- Early symptoms that suggest allergy -- What we want to know in the allergy history -- What we look for in the physical examination -- Testing for allergic antibodies -- The allergen-skin prick test (SPT) -- The allergy blood test -- Interpreting the allergy tests: the important distinction between ̀atopy' and allergic disease -- Using these IgE allergy tests for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment decisions --
Contents note continued: Allergen ̀challenges': the definitive test of allergic reactions -- General principles in managing allergic disease -- Immunotherapy: a ̀curative' strategy to reverse the allergic response -- The prognosis and ̀natural history' of allergic diseases -- 11.Food allergy -- the new allergy epidemic -- What is food allergy? -- How common is food allergy? -- Foods most commonly implicated in food allergy -- Symptoms that suggest food allergy -- IgE-mediated food allergy in detail -- A cure for food allergy could now be within reach -- Eczema and food allergy -- Gastrointestinal food allergy syndromes -- Eosinophilic Oesophagitis -- ̀FPIES' -- Protocolitis -- Protein-induced enteropathy -- A little more on infant formulas that are used in allergic disease -- Some other situations where food allergy may be a factor -- 12.Eczema and atopic dermatitis -- What is it? -- The role of allergy -- The role of genetics and other factors that influence the skin barrier --
Contents note continued: Differences in allergic and non-allergic individuals -- It is all a question of balance -- So what tips the balance? -- The dose or amount of allergen -- The route of exposure -- Exposure to microbial products -- Other factors that might tip the balance -- A bigger story and a new player -- More about master controller regulatory T cells -- All of that in a nutshell -- 6.Setting the scene: the importance of early life -- A new field of medicine is born -- Introducing epigenetics: a new frontier in medicine -- Early programming: immune development -- Allergy: differences in immune development are already evident at birth -- Emerging differences in other immune pathways -- Immune development is also under epigenetic control -- Pregnancy is an important window of opportunity -- The importance of the gut in the postnatal period -- 7.Genetics and allergic disease -- Allergy inheritance patterns: family risk -- The quest for specific allergy and asthma genes --
Contents note continued: Insect allergy -- Drug and latex allergies -- Papular urticaria (skin reactions to insect bites) -- ̀Allergic' reactions to exercise, water, cold, heat and other physical factors (physical urticarias) -- Persistent hives with no apparent cause: chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) -- 16.Where to from here?
Contents note continued: Treatment of acute asthma -- Treatment between exacerbations -- Treating symptoms with exercise -- The delivery device is just as important as the drug -- Safety of inhaled steroids -- The role of allergy testing, allergen avoidance and immunotherapy -- Concept of ̀one airway': links to allergic rhinitis -- Links with food allergy -- 14.Allergic rhinitis and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis -- What is it? -- Changing patterns of disease -- Consequences of allergic rhinitis -- Is airways inflammation a systemic condition? -- Signs and symptoms of allergic rhinitis -- Diagnosing allergic rhinitis -- Classifying allergic rhinitis -- General principles of treatment -- The role of allergen avoidance -- Medications used in allergic rhinitis -- Safety of intranasal steroid sprays -- The united airways -- The natural history of allergic rhinitis: what happens with age -- The role of immunotherapy in allergic rhinitis -- 15.Other assorted allergies --
Contents note continued: What are genetic polymorphisms? -- Genetic polymorphisms in asthma -- Controversy teaches us more about gene--environment interactions -- The genetics of food allergy and eczema -- Individualised prevention/individualised treatment -- 8.The environmental suspects in the allergy epidemic -- The prime suspects -- The hygiene hypothesis -- The role of viral infections -- The vitamin D hypothesis: another consequence of modern lifestyle changes? -- Dietary changes: we are what we eat -- The role of falling intakes of omega-3 fatty acids? -- The role of declining antioxidants? -- Soluble dietary fibre: prebiotics -- Emerging dietary candidates: folate -- Other dietary factors? -- Pollutants: new modern exposures -- Rising rates of maternal allergy: direct effects on the fetus? -- Stress and the immune system: another lifestyle effect? -- Other environmental factors -- Allergens: innocent bystanders? --
Contents note continued: What is going on in the skin? -- The appearance -- The distribution -- How it changes with age -- The symptoms -- The impact -- The diagnosis -- The triggers -- The role of skin bacteria -- Susceptibility to more serious infections -- General principles of treatment -- Daily control -- Treating an acute exacerbation -- Wet wraps: a simple and practical strategy -- Bleach baths: another simple and effective strategy -- The role of allergens in eczema -- The end of the line: when nothing else works -- The prognosis -- 13.Asthma -- What is it? -- The role of genetics in asthma -- Environmental factors that may contribute to the development of asthma -- The role of allergy in asthma -- Triggers -- Signs and symptoms of an acute attack -- Signs and symptoms of asthma between attacks -- All that wheezes is not asthma -- Diagnosing asthma -- Classifying asthma severity -- Intermittent asthma -- Persistent asthma -- General principles of treatment --
Machine generated contents note: 1.In the trenches -- 2.The making of an allergist -- 3.In the classroom: some basics of allergy -- What is allergy? -- What are allergens? -- Allergens are not to blame -- What happens during an allergic reaction? -- 4.On the world stage: a global perspective -- A global crisis: allergy as only part of a much bigger problem -- The scale of the allergy epidemic -- Social and economic costs: prevention is better than cure -- Food allergy: a worrying ̀second wave' to the allergy epidemic -- Light at the end of the tunnel -- 5.Down the rabbit hole: into the immune system -- The quick ̀potted' version for those who don't want to do the full tour of the immune system -- The main tour of the immune system starts here! -- Developing immune memories -- The main players in programming immune memory -- Antigen Presenting Cells (APC): a first line of ̀innate' defense -- T cells and B cells: partners in secondary ̀specialised' defense --
Summary Internationally renowned specialist in childhood allergy and immunology Professor Susan Prescott takes us on a journey into the science behind the allergy epidemic
Analysis Allergies
Case studies
Disease prevention
Overseas item
Treatment
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [250]-275)
Audience Tertiary/Undergraduate, General
Notes Also available online
Subject Allergy -- Environmental aspects.
Allergy -- Treatment.
Allergy -- Australia.
Allergy.
Allergy and Immunology.
Asthma.
Dermatitis.
Eczema.
Food Hypersensitivity.
Hypersensitivity.
Rhinitis.
LC no. 2012360881
ISBN 9781742582917 (paperback)