Biomedical subjects

I Biering

Publications and source records attributed to I Biering.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1993

[Diagnosis of allergy in bee-keepers. A 1-year prospective study].

Thirty-six Danish bee-keepers were clinically investigated by means of a questionnaire before and after the bee season 1990. Their serum was assayed for IgE and IgG antibody reacting with bee venom, and skin prick tests were performed prior to the season. Thirty-six percent had previously reacted abnormally, either with a systemic reaction (SR) (25%) or a large local reaction (LLR) (11%). Retrospectively, eight of the nine bee-keepers with SR had upon re-exposure developed a normal reaction, in spite of the fact that seven of them had specific IgE and/or a positive prick test at subsequent examination. At follow up 38% of the persons who had previously had a SR reacted with a SR or a LLR on the first sting in the season. Two of eight with previous SR reacted with SR during the observation period in spite of a negative prick test and no specific IgE. Of the bee-keepers who had previously only reacted normally there were no systemic of large localised reactions during the observed period, although six showed signs of IgE-sensitization. The results confirm the problems of identifying patients where immunotherapy is superfluous in the group with previous SR and IgE sensitization.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1986

Immunotherapy with yellow jacket venom. A comparative study including three different extracts, one adsorbed to aluminium hydroxide and two unmodified.

Thirty-two patients with previous systemic allergic reaction to yellow jacket stings were randomly allocated to three groups receiving immunotherapy with different preparations of yellow jacket venom: 1) extract adsorbed to aluminium hydroxide (Alutard-SQ), 2) Pharmalgen extract or 3) non-adsorbed extract from Allergologisk Laboratorium (ALK aq.). Regular examinations showed a decrease in skin prick test size in nearly all patients. Specific IgE-antibody (RAST and CRIE scores) showed a similar, but not significant tendency to decrease in all three groups. Specific IgG-antibody increased considerably in the Alutard group only; after 2 years, however, no difference could be detected between the three groups. During dose increase, patients treated with ALK aq. generally had smaller local reactions to injections than those treated with Pharmalgen. Few systemic reactions occurred in all three groups. Nineteen patients treated for 2 1/2-3 1/2 years were challenged in-hospital with stings from yellow jackets. No systemic and only minor local reactions occurred. Consequently, with the dose regimens applied all three extracts seem effective even though no common changes in either specific IgE or IgG could be demonstrated.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

HEP versus PNU standardization of allergen extracts in skin prick testing. A comparative randomized in vivo study.

During 1 year, all patients referred to an allergy outpatient clinic for adults were skin prick tested with a panel of standard allergen extracts from two manufacturers using different methods of standardization. One company referred to the histamine equivalent prick (HEP) and the other used the more traditional protein nitrogen units (PNU). Standard extracts and five-fold dilution were tested. The results indicate that the ratio of concentration between two extracts of the same allergen should be measured by the absolute difference of the wheal diameters. We found significant differences between corresponding extracts from the two manufacturers.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Comparison of a new lancet and a hypodermic needle for skin prick testing.

Skin prick tests with a standard allergen panel were carried out in duplicate (one on each arm) on all patients referred to an allergy out-patient clinic. A new lancet with 1-mm point length and a disposable hypodermic needle were used. Patients were randomized to lancet-needle, lancet-lancet, or needle-needle, and the skin prick tests were done by experienced or inexperienced nurses. The mean of the biggest and smallest diameters was used as a measure of the size of the wheal. Skin reactions from a total of 142 patients were included. For both lancet and needle a significant difference was noted when comparing experienced versus inexperienced investigators' reproducibility expressed as coefficient of variation. There was no significant difference in reproducibility when comparing lancet and needle results, and no significant difference in wheal size when comparing with histamine references. Surprisingly, the reactions on left arms were generally larger than those on right arms.

Allergens↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison between specific IgE measured by RAST, two chemiluminescent assays and skin prick test.

Two hundred adult patients referred to a regional outpatient allergy clinic were skin prick tested and their specific IgE against ten inhalant allergens was measured by three different assays: the classical radioallergosorbent assay, Phadebas RAST (P-RAST), (Pharmacia AB, Uppsala, Sweden), the multi-allergosorbent chemiluminescent assay CLA (MAST), (Dome/Hollister-Stier, Miles Ltd., UK), and the immunocheminometric assay, MAGIC LITE SQ Specific IgE (ML), (ALK Laboratorierne, Hørsholm, Denmark). Skin prick test (SPT) was performed with extracts from the same companies. Marked differences between the assays were seen especially in the low range. Specific IgE was detected in 17% of the samples by P-RAST, in 66% by CLA, and in 17% by ML. Frequency distribution of P-RAST and ML measurements showed a peak at zero and a gradual decline towards larger values, whereas distribution for CLA was U-shaped with a peak at zero and another peak close to maximum reactions. Kendall's rank correlation coefficient being 0.80 for P-RAST vs. CLA. Correlation coefficient between measurements of specific IgE and SPT was high for CLA (0.65). Even in the low-level subgroup where IgE was detected by CLA only, a high correlation (0.60) between CLA and SPT was observed. In conclusion marked differences were observed between the three assays for specific IgE measurement. The CLA system seems to be more sensitive than the conventional P-RAST and ML, but further studies should reveal whether this extra sensitivity is clinically useful.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Skin prick testing with standardized extracts from 3 different manufacturers. A comparative randomized study.

The aim of this study was to compare skin reactivity to routine allergen prick test with panels of allergens, supplied by three different manufacturers. The allergens comprised ten aero-allergens commonly used for skin prick test in Northern Europe, and included pollen, dander, house dust mites, and moulds. Two hundred consecutive patients were tested. The methods for standardization of allergen extracts, declaration of allergenic potency, and recommended lancets differed. The equipment were Soluprick SQ (Allergologisk Laboratorium A/S, Denmark) (ALK), Alphatest (Dome/Hollister-Stier, U.K.) (DHS), and Phazet (Pharmacia, Sweden) (PHA). The coefficient of variation for the allergen coated PHA (same lancet was applied twice) was 0.31, and for ALK and DHS allergen extracts 0.13 and 0.18, respectively. The frequencies of patients with positive reactions to the various allergens were generally similar, although DHS appeared to elicit less positive reactions to Timothy, dog, and Dermatophagoides pteronnyssinus. For the individual physician, it may be important to know the allergenic activity of the different allergens in his routine panel compared to the activity in other similar panels.

Adolescent↗