Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R M Leuschner.
This review deals first with basic knowledge about pollen, especially its biology, morphology and physiology, and then discusses the connection of pollen with medical problems such as hay fever (pollinosis). The next sections cover the historical development of methods for trapping and counting airborne pollen grains to produce reliable quantitative data, and the development of a European network of pollen-reporting stations.
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The most important pollens causing pollinosis in Zurich include hazel (Corylus), alder (Alnus) and birch (Betula) in spring, grasses--including rye--in summer, and mugwort (Artemisia) in autumn. Investigations on airborne pollen of Zurich were conducted from 1981 to 1984, and assessed with special reference to threshold concentrations. The results show that sorrel (Rumex) and plantain (Plantago) also belong to the most important pollens and should therefore be included in the test spectrum for allergological examinations. The pollen of ash (Fraxinus), oak (Quercus), beech (Fagus) and plane tree (Platanus) was regularly found in high percentages during these years. Hence the clinical relevance of these tree pollens should not be underestimated, because successful diagnosis and therapy depends mainly on the use of the relevant strain of pollen.
A survey of pollen production, especially in anemophilous plants is first given, because pollen frequently causes respiratory symptoms. Afterwards the use of the Burkard apparatus for volumetric sampling is described, in which the amounts of pollen and fungal spores in a certain volume of air can be caught. It is recommended that, in the country under investigation, several places with different climates each should have an apparatus continuously in operation. then flowering calendars can be constructed to show the various seasons of flowering, and pollen and spore production, and how they vary throughout the country. Meteorological data may also be included in these graphs. G. BOEHM's 'Individual Pollen Collector' is then described. This device is very useful for 'problem patients' with hayfever. Dark stripes of varying intensity resulting from inanimate particles such as dust and soot can also be seen in the daily specimens of the Burkard device. In this case a semiquantitative measurement is possible with a pherogramme evaluator, which is available in every modern clinic. Finally information about the frequency of pollinosis in the population, especially children with asthma, hayfever etc. is given. The prognosis for these patients is discussed and it is noted that there should be more long-term investigations of patients suffering from pollinosis. It would then be better, to give better prognoses for these allergic illnesses.
Pollen collecting devices such as the 'Hirst' trap and the 'Burkard' apparatus provide information on average pollen content in the air during a certain time in a certain volume of air (e.g. 24 hr in 1 m3 air). They give no idea, however, of the allergenic particles to which individual hay fever patients are exposed to the course of a day. An 'Individual Pollen Collector', attached to the patient's clothing, showed that the counts varied considerably in different persons in the same place. They differed--quantitatively and qualitatively--from the values with the 'Burkard' pollen and spore traps at two places in Switzerland. The slides from the 'Individual Pollen Collector' frequently show 'clouds' of certain kinds of pollen grains, which could be responsible for hay fever attacks in moderately sensitized subjects.
A device is briefly described by which the personal exposure of hay-fever patients to pollen and fungal spores can be ascertained. Pollen and fungal spores are caught on an adhesive surface, after which they are mounted in the Gelvatol and determined qualitatively and quantitatively under the microscope.
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