No abstract

Skin testing is the diagnostic cornerstone for allergies and is considered extremely safe. It is usually performed with the prick and the prick-to-prick method. The aim of this study is to report the first two pediatric cases of systemic allergic reactions during skin prick tests (SPT) with commercial food allergens. Both patients had a history of fish allergy. A 5-year-old girl, with a history of atopic dermatitis and asthma, reported an episode of urticaria and angioedema due to ingestion of fish, which had occurred 2 years before consultation. Ten minutes after having completed SPT to fish extracts, which had resulted positive, she suffered from generalized pruritus, nausea, stomach pain, and loss of consciousness. A 9-year-old boy, with a history of asthma and two episodes of acute urticaria and angioedema upon eating fish during infancy, reported a recent episode of oropharyngeal pruritus after tasting salmon. He was evaluated for fish allergy with SPT but developed conjunctivitis and acute urticaria during the first 10 min of the test. Anaphylaxis appears to be a rare side effect of skin testing in pediatric patients. Children with a history of asthma and atopic dermatitis are more likely to react.

While little is known about how young children understand noise and its environmental aspects, this topic is suggested to be included in science curricula from early years on. To investigate if and to what extent preschool children’s level of noise awareness could be improved the ‘Young Noise Researchers’ educational scenario was designed, implemented and evaluated. Research design involved a pretest-posttest procedure. Participants were 52 Greek preschool children, who attended public kindergarten classes. The scenario involved 9 activities following the principles of context-based, socio-cognitive and multimodal teaching and learning, which were implemented by the teachers of the classes in a 4-week period. Prior to and after the intervention participants engaged in individual, semi-structured interviews. The results indicated improvement in children’s noise awareness in regard to acknowledging everyday noises, understanding annoyance and subjectivity of noise, adopting negative attitudes towards noise and acknowledging its health effects. Nevertheless, their noise awareness did not significantly improve in other crucial respects. Implications for teaching involve a more systematic focus on the distinction between sound and noise, noise subjectivity, the annoyance caused by noise in daily life and the possibility of more active and preventive protection measures. Key words: early childhood education, pupils’ noise awareness, science education.

No abstract

Asthma is a complex chronic inflammatory disorder. Diet’s impact on asthma symptoms is controversial. The objective of this pilot crossover, randomized, two-period study was to examine the effect of dietary histamine intake on asthma symptoms in twenty-one children with mild intermittent asthma. Children were randomly assigned to either a high- or low-histamine diet, based on the Mediterranean pattern, for 4 weeks. After a 2-week washout period, patients crossed to the alternative diet for 4 additional weeks. Asthma symptoms were assessed at baseline and after the completion of each diet period by a clinician. Daily symptoms and peak flow were recorded throughout the intervention. Adherence to the dietary intervention was assessed via analysis of four random 24-h recalls, for each intervention period. Eighteen children completed the study. Significantly higher mean air flow obstruction was recorded and a trend for prolonged and more severe symptoms was observed during the high-histamine period. Diet may have an active and direct impact on asthma symptoms. Food choice is affected and/or may affect symptoms in children with mild asthma. Diet intervention is promising yet challenging, for asthma control.