Footpod monitors are wearable devices attaching to the shoe with the ability to sense oscillations in leg movement; however, few studies provide reliability. The purpose was to provide reliability data for outdoor tasks as measured by the Stryd Power Meter, which is a footpod monitor. Young healthy individuals (N=20, male n=12, female n=8) completed two 5-min self-paced walks along a trail, and two 5-min trail runs. Reliability of the tasks was determined using Coefficient of Variation (CV), Intraclass Correlation (ICC), and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Measures during trail running that returned a CV less than 10%, met the ICC threshold of 0.70, and displayed good to excellent 95% CI included pace, average elapsed power, average elapsed form power, average elapsed leg spring, and vertical oscillation. The only variable during walking to meet these criteria was maximal power (CV=4.02%, ICC=0.968, CI=0.902, 0.989). Running tasks completed on a trail generally return more consistent measures for variables that can be obtained from the Stryd footpod device than walking tasks.

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Venom immunotherapy (VIT) is the most effective form of specific immunotherapy to date. Hitherto, several relevant queries remain unanswered, namely optimal doses, duration, and means of assessment. Important progress has been lately made in terms of diagnosis by means of component-resolved diagnosis. Moreover, basophil activation test results in patients with negative serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) and skin prick test confer this technique a promising future, although these outcomes shall be considered with caution. This review aims to unravel the important advances made on diagnosis, management, and prognosis and also focuses on several undetermined aspects of VIT.

Background: Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) usually requires a long titration phase, which can be associated with various adverse events (AEs). Objectives: It was the aim of this study to determine the safety of 2 cluster regimens for SCIT in patients with allergic rhinitis, with or without mild or moderate allergic asthma, who were sensitized to grass and/or tree pollen, or house dust mites (HDM). Patients and Methods: Adult patients were included in a European, open-label, prospective trial. Pollen-allergic patients received grass pollen, grass and olive pollen, or hazel, alder and birch pollen according to a 3-week titration cluster. HDM-allergic patients received HDM extract according to a 2-week titration cluster. The safety of the titration phase was assessed in terms of local and systemic AEs. Results: The safety analysis included 157 patients: 110 received pollen and 47 HDM extract. During the cluster titration, 248 AE episodes were reported in the pollen group and 113 in the HDM group; these were mainly local reactions. Around one third of patients (30.9% pollen and 38.3% HDM) did not experience any AE. In most cases (67.1% of pollen and 71.1% of HDM patients), AEs did not lead to a change in titration schedule. No anaphylactic reaction or other serious life-threatening systemic AEs were reported. Only 2 patients in the HDM group discontinued treatment because of AEs. Conclusions: Rapid cluster titration was well tolerated in adults with allergic rhinitis, with or without mild to moderate allergic asthma, due to pollen or HDM. This short-titration, high-dose cluster regime may allow better patient compliance and cost savings.