hypothesized that prenatal vitamin D supplementation could induce tolerogenic DC at birth. To evaluate this hypothesis in an epidemiological setting, we quantiï¬ed the gene expression levels of ILT3 and ILT4 in cord blood (CB) samples of a population-based birth cohort of farm and reference children.
ILT3/IL4 as a marker of tolerogenic DCs may be justified by data published by Chang but not by newer data (Show me more…)
Wikipedia writes about Imre Lakatos (1922-1974), the famous Hungarian mathematician and philosopher who graduated 1961 in Cambridge with “Essays in the Logic of Mathematical Discovery”
He showed that in some cases one research programme can be described as progressive while its rivals are degenerative. A progressive research programme is marked by its growth, along with the discovery of stunning novel facts, development of new experimental techniques, more precise predictions, etc. A degenerative research program is marked by lack of growth, or growth of the protective belt that does not lead to novel facts.
So lets look at some “less abstract” abstracts (Show me more…)
Blackley found already in 1873 an interesting explanation of the “no allergy in farming children” effect by referring to some kind of auto desensitization in this particular environment – e.g. the high pollen and LPS exposure.
Do you know that a commercial allergen preparation used for desensitization already includes a LPS derivate, 3-o-desacyl-4′ monophosphoryl lipid A as an adjuvant? It is believed to push the pollen reaction into a IL12 – IFNg – Th1 pathway. This therapeutic approach already perfectly fits the early explanation of Blackley.
When will the allergy farming lobby ultimately close their files?
I am currently doing some historical studies if the vitamin hypothesis fits also the temporal relationship of allergy prevalence. While ordering RKI files for my next trip to the Berlin document center, I found that farming and lower allergy sensitization is known much longer than I anticipated. (Show me more…)
