Link Between Male Diabetics With Allergies And Kidney Disease -- Nothing To Sneeze At

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2009) For men with type 2 diabetes, a cell type linked to allergic inflammation is closely linked to a key indicator of diabetic kidney disease (nephropathy), suggests a study in the November Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

"Allergy is a common disease that is increasing worldwide, so our findings may have important implications for diabetic nephropathy," comments Michiaki Fukui, MD (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan).

The researchers compared the eosinophil count with albumin excretion rate in nearly 800 patients with type 2 diabetes. Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that contributes to inflammation in allergic diseases. The albumin excretion rate is a key indicator of kidney disease, one of the major complications of diabetes.

In men, a higher number of eosinophils in the blood correlates with higher urinealbumina critical early sign of diabetic kidney disease. Surprisingly, the link between eosinophil count and albumin excretion rate was even stronger than for known risk factors like high blood pressure and poor diabetes control. The eosinophil count was unrelated to albumin excretion in diabetic women.

Previous studies have suggested that patients with asthma and other allergic diseases are at increased risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the main cause of death in diabetics, and nephropathy is a major risk factor for heart disease. If the results are confirmed by future studies, then the eosinophil count might help in estimating the risk of diabetes-related kidney and heart disease in men.

Some of the anti-inflammatory treatments used by patients with allergies can lower the eosinophil count, and it's possible that these treatments could also benefit male patients with diabetes, Fukui believes. He adds, "The intriguing concept of a role for eosinophils in diabetic nephropathy holds great promise for the development of new preventive measures involving anti-allergic agents."

The study can't prove any cause-and-effect relationship between eosinophil count and albumin excretion rate. More research will be needed to determine why the relationship was found only in men, and whether a similar link is also present in patients without diabetes.

Other authors were Muhei Tanaka, Masahide Hamaguchi, Takafumi Senmaru, Kazumi Sakabe, Emi Shiraishi, Ichiko Harusato, Masahiro Yamazaki, Goji Hasegawa, all of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine.

Vaccine Expert Advises: Immunization Should Be Given As Early In Life As Possible

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2009) Parents should not be worried that early vaccination would overwhelm their babies, a vaccine expert says. Recent data show that the immune system of newborns is able to respond to a world full of antigens already at birth. Therefore, vaccines should be given as early in life as possible to minimize the risk of damage by a potentially harmful infection, says Prof. Dr. Claire-Anne Siegrist, Head of the Center for Vaccinology and Neonatal Immunology, University of Geneva, at the 2nd European Congress of Immunology ECI 2009.

Many parents would prefer to postpone the vaccination of their babies until these are older, by fear that their young immune system would be too weak or overwhelmed by the vaccines. In contrast, pediatricians insist that babies should be immunized as rapidly as possible after birth against the most dreadful microbes causing bacterial meningitis or whooping cough. These infections can cause irreversible damage or even kill the children.

During their first three months in life, newborns are protected by antibodies from their mothers blood. There is a lack of protection between three months and 24 months, when the immune systeme is fully developed. During this time, the children are extremely susceptible for infections, which indicate the urgent need for an early immunization.

Recent work has demonstrated that the neonatal immune system is indeed well equipped to avoid harmful inflammatory responses while responding very well to specific stimulations such as that provided by immunization. Remarkably, infants vaccinated in presence of maternal antibodies raise excellent cellular immune responses, which are not transmitted from mothers to babies and contribute to protection. Vaccine antibody responses are weaker in infants than later in life, which represents a challenge that vaccines have to overcome, says Siegrist. But these are not limitations but a fine tuning, such that any excessive stimulation may not overwhelm even an immature immune system.

Immune memory may be elicited already at birth, helping babies to react quickly when they encounter an aggressive microbe after the protection by maternal antibodies is over. Thus, parents need not to worry: Nature has ensured that the neonatal immune system is specifically adapted to respond to a world full of antigens and immunizations may indeed be given as early in life as possible.

Increased Risk Of Birth Defects After PCE Exposure

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2009) Exposure to tetrachloroethylene (also known as perchlorethylene, PCE) may cause congenital birth defects. A study of expectant women exposed to PCE in drinking water, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health, found an increased risk of oral clefts and neural tube defects in their children.

Ann Aschengrau, from Boston University School of Public Health, USA, worked with a team of researchers to study the prevalence of birth defects in the children of women from 8 towns in Cape Cod who had been exposed to PCE during the period 1969-1983. She said, "The results suggest that the risk of certain congenital anomalies is increased among the offspring of women who were exposed to PCE-contaminated drinking water around the time of conception".

From the late 1960s until 1980, hundreds of miles of pipe that had been lined with a vinyl coating containing PCE were laid in the area. It wasn't until 1980 that officials realized the danger, creating what the researchers describe as "A vast natural experiment reminiscent of John Snow's cholera investigation in 1854 London." Boston University investigators found that there were 61 children with congenital anomalies among the 1,658 children with some prenatal PCE exposure and 95 children with congenital anomalies among 2,999 children with no prenatal PCE exposure. Prenatal exposure was associated with increases in the risk of oral clefts and neural tube defects (particularly anencephaly).

Speaking about these findings, Aschengrau said, "Because PCE remains a commonly used solvent and frequent contaminant of ground and drinking water supplies, it is important to understand its impact on the developing fetus."