Correlation of the severity of atopic dermatitis with absolute eosinophil counts in peripheral blood and serum IgE levels.

BACKGROUND: Although a number of epidemiological studies, showing incidence and prevalence of atopic dermatitis, were available, scant attention has been paid to the correlation between the parameters of the disease like severity, absolute eosinophil count and IgE level, which has been known to be associated inconsistently. Hence this study was undertaken. METHODS: A total of 102 patients of atopic dermatitis, both children and adults, and 107 age matched controls were studied at the Pediatric Dermatology clinic, Institute of Child Health and department of Dermatology, AMRI-Apollo hospitals, Kolkata. RESULTS: The average age of onset of atopic dermatitis was observed to be 4.55 years. Both the average absolute eosinophil count and IgE levels in patients of atopic dermatitis were significantly higher than that of the controls. Each of these parameters showed significant correlation with severity of the disease and showed a nonhomogeneous distribution reflected by significant association with personal history of bronchial asthma and family history of atopy, when both parents were atopic. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that clinical activity of the disease as recorded by the "SCORAD" index can be used as an indicator of the hematological abnormalities as well as to some extent as a prognostic indicator. Family history of atopy correlates with the hematological abnormalities only if both parents are involved and bronchial asthma is the only associated atopic condition which correlates with the parameters of the disease .

Changes in free polyamines and related enzymes during stipule and pod wall development in Pisum sativum.

Level of free polyamines, their key metabolic enzymes, and other features related to ageing were examined during stipule and pod wall development in pea (Pisum sativum). Free polyamine titre (per unit fresh mass) in both the organs, the specific activities of arginine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase in the pod wall, gradually decreased with maturation. In stipule, these enzymes attained peak activity at 15 days after pod emergence and declined thereafter. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was greater in pod wall than in stipule; while, arginine decarboxylase activity was higher in stipule. Activity of degradative enzyme diamine oxidase increased with the onset of senescence in both the organs. Chlorophyll and electrical conductance had a inverse relationship throughout the experimental period, whereas, the chlorophyll content was directly related with polyamine levels in both stipule and pod wall during aging. On the other hand, protein and RNA contents were positively correlated with free polyamines throughout the test period in stipule, but in the pod wall this was true only for the later stages of development.