Forecasting daily total pollen concentrations on a global scale.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that global anthropogenic climate change may be impacting floral phenology and the temporal and spatial characteristics of aero-allergenic pollen. Given the extent of current and future climate uncertainty, there is a need to strengthen predictive pollen forecasts. METHODS: The study aims to use CatBoost (CB) and deep learning (DL) models for predicting the daily total pollen concentration up to 14 days in advance for 23 cities, covering all five continents. The model includes the projected environmental parameters, recent concentrations (1, 2 and 4 weeks), and the past environmental explanatory variables, and their future values. RESULTS: The best pollen forecasts include Mexico City (R2(DL_7) ≈ .7), and Santiago (R2(DL_7) ≈ .8) for the 7th forecast day, respectively; while the weakest pollen forecasts are made for Brisbane (R2(DL_7) ≈ .4) and Seoul (R2(DL_7) ≈ .1) for the 7th forecast day. The global order of the five most important environmental variables in determining the daily total pollen concentrations is, in decreasing order: the past daily total pollen concentration, future 2 m temperature, past 2 m temperature, past soil temperature in 28-100 cm depth, and past soil temperature in 0-7 cm depth. City-related clusters of the most similar distribution of feature importance values of the environmental variables only slightly change on consecutive forecast days for Caxias do Sul, Cape Town, Brisbane, and Mexico City, while they often change for Sydney, Santiago, and Busan. CONCLUSIONS: This new knowledge of the ecological relationships of the most remarkable variables importance for pollen forecast models according to clusters, cities and forecast days is important for developing and improving the accuracy of airborne pollen forecasts.

Living with food allergy: What this means for children.

Health-related knowledge, skills and attitudes that translate to behaviours are important foundations for healthy living. However, deficiencies in any one of these factors have the potential to impact quality of life. This study investigates how Australian children perceive and manage their food allergy as they transition through childhood onto adolescence. To measure this, children aged 12 years and under completed an online survey [under 8 years and 8-12 years] on knowledge, skills and attitudes. Although recruitment involved advertisements to over 700 Australian pre-schools, 44 allergy specialists and multiple representations to the patient support group, Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, completion relied on parental notification and/or guidance. Of the 139 participants recruited, 114 commenced the survey with 65 participants under 8 years (58%) and 49 between 8 and 12 years. Results showed participants recognised different ways to keep safe with children under 8 years (N = 65) 100% cognisant of the need to check with 'Mum/Dad' or teachers if they could safely eat food as well as the importance of not swapping lunches, while there was a slight change in compliance for those aged 8-12 years as three (6.1%, n = 3/49) children did not see the necessity of asking an adult/teacher if a food item was safe to eat. Older children were also less likely to tell friends about their food allergy even if they thought they were having an allergic reaction, despite children under 8 years more likely to feel different to friends (38%, n = 24/64) compared to those aged 8-12 years (31%, n = 14/45). Although both groups disliked parents' fussing, for children under 8 years, there was a strong association between this and 'feeling different to friends'. Results from this study highlight the importance of normalising food allergy at home and in the community, so children are confident in telling others about their food allergy.

World allergy organization study on aerobiology for creating first pollen and mold calendar with clinical significance in islamabad, pakistan;: a project of world allergy organization and pakistan allergy, asthma & clinical immunology centre of islamabad.

Pollen and mold allergies are highly problematic in Islamabad. This study was conducted to investigate the type and concentration of airborne pollens/molds causing allergic diseases in susceptible individuals. A volumetric spore trap (Burkard) was placed at the height of 11 m and ran continuously for 3 years. Once a week, the collecting drum was prepared by affixing Melinex tape with a double-sided adhesive that was coated with a thin layer of silicone grease. Every Sunday at 9:00 AM the drum was replaced by another drum and the pollen/mold spores were removed and permanently mounted on slides. Using a microscope, the trapped particles were identified and recorded as counts per cubic meter of air per hour. From these data, the pollen and mold calendars were constructed and expressed as counts per cubic meter of air per day. Skin prick tests were performed on more than 1000 patients attending the Pakistan Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology Centre of Islamabad. The results indicated that there were 2 main pollen plants that contributed to seasonal allergies. These were Broussonetia papyrifera and Cannabis sativa during the March/April season and the July/September season, respectively. Although mold spores were continuously detected throughout the year, the most prominent mold was undetected mold and unconfirmed mold species similar to Stachybotrys species, which was high from July to September/October. Two additional molds contributing to allergic reactions were Pithomyces species and Cladosporium species, which were active during January and April, with the latter also being detected between October and November. These results may prove beneficial to both patients and physicians in planning a therapeutic protocol for avoidance and amelioration.

Australian Asthma Conference 2008: advancing asthma where?

The Australian Asthma Conference provided a timely forum for rethinking research priorities and strategies at a time when the Australian government is undertaking major national health policy reviews. Until now, asthma has been a national health priority in Australia, and at the conclusion of the conference, delegates issued a strong statement in support of asthma continuing to be a national health priority in Australia.