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Background The prognosis of spontaneous urticaria in association with early treatment remains unclear. In this study, we retrospectively studied the prognosis of acute spontaneous urticaria in relation to age and treatments in a local clinic of dermatology. Methods Out of 5000 patients who visited an office dermatology clinic, clinical records of patients with spontaneous urticaria were extracted. Their prognosis and the relation to age and treatments were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method and generalized Wilcoxon test. Results Among 386 patients diagnosed with spontaneous urticaria, 284 patients (73.6%) began treatments within a week after the onset. Their non-remission rates after one week, four weeks and one year from the onset were 26.8%, 15.0% and 6.7%, respectively. The non-remission rates of patients who were 20-years-old or younger by one year after the onset of urticaria, were significantly lower than those of patients older than 20-years-old. No apparent relationship between remission rates and sex or the use of steroids was detected. However, the non-remission rates of urticaria treated with a standard dose of antihistamine were lower than that treated with additional medications. Conclusions Most patients who began treatments within one week from the onset remitted quickly. However approximately 7% of them continued to suffer from symptoms for more than a year. Such prolongation tended to be seen among patients who required other medications in addition to a standard dose of antihistamine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which observed the remission rate and the negative conversion rate of histamine release tests (HRT) against hydrolyzed wheat protein (HWP) in patients with HWP-wheat allergy.

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is exacerbated by sweating, and the skin of most patients with AD are resided by Malassezia (M.) fungi. Recently, MGL_1304 produced by Malassezia globosa was identified as the major histamine releasing antigen in human sweat. Methods The full length cDNA of the counterpart of MGL_1304 in Malassezia restricta (Mala r 8), was cloned by degenerate PCR and rapid identification of cDNA ends (RACE). Recombinant MGL_1304, and its counterparts, Mala s 8 (produced by Malassezia sympodialis ) and Mala r 8 were prepared, and compared in their allergenicities by dot blot analysis and histamine release tests with sera and basophils of patients with AD. Results The identities between MGL_1304 and Mala s 8, MGL_1304 and Mala r 8, and Mala s 8 and Mala r 8 were 68%, 78%, and 76%, respectively, in protein sequences. Dot blot analysis revealed that the level of IgE binding to Mala s 8 was higher than that of MGL_1304. However, histamine release tests revealed that MGL_1304 and Mala r 8 possessed higher activity than Mala s 8. In addition, the crude lysate of M. globosa showed higher histamine release ability than that of M. sympodialis. Conclusions Patients with AD showed hypersensitivities against MGL_1304 and its homologs. However, the allergenicities of the homologs are variable and the histamine release activities may be different from the solid-phase binding activities for IgE. Sweat allergy should be carefully evaluated with biological activities of MGL_1304 and its homologs of other Malassezia fungi residing on the skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]