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Over the past decades, red meat allergy, also known as mammalian meat allergy, which manifests differently from classic food allergies, has been reported in different countries and regions, including China. The allergen of this disease is not a protein but an oligosaccharide: galactose‐α‐1,3‐galactose, i.e., alpha‐gal or α‐gal. Therefore, this clinical syndrome is also called α‐gal syndrome (AGS). It clinically manifests as delayed anaphylaxis, i.e., patients generally develop allergic symptoms 2–6 h after ingesting red meat. This clinical manifestation is believed to be related to sensitization to α‐gal after tick bites. Sensitized individuals may also develop anaphylaxis after ingesting food and medicine or being exposed to medical equipment containing α‐gal, such as cetuximab and gelatin. Here, the literature on AGS is reviewed for a better understanding of its pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indirect sampling methods are not only inexpensive but also efficient for establishing reference intervals (RIs) using clinical data. This study was conducted to select fully normal records to establish age- and gender-specific RIs for common biochemical analytes by laboratory data mining. Methods: In total, 280,206 records from 2014 to 2018 were obtained from Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Common biochemical analytes total protein, albumin, total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), potassium, sodium, chlorine, calcium, urea, glucose, uric acid (UA), inorganic phosphorus, creatinine (Cr), total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol] were measured using an automatic analyzer. Sources of variation were identified by multiple regression analysis. The 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles were calculated as the lower and upper limits of the RIs, respectively Results: Gender was the major source of variation among the 13 common biochemical analytes with an rp > 0.15. In contrast to the value listed in the WS/T 404, nearly all RIs established in this study were significantly narrower. Furthermore, age-specific RIs should be determined for DBil, LDH, and urea, whereas gender-specific RIs are suggested for GGT, LDH, and urea. Conclusions: We recommend that gender-specific RIs should be established for ALT, AST, GGT, DBil, TBil, UA, and Cr as well as gender- and age-specific RIs for urea and ALP. Through indirect sampling, age- and gender-specific RIs for common biochemical analytes were established and analyzed.

Anti-SSA antibodies are non-organ-specific autoantibodies highly prevalent in various autoimmune diseases. This study primarily investigated the prevalence of anti-SSA antibodies in the health screening population. Additionally, we explored the clinical features of the anti-SSA antibody-positive population and evaluated the development of connective tissue diseases (CTD) over the years in individuals with anti-SSA antibodies for whom follow-up was available. 64045 individuals without a history of CTD from 2013 to 2022 who visited Peking Union Medical College Hospital for health screening were screened for autoimmune antibodies. 1.7% (1091/64045) of the Chinese health screening population were positive for anti-SSA antibodies, with a prevalence of 0.9% (290/33829) in men and 2.7% (801/30216) in women. Compared with matched autoantibody-negative controls, anti-SSA antibody-positive individuals had higher levels of serological abnormalities including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) [10 (6-15) mm/h vs. 7 (4-12) mm/h, p<0.0001], rheumatoid factor (RF) [7.15 (4.30-16.90) IU/ml vs. 5.00 (3.20-7.90) IU/ml, p<0.0001], and Immunoglobulin G [13.09 (11.20-15.45) g/L vs. 11.34 (9.85-13.18) g/L, p<0.0001], and lower levels of white blood cells (WBC) (5.49 ± 1.50 *109/L vs. 5.82 ± 1.49 *109/L, p<0.0001). Additionally, they had a higher proportion of coexisting thyroid autoantibodies, including anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab) (17.1% vs. 11.3%, p<0.0001) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (Tg-Ab) (17.8% vs. 11.0%, p<0.0001). Among the 381 subjects who were anti-SSA positive and followed up for a median of 4.6 years, 146 (38.3%) individuals developed CTD, including 68 (17.8%) cases of primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS), 10 (2.6%) cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 5 cases (1.3%) of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 59 (15.5%) cases of undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD). 235 (61.7%) individuals did not develop CTD over a median time of 5.9 (2.9-8.1) years after the earliest autoantibody detection. Elevated ESR (>20 mm/h), RF positivity (>20 IU/ml), and female gender were identified as independent risk factors for CTD among the anti-SSAantibody-positive individuals. Anti-SSA antibodies were found in 17 among approximately 1000 individuals without a history of autoimmune diseases. Anti-SSA antibody-positive individuals are advised to periodically monitor thyroid function. Elevated ESR (>20 mm/h), female gender, and rheumatoid factor positivity may delineate a high-risk cohort for CTDs., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Immunology.)

Background: Wheat allergy (WA), characterized by immunological responses to wheat proteins, is a gluten-related disorder that has become increasingly recognized in recent years. Bibliometrics involves the quantitative assessment of publications within a specific academic domain., Objectives: We aimed to execute an extensive bibliometric study, focusing on the past 30 years of literature related to wheat allergy., Methods: We searched the Web of Science database on 5th Dec 2023. We used the keywords "wheat allergy or wheat anaphylaxis or wheat hypersensitivity," "gliadin allergy or gliadin anaphylaxis or gliadin hypersensitivity," "wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis," and "baker's asthma" for our search. All items published between 1993 and 2023 were included. The top 100 most cited articles were identified and analyzed., Results: Our study conducted an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles in the field of wheat allergy, published between 2002 and 2019. These articles originated from 20 different countries, predominantly Japan and Germany. The majority of these articles were centered on the pathogenesis and treatment of wheat allergy (WA). The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) was the most prolific contributor to this list, publishing 14 articles. The article with the highest citation count was published by Biomed Central (BMC) and garnered 748 citations. The peak citation year was 2015, with a total of 774 citations, while the years 1998, 2001, and 2005 saw the highest publication frequency, each with 7 articles., Conclusion: Our study aims to provide physicians and researchers with a historical perspective for the scientific progress of wheat allergy, and help clinicians effectively obtain useful articles that have a significant impact on the field of wheat allergy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhan, Hou, Wen and Xu.)