Allergy and immunology update: asthma care, microbial signatures
June 16, 2016 – Increased identification of the primary care provider as the main source of asthma care among urban minority children
The research team used electronic communication between an asthma specialty clinic and short-term care coordination to encourage parents of urban youth with asthma to identify their primary care provider as the key source for episodic asthma care – rather than the emergency department. Guardians of 50 children were enrolled in the prospective cohort study, whose findings were published in Journal of Asthma. The youths’ median age was 5.8 years; 64 percent were male, 98 percent were African American. At three and six months after the intervention, 85 percent and 83 percent, respectively, reported that the primary care provider was their child’s primary asthma healthcare provider, compared with 70 percent at baseline.
June 16, 2016 – Two sampling methods yield distinct microbial signatures in the nasopharynges of asthmatic children
The nasopharynx acts as an anatomical reservoir from which pathogenic microbes spread to the lower and upper respiratory airways, causing respiratory infections. A team led by Children’s National researchers used targeted 16S rRNA MiSeq sequencing and two techniques – nasal washes and nasal brushes – to characterize the nasopharyngeal microbiota in 30 children with asthma aged 6 to 17. The authors report in Microbiome that the children’s nasopharyngeal microenvironments contain microbiotas with different diversity and structure.
Nov. 30, 2015 – Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation grant to develop immune-based therapy
Physician-scientist Conrad Russell Y. Cruz, MD, PhD, was awarded a $450,000, grant from the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to develop novel cell-based therapies to combat pediatric cancer. The “A” grant encourages scientists to develop innovative treatments and cures that impact children with cancer and will provide Dr. Cruz and his team funding for three years.
