Main description:

When I entered the field of allergy in the early 1970s, the standard textbook was a few hundred pages, and the specialty was so compact that texts were often authored entirely by a single individual and were never larger than one volume. Compare this with Allergy Frontiers: Epigenetics, Allergens, and Risk Factors, the present s- volume text with well over 150 contributors from throughout the world. This book captures the explosive growth of our specialty since the single-author textbooks referred to above. The unprecedented format of this work lies in its meticulous attention to detail yet comprehensive scope. For example, great detail is seen in manuscripts dealing with topics such as "Exosomes, naturally occurring minimal antigen presenting units" and "Neuropeptide S receptor 1 (NPSR1), an asthma susceptibility gene." The scope is exemplified by the unique approach to disease entities normally dealt with in a single chapter in most texts. For example, anaphylaxis, a topic usually confined to one chapter in most textbooks, is given five chapters in Allergy Frontiers. This approach allows the text to employ multiple contributors for a single topic, giving the reader the advantage of being introduced to more than one vi- point regarding a single disease.

Contents:

Contents Part I Evolution of Allergy 1 The Allergy Epidemic: A Look into the Future .................................... 3 U. Wahn 2 Is the Prevalence of Allergy Continuously Increasing? ........................ 17 Carlos E. Baena-Cagnani, R. Maximiliano Gomez, and R.M. Gomez 3 Allergy: A Burden for the Patient and for the Society ......................... 33 Erkka Valovirta Part II Epigenetics and Phenotypes 4 The Epidemiology of Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis ............................. 49 Deborah Jarvis, Seif Shaheen, and Peter Burney 5 Epidemiology of Pediatric Asthma ......................................................... 79 Gary W.K. Wong 6 Epidemiology of Occupational Asthma ................................................. 91 A. Newman Taylor and P. Cullman 7 Epidemiology of Asthma Mortality ........................................................ 107 Richard Beasley, Meme Wijesinghe, and Kyle Perrin 8 Epidemiology of Anaphylaxis ................................................................. 123 David J. Chinn and Aziz Sheikh 9 Epidemiology and Food Hypersensitivity in Children and Adults ............................................................................ 145 Morten Osterballe 10 Genetics of Asthma and Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness .................. 161 Matthew J. Rose-Zerilli, John W. Holloway, and Stephen T. Holgate 11 Genetics of Pediatric Asthma ................................................................ 189 Naomi Kondo, Eiko Matsui, Hideo Kaneko, Toshiyuki Fukao, Takahide Teramoto, Zenichiro Kato, Hidenori Ohnishi, and Akane Nishimura 12 Genetic and Molecular Regulation of b2-Adrenergic Receptors .................................................................. 205 Ian Sayers and Ian P. Hall 13 Genetics of Hypersensitivity .................................................................. 227 John W. Steinke 14 Functional Genomics of Allergic Diseases ........................................... 239 Donata Vercelli 15 Differential Genetic Markers for Aspirin Hypersensitivity ............... 253 Hae-Sim Park, Seung-Hyun Kim, Young-Min Ye, and Gyu-Young Hur Part III Allergens 16 Molecular Biology of Allergens: Structure and Immune Recognition ...................................................................... 265 Martin D. Chapman, Anna Pomes, and Rob C. Aalberse 17 Role of Allergens in Airway Disease and Their Interaction with the Airway Epithelium ................................................................. 291 Irene Heijink and Henk F. Kauffman 18 Sensitisation to Airborne Environmental Allergens: What Do We Know and What are the Problems? .............................. 311 W.R. Thomas, W. Smith, T.K. Heinrich, and B.J. Hales 19 The Immunological Basis of the Hygiene Hypothesis ......................... 325 Petra Ina Pfefferle, Rene Teich, and Harald Renz Part IV Risk Factors 20 Early Sensitization and Development of Allergic Airway Disease? Risk Factors and Predictors: Is the Adult Responder Phenotype Determined during Early Childhood? .............................. 351 Susanne Halken and Arne Host 21 T Cell Responses to the Allergens and Association with Different Wheezing Phenotypes in Children .............................. 371 Peter N. Le Souef 22 Indoor Air Pollution and Airway Disease ........................................... 387 Sara Maio, Marzia Simoni, Sandra Baldacci, Duane Sherrill, and Giovanni Viegi 23 From Epigenetics to Future Perspectives: Evoluti