Archive for July, 2008

Did you ever found yourself suffering with shortness of breath or fatigue without any specific cause? Then you might be suffering with sick building syndrome.

If you live or work in a house that has been flooded with any other polluted condition or sustained water damage, then you can experience these strange symptoms of sick building syndrome.

Sick building syndrome mainly refers to a group of symptoms that affects several workers or people in a specific building and this sick building syndrome is not essentially caused by an identifiable specific illness.

It is mainly caused due to exposure to various harmful agents, which mainly exists in small concentrations within those specific buildings [Reduce allergy risks].

Common situations that can trigger sick building syndrome!

Insufficient ventilation: Most repeatedly, sick building syndrome in general takes place in new houses or office buildings that are designed to be energy efficient with no provision for windows to open. Elevated levels of carbon-dioxide, which occurs most commonly in such buildings, are the most frequent causes of sick building syndrome.

Chemical contaminants from indoor sources: Chemicals that are used in house renovation materials, house cleaning solutions and several office machinery sources can also cause sick building syndrome.

Babies born by Cesarean section may have a moderately increased risk of developing asthma compared with those born naturally, Norwegian researchers report after investigating this link in a population-wide study.

Dr. Mette C. Tollanes, of the University of Bergen, in Norway, and colleagues looked at the modes of delivery among more than 1.7 million single births reported to the Medical Birth Registry of Norway between 1967 and 1998.

They used registry data from Norway’s National Insurance Scheme to determine the number of children who, through the age of 18 or the year 2002, developed severe asthma.

Between 1967 and 1998, asthma risk was about 50 percent higher among children born by C-section compared with children born spontaneously and vaginally, the researchers report.

They found 19 percent increased risk among children born by vaginal delivery requiring the use of instruments (forceps or vacuum).

From 1988 through 1998, when the birth registry designated between emergency and planned C-section deliveries, unexpected differences emerged.

Compared with spontaneous vaginal deliveries during this period, emergency C-sections carried higher asthma risk (59 percent) than planned C-sections (42 percent increased risk). Instrument-assisted vaginal deliveries brought a 14 percent increased asthma risk during this 10-year period.

Children whose immune systems rebound after treatment with potent anti-viral drugs for HIV infection face an increased risk of developing asthma, said a federally funded consortium of researchers led by those from Baylor College of Medicine in a new report.

Important immune system components called CD4 cells increase in children treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy,” said Dr. William T. Shearer, professor of pediatrics and immunology at BCM in Houston and chief of the allergy and immunology service at Texas Children’s Hospital.

CD4 cells are thought to be associated with the inflammation in the lung tissue that accompanies asthma. When CD4 cells decline in children with HIV, their asthma symptoms also decrease.

Shearer and his colleagues evaluated the use of asthma medication among children with HIV who took the anti-HIV drugs and those who did not.

They found that about one-third of those on the anti-HIV medications used asthma drugs compared to 11.5 percent of those who did not take anti-HIV drugs.

Shearer said a study that evaluates the lung function of children with HIV on anti-viral therapy would help explain how an increase in the immune system affects the risk of asthma.

Are you depressed with the suffering you’ve experienced this spring due to allergies?

If you ignore to take necessary steps to reduce your level of discomfort for next spring [Relief from spring time allergy], then you can have a chance to experience the same discomfort in the next spring too!

Plant allergies usually bring sneezing, itchy skin, mild headaches, scratchy throats, clogged sinuses and watery eyes to all those unfortunate allergy sufferers.

But, fortunately there are many ways for you to minimize your exposure to all those potential triggers of plant allergies and those allergic reactions involved with the exposure.

So, slight changes in your regular habits, way of dressing, landscaping and appropriate awareness can bring quick and lasting allergy relief for you. So, these are certain effective ways to minimize your allergy symptoms involved with your stress.

Ways to minimize your plant allergies!

• All sorts of plant allergies often results from puffs of pollen circulating in the air. This pollen usually gets stuck on your clothing and gets in your eyes, mouth and nose and even into your throat correspondingly. So, you can minimize this kind of exposure by simply wearing sunglasses, long sleeved dresses and even wearing hat to protect yourself from pollen exposure [Dealing with pollen allergy].