Can Periostin Serve as a Biomarker for Pediatric Urticaria?
Children with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) had significantly lower serum periostin levels than those without the condition. These levels did not correlate with disease activity, however.
METHODOLOGY:
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study to compare serum periostin levels between children with CSU and peers without the condition.
They recruited 84 children (median age, 9 years; 58.3% girls) with CSU — all receiving antihistamines — from an outpatient clinic between April 2018 and April 2019.
The control children did not have any known allergic, dermatologic, or chronic systemic conditions.
TAKEAWAY:
Mean serum periostin levels were significantly lower in the CSU group than in controls (56.41 ng/mL vs 71.68; P = .001).
Among children with CSU, those receiving a leukotriene receptor antagonist had significantly lower periostin levels than those not receiving that class of medication (44.32 vs 61.33 ng/mL; P = .009).
Serum periostin levels showed no significant correlation with disease activity, as measured using Urticaria Activity Score-7 and Urticaria Control Test scores.
IN PRACTICE:
'Serum periostin may provide insight into the immunological mechanisms underlying CSU in children,' the authors of the study wrote. 'Its potential utility should be further explored in longitudinal and interventional studies.'
SOURCE:
Gokce Velioglu Haslak, MD, with the Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on June 24 in International Archives of Allergy and Immunology.
LIMITATIONS:
The cross-sectional design, small sample size, and a lack of standard pediatric periostin reference ranges complicated interpretation of the results.
DISCLOSURES:
The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Medscape
4 hours ago
- Medscape
Pricey Drugs Unlikely to Solve Dementia
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Dear colleagues, I'm Christoph Diener from the faculty of medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen, in Germany. In this month's video, I would like to concentrate on the topic of dementia. We made tremendous progress in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, not only at a time when patients show symptoms but also in the preclinical phase of the disease. Biomarkers and Lifestyle We have new biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid with amyloid and tau PET, and more recently, we have now biomarkers in plasma. One is p-tau217, and this has shown a high sensitivity for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and a good correlation with cerebrospinal fluid markers, as published recently in Neurology . A second aspect is we know that there are about 14 different lifestyle factors and comorbidities that increase the risk for mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and in particular, Alzheimer's disease. The most frequent ones — as you know — are vascular risk factors, hearing loss, smoking, high alcohol intake,obesity, and nutrition. Unfortunately, for most of these correlations, there have been no prospective randomized trials to show that management or treatment of these risk factors or comorbidities would really decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Just to give you an example, there is one study from the US published in Neurology with more than 100,000 participants, and they showed that consumption of red meat significantly increases the risk of dementia. We have in the past not really considered lifestyle factors enough to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Herpes Zoster and Cognitive Impairment There are very interesting findings on the correlation between Herpes zoster and the increased risk of cognitive impairment and have now several studies with hundreds of thousands of patients in the US, in the UK and Australia, which showed that, if someone has Herpes zoster infection, over the next 13 years, the risk of dementia is increased between 15% and 30%. The more interesting feature is that obviously vaccination against Herpes zoster reduces the risk of have been several studies, including one in Wales with almost 300,000 participants. When the vaccination was introduced, participants born before 1933 were not vaccinated, while 50% of those born after 1933 were vaccinated. After 7 years, the diagnosis of dementia was reduced by 3.5% in vaccinated relative risk reduction for dementia was 20%. Another aspect is which vaccine. The study from the United States with more than 100,000 people observed over 6 years showed that recombinant vaccine is more effective in preventing cognitive impairment and dementia compared to the traditional live vaccine. The risk reduction was 17%. GLP-1 Drugs and Anti-Amyloids We have a totally new class of medicines to treat diabetes and obesity: the GLP-1 receptor agonists. There is indirect evidence that they might also be beneficial for the prevention of dementia. One publication in JAMA Neurology looked at a database of more than 33,000 patients treated with GLP-1 receptor agonistsand 34,000 treated with SGLT2 inhibitors compared with standard therapy. For both substances, there was a 35%-45% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer's dementia and other dementias compared to standard therapy. This has to be shown in one of the ongoing trials with GLP-1 receptor agonists. Let me mention the new beta-amyloid antibodies, lecanemab and donanemab. They have been approved both in the United States and in Europe for the treatment of early stages of Alzheimer's disease. This is a complicated business because you need biomarkers and amyloid PET for the diagnosis, you need regular intravenous administration, and you need MR controls to check for Amyloid-related imaging abnormalities. At the recent Alzheimer's Congress in Toronto, for both substances, long-term data were presented for a time period of three to 4 years. They showed that with increasing time of treatment, there is also an increase, obviously, in efficacy if the data are compared with a database, not within the randomized trials, because these were open-label, long-term studies. With donanemab, it was interesting that, in more than 75% of the patients, there was no longer amyloid detected on PET. The other important issue is that there is now a new application of donanemab that is subcutaneous. Spend Money on Lifestyle At the end of the day. I'm not really sure whether this is an effective treatment if we consider cost and risk, and I think a healthcare system would be better advised to invest all this money into teaching of at-risk persons, in particular, to have an impact on lifestyle. I'm aware that, in low-income people, this is extremely difficult, because they cannot afford healthy food and they cannot afford to pay for a gym for regular exercise. I think we can do much better, in particular, in treating comorbidities like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and so on. Dear colleagues, this is a short update on what has happened recently in the field of dementia. I'm Christoph Diener from the University of Duisburg-Essen Medical School. Thank you very much for listening and watching.
Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
BioEcho Unveils EchoLUTION™ Cell Culture RNA Kit, Delivering Superior Quality and Speed for Research
BioEcho launches new EchoLUTION™ Cell Culture RNA kit, offering superior quality and speed for academic and biopharma research in under 10 minutes. COLOGNE, GERMANY, August 21, 2025 / / -- BioEcho Life Sciences GmbH, an Admera Health company, has launched its new EchoLUTION™ Cell Culture RNA purification kit. This kit utilizes the revolutionary one-step EchoLUTION™ technology to deliver superior RNA quality with high recovery rates and more usable reads in downstream applications. The purification method drastically reduces hands-on time and overall turnaround, with a workflow of under 10 minutes. The launch of the Cell Culture RNA kit follows the successful introduction of the EchoLUTION™ FFPE RNA kit in late 2023. Both kits are critical tools for academic and biopharma researchers, offering significant cost savings by eliminating multiple wash steps and reducing the use of consumables. The new kit is available in 96- and 384-well plate formats and can be used with a variety of sample types. This new approach inverts the logic of traditional purification, which has for decades relied on harsh, inefficient binding techniques. By retaining impurities and allowing the nucleic acids to pass through in a single step, the method eliminates multiple wash steps, which are a major source of sample loss and time consumption. 'We are proud to introduce a product that will significantly improve the efficiency and quality of nucleic acid purification workflows,' said Dr. Sarah Eckenrode, General Manager of BioEcho. 'The EchoLUTION™ Cell Culture RNA kit is a game-changer for academic and biopharma researchers who need fast, reliable, and cost-effective solutions. We developed this kit to address the common bottlenecks associated with traditional methods, providing a gentle yet powerful alternative that truly reveals the unseen.' The new EchoLUTION™ Cell Culture RNA kit is a critical tool for researchers in academic and biopharma labs. It is available in 96- and 384-well plate formats and can be used with a variety of sample types. About BioEcho Life Sciences GmbH BioEcho Life Sciences is an ISO 9001 certified company specializing in nucleic acid sample preparation tools for life sciences research, agricultural, and industrial applications. Founded in 2016 by a team of industry experts in genomic sample preparation, BioEcho was established with the mission of utilizing its proprietary technologies and technical expertise to overcome the limitations of many standardized methods in molecular biology workflows. BioEcho kits offer customers industry-leading quality, speed, simplicity, and sustainability for the purification of high-quality nucleic acids from a wide variety of samples. Our mission is to provide simple, safe, and sustainable solutions that enable our customers to reveal the unseen and echoing true biology. For more information, visit Sarah Eckenrode BioEcho Life Sciences [email protected] Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Associated Press
7 hours ago
- Associated Press
Dr. Nikola Cihoric Redefines Clinical Research Through Innovation, Technology, and Data
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, August 21, 2025 / / -- Bridging Medicine, Research, and Technology for Patient-Centric Solutions Dr. Nikola Cihoric, founder and visionary behind Wemedoo AG, is redefining clinical research by merging technology, innovation, medicine, and data into a seamless ecosystem that empowers healthcare professionals and researchers alike. With over 15 years of experience in radiation oncology and a deep commitment to clinical data standardization, Dr. Cihoric is setting a new standard in the way clinical trials are conducted worldwide. A Vision Born from Real Clinical Challenges Wemedoo was born from Dr. Cihoric's firsthand frustration with fragmented healthcare systems and inefficient clinical workflows. 'I observed the paper world and sloppy digitalization that slowed treatment delivery and overburdened medical staff,' he explains. His focus on data standardization and cross-sector collaboration led to the development of an early prototype, oopus (initially SmartOncology), which received support from the Swiss Cancer Foundation. Building on this experience, Wemedoo developed its unique approach, which eliminates silos, enhances transparency, and gives researchers full control across the clinical data lifecycle. Learn more about Dr. Cihoric's vision in the Xraised interview. Transforming Clinical Trials Through Technology Unlike traditional clinical trial solutions that rely on multiple disconnected systems, Wemedoo's oomnia system integrates EDC, CTMS, eTMF, eConsent, RTSM, and advanced reporting in a single, unified, and interoperable environment. This approach eliminates costly integrations, reduces errors, and ensures data consistency across every stage of a trial. 'By using technology to unify processes, we save time, reduce errors, and provide real-time insights for clinicians and researchers,' Dr. Cihoric notes. 'Our no-code configuration also allows rapid adaptation to evolving trial requirements, ensuring flexibility without compromising quality.' Ethical AI and Data-Driven Innovation Wemedoo integrates AI into oomnia practically and responsibly, focusing on automating processes where it delivers immediate value without unnecessary risks, essential in a highly regulated industry. Their work is guided by explainability and transparency, from AI-driven risk assessment tools for protocol design to semantic mapping engines that cut data processing timelines from months to days. Wemedoo is also exploring agentic AI to support operational decision-making, always with a 'man-in-control' philosophy to ensure accountability. What makes this possible is oomnia's semantic foundation, structured data, common data elements, and standard vocabularies, which keep outcomes reproducible, interpretable, and aligned with regulatory frameworks. Beyond technology, Wemedoo collaborates with public institutions and publish in peer-reviewed journals, reinforcing their belief that AI is only meaningful if it strengthens trust, transparency, and data integrity. Balancing Clinical Practice and Product Development Despite his active role at Wemedoo, Dr. Cihoric continues to work in a leading academic hospital. This dual role allows him to translate real-world clinical challenges into actionable system improvements. 'Being close to patients and clinical teams keeps me grounded in reality, ensuring that our technology delivers tangible benefits,' he says. Long-Term Vision for Clinical Research Looking ahead, Dr. Cihoric aims to remove barriers between clinical practice and research, investing in education, resources, and stakeholder alignment to ultimately improve patient outcomes. 'The goal is to create a future where innovation, technology, and real-world data converge seamlessly to benefit patients worldwide,' he asserts. About Dr. Nikola Cihoric Dr. Nikola Cihoric is a radiation oncologist, researcher, and founder of Wemedoo AG, with expertise in clinical data standardization, AI integration, and oncology innovation. He has published over 35 scientific papers and actively contributed to international standards groups such as mCODE, CodeX, HL7/FHIR, and CDISC. For more information on Dr. Nikola Cihoric and Wemedoo's groundbreaking work, visit Wemedoo and explore insights from Xraised ( ). Media and Business Inquiries General contact: [email protected] Business development: [email protected] Website: LinkedIn: Wemedoo AG. Gianmarco Giordaniello Xraised email us here Visit us on social media: LinkedIn Instagram X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
