skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Scientists Getting Closer to Understanding Food Allergies

play audio
Play

Monday, April 16, 2018   

EVANSTON, Ill. — Scientists may have taken an important step toward limiting instances of food allergies in the future.

A new study from Northwestern Medicine linked infant and childhood food allergies to a mix of environmental and genetic factors. Professor Joan Cook-Mills headed up the research at Northwestern University and said they found that allergies were triggered by a combination of genetics that alter skin absorbency, the use of baby wipes that left soap on the skin, exposure to allergens in dust and skin exposure to food - even by something as simple as a sibling who has eaten peanut butter kissing a baby.

"What's unique is that this combination of household exposures induces food allergies early in life,” Cook-Mills said. “And if you leave out any of the components of this combination, it doesn't induce food allergy."

Cook-Mills said phase two of the study will be to figure out why food allergies have been on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they affect an estimated 4-6 percent of children in the United States. Recent data also show hospitalizations with diagnoses related to food allergies have increased among children.

Cook-Mills made the discovery in the lab by exposing peanuts to neonatal mice. The peanut alone had no effect. But in cases in which there was a combination of peanut exposure, exposure to allergens in dust and genetic mutations that could have been caused by something as simple as leaving soap on the skin, a food allergy developed.

She said what this means is that parents can reduce the risk factors for their child by doing simple things like washing their hands before handling a baby and limiting the use of infant wipes.

"These are modifiable environmental factors, but there may be also a better understanding of how food allergies develop,” Cook-Mills said; “and therefore we may be able to discover new ways to control this development, or even responses."

The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants, and is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …


More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social media platform X temporarily shutdown searches of "Taylor Swift" following the release of explicit deepfake images in early 2024. (Mdv Edwards/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021