Our Practice Website Completely Renovated (www.FauquierENT.net)

Recently, readers may have noticed that I have not been as prolific with blog articles as I have been in the past. The reason is because I've been in the process of overhauling the our practice's official website (www.FauquierENT.net) to the latest and greatest in webpage coding incorporating HTML5 and CSS3 standards.

Given the official practice website contains over 200 webpages... it just took a very long time and I required the assistance of Chris Ferrell with Pettygrove Full Creative Agency to make it a reality. BTW... I highly recommend him if you need a website or extensive website rework.

The website is best viewed using the most recent version of your browser whether it be Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. Older browser versions will work, but just won't be as pretty and formatting may be slightly off.

Also new to the website is its ability to automatically detect and adjust appearance of the webpages based on whether you are on a regular computer vs tablet vs smartphone. Very cool...

Check it out here!

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Kids Exposed to Fido or Fluffy in the First Year of Life Decreases Risk of Becoming Allergic to Them

There have been a number of studies in the past investigating whether it is healthy for a baby to be around pets and whether such exposure increases or decreases risk of becoming allergic to them later in life.

In a recent study (published online June 2011), the researchers found that among males, those with an indoor dog during the first year of life had half the risk of becoming allergic to dogs at age 18 compared with those who did not have an indoor dog in the first year of life regardless whether born by C-section or vaginally. Also, teens with an indoor cat in the first year of life also had a decreased risk of becoming allergic to cats. Neither cumulative exposure nor exposure at any other particular age was associated with either outcome. So it appears that the FIRST year of life is key to whether a child develops pet allergies or not.

Although in this study, cat and dog ownership appears to be beneficial in kids, prior studies have suggested that for at least cats, it increases risk of overall allergies in children by 13 times! Dog exposure, however, reduces overall allergy by 4 times.

Reference:
Lifetime dog and cat exposure and dog- and cat-specific sensitization at age 18 years. Clinical & Experimental Allergy Volume 41, Issue 7, pages 979–986, July 2011

Genetic and environmental risk factors for childhood eczema development and allergic sensitization in the CCAAPS cohort. J Invest Dermatol. 2010 Feb;130(2):430-7. Epub 2009 Sep 17

Opposing Effects of Cat and Dog Ownership and Allergic Sensitization on Eczema in an Atopic Birth Cohort. J Pediatr. 2011 Feb;158(2):265-71.e1-5.

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Nasal Hair Protective Against Asthma in Patients with Allergies?

Researchers in Turkey found that there is an association between nasal hair density and risk of asthma developing in patients with seasonal rhinitis patients. No joke... They published their findings in the International Archives of Allergy and Immunology in March 2011.

The rate of asthma found in patients with little or no nasal hair was 44.7% whereas only 16.7% of patients with a dense forest of nasal hair had asthma.

They hypothesize that increased nasal hair improves allergen filtration thereby preventing the allergens from irritating the airway. The assumption here being that allergen irritation of the airway can potentially cause asthma.

IF this is true (and that's a big if)... patients with allergies should be encouraged to grow nice thick nasal hair to prevent future asthma!

Read the research abstract here!

Reference:
Does Nasal Hair (Vibrissae) Density Affect the Risk of Developing Asthma in Patients with Seasonal Rhinitis? Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2011 Mar 30;156(1):75-80

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