Latest news with #UniversityOfChicago
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
Allergies seem nearly impossible to avoid — unless you're Amish
Whether triggered by pollen, pet dander or peanuts, allergies in this day and age seem nearly impossible to avoid. But one group appears virtually immune, a mystery to experts who study allergies. Despite the increasing rate of allergic diseases, both in industrialized and in developing countries, the Amish remain exceptionally — and bafflingly — resistant. Only 7 percent of Amish children had a positive response to one or more common allergens in a skin prick test, compared with more than half of the general U.S. population. Even children from other traditional farming families, who still have lower rates of allergic disease than nonfarm children, are more allergic than the Amish. In fact, one Amish community living in northern Indiana is considered one of the least allergic populations ever measured in the developed world. 'Generally, across the country, about 8 to 10 percent of kids have asthma. In the Amish kids, it's probably 1 to 2 percent,' said Carole Ober, chair of human genetics at the University of Chicago. 'A few of them do have allergies, but at much, much lower rates compared to the general population.' Now, Ober and other researchers are trying to discover what makes Amish and other traditional farming communities unique, in the hopes of developing a protective treatment that could be given to young children. For instance, a probiotic or essential oil that contains substances found in farm dust, such as microbes and the molecules they produce, could stimulate children's immune systems in a way that prevents allergic disease. 'Certain kinds of farming practices, particularly the very traditional ones, have this extraordinary protective effect in the sense that, in these communities, asthma and allergies are virtually unknown,' said Donata Vercelli, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Arizona. 'The studies that have been done in these farming populations are critical because they tell us that protection is an attainable goal.' The Amish are members of a Christian group who practice traditional farming — many live on single-family dairy farms — and use horses for fieldwork and transportation. As of 2024, around 395,000 Amish live in the United States, concentrated mostly in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Over the past century, the incidence of allergic diseases — including hay fever (allergic rhinitis), asthma, food allergies and eczema — has increased dramatically. Hay fever, or an allergic reaction to tree, grass and weed pollens, emerged as the first recognized allergic disease in the early 1800s, climbing to epidemic levels in Europe and North America by 1900. The 1960s saw a sharp increase in the prevalence of pediatric asthma, a condition in which the airways tighten when breathing in an allergen. From the 1990s onward, there has been an upswing in the developed world in food allergies, including cow's milk, peanut and egg allergies. Urbanization, air pollution, dietary changes and an indoor lifestyle are often cited as possible factors. The 'hygiene hypothesis' — first proposed in a 1989 study by American immunologist David Strachan — suggests that early childhood exposure to microbes protects against allergic diseases by contributing to the development of a healthy immune system. The study found that hay fever and eczema were less common among children born into larger families. Strachan wondered whether unhygienic contact with older siblings served as a protection against allergies. Subsequent findings have given support to the hygiene hypothesis, such as that children who grow up with more household pets are less likely to develop asthma, hay fever or eczema. Perhaps even more beneficial than having older siblings or pets, however, is growing up on a farm. (More than 150 years ago, hay fever was known as an 'aristocratic disease,' almost wholly confined to the upper classes of society. Farmers appeared relatively immune.) This 'farm effect' has been confirmed by studies on agricultural populations around the world, including in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. But even among farming communities, the most pronounced effect appears to be in the Amish. In a study of 60 schoolchildren by Ober, Vercelli and their colleagues, the prevalence of asthma was four times lower in the Amish as compared with the Hutterites, another U.S. farming community with a similar genetic ancestry and lifestyle. The prevalence of allergic sensitization — the development of antibodies to allergens and the first step to developing an allergy — was six times higher in the Hutterites. The researchers first ruled out a genetic cause; in fact, an analysis showed that the Amish and Hutterite children were remarkably similar in their ancestral roots. Instead, the main difference between these two populations seemed to be the amount of exposure as young children to farm animals or barns. 'The Hutterite kids and pregnant moms don't go into the animal barns. Kids aren't really exposed to the animal barns until they're like 12 or so, when they start learning how to do the work on the farm,' Ober said. 'The Amish kids are in and out of the cow barns all day long from an early age.' When analyzing samples of Amish and Hutterite house dust, they found a microbial load almost seven times higher in Amish homes. Later experiments showed that the airways of mice that inhaled Amish dust had dramatically reduced asthmalike symptoms when exposed to allergens. Mice that inhaled Hutterite dust did not receive the same benefit. Now, Ober and Vercelli are beginning to identify the protective agents in Amish dust that prevent allergic asthma. In 2023, their analysis of farm dust found proteins that act like delivery trucks, loaded with molecules produced by microbes and plants. When these transport proteins deliver their cargo to the mucus that lines the respiratory tract, it creates a protective environment that regulates airway responses and prevents inflammation. 'We don't really talk about the hygiene hypothesis as much anymore because we now understand that it's not really about how hygienic you're living,' said Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo, director of the Center for Food Allergy at the University of Rochester Medical Center. 'It's more like a microbial hypothesis, since beneficial bacteria that colonize the gut and other mucosal surfaces play a significant role.' During the first year or two of life, a baby's immune system is rapidly developing and highly malleable by environmental stimuli, such as bacteria. Some experts believe that exposing young children to certain types of beneficial bacteria can engage and shape the growing immune system in a way that reduces the risk of allergic diseases later in life. Farm dust contains a hodgepodge of bacteria shed from livestock and animal feed that isn't harmful enough to cause illness, but does effectively train the immune system to become less responsive to allergens later in life. In 2021, Järvinen-Seppo and her colleagues compared the gut microbiomes of 65 Old Order Mennonite infants from a rural community in New York with 39 urban/suburban infants from nearby Rochester. Like the Amish, the Old Order Mennonites follow a traditional agrarian lifestyle. Almost three-fourths of Mennonite infants in the study were colonized with B. infantis, a bacterium associated with lower rates of allergic diseases, in contrast to 21 percent of Rochester infants. 'The colonization rate is very low in the United States and other Western countries, compared to very high rates in Mennonite communities, similar to some developing countries,' Järvinen-Seppo said. 'This mirrors the rates of autoimmune and allergic diseases.' These clues about the origin of the farm effect represent a step toward the prevention of allergic diseases, Järvinen-Seppo says. Whatever form the treatment takes, the impact on prevention of allergic diseases, which affect millions of people worldwide and reduce quality of life, could be enormous, experts say. 'I don't know that we can give every family a cow. … But we are learning from these time-honored and very stable environments what type of substances and exposures are needed,' Vercelli said. 'Once we know that, I don't think there will be any impediment to creating protective strategies along these lines.'
CBS News
4 days ago
- CBS News
Woman killed, man hurt in drive-by shooting in Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood
A woman is dead and a man was taken to the hospital after a drive-by shooting overnight on the city's South Side. It happened just before 1 a.m. Saturday in the 7500 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. Chicago police said officers responded to a report of a person shot and found a man, whose age was not released, and a 37-year-old woman in an alley who were hit by gunfire. The woman was hit multiple times in the abdomen and died at the scene. The man was hit once in the knee and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition. As of Saturday, no one is in custody. Area 2 detectives are investigating.
CBS News
5 days ago
- CBS News
Man, 62, dies after being shot multiple times in Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood
A 62-year-old man is dead after being shot multiple times on the city's South Side Friday morning. Chicago police said shortly after 10:30 a.m., the victim was standing by the stairs of a residence in the 7600 block of South Eberhart Avenue when two unknown people exited a dark-in-color Dodge SUV and shot at him. The victim was hit multiple times in the body and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. His identity was not released. As of Friday, there were no arrests. Area detectives are investigating.
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Canary Mission: How has it been used to target pro-Palestine activists?
Canary Mission, an anonymous pro-Israel group and website, has been blacklisting pro-Palestinian students, professors and activists for more than 10 years. Now, the Trump administration has revealed that it has been using the list to target academics for deportation. What is the impact? In this episode: Darryl Li (@dcli) – Professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences, University of Chicago Episode credits: This episode was produced by Diana Ferrero, Noor Wazwaz, Tracie Hunte and Chloe K. Li with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Kisaa Zehra, Marya Khan, Melanie Marich and our guest host, Manuel Rápalo. It was edited by Sarí el-Khalili and Kylene Kiang. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take's executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
The Sun
7 days ago
- Health
- The Sun
Simply walking slightly faster is enough to ‘boost your health – slashing risk of serious health issues'
SIMPLY walking faster could be enough exercise to boost your health in old age. A trial on over-60s suggests exactly how much to increase your stride to improve strength and fitness. 1 It suggests small speed boost could help to prevent frailty, reducing the risk of falls and injuries, and allowing more independent living. Experts at the University of Chicago said picking up the pace could be an easy lifestyle tweak for people who find it hard to exercise. Study author Dr Daniel Rubin said: 'Even casual walking had positive effects on our study participants. 'People who haven't experienced frailty can't imagine how big a difference it makes to be able to not get tired going to the grocery store, or not need to sit down while they're out. 'Our results demonstrate that increased walking cadence was associated with an increase in functional capacity improvement.' The study recruited 102 people from retirement communities in the USA and compared their walking speed to their fitness. 14 extra steps per minute to boost health Some continued walking at a casual pace – about 80 steps per minute – while others walked as fast as they safely could, about 100 steps per minute. After four months, people in the fast walking group showed a more significant improvement in fitness tests than the casual walkers. The researchers said an average increase of 14 steps per minute should help to improve someone's health. A report by Sport England this year showed that physical activity among retirees is increasing but at least a third of over-55s do not hit NHS targets. Get fit at 50: Workouts for beginners and those short on time The health service recommends adults get at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week. Writing in the journal Plos One, Dr Rubin added: 'Walking is an important exercise to reduce frailty in older adults. 'It directly benefits the circulatory, cardiopulmonary and immune systems while reducing the risk and severity of various health conditions. 'Walking interventions are advantageous as they are easily scalable, low cost, and can be performed with no additional equipment.' How much exercise should you do and when? There are guidelines issued by the NHS and the Government regarding how much exercise people should do each day. People should be active daily, and avoid sitting for long periods. The NHS recommends an adults – those aged 19 to 64 – should aim for 150 minutes of 'moderate intensity activity' a week. This works out to 21 minutes a day, or 30 minutes five days a week. Or, they could do 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, which could be less than 11 minutes per day or 25 minutes three days a week. Adults should also aim to do strength exercises twice a week, at least. Examples of moderate-intensity activities include brisk walking, water aerobics, riding a bike, dancing, doubles tennis, pushing a lawn mower, hiking or rollerblading. Examples of vigorous activities include running, swimming, riding a bike fast or on hills, walking up the stairs, sports, like football, rugby, netball and hockey, skipping, aerobics, gymnastics or martial arts. Things like lifting heavy weights, sprinting up hills, spin classes or circuit training are considered very vigorous. What time should you exercise? Getting exercise into your day, no matter what time is a good idea. But you may want to be more selective depending on your goal. A 2023 US study on 5,285 middle-aged adults showed exercising between 7 and 9 am was the best time if you're looking to lose weight. Researchers found that early-bird gym goers had a lower body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference than those working out later. A 2022 study led by Prof Paul J Arciero, Skidmore College, New York, found that the optimal time of day to get your kit on might differ according to your gender. Prof Arciero said women wanting to lose fat around their belly and hips would do better to hit the gym in the morning, but those seeking to gain upper body strength or simply improve their mood might see more results from evening exercise. The results were the opposite for men. If you struggle to get to sleep, it's been found that exercise in the morning may help, but exercise in the evening may help you to stay asleep. Exercise, generally, can improve sleep quality.
