As I attended the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting this month in ‘warmer’ Orlando, I realized that it has been 25 years of my going to their national meetings. The first one I went to was in March 1993 during my fellowship training. The meeting that year was in Chicago---the last time their meeting...
Inhaled corticosteroids, known commonly and for the rest of this discussion as ‘inhaled steroids,’ have been the preferred daily treatment since the 1980s to prevent asthma symptoms for those who would otherwise have asthma more than two days every week. The basis for creating this class of medication in the 1970s was to achieve...
Sometimes we are inclined to believe that history repeats itself, as highlighted by the famous remark by Santayana about not learning from the mistakes of the past. That cannot be said overall about the history of science —it is clearly an upward progression when the advances in DNA technology are considered. And, allergists have...
As the New Year approaches, it's always a good idea to take an inventory or review of your health insurance and note any changes that may affect your coverage. Some will have a new insurance company altogether, while those that stay with the same company may have some subtle policy changes. That's why we always recommend a review of...
In the musical world, everyone could see which Beatles song was the world’s most popular one when their catalog became available on iTunes in November 2010. During the first month of availability, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ was the most requested song. In the medical world, some--but not excessive-- sun exposure is needed for the...
With the arrival of autumn each year comes falling leaves, falling temperatures, the 'Fall Classic' (unfortunately without a Chicago team this year!)---and the rise in questions about the 'flu shot.' Questions about 'the pneumonia shot' also tend to come up at the same time. Let's go over the distinctions between the two shots,...