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En el ámbito de las Ciencias, el inglés es la lengua dominante en la investigación, imprescindible en la formación del estudiante universitario, para garantizar una formación autónoma y continua. El objetivo de este trabajo es crear un diccionario de términos técnicos en inglés del ámbito de la Medicina y de la Ingeniería, que presentan plurales irregulares en la morfología inglesa ya que siguen las reglas de declinación griega y latina. Se creó una lista de términos provenientes del griego y el latín extraídos de manuales de ESP y de diccionarios técnicos. También se clasificaron los términos recopilados de acuerdo con su origen y la declinación que presentan. El primer paso fue crear una gramática flexiva en NooJ con reglas para cada uno de los grupos de sustantivos. Luego, se creó un diccionario que se vinculó con la gramática obteniendo 776 entradas. Se procedió a compilar el diccionario con todas las formas flexionadas generando un total de 1554 entradas con todas las formas posibles que se definieron en la gramática flexiva. La creación de un diccionario de términos médicos e ingenieriles con NooJ ha demostrado ser una herramienta extremadamente valiosa ya que la gestión de la terminología es fundamental para garantizar la precisión y la claridad de la comunicación técnica y científica

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a major non-communicable disease that affects the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients. AR is significantly related to asthma also affecting HRQoL. However, data on HRQoL and symptom control in AR patients with comorbid asthma are lacking. Objective: To assess the differences of symptom control and HRQoL in AR patients with and without comorbid asthma. Methods: In this multicentre, cross-sectional study, patients with AR were screened and administered questionnaires of demographic characteristics and health conditions (symptoms/diagnosis of AR and asthma, disease severity level, and allergic conditions). HRQoL was assessed using a modified version of the RHINASTHMA questionnaire and symptom control was evaluated by a modified version of the Control of Allergic Rhinitis/Asthma Test (CARAT). Results: Out of 643 patients with AR, 500 (78%) had asthma as a comorbidity, and 54% had moderate-severe intermittent AR, followed by moderate-severe persistent AR (34%). Patients with both AR and asthma had significantly higher RHINASTHMA scores than the patients with AR alone (e.g., median RHINASTHMA-total score 84 vs. 48.5, respectively). Conversely, CARAT scores were significantly lower in AR with comorbid asthma than in the patients with AR alone (median CARAT-total score 16.5 vs. 23, respectively). Upon stratifying asthma based on severity, AR patients with severe persistent asthma had worse HRQoL and control than AR patients with mild persistent asthma. Conclusions: Our observation of poorer HRQoL and symptoms control in AR patients with comorbid asthma supports the importance of a comprehensive approach for the management of AR in case of a comorbid allergic condition.

Orbicules are sub- or pauci-micronic sporopollenin-coated particles associated with pollen grains. Recent studies have highlighted their importance in terms of systematic value or as vectors of allergens that may trigger pollinosis. While orbicules have indeed been reported for most families and genera of allergological importance, their usefulness in systematics remains little explored. Our study aims: (a) to discover the presence/absence of orbicules in species of allergological interest hitherto overlooked regarding these particles; (b) to propose standard descriptors for orbicule morphology; and (c) to link the features of orbicules to a systematic framework. We observed or measured selected orbicule traits in SEM micrographs of pollen sacs and pollen grains of 23 species of 17 genera in Asteraceae, Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Oleaceae, Poaceae, Plantaginaceae and Polygonaceae families. Categorical and continuous traits were included in a matrix and then subjected to NMDS as ordination method to assess the usefulness of orbicule traits as systematic characters. We detected orbicules both on the locule wall and on the pollen exine in almost all investigated species and described unknown nanoparticles smaller than orbicules. Based on orbicules traits, NMDS separated the samples at species level. We detected and described orbicules on the tapetum and on the pollen exine in 19 target species and observed unknown nanoparticles that might explain (a) the process of deposition of sporopollenin during orbicule development and (b) the onset of pollinosis before and after the dispersion of pollen grains into the air. Finally, within the restricted sample examined, selected orbicule traits allowed to resolve the data set at species level.

Members of Cupressaceae and Taxaceae are known to release large amounts of highly allergenic pollen grains into the atmosphere, which are responsible for the onset of pollinosis in many countries throughout the world. In addition to pollen grains, their pollen sacs produce orbicules, which are submicron particles reported to carry allergens and which are potentially able to reach much further down the respiratory tract than pollen grains. Previous research has postulated the presence of orbicules in the atmosphere; however, direct observations have not yet been reported. The aim of this research was to provide the first direct evidence that Cupressaceae orbicules are released into the atmosphere by detecting them in daily aerobiological samples. We observed pollen sacs, pollen grains, and orbicules of nine species of Cupressaceae using scanning electron microscope (SEM). We then used a light and confocal microscope, to examine daily aerobiological samples. Under SEM, we measured the orbicule size (0.494–0.777 µm) and detected unknown nanometric particles (130–200 nm). Under the light microscope, aerobiological samples showed clusters of stained dots surrounding the pollen grains of Cupressaceae. Under the confocal microscope, the same clusters were resolved into submicron particles with the same autofluorescence as the pollen grains. These features enabled us to identify them as orbicules. We believe that our findings help to explain the onset of pollinosis and allergic asthma related to Cupressaceae pollen grains in many countries, even before pollen grains are actually detected or after they are no longer observed in aerobiological monitoring samples.

Rationale: prevalence of pollen-related allergic respiratory diseases has increased in past decades in Europe. Aim: to evaluate the clinical impact of pollen allergy in an European general population sample. Methods: in 2016, 643 subjects suffering from pollen allergy were enrolled in Italy (Pisa, PI), France (Paris, PA), Austria (Vienna, VI). Each subject filled in the Health, CARAT (modified) and Rhinasthma questionnaires about health status, disease control and quality of life (QoL) associated with allergic diseases in the previous 12 months. Statistical analyses included chi-square test and analysis of variance. Results: the highest reported allergies were those to Betulaceae (73%) in VI, Graminaceae (61%) in PI and Platanaceae (28%) in PA. Allergic rhinitis was higher in VI (95%), allergic conjunctivitis and asthma in PA (69 and 54%, respectively) than in the other countries. Respiratory symptoms were significantly higher in PA (97%) than in VI (73%) and PI (65%); oculo-rhinitic symptoms were higher in VI (96%) than in PA (91%) and PI (80%); nasal symptoms did not differ among the countries. Health services and anti-allergic medicines were significantly more used in VI (67 and 94%) than in PI (26 and 78%) and PA (39 and 47%). VI and PA showed worse QoL and diseases control than PI according to Rhinasthma and CARAT scores. Overall, only 27.2% had a good/optimal QoL, 25.3% reported daily limitations at work, school or in other activities and 12.6% had a controlled allergic rhinitis and asthma. Conclusions: there is a relevant clinical impact of pollen allergy in 3 European countries which should prompt measures to reduce such environmental exposure. Supported by EU LIFE program, project no. LIFE13 ENV/IT/001107.