General

In Knightsbridge on 12 May 2008!

Yay for snow!

I think Terry won, mine looked more like a loaf of bread!!

We finally got to go to the zoo for Terry’s birthday! Yay!

http://www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=221

We made a picnic and went to sit in the park on deck chairs to watch the band playing at the bandstand in Ripley! It was a great night that ended in fireworks!

Terry took me to San Carlos in Bristol for dinner and it was yummy!!! :)

Terry and I went up to London on Sunday for the Diana concert! Turns out we were in the third row near the catwalk! The concert was good and it was fun to see William and Harry! Take That were the best of course!! :) Joss Stone sang Under Pressure and I screamed so loudly when she said Queen and I ended up being filmed and on TV!!! Terry was also on TV on the way to bar during Bryan Ferry! Wembley Stadium was also very impressive! Saw Fairy and Kev for about a minute and decided to meet up inside but we couldn’t get to each other :(

www.girlonfire.co.uk/photos/thumbnails.php?album=211&page=1

I wonder if this is the cause of my asthma, I had a random allergic reaction after eating mussels and I couldn’t breathe!

news.bbc.co.uk

Studies explain ‘lobster asthma’

Lobsters owe the toughness of their armour to chitin
Scientists say they are uncovering why some people’s asthma is triggered by shellfish, insects and parasites.
The clue lies in a compound called chitin that gives beetles and crabs their protective outer shell and invertebrates their internal structure.

Humans and other mammals lack chitin, and have developed defences against it.

The latest work in Nature builds on previous animal studies showing a link between asthma symptoms and immune reactions to chitin.

Common trigger

The team at the University of California, San Francisco, found chitin triggered an allergic inflammatory response in the lungs of mice and increased production of a chitin-destroying enzyme, called chitinase, made by cells lining the lung airways.

In humans, individuals have different versions due to small genetic differences.

The researchers are now trying to determine if some of the variants are less effective at breaking down chitin, and if people with those variants are more prone to asthma because they are less able to control their exposure to inhaled chitin.

This study reveals a mechanism by which chitin can trigger allergic inflammation

Leanne Male, Asthma UK’s assistant director of research

Insects, moulds and parasitic worms produce billions of tons of chitin each year, making it one of life’s most common compounds.

Asthma experts have already noticed that some professions - including people working in the shellfish processing industry - have higher rates of asthma.

Lead researcher Dr Richard Locksley said: “It is possible that afflicted workers have forms of the chitinase that functions less well than the other common genetic variants.

“These are areas we are interested in following up.”

Leanne Male, Asthma UK’s assistant director of research, said: “This study reveals a mechanism by which chitin can trigger allergic inflammation.”

She said more work was needed to confirm the findings in humans and establish how this mechanism might apply to everyday situations.

She said 5.2million people in the UK have asthma and are continuously exposed to chitin present in the environment.

www.monopoly.co.uk

I hadn’t done anything on my family tree for such a long time that I decided to do some last night. Filled in loads of gaps using information from other people on www.genesreunited.co.uk. If you are doing family history research, I recommend you sign up, it is only £9.95 a year and could save you a lot of time and money!