Comments on: NCBI ROFL: Oh, the irony!

By: poslatkvetiny

poslatkvetiny — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:20:47 +0000

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By: IDunnoLol

IDunnoLol — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:47:20 +0000

Please learn the definition of “irony.” It’s the exact OPPOSITE of irony.

By: Mr Anonymous

Mr Anonymous — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:32:03 +0000

Just don’t believe everything that you read especially online! Even “respectable” online publications have been known to pick up or reprint bad information or have unethical posters. It may be true, but it follows the method of an urban legend too well.

By: Jennifer Welsh

Jennifer Welsh — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:26:54 +0000

@ Mr. Anon. Just thinking about your comment, aren’t allergies caused by an over-active immune system (attacking things it should be neutral to), so being on immune suppressants would suppress the allergies, also.

By: ringo

ringo — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:14:00 +0000

Um, Mr Anon, if it gets published and makes its way to Pub Med, it’s not like you heard it from a friend-of-a-friend…

By: Mr Anonymous

Mr Anonymous — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:52:18 +0000

This story almost sounds like an urban legend “…at a transplant support group meeting…”. The story seems plausible (although I can imagine her allergy is due to a suppressed immune system not the lungs) but the story seems to pile on alot of coincidental facts and places. Really? At a transplant support group meeting? How nice. There’s too much irony here for this to be a REAL story. Hey, you never know though.

By: Natasha

Natasha — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:48:54 +0000

I have many different types of allergies, all food and pollen related and I recently developed asthma (I actually spent most of the night in the ER because of my asthma). My asthma, a form of reaction to an allergy, was actually caused by smoking. My allergies all developed around the time I was 8 to 12 and nobody in my immediate family has allergies, and I think out of my entire extended family, only about 2 people are allergic to anything at all, and that’s usually just one or two things, not the 15 things I’m allergic to. In my experience, I don’t think genetics played a role at all.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:32:18 +0000

Allergies are both genetic and dependent on exposure. There’s plenty of research to suggest that under-challenged mast cells will over-react to allergens. Constant exposure to a particular allergen can actually yield a decreased allergic response over time as the mast cells adapt.

By: BmoreKarl

BmoreKarl — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:28:08 +0000

Look up NCBI on Urban Dictionary. This blog doesn’t seem to offer an alternative meaning (google turns up several), but in that context, NCBI ROFL is confusing.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:33:53 +0000

Allergies seem to be genetic, it doesn’t matter what your exposed to at a young age, if your allergic you will have a reaction even if you are very young

By: Katharine

Katharine — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:37:06 +0000

This is not terribly surprising.

Although it does state the importance of exposing people to various things at early ages – bored immune systems make for miserable people.

By: kate C.

kate C. — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:09:29 +0000

There is a great case study problem to use with students in an immunology class or other sort of bio class that is based off of a similar case. I used it with my immunology students last spring and it went really well. I found it on the big Buffalo case studies page. In that (true story) the donor with the peanut allergy’s organs went to two people, and one person developed the allergy and the other didn’t – some of the organs passed it on, the other didn’t. Interesting stuff!