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Press release: pdfAlly-Science_2019_PRESS_RELEASE_20190430.pdf123.46 kB

Real-time data on pollen exposure is available for the first time in Switzerland. This is gathered on the Ally Science app, which has already found widespread use among allergy sufferers. 

 

The already commonly used Ally Science app provides those who suffer from allergies with not only information on pollen exposure, but also now a symptom development report and a more precise symptom survey. As another recent addition, users can also now view the pollen concentration in Biel and Lucerne in real time. Other regions are due to be added.

 

The Ally Science app was launched in April 2018 by the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) and University Hospital Zurich (USZ) to serve as the core component in Switzerland’s largest ever study into pollen. The app now features brand new functions. The most significant addition has been made possible by the Poleno – a measuring device from Lucerne-based start-up Swisens. It detects the current concentration of pollen in the air of the local surroundings, focusing specifically on the types of pollen most relevant to allergy sufferers. This represents a major breakthrough: The measuring method that had been used until now is based around identifying and counting pollen manually. 

Consequently, it takes a couple of days before the measurement results are available. 

The Ally Science app shows how much pollen and which types of pollen are currently in the air – initially for the cities of Biel and Lucerne, where a Poleno unit has been installed. Based on the tests so far, Swisens CEO Erny Niederberger is confident "that the devices will deliver high-quality real-time data." The data can be viewed on the app in the form of a map. It also shows the regions in which app users are currently registering symptoms, which can be done quickly and easily by swiping into the app's allergy diary. To allow for a more detailed analysis of symptoms, users are now asked to specify whether their allergy symptoms were experienced indoors or outdoors. Allergy sufferers can use the map to decide whether or not they wish to take preventative measures. 

Another useful new feature of the app is a symptom development report for users, which can be exported as a PDF if required for a medical appointment. There is also a development display so users can track their symptoms across the entire year. Users who had been entering data into the app in 2018 will see a second curve indicating last year's pattern. This is hugely valuable for a potential medical consultation, particularly with reference to recommending treatment. Further to this, a link takes users straight to tips for pollen allergy sufferers found on the app from the aha! Swiss Allergy Centre.

Plans for 2020 include offering real-time pollen data for more regions, as well as a personalised pollen early warning indicator. Another reason to start using the Ally

Science app now. After all, the more allergy sufferers record their symptoms regularly, "the more detailed findings can be fed into the early warning system," explains Professor Serge Bignens, Head of the BFH Institute for Medical Informatics.

Ally Science – Pollen study conducted with and in the interest of allergy sufferers The Swiss Ally Science study project is reliant on the involvement of people with allergies. They can record their symptoms using the Ally Science app, which is available in five languages. The data is stored on the secure, user-specific MIDATA platform and incorporated into the pollen study in anonymised form. Around 8000 people contributed more than 24,000 symptom entries during the 2018 pollen season, including information on the frequency of individual symptoms. In the second phase of the project, which is now under way, the inclusion of real-time pollen data facilitates the analysis of links between symptoms recorded and the pollen actually present. The aim of the study is to develop pollen early warning systems and to improve advice and treatment.

For more information and photographs or to download the Ally Science app, visit:

www.allyscience.ch

Contacts for questions and interviews: 

Ally Science app and MIDATA platform: Professor Serge Bignens, Institute for Medical Informatics I4MI, Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH, Biel, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , T +41 (0) 32 321 67 01 

Allergy study: Professor Peter Schmid-Grendelmeier, Allergy Station, Dermatology Clinic, Zurich University Hospital, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , T +41 (0) 44 255 86 20 

Real-time pollen measurement: Erny Niederberger, Swisens AG, Lucerne, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , T +41 (0) 79 761 97 34  

Ally Science is made possible by the support of the following project partners:

 

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Medienmitteilung: pdfSwiss-TB-Award-2018.pdf87.13 kB29/03/2019, 12:43

Die Schweizerische Stiftung für Tuberkuloseforschung vergibt seit 2002 jedes Jahr den mit CHF 10'000 dotierten Swiss TB Award für herausragende Arbeiten von Schweizer Forschenden. Die diesjährigen Preisträgerinnen sind Frau Kathrin Zürcher und Frau Marie Ballif vom ISPM in Bern mit ihrer soeben in der Zeitschrift Lancet publizierten wichtigen Arbeit über die Bedeutung einer korrektiven Testung der Tuberkuloseerreger auf Medikamentenresistenz auf die Behandlungsergebnisse. Dies hat insbesondere bei mehrfachresistenten (MDR) oder gänzlich resistenten (XDR) Tuberkulosekranken einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf ihr Überleben.

The study, which was published just on the World TB Day 2019 in Lancet Infect Dis, resulted from a large collaborative project between the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) of the University of Bern, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel and the Institute of Medical Microbiology (Swiss National Center for Mycobacteria) in Zurich.
This project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the US National Institutes of Health. The overarching aim was to compile a Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain collection from HIV co-infected and HIV negative individuals in eight low- and middle-income countries worldwide, and to study the mechanisms underlying M. tuberculosis drug resistance. We reported on the challenges to diagnose and treat drug-resistant TB in resource-limited settings. Inaccurate drug susceptibility tests (DST) leading to inappropriate treatment contributes to the high mortality associated with drug-resistant TB. Local access to accurate and rapid DST of anti-TB drugs is required to improve outcomes in patients with drug-resistant TB.

Drug susceptibility testing and mortality in patients treated for tuberculosis in high-burden countries: a multi-centre cohort study
Kathrin Zürcher , Marie Ballif, Lukas Fenner, Sonia Borrell, Peter M. Keller, Joachim Gnokoro, Olivier Marcy, Marcel Yotebieng, Lameck Diero, E. Jane Carter,…...
Sebastien Gagneux, Erik C. Böttger and Matthias Egger, on behalf of the
International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS consortium
Lancet Infect Dis 2019; 19:298-307

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Media Release     pdfpd_swissaerosolaward_2018.pdf99.65 kB

GDI engines are many times more dangerous to health than modern diesel vehicles
Award for research into the emission behavior of direct-injection gasoline vehicles (GDI)

This year's Swiss Aerosol Award in the amount of CHF 5,000 goes to Dr. Ing. Maria Muñoz of the Federal Materials Testing and Research Institute Empa. Dr. Muñoz has studied the emission behavior of so-called GDI engines (gasoline-direct injection).

The results are frightening:
The exhaust gases of the investigated vehicles, which are on the rise worldwide, contain up to 17 times more carcinogenic substances than those of modern diesel vehicles.

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Parent Category: Swiss Aerosol Award - Schweizer Aerosol Preis
Category: Preisträger
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EATIAbsolventen2017Good news from Addis Ababa: It seems there with our commitment after 6 years to succeed, the training program in the hands of our already trained pulmonary doctors (see the photo with Prof. Schluger top right) to pass. As a result, doctors will continue to receive training in this field not only in Ethiopia but also in other countries in the region. We have published the following article in the renowned journal British Medical Journal:

Creating a specialist physician workforce in low-resource settings: reflections and lessons learnt from the East African Training Initiative. Neil W Schluger, Charles B Sherman, Amsalu Binegdie, Tewedros Gebremariam, Dawit Kebede, Aschalew Worku, E Jane Carter, Otto Brändli (Schluger NW, et al. BMJ Glob Health 2018;3:e001041. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001041)

Download PDF: pdfSchluger2018BMJ.pdf197.48 kB24/10/2018, 21:33

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Medienmitteilung       Download: pdfPD_Swiss-Aerosol-Award_2017.pdf617.69 KB

Der diesjährige Swiss Aerosol Award in der Höhe von CHF 5000 geht an Prof. Reto Auer vom Berner Institut für Hausarztmedizin (BIHAM) und Universitätsklinik von Lausanne (PMU), welcher ein multidis-ziplinäres Team von Toxikologen und klinischen Forschern geleitet hat. In einer wissenschaftlichen Kommunikation, die am 22. Mai in der renommierten amerikanischen Zeitschrift JAMA-Internal Medicine erschienen ist, haben die Wissenschaftler des Instituts für Arbeitsgesundheit (IST – Institut de Santé au Travail) und der Universitätsklinik von Lausanne (PMU – Policlinique Médicale Universitaire) die Ergeb-nisse einer unabhängigen Studie über das elektronische Tabakheizsystem IQOS veröffentlicht.

Philip Morris International (PMI) lancierte vor kurzem den IQOS (I Quit Ordinary Smoking), einen Ziga-rettenhalter, der eine Mini-Zigarette auf 330 Grad Celsius erhitzt. Der Hersteller behauptet, dass IQOS keinen Rauch erzeuge, da der Tabak nur erhitzt statt verbrannt werde und es dabei kein Feuer gebe. Technisch gesehen könnte die Aussage, dass IQOS keinen Rauch abgibt, erlauben, das Rauchverbot in öffentlichen Räumen zu umgehen. In ihren Laborexperimenten haben die Wissenschaftler beobach-tet, dass IQOS Rauch erzeugt und Giftstoffe freigibt, die auch im Rauch einer herkömmlichen Zigaret-te enthalten sind. Diese sind für Tabakpyrolyseverfahren typisch und somit die Hauptquelle für toxi-sche Verbindungen im Tabakrauch. Für die Wissenschaftler sollte das Aerosol deshalb als Tabak-rauch angesehen und als solcher reglementiert werden. Sie fordern andere Forschungsgruppen auf, ihre Daten zu überprüfen.

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Parent Category: Swiss Aerosol Award - Schweizer Aerosol Preis
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