Ragweed

&TC For the 40 million Americans with the sneezing, sniffling, nose-stuffing miseries of allergic rhinitis, there's good news: It may be possible to avoid the hell weeks of pollen season by taking an immunity-boosting drug by mouth, instead of being subjected to allergy shots every week for a year.But the drug won't be widely available for at least three to five years, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center.The new treatment, already announced at allergists' meetings, was presented at a seminar at the Hopkins Bayview campus yesterday.

In this season of sniffles, sneezes and itchy eyes, researchers are hoping that wind and weather patterns they recorded in a vacant, weed-choked field in Prince George's County will provide clues to fighting an airborne particle that sickens millions every year. It's called ragweed. And while its effects are well-known, scientists say there is still much to learn about how the hardy, ubiquitous plant spreads its misery. "We know ragweed produces pollen, but one of the things we want to understand is where and how does that pollen travel," said Lewis Ziska, a ragweed expert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research laboratory in Beltsville.

In this season of sniffles, sneezes and itchy eyes, researchers are hoping that wind and weather patterns they recorded in a vacant, weed-choked field in Prince George's County will provide clues to fighting an airborne particle that sickens millions every year. It's called ragweed. And while its effects are well-known, scientists say there is still much to learn about how the hardy, ubiquitous plant spreads its misery. "We know ragweed produces pollen, but one of the things we want to understand is where and how does that pollen travel," said Lewis Ziska, a ragweed expert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research laboratory in Beltsville.

Itchy, sneezy? If not, the yellow dust on your car proves that pollen counts are sky-high. Ann Pugh writes from Timonium, "Is there a time of day when the pollen count is the highest and the lowest? What weather conditions favor greater pollen and less pollen?" The allergy docs at Hopkins say most pollen levels climb in the afternoon, but some, like ragweed are highest just before sunrise. More pollen gets airborne in dry, windy weather. Rain cleanses the air briefly but promotes weed growth.

Margaret McGrath Rockefeller,80, a prominent conservationist and wife of philanthropist David Rockefeller, died Tuesday in New York after complications from heart surgery.In 1970, she founded the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which has since conserved more than 66,000 acres in the state. She also was a founding member of the American Farmland Trust and was a trustee of the New York Philharmonic.Carl Edward Stegmaier Jr.,75, whose lifetime study of insects won him worldwide professional acclaim, died Monday of cancer in Tallahassee, Fla. As an entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he published 38 papers on fruit flies, weevils and mites, and on the eradication of ragweed throughout Russia.

For millions of Americans, the last weeks of August mean the same thing every year: sneezing, a runny nose, and an itchy throat. But this summer's hot dry, weather could mean that allergy sufferers will get some relief -- or feel even worse than usual.Nobody quite knows what to expect this unpredictable season.Optimists, figuring that the drought killed off allergy-inducing ragweed, think patients will have an easy time. Some scientists believe the recent rainfall might merely delay the season.

Washington. -- Sneeze if you must -- but don't blame the goldenrod!The real culprit for hay fever these autumn days is ragweed, a coarse, many-leafed green-flowered plant that thrives everywhere -- in meadows, edges of woods, in empty city lots, in the corner of your garden if you don't watch out.Goldenrods have long been cursed and maligned erroneously for causing the itchy noses and throats and swollen eyes of late summer. But it's ragweed that should take the rap. Both plants come into full flower in late August and September -- one of the worst seasons for allergy-prone folks.

Millions of miserable, sneezing, itching, nose-blowing hay fever sufferers could find a strand of hope in a DNA-based vaccine developed by Johns Hopkins scientists, who say it appears to squelch the body's allergic response to ragweed pollen. A small but promising study reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine says test subjects who had just six weekly injections of the vaccine - a fusion of bacterial DNA and ragweed protein - enjoyed a 60 percent reduction in allergy symptoms compared with people who got a placebo.

Itchy, sneezy? If not, the yellow dust on your car proves that pollen counts are sky-high. Ann Pugh writes from Timonium, "Is there a time of day when the pollen count is the highest and the lowest? What weather conditions favor greater pollen and less pollen?" The allergy docs at Hopkins say most pollen levels climb in the afternoon, but some, like ragweed are highest just before sunrise. More pollen gets airborne in dry, windy weather. Rain cleanses the air briefly but promotes weed growth.

Johns Hopkins Allergy and Asthma Center in Baltimore is seeking high school students who are allergic to ragweed to take the SAT in an effort to determine the effects of allergy medications on SAT scores.Student scores on the test, which will be administered tomorrow, will not appear on their records unless they request it.Candidates must be at least 14 years old and have completed their freshman year of high school. They also must never have taken the SATs.Those interested should call 1-800-845-3942.

Millions of miserable, sneezing, itching, nose-blowing hay fever sufferers could find a strand of hope in a DNA-based vaccine developed by Johns Hopkins scientists, who say it appears to squelch the body's allergic response to ragweed pollen. A small but promising study reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine says test subjects who had just six weekly injections of the vaccine - a fusion of bacterial DNA and ragweed protein - enjoyed a 60 percent reduction in allergy symptoms compared with people who got a placebo.

WASHINGTON - High concentrations of carbon dioxide in city air may be stimulating abnormal growth of ragweed and other plants that aggravate childhood asthma, health experts warned yesterday. Although the incidence of asthma has increased among all age groups, the sharpest increase has been among children under 4 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC reported in 1998 that between 1980 and 1994, incidence of the respiratory disease among pre-schoolers increased by 160 percent.

Global warming may not only be heating up the Earth, but making people sneeze. Lewis H. Ziska, a weed expert at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, says that ragweed and other noxious plants are thriving because of higher temperatures and more carbon dioxide in the air - conditions often associated with global warming. Ziska is finding that the changes are improving the health of weeds and other plants grown at monitoring stations he set up at the Maryland Science Center, a West Baltimore park and a Frederick County farm.

Q. I recently came across a sweetener called stevia. The write-up suggests that this natural product would be a good sugar substitute for diabetics, but that seems too good to be true. What can you tell me about stevia? A. Stevia comes from a plant native to South America. The compounds it contains give it a sweet flavor prized by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for centuries. Stevia has been used as a noncaloric sweetener in Japan for 25 years. There it appears in a range of foods, including soft drinks, ice cream, candy and desserts.

For millions of Americans, the last weeks of August mean the same thing every year: sneezing, a runny nose, and an itchy throat. But this summer's hot dry, weather could mean that allergy sufferers will get some relief -- or feel even worse than usual.Nobody quite knows what to expect this unpredictable season.Optimists, figuring that the drought killed off allergy-inducing ragweed, think patients will have an easy time. Some scientists believe the recent rainfall might merely delay the season.

PHILADELPHIA -- Michelle Robertson assumed it was a nasty cold that kept showing up every year around this time. She had days when she would sneeze her head off. She had trouble driving.She missed time from her job as a medical assistant at a doctor's office, and when she did show up, the patients would look at her red, swollen eyes and give her friendly advice: See a doctor.She did. "I just couldn't take it anymore," said Robertson, 25. She learned that, like about 20 percent of the population, she was allergic to pollen.

WASHINGTON - High concentrations of carbon dioxide in city air may be stimulating abnormal growth of ragweed and other plants that aggravate childhood asthma, health experts warned yesterday. Although the incidence of asthma has increased among all age groups, the sharpest increase has been among children under 4 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC reported in 1998 that between 1980 and 1994, incidence of the respiratory disease among pre-schoolers increased by 160 percent.

Global warming may not only be heating up the Earth, but making people sneeze. Lewis H. Ziska, a weed expert at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, says that ragweed and other noxious plants are thriving because of higher temperatures and more carbon dioxide in the air - conditions often associated with global warming. Ziska is finding that the changes are improving the health of weeds and other plants grown at monitoring stations he set up at the Maryland Science Center, a West Baltimore park and a Frederick County farm.

Johns Hopkins Allergy and Asthma Center in Baltimore is seeking high school students who are allergic to ragweed to take the SAT in an effort to determine the effects of allergy medications on SAT scores.Student scores on the test, which will be administered tomorrow, will not appear on their records unless they request it.Candidates must be at least 14 years old and have completed their freshman year of high school. They also must never have taken the SATs.Those interested should call 1-800-845-3942.

Margaret McGrath Rockefeller,80, a prominent conservationist and wife of philanthropist David Rockefeller, died Tuesday in New York after complications from heart surgery.In 1970, she founded the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which has since conserved more than 66,000 acres in the state. She also was a founding member of the American Farmland Trust and was a trustee of the New York Philharmonic.Carl Edward Stegmaier Jr.,75, whose lifetime study of insects won him worldwide professional acclaim, died Monday of cancer in Tallahassee, Fla. As an entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he published 38 papers on fruit flies, weevils and mites, and on the eradication of ragweed throughout Russia.