A research team has identified a new biological function for a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle called a buckyball - the ability to block allergic response, setting the stage for the development of new therapies for allergy.

Despite hundreds of families being told their children have peanut allergies every year, many of the children may be able to eat peanuts safely, a study by researchers at UNSW and the Sydney Children's Hospital has found.

Skin patch screening test for allergy to fragrances - second only to nickel as the most common cause of contact dermatitis in the Western world - may not detect some cases of allergy to a widely used fragrance chemical, Swedish scientists are reporting.

The beetle's back and the crab's shell owe their toughness to a common compound called chitin that now appears to trigger airway inflammation and possibly asthma, UCSF scientists have found.

Individuals who are allergic to some things that their skin comes in contact with (a condition called contact dermatitis), such as metals or poison ivy, are treated with glucocorticoids, which can be applied to the skin as a cream or taken orally. Glucocorticoids work by dampening the inflammatory response to the allergen, but precisely which cells they affect and in what way have not been determined for contact dermatitis.