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Most people think of allergy shots as a simple convenience or even a luxury, but for me they were practically a lifesaver. Bad allergies can affect everything that you do. Chronic sinusitis, a depressed immune system, low energy level, aches and pains, and many other problems can be triggered by nothing more exotic than chronic allergies. Once you nasal airways get clogged and you immune system gets triggered unnecessarily, the effects can really spiral out to all sorts of other matters of well-being.

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Sydney, Jan 2 (IANS) There was panic in the Indian camp when an allergy forced Sachin Tendulkar to train indoors Tuesday, but the star batsman was fit for the crucial second Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground here Wednesday.  Unable to shave for several days because of the allergy on his face, possibly due to a kind of talcum powder, Tendulkar, on his farewell tour of Australia, batted alone in the indoor cricket centre at the SCG, with security guards under instructions from Indian team management to keep the media away.  ‘He just has an allergy on his cheeks and he trained in the indoor nets just as a precaution because he did not know how it would react (to the sun),’ team spokesperson M.K. Shridhar said Tuesday night.

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Activating a protein found on some immune cells seems to halt the cells’ typical job of spewing out substances that launch allergic reactions, a study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests.  The findings could eventually lead to new treatments for allergic reactions ranging from annoying bouts of hay fever to deadly asthma attacks.  Previous studies by Bruce Bochner and his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center had zeroed in on the protein, Siglec-8, as an important player in allergic reactions. This protein is found on the surfaces of some types of immune cells, namely eosinophils, basophils and mast cells, which have diverse but cooperative roles in normal immune function and allergic diseases. Eosinophils directly combat foreign invaders, such as parasites.