I hope everyone had a good Christmas holiday, whether you celebrated it or just had some down time to refresh and recharge. As we look squarely into 2021, which will be here by the end of this week, let us look to better days ahead for ourselves, our families, our partners and staff and, of course, our patients.
I hope you have had some time to peruse the pages of the December Annals issue and that you see our emphasis on exposomics. In this second part of the month’s Spotlight, I would direct your attention to a review from Anne K. Ellis, MD, FACAAI and colleagues. The outcomes of birth cohort studies with an exposomic approach can improve understanding of the association between environmental exposures and childhood diseases. For example, results from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study suggest an association between first trimester exposure to traffic-related air pollution and increased risk of allergic sensitization at 12 months of age. The application of emerging molecular omics technologies and new analytical tools has facilitated the comprehensive assessment of exposome in birth cohorts. These studies with an exposomic approach improve our understanding of the origin of childhood diseases by examining a complex network of environmental exposures during pregnancy and years beyond birth.
Of course, there are many other features in this month’s issue that will address the interest of virtually every reader through letters, original articles and reviews. I hope you will take the time to read as much as you can. As always, feedback is always welcome either through email or in a correspondence that can be published both online and in a future issue of the Annals. Directions for submitting a correspondence can be found on our website. It is very easy to submit and provides a forum for discussion with your colleagues and peers.
Finally, I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year on behalf of our editors, staff and reviewers. I look forward to seeing many of you at our annual meeting later in the year, if not before. Please stay safe and healthy during these trying times.
Gailen D. Marshall, Jr., MD PhD FACAAI
Editor-in-chief
