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At the end of January 2011, the EFRAIM project had completed its third year of operation.

Our five fieldwork centres in Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland successfully finalized the 6 years assessment of the PASTURE/EFRAM study birth cohort. Almost 1000 families answered the 6 years main questionnaire, and more than 800 children took part in the examination, where blood samples were collected and lung function tests were performed. Furthermore, a large number of environmental samples have been provided to the project by the cohort families.

     Many thanks to all PASTURE/EFRAIM cohort children
     and their families for their dedication!

Now, in the fourth and last project year, our high standard laboratories are progressing significantly with the analysis of the biological samples collected at age 6, but also with samples from earlier PASTURE sample collections.

The EFRAIM project will provide reliable and valid assessment of allergic outcomes in particular of asthma at age 6 years. Comprehensive and innovative knowledge on the immunological and physiological mechanisms underlying the cause of allergy will be created. The EFRAIM project will result in new knowledge on when exposure to putative protective agents or mechanisms can improve health by a synthesis of findings generated in the different work packages. This will help to identify new targets for prevention, such as functional food ingredients or vaccinations.