shukoor65/lab-rag-model huggingface dataset:
Serum and tissue alpha-L-fucosidase activity in the pre-clinical and clinical stages of hepatocellular carcinoma. 1. To assess the value of serum alpha-L-fucosidase (EC 3.2.1.51) as a marker for hepatocellular carcinoma, the activity was measured in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and in control subjects. 2. Mean serum alpha-L-fucosidase activity was significantly greater in 35 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (225 +/- 69 nkat/l) than in 35 patients with cirrhosis and 20 normal subjects (134 +/- 30 and 93 +/- 28 nkat/l, respectively). The overlap between hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis, however, was such as to severely limit any value of the enzyme as a diagnostic test. 3. In four cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, an increased enzyme activity was detectable in samples taken up to 66 months before the tumours were diagnosed clinically. 4. The serum activity of alpha-L-fucosidase fell to within the reference range after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma in three patients and in one of these a subsequent rise was associated with tumour recurrence which was diagnosed at 8 months after the rise in activity. Ineffective cytotoxic chemotherapy was also associated with a progressive rise in serum alpha-L-fucosidase activity. 5. alpha-L-fucosidase activity in tumour tissue was significantly lower than that seen in non-tumour tissue from cirrhotic patients. These reductions may represent increased transport from the tissue and may partly account for the increased serum activity found in some patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
Generalized pustular psoriasis. A review of 63 cases. BACKGROUND--Sixty-three patients with generalized pustular psoriasis were hospitalized during a 29-year period. They were classified into four subgroups on the basis of onset and morphologic pattern of disease: acute (von Zumbusch), subacute annular, chronic (acral), and mixed. This division provides a better understanding of the variability of the disease and helps in choosing treatment. OBSERVATIONS--The average age at onset was 50 years; male and female patients were affected about equally. In 11 patients, flares were precipitated by localized infections. Approximately one fourth of the patients had complications; most were superinfections. The average stay in the hospital was 30 days; factors correlating with a long hospitalization were hypocalcemia, female sex, and a previous history of psoriasis vulgaris or pustular psoriasis. CONCLUSIONS--Whereas topical therapy was helpful, systemic medications were often needed. Coal tar, ultraviolet light, and psoralen-ultraviolet A may be effective; however, they must be used with caution, because they may exacerbate the disease.
Transformation suppressor activity of a Jun transcription factor lacking its activation domain. The oncoprotein c-Jun is thought to be a mediator of ras transformation as both its synthesis and activity as a transcription factor are stimulated by ras expression. But c-Jun co-operates with ras in transformation assays, suggesting that they act along different pathways (reviewed in ref. 4). Here we show by means of a dominant-negative mutated transcription factor that c-Jun potentially in conjunction with other factors that interact with it is necessary for transformation by ras. The mutant Jun lacks an activation domain and blocks stimulation of transcription by several oncoproteins, including Ras, v-Src, polyoma middle T, c-Jun and c-Fos, as well as by the tumour promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). The inhibition is specific for motifs that bind Jun: activation of an NF-kappa B/Rel motif is not affected. This Jun mutant acts as an anti-oncogene in ras-transformed cells, generating non-transformed revertants that have acquired anchorage and density-dependent growth, as well as reduced tumorigenicity in vivo. Mutants of other transcription factors designed to inhibit transformation will enable us to study their role in signal transduction.
Plasticity of central motor pathways in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. To obtain neurophysiologic evidence for a reorganization of central motor pathways in children who had suffered a cerebral lesion at birth, we performed cross-correlation analyses of multiunit EMG recordings obtained from children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy and marked mirror movements. We found that the motoneuron pools of homologous left and right hand muscles received common synaptic input from abnormally branched presynaptic axons. The results of electromagnetic brain stimulation, cutaneomuscular, and tendon reflex testing suggested that these common inputs are provided by abnormally branched corticospinal tract fibers whose origin is the undamaged motor cortex.
Complex segregation analysis of primary hepatocellular carcinoma in Chinese families: interaction of inherited susceptibility and hepatitis B viral infection. Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC) is extremely common in eastern China, where it is both associated with chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and often familial. Complex segregation analysis of 490 extended families was undertaken with liability classes defined by age, sex, and HBV infection status. The maximum-likelihood model suggests that a recessive allele with population frequency approximately .25 yields lifetime risk of PHC, in the presence of both HBV infection and genetic susceptibility, of .84 for males and .46 for females. The model further predicts that, in the absence of genetic susceptibility, lifetime risk of PHC is .09 for HBV-infected males and .01 for HBV-infected females and that, regardless of genotype, it is virtually zero for uninfected persons. Complex segregation analysis therefore provides evidence for the interaction of genotype, environmental exposure, sex and age in determining the occurrence of PHC in this population.
Biomagnetic localization of ventricular arrhythmias. The magnetic fields caused by electrical activity of the human heart can be coherently measured with a highly sensitive, multichannel, superconducting quantum interference-device system and can enable noninvasive localization of the underlying electrical activity. The magnetocardiograms (MCGs) of 10 patients with spontaneous premature ventricular complexes (PVCs), three patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT), and four healthy subjects with induced paced beats were recorded for 2-15 minutes. After correction for superimposed repolarization activity, the site of origin of the arrhythmias was localized from the magnetic field distribution at the onset of the ectopic beats. The localization results of paced beats showed an error of a few millimeters in relation to the position of the catheter tip. The results of spontaneous PVC and VT were confirmed with endocardial mapping or associated with ischemic lesions. The authors conclude that multichannel magnetocardiographic studies enable the completely noninvasive localization of ventricular arrhythmias.
Abscesses of the neck in infants and young children. A review of 112 cases. A review of 112 patients 5 years of age and younger with cervical abscesses is reported. Staphylococcus aureus and group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus were cultured most often: in 39% and 17% of patients, respectively. Sixteen patients (14%) had unusual abscesses such as infected congenital cysts, cat-scratch disease, or myocobacterial abscesses. One patient had a necrotizing infection with group A streptococci and anaerobic streptococci. Intravenous antibiotic therapy was used in 104 patients, with 94% of these patients receiving a penicillin derivative, usually an antistaphylococcal penicillin. Ninety-six percent of the patients had incision and drainage of their abscesses; 8 patients required more than one incision and drainage. Two patients required airway intervention, 1 by intubation and 1 by trachetomy. Most pediatric cervical abscesses respond well to appropriate intravenous antibiotic therapy and incision and drainage.
Effects of EAP follow-up on prevention of relapse among substance abuse clients. Clients entering an employee assistance program (EAP) of a large manufacturing plant in 1985 who were assessed as having an alcohol or drug abuse problem (N = 325) were randomized into an experimental "special follow-up" group and a control "regular care" group. The regular care group received follow-up only as needed (following the usual practice of the EAP), while a follow-up counselor was hired to make routine contacts with the special follow-up group. Study intake continued through 1985, and follow-up continued through the end of 1986. Data collected on study subjects included EAP participation data, absenteeism, number of hospitalizations, health care claims paid and disability claims paid. The major study hypothesis was that EAP clients randomly allocated to special follow-up would show better results than regular care clients (i.e., would have fewer relapses, better job attendance and lower health benefit utilization during the follow-up year). The follow-up intervention was incompletely implemented due to a variety of organizational problems. Differences between the two groups on the six outcome measures were not statistically significant, although clients in the special follow-up group did show better results than clients in the regular care group on the three measures related to substance abuse. Differences on these three measures were marginally significant in regression analyses after controlling for the effects of number of follow-up visits, age, race and chronicity.
Naloxone-sensitive, pregnancy-induced changes in behavioral responses to colorectal distention: pregnancy-induced analgesia to visceral stimulation. This study examined the feasibility of using colorectal distention as a noxious visceral stimulus in rat pregnancy-induced analgesia studies as well as the influence of naloxone on the pregnancy-induced changes in the behavioral response to a noxious visceral stimulus. In the first part of the study, we compared the effects of pregnancy on several forms of noxious stimulation (colorectal distention, hypertonic saline induced writhing, tail flick, and hot plate). After determination of prepregnant baseline values, one group of rats (n = 35) was mated and retested on days 7 and 21 of gestation and 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days after parturition. After baseline determinations on day 21 and postpartum day 1, the animals received a subcutaneous injection of naloxone 1.0 mg/kg and were retested. A nonpregnant control group of animals (n = 7) was tested in the same manner. On day 21 of gestation and postpartum days 1 and 3, significant changes (higher threshold or longer latency to response) were observed after all but the writhing test. High-dose naloxone (1.0 mg/kg) significantly reduced the increases observed on day 21 and post-partum day 1. Nonpregnant rats demonstrated no significant change on any test day. The second part of the study evaluated a possible influence of low-dose naloxone on pregnancy-induced analgesia to visceral stimulation (colorectal distention) in another group of pregnant rats (n = 44). The significant increase in threshold on day 21 of gestation was not changed by intravenous (i.v.) naloxone 1.0, 2.3, or 3.0 micrograms/kg, whereas 5.0 and 20.0 micrograms/kg naloxone significantly decreased the observed pregnancy-induced analgesia.
Treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia in a renal allograft recipient: implications of cyclosporin immunosuppressive treatment. The clinical effects of cyclosporin were evaluated during cytotoxic treatment in a 61 year old man with acute myeloid leukaemia. He had required a renal transplant 18 months before presenting with acute myeloid leukaemia (FAB subtype M4). He had received cyclosporin 3.5-4.0 mg/kg daily to maintain a plasma cyclosporin concentration of 75-150 ng/ml. Cyclosporin was continued during induction chemotherapy with daunorubicin, cytarabine, and 6-thioguanine (DAT). He had fever and oropharyngeal candidiasis that was unresponsive to anti-bacterial drugs but responsive to systemic amphotericin. Bone marrow examination 14 days after chemotherapy showed complete haematological remission. Subsequently he tolerated consolidation treatment with DAT with no serious complications. Unfortunately he developed fatal septicaemia following a second consolidation with mitozantrone and cytarabine. Inhibition of P-glycoprotein activity by cyclosporin may not significantly increase the toxicity of aggressive chemotherapeutic regimens, and as benefit may be achieved by this approach further clinical evaluation is justified.
Renal transplant arterial thrombosis: association with cyclosporine. Of 136 patients who received a renal transplant between January 1984 and August 1988, there were six cases (4.4%) of allograft arterial thrombosis (AAT) occurring a mean of 23 days after transplantation. All were maintained on cyclosporine A(CsA) in addition to prednisone and azathioprine. All transplants were performed by the same transplant surgeon. Five of the six episodes (83%) were in allografts that had multiple renal arteries (MRA), giving an incidence of AAT in that group of 36%. Only one of 122 (0.8%) allografts with a single renal artery experienced thrombosis. CsA was started a mean of 9 days after transplantation (range, 16 to 33 days). There was no correlation of AAT to CsA levels. AAT appears to be an early complication of allografts with MRA in patients maintained on CsA.
Phase I-II study of advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with recombinant human interferon gamma. The association of immunodeficiency with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has generated the concept of supplying immunologically active agents as a means of treating these cancers. One of the most active immunologic messengers is interferon gamma, which has been observed in our laboratories to also have a direct cytotoxic effect on cultures of squamous cell carcinoma derived from the head and neck. To test the feasibility of treating patients with advanced but resectable head and neck cancer with this agent, we designed a phase I-II trial of recombinant human interferon gamma using a 24-hour infusion repeated weekly for four times. In this study, both tumor and immunologic parameters were studied before and after treatment. Eight patients were entered into the study with the highest recombinant human interferon gamma dose attempted being 0.25 mg/m2 per 24 hours. Minimal side effects were observed. Three patients had clinically measurable responses, four had stabilization of disease, and one had progression while receiving treatment. Histopathologic results of treatment were similar to in vitro observations. Necrosis, as well as differentiation of tumor cells, was observed. In some tumors there was a marked decrease in cellularity without a change in tumor volume due to increased extracellular keratin deposition. Our study indicates that evaluation of adoptive immunotherapy trials in head and neck cancer needs to include parameters other than simple tumor regression as an end point, otherwise therapeutically important lymphokine-induced changes may be missed. Further evaluation of recombinant human interferon gamma and agents that induce human interferon gamma are warranted.
Incremental prognostic accuracy of clinical, radionuclide and hemodynamic data in acute myocardial infarction. A logical sequence of testing in evaluating prognosis early in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) would be to use clinical data first, then add noninvasive data and finally add invasive data. The incremental prognostic information concerning 1-year survival obtained from such a sequence in 107 patients with AMI was studied using logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic curves. Cardiac mortality was 24% at 1 year. Clinical data obtained soon after admission (prior myocardial infarction, heart rate, blood pressure, age) were 78 +/- 5% accurate in the prediction of 1-year survival. The addition of radionuclide-estimated left ventricular ejection fraction or invasive hemodynamic data to the clinical model at this time improved prognostic accuracy to 84 +/- 5% (p = 0.05) and 87 +/- 4% (p = 0.007), respectively. The further addition of invasive data to the model containing clinical and left ventricular ejection fraction data provided a further increment in prognostic accuracy to 89 +/- 4%, whereas no significant increase in accuracy was seen on addition of left ventricular ejection fraction to the model containing clinical and invasive data. It is concluded that clinical data provide important prognostic information concerning late survival early in the course of AMI. This may be improved by the logical application of noninvasive and invasive studies at this time.
Dietary manipulation of methotrexate-induced enterocolitis. Administration of chemotherapy is limited by host toxicity, which is often manifested by severe enterocolitis. This study evaluated the effects of a liquid, elemental, chemically defined diet (ED) supplemented with 2% glutamine (Glu-ED) compared with a polypeptide diet (PPD) on the morbidity and mortality after methotrexate (MTX) administration. Fischer 344 rats (n = 80) were fed either a regular rat chow diet (RD), a 2% glycine supplemented elemental diet (Gly-ED), a 2% glutamine-supplemented elemental diet (GLU-ED), and a glycine-supplemented polypeptide diet(Gly-PPD) for 7 days prior to administration of MTX (20 mg/kg, ip). After 72 hours, eight rats per group were killed; portal vein and vena cava blood, mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), liver, small intestine, and cecum were sampled for bacterial culture. Remaining animals were followed to calculate survival. One hundred percent of the Gly-PPD and 25% of the Glu-ED animals survived compared with 0% of the Gly-ED animals. Our data showed that ED resulted in an increased quantity of intestinal Gram-negative bacteria and diminished intestinal mucosal height and mucosal DNA/protein content. The polypeptide diet prevented intestinal mucosal atrophy, avoided MTX-induced enterocolitis and significantly improved animal survival compared with an elemental diet with or without glutamine supplementation.
Contribution of regional vascular responses to whole body autoregulation in conscious areflexic rats. We designed studies to evaluate the autoregulation response during volume expansion in three major circulation regions (intestine, kidney, and hind limb) during simultaneous determination of whole body autoregulation in conscious areflexic rats. Cardiac output was measured with chronically implanted electromagnetic flow probes on the ascending aorta. Regional blood flow velocity was measured with pulsed Doppler flow probes on the superior mesenteric (n = 7), left renal (n = 7), and right iliac (n = 7) arteries. Doppler flow probes were calibrated in situ in each rat to determine regional blood flow values. Neurohumoral reflex control of pressure was removed pharmacologically, and blood pressure and cardiac output were returned to resting control values with intravenous norepinephrine infusion, which was maintained at that constant level throughout the study. Hemodynamic changes were measured in response to blood volume expansion with infusion of 0.9 ml blood over 6 minutes. This small change in blood volume resulted in significant increases in vascular resistance of 15% in the whole body, 8% in the intestine, 18% in the kidney, and 15% in the hind limb. The pressure-flow slope, used as an index of autoregulation (slope = 0, perfect autoregulation; slope = 1, rigid vasculature), averaged 0.34 in the whole body, 0.52 in the intestine, 0.19 in the kidney, and 0.39 in the hind limb. When compared with the whole body, blood flow autoregulation was less in the intestine, greater in the kidney, and the same in the hind limb.
MRI in cerebral toxocaral disease. Toxocara canis, the common roundworm in the dog, can cause "visceral larva migrans" syndrome in humans, which may include generalised illness, eosinophilia, and symptoms arising from larval invasion of different organs. Of these, the clinically most important are liver, lungs, eyes and CNS. Involvement of the different parts of the CNS in human toxocaral disease has been described, but not the CT or MRI appearances of the cerebral lesions. In one case with a single focal epileptic fit, CT was described as normal. In the Toxocara canis case described, the cerebral lesions on MRI, before and after therapy, are shown.
Treatment of hypertensive urgencies with oral nifedipine, nicardipine, and captopril. Sixty-five patients with uncomplicated hypertensive urgencies were treated in the emergency and cardiology departments with 20 mg nifedipine, 20 mg nicardipine, or 25 mg captopril in a randomized study. The study population consisted of 65 patients ranging in age from forty-one to seventy-one. Blood pressure and heart rate were assessed for six hours after intake of the antihypertensive agents. Within sixty minutes nifedipine reduced blood pressure by an average of 74.7 mmHg for the systolic and 35.4 mmHg for the diastolic. Average heart rate increased significantly by 11.6 beats/min at within thirty minutes. Nicardipine and captopril produced equivalent falls in systolic (-81.6 and -79.4 mmHg) and diastolic (-37.3 and -33 mmHg) blood pressure respectively, but did not increase heart rate significantly. The antihypertensive effect of each drug was maintained until six hours after medication. In conclusion, nifedipine, nicardipine, and captopril show similar efficacy in the treatment of hypertensive urgencies. The authors believe that these drugs can be used as first-line therapy in the treatment of hypertensive urgencies safely and effectively.