tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Perinatal Outcomes Following Implementation of TennCare
Authors: Wayne A. Ray
Journal: JAMA (1998)

Context.—The abrupt initiation of capitated Medicaid care in Tennessee (TennCare) in 1994 prompted many questions about changes in quality of care.Objective.—To evaluate the effect on perinatal outcomes of the transition to TennCare in 1994.Design.—Before and after retrospective cohort analysis.Setting and Population.—Births to women residing in Tennessee between 1990 and 1995 with complete demographic information on birth certificates, with a focus on women enrolled in Medicaid giving birth in 1993 (before TennCare) and 1995 (after TennCare).Outcome Measures.—Late prenatal care (after the fourth month of pregnancy) or inadequate prenatal visits, low and very low birth weight, and death in the first 60 days of life.Results.—Tennessee residents had 72014 study births in 1993 and 72278 in 1995, of which 37543 (52.1%) and 35707 (49.4%) were to women enrolled in Medicaid at delivery. For these Medicaid births, there were no changes after TennCare in the proportions with late prenatal care (16.2% in 1993 vs 15.8% in 1995), inadequate prenatal visits (5.9% vs 5.6%), low birth weight (9.4% vs 9.0%), very low birth weight (1.6% vs 1.5%), and death in the first 60 days (0.6% both years). These findings were unchanged in multivariate analysis, in analysis of high-risk subgroups, and in analysis of women with demographics characteristic of Medicaid women.Conclusion.—Study perinatal outcomes did not change among Medicaid births following the transition to TennCare.
A case of hemoglobin SC disease with cold agglutinin-induced hemolysis
Authors: Hiroto Inaba, Terrence L. Geiger, Olga E. Lasater, Winfred C. Wang
Journal: American Journal of Hematology (2004)

Children with sickle cell disease commonly require red blood cell (RBC) transfusion. We report the first case of hemoglobin (Hb) SC disease with development of severe anemia induced by cold agglutinin hemolysis after Mycoplasma infection. Complete blood count (CBC) showed falsely decreased RBC count and hematocrit and falsely elevated MCV and MCHC. Peripheral blood smear showed RBC clumping at room temperature; this disappeared after warming to 37°C. Anti C3b-C3d was present on red cells, and indirect antiglobulin test revealed a circulating cold agglutinin. Furthermore, anti-Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM antibody was detected in serum. Careful evaluation of CBCs and peripheral blood smears is required in cases of worsening anemia among sickle cell patients and consideration should be given to cold hemagglutinin disease as an etiology. Am. J. Hematol. 78:37–40, 2005. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
PHOTOBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO SKIN
Authors: Harold F. Blum
Journal: JAMA (1960)

There are many biological effects of light, which pose a variety of problems and entail a variety of methods of approach; however, there are certain common principles involved in all. This discussion is confined largely to the effects of sunlight on the skin. <h3>Wave-length Variable</h3> Apart from certain rare diseases (in which other parts of the spectrum are concerned) and experimental use of extraneous photosensitizers, the principal effects of sunlight on human skin are produced by wave lengths shorter than about 0.32 μ (0.32 μ = 320 mμ = 3,200 A). There are certain important diseases of the skin in domestic animals that are produced by other wave lengths, but, for physiological or dietary reasons, these do not have their counterpart in human skin.<sup>1</sup>Wave lengths shorter than 0.32 μ, which comprise only a tiny fraction of sunlight (i. e. 0.01%), produce the various responses of sunburn, antirachitic action, and cutaneous
Altered force–frequency response in non-failing hearts with decreased SERCA pump-level
Authors: S Huke
Journal: Cardiovascular Research (2003)

Decreased SERCA2 activity is considered to significantly contribute to the contractile dysfunction of failing hearts. However, it is now known how decreases in SERCA activity affect cardiac function in detail and also if a decrease alone is sufficient to cause heart failure.SERCA2 (+/-) gene-targeted mice (HET) were generated and heart function was analyzed using the isolated work-performing heart technique. Plasma and cardiac catecholamine levels were determined at three, six and nine months of age and heart sections from twelve months old mice subjected to standard histological analysis.We demonstrate that reduced expression of SERCA does not lead to cardiac hypertrophy or fibrosis and does not increase resting plasma-norepinephrine levels in HET mice. However, isolated perfused HET hearts exhibited decreased maximal rates of contraction and relaxation and prolonged time-parameters. The ability of the HET hearts to respond to increases in load (Starling) was not affected and they responded appropriately to beta-adrenergic stimulation. In contrast, the positive force-frequency response found in control hearts was not observed in the HET hearts. The response was flat and three out of five HET hearts failed to maintain work at 550 beats/min.We conclude that the SERCA2 pump level is a critical positive determinant of cardiac contractility and force-frequency relation.
Abstract 1326: Magnetization transfer MRI in pancreatic cancer xenograft models
Authors: Weiguo Li, Zhuoli Zhang, Jodi Nicolai, Guang-Yu Yang, Reed Omary, Andrew Larson
Journal: Cancer Research (2012)

Abstract Tumor desmoplasia is a common hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the 4th leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Recent studies clearly indicate that desmoplasia actively facilitates disease progression, metastasis, and drug resistance. Precise quantification of tumor fibrosis levels in PDAC may be critically important for patient staging and for the prediction or monitoring of responses to therapy. The current gold-standard for characterizing desmoplasia_histologic analysis of biopsy samples_is invasive and cannot avoid misrepresentation by reason of sampling error. Therefore, new methods to permit noninvasive quantification of fibrosis levels in PDAC would be particularly useful. Magnetization transfer (MT) MRI can be used to non-invasively probe dynamic physical processes involving the exchange of magnetization between sub-populations of free water protons and those water protons bound to tissue macromolecules. MT-MRI studies have demonstrated that MT contrast (MTC) can be highly sensitive to tissue collagen concentration, the primary component of desmoplasia. Thus, we hypothesized that desmoplasia-associated fibrosis levels in PDAC may be directly reflected in MT-MRI magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) measurements. The purpose of this study was to compare non-invasive MTR measurements to invasive histologic assessments of tumor fibrosis-levels in three mouse xenograft models of PDAC. In this study, MT MRI measurements were performed in 3 PDAC mouse xenograft models. For each of 28 PDAC xenografts, MTR were calculated and compared to histologic fibrosis levels from reference standard trichrome staining. MTR was found to be significantly higher in tumors grown using BxPC-3 cell line (39.4 ± 5.1, mean ± SD) compared to the MTR for the tumors grown from Panc-1 (32.4 ± 2.8) and Capan-1 (27.3 ± 2.9) cell lines (P &amp;lt; 0.05 for each comparison). Histologic measurements showed a similar trend with BxPC-3 tumors demonstrating significantly higher fibrosis levels (percentage of fibrotic tissue area, 6.48 ± 2.59) when compared to Panc-1 (3.54 ± 2.18) and Capan-1 (2.07 ± 1.60) tumors. MTR measurements were well correlated to quantitative fibrosis levels (r = 0.69, P = 0.01). Our results indicated that MTR measurements offer the potential to serve as a valuable in vivo biomarker of desmoplasia in PDAC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1326. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1326
CLINICAL PREDICTORS OF CARDIAC SYNDROME X PRESENTED WITH SUBENDOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA AND NORMAL CORONARY ARTERY: A CARDIAC MRI STUDY
Authors: Dong-Ju Choi, Eun-ju Jeon, Sang-Il Choi, Eun-Ji Kim, Min-Jung Park, Gu-Yung Cho, Chang-Whan Yun, Tae-Jin Yun
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2011)
Ablation of ‘Incisional’ Reentrant Atrial Tachycardia Complicating Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease
Authors: Jonathan M. Kalman, George F. VanHare, Jeffrey E. Olgin, Leslie A. Saxon, Stephen I. Stark, Michael D. Lesh
Journal: Circulation (1996)

Background Intra-atrial reentrant tachycardia occurs frequently after surgery for congenital heart disease and is difficult to treat. We tested the hypotheses that intra-atrial reentrant tachycardia in patients who had undergone prior reparative surgery for congenital heart disease could be successfully ablated by targeting a protected isthmus of conduction bounded by natural and surgically created barriers and that entrainment techniques could be used to identify these zones. Methods and Results Eighteen consecutive patients with 26 intra-atrial reentrant tachycardias complicating surgery for congenital heart disease (9 atrial septal defect repair, 4 Fontan, 2 Mustard, 2 Senning, and 1 Rastelli procedure) underwent electrophysiological study and ablation attempts. Mapping of activation was facilitated by the deployment of catheters with multiple electrodes. Sites for ablation were sought that demonstrated entrainment with concealed fusion and at which the postpacing interval minus the tachycardia cycle length and the stimulus to P wave minus the activation time were &lt;30 ms. These sites were considered to be within a narrow isthmus critical to the tachycardia mechanism. Anatomic barriers bordering the critical isthmus of conduction were identified on anatomic grounds, by the presence of areas of electrical silence or by the demonstration of split potentials signifying a line of block. Success was achieved in 15 patients with 21 arrhythmias. The median number of radiofrequency applications was 5. There was a wide range of activation times at successful sites (−30 to −250 ms). At a mean duration of follow-up of 17±8 months, 11 patients were asymptomatic and 9 did not require antiarrhythmia therapy. Conclusions Successful ablation of intra-atrial reentrant tachycardia complicating surgery for congenital heart disease may be achieved by creation of an ablative lesion in a critical isthmus of conduction bounded by anatomic barriers. This isthmus may be identified by the presence of entrainment with concealed fusion and an analysis of the relationship between the postpacing interval and the tachycardia cycle length and between the activation time and the stimulus time. Because this isthmus is invariably confined on at least one aspect by a surgical repair site that is of central importance to the tachycardia mechanism, we suggest that this type of arrhythmia be given the descriptive designation of “incisional reentry.”
Reply: Primary and Secondary Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Where to Next?
Authors: James P. Kiley, Gary H. Gibbons
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2014)

From the Editorialists:

We thank Dr. Young and Ms. Hopkins for supporting the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) recent call to action to develop a research agenda for the study of primary prevention of chronic lung disease (CLD) and lung health (1). They refer to building evidence that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis could be modified with therapies targeting systemic inflammatory processes. An important first step, they point out, is identification of those at greatest risk of developing COPD, so that risk-mitigation strategies can be tested. This is certainly one approach to pursue in this area of research.

The NHLBI is embarking on a strategic visioning process for heart, lung, blood, and sleep research, and compelling questions and critical challenges related to primary prevention of CLD will be key components of the process. We agree with Dr. Young and colleagues that the time is right for research in CLD primary prevention. As a first step, the scientific community identified a number of gaps, challenges, and opportunities, which have been published as a series of papers from the NHLBI Primary Prevention of Chronic Lung Disease workshop (2–8). A necessary step for the development of primary prevention interventions is to clarify what defines disease onset and/or the presymptomatic stages of disease to identify critical windows for primary intervention. The identification of risk factors for chronic lung disease permits risk stratification of populations for targeted primary prevention strategies to be tested. Robust measures of both lung health and disease need to be developed to provide biologic plausibility for the identification and validation of biomarkers that will distinguish among health, presymptomatic stages of disease, and disease onset. Novel technologies and approaches that can identify early perturbations in lung structure, function, and defense, as well as early integration of mechanistic and clinical studies, are necessary to identify modifiable intervention points in an efficient and timely manner.

We believe that with the joint efforts of the National Institutes of Health and the global research community, optimal and sustained respiratory health is within our reach, with the potential to improve the lives of millions of individuals.
Abstract 2552: Loss of MiTF sensitizes melanoma cells to chemotherapy due in part to reduced LAMP1 accumulation
Authors: Feng Liu, Christopher Hwe, Raymond Chu, Frank Meyskens
Journal: Cancer Research (2010)

Abstract MiTF (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor) was reported to be amplified in about 20% of melanoma samples and has an oncogenic property. However it is also known that in a subset of melanoma cell lines and tissues MiTF accumulation level is much reduced as compared to normal human melanocytes. Here we confirmed this observation in both melanoma cell lines and tissues. We found that MiTF accumulation level was independent of BRAF mutations status. Loss of MiTF was found at both mRNA and protein levels in melanoma cell lines. Interestingly, melanoma cell lines with MiTF accumulation showed higher resistance to multiple drug treatment. Further investigation revealed that lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP1) levels are tightly associated with MiTF accumulation and is a direct downstream transcription target for MiTF. Over-expression of LAMP1 in melanoma cells conferred drug resistance while knock-down LAMP1 by shRNA sensitized melanoma cells to chemotherapy drugs. Our studies revealed a novel transcription target for MiTF and a novel drug resistance mechanism that is mediated by MiTF, which may be associated with their intrinsic exocytosis function of melanoma cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2552.
Effect of young age on coronary adaptations to left ventricular pressure overload hypertrophy in sheep
Authors: Michael F. Flanagan, Teruhiko Aoyagi, Joseph J. Currier, Steven P. Colan, Alan M. Fujii
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (1994)

Objectives. This study attempted to determine the effect of young age on changes in coronary conductance and capillary density with left ventricular pressure overload hypertrophy. Mechanisms responsible for age differences in perfusion capacity were examined. Background. Hypertension in adults causes alterations in the coronary vasculature, resulting in diminished coronary perfusion capacity and myocardial ischemia. These processes are worsened in adults by advanced age. Young age may provide advantages in coronary adaptation to hypertension. Methodes. Coronary conductance was examined in conscious chronically instrumented 10-week old lambs and adult sheep with progressive ascending aortic stenosis of 6-week's duration and age-matched control sheep by means of the microsphere technique and vasodilators. Capillary density was measured post-mortem. Results. Adult sheep with aortic stenosis had a decrease in left ventricular subendomyocardial capillary density by 17% and maximal coronary conductance with adenosine by 67%. In the nonhypertrophied right ventricle, maximal coronary conductance was depressed by 47%, whereas capillary density was normal, implying an effect of coronary hypertension on resistance vessels. In contrast, lambs with aortic stenosis maintained normal left ventricular capillary density, maximal coronary conductance and coronary reserve and had relatively little impairment of conductance in the right ventricular coronary bed (−15%, p = NS). Similar responses were found with other vasodilators, isoproterenol and chromonar. Conclusions. Young age confers advantages to coronary adaptation to left ventricular pressure overload, including angiogenesis proportionate to hypertrophy, resulting in normal capillary density and coronary conductance. There is also less hypertension-induced impairment of coronary conductance distinct from the effects of hypertrophy.
Estrogen Replacement Therapy
Authors: Paul Meier
Journal: JAMA (1980)

Elsewhere in this issue Ross et al (p 1635) report on a retrospective study apparently linking menopausal use of estrogen with an excess risk of breast cancer. In fact, the overall results do not show a significant difference in estrogen use between cases and controls. The significant findings are limited to the subgroup with intact ovaries. For those with surgical menopause, there was a slight apparent (not significant) reduction in risk associated with estrogen use. In common with other case-control study groups, Ross et al are burdened with the nonexperimental and nonprospective nature of their data. They are further burdened by high rates of refusal. (The review of pharmacy records of those subjects who declined participation raises privacy questions that are not addressed in the report.) The methodology of case-control studies is complex, and there are alternative choices possible for analysis. For example, it may be decided to eliminate from
Asthma prediction in school children; the value of combined IgE‐antibodies and obstructive airways disease severity score*
Authors: K. C. Lødrup Carlsen, L. Söderström, P. Mowinckel, G. Håland, M. Pettersen, M. C. Munthe Kaas, C. S. Devulapalli, M. Buchmann, S. Ahlstedt, K.‐H. Carlsen
Journal: Allergy (2010)

Allergic sensitisation increases the risk for asthma development. In this prospective birth cohort (Environment and Childhood Asthma) study, we hypothesized that combining quantitative measures of IgE antibodies (Sigma-IgE) and Severity score of obstructive airways disease (OAD) at 2 years of age (Severity score) is superior to predict current asthma (CA) at 10 years than either measure alone. Secondarily, we assessed if gender modified the prediction of CA.A follow-up study at 10 years of age was performed in 371 2-year-old children with recurrent (n = 219) or no (n = 152) bronchial obstruction with available serum analysed for Sigma-IgE to common food and inhalant allergens through a panel test, Phadiatop Infant) (Phadia, Uppsala, Sweden). Clinical variables included allergic sensitisation and exercise testing to characterise children with CA vs not CA at 10 years and the Severity score (0-12, 0 indicating no OAD) was used to assess risk modification.Severity score alone explained 24% (Nagelkerke R(2) = 0.24) of the variation in CA, whereas Sigma-IgE explained only 6% (R(2) = 0.06). Combining the two increased the explanatory capacity to R(2) = 0.30. Gender interacted significantly with Sigma-IgE; whereas Severity score predicted CA in both genders, the predictive capacity of Sigma-IgE for CA at 10 years was significant in boys only.Combining Sigma-IgE to inhalant allergens and Severity score at 2 years was superior to predict asthma at 10 years than either alone. Severity score predicted CA in both genders, whereas Sigma-IgE significantly predicted CA in boys only.
Prophylactic Defibrillator Implantation — Toward an Evidence-Based Approach
Authors: Alan Kadish
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2005)

Most patients who have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest do not survive. Thus, the use of a prophylactic implantable cardioverter–defibrillator (ICD) for the primary prevention of sudden death is a conceptually attractive option for high-risk patients. Several clinical trials have previously shown that ICDs reduced mortality in patients with coronary artery disease who had not yet had a life-threatening arrhythmia and who were selected on the basis of either the results of electrophysiological testing or left ventricular dysfunction.14 In the past year, four multicenter clinical trials have helped refine the selection of appropriate patients for ICD therapy. In addition to . . .
The key to rhodopsin function lies in the structure of its interface with transducin
Authors: Edward A. Dratz
Journal: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (1995)

Abstract Light activated rhodopsin functions by catalyzing the exchange of GTP for GDP on numerous copies of transducin. Peptide mapping has shown that at least six regions, three on rhodopsin and three on the transducin alpha subunit, are involved in the active interface between the two proteins. The most informative structural studies of rhodopsin should include focus on the transducin interaction.
Non-Q wave versus Q wave myocardial infarction: Regional myocardial metabolism and blood flow assessed by positron emission tomography
Authors: Tetsuo Hashimoto, Hirofumi Kambara, Tetsuro Fudo, Masataka Hayashi, Shunichi Tamaki, Shingo Tokunaga, Nagara Tamaki, Yoshiharu Yonekura, Junji Konishi, Chuichi Kawai
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (1988)