tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Possible relevance of pigeons as an indicator species for monitoring air pollution.
Authors: P A Schilderman, J A Hoogewerff, F J van Schooten, L M Maas, E J Moonen, B J van Os, J H van Wijnen, J C Kleinjans
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (1997)

Wild city pigeons were caught at four different locations in the Netherlands to represent areas of high (Amsterdam-high), moderate (Amsterdam-medium), and low (Maastricht and Assen) traffic density. It is assumed that local ambient air pollution decreases as a function of traffic density. In these pigeons levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-DNA adducts, oxidative DNA damage, and heavy metal residues were determined in kidney, lung, liver, and blood (no adduct analysis in blood). The contribution of leaded gasoline to total body lead content was estimated by measuring concentrations of Pb and its isotopes in blood. We also analyzed samples of ambient air particulate matter for PAH and heavy metal concentrations at the four different locations. Interregional differences in heavy metals in ambient air particulate matter were reflected relatively well by pigeon body loads. The higher lead and cadmium concentrations in blood, kidney, liver, and lung were found in the Amsterdam high traffic density area, followed by Amsterdam medium, Assen, and Maastricht. A high Pb concentration in blood coincided with relatively low 206Pb/207Pb values, indicating a high contribution of leaded gasoline to total blood Pb concentrations in pigeons from the Amsterdam high traffic density area. Significantly enhanced blood zinc values were found in pigeons from both locations in Amsterdam compared to pigeons from the other two areas. However, no differences in Zn tissue levels between the four different groups were found. Oxidative DNA damage, determined as the ratio of 7-Hydro-8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine/ deoxyguanosine, in pigeon liver was highest in Amsterdam-high, followed by Assen (low traffic density). Pb content, but not the Cd content, was positively associated with oxidative DNA damage in liver tissue. In lung tissue, a negative correlation was found between oxidative DNA damage and Zn content. These results indicate that the carcinogenic potential of Pb might be ascribed to oxygen radical formation, whereas Zn plays a protective role against oxidative DNA damage. Places with high and medium traffic density could be clearly discriminated on the basis of PAH levels in the ambient air. The PAH content in particulate air samples was not, however, reflected in total PAH-related DNA adduct levels because no differences could be observed in tissue adduct levels in pigeons from the four different locations. Our results indicate that wild city pigeons can be used as biological indicators of exposure to heavy metal pollution in outdoor air.
Are older antipsychotic drugs obsolete?
Authors: Rohan Ganguli, Martin Strassnig
Journal: BMJ (2006)

No 

A ntipsychotic drugs have been essential in treating schizophrenia since chlorpromazine was introduced in the mid 1950s. By 1980 over 20 other antipsychotic medications were available, and all of them are now sold as generics. Ever since clozapine was shown in the late 1980s to be more effective for treatment resistant patients with schizophrenia than the older antipsychotic agents,1 numerous new antipsychotic drugs have been synthesised and released, with claims of greater efficacy and better tolerability than the older generic agents. Are these claims true, and how should clinicians go about choosing the appropriate drug for their patients with schizophrenia?

Several authoritative and widely adopted treatment guidelines for the use of antipsychotics, such as the TIMA algorithm (Texas Implementation of Medication Algorithms), recommend only the newer antipsychotic drugs as first and second line treatments, reinforcing the perception that the older drugs are therapeutically inferior. These new antipsychotics are often referred to as “atypical” or “novel” agents, suggesting that their mechanism of antipsychotic action is different from that of the older drugs. Yet both old and new medications appear to exert antipsychotic effects via blockade of dopamine D2 receptors in the brain.2

With regard to efficacy, an early meta-analysis …
The Use of a Doppler Ultrasound Probe for Localising Arterial Blood Flow during Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
Authors: D.E. Beckly, M.P. Casebow, K.E. Pettengell
Journal: Endoscopy (1982)

A Doppler ultrasound probe designed to be introduced into the upper gastrointestinal tract through the biopsy channel of a conventional fibreoptic endoscope has proved effective in localizing arteries in the oesophageal, gastric and duodenal walls and in the base of acute and chronic ulcers. Such localization has been used as an aid to the arrest of bleeding by laser photocoagulation
Pathogenesis of Endocrine Abnormalities in Uremia*
Authors: DIMITRIOS S. EMMANOUEL, MARSHALL D. LINDHEIMER, ADRIAN I. KATZ
Journal: Endocrine Reviews (1980)

AVARIETY of endocrine and metabolic abnormalities are associated with end stage renal disease (1, 2). These disorders can occur despite effective dialysis and adequate biochemical control and respond only to successful transplantation. Since uremic endocrinopathies interfere with the patient's quality of life and rehabilitation potential and, in some instances, may affect adversely long term survival (3), information about their pathogenesis is of prime practical importance. This article discusses the pathogenetic mechanisms of endocrine disorders in uremia, listing examples of specific hormonal changes associated with each alteration. The reader is also referred to recent reviews where endocrine changes in renal disease are listed separately for each hormone (1, 2). Endocrine disorders result either from altered concentrations of active hormone arriving at the target tissue, or from aberrant responses of the end organ to appropriate hormonal levels. In principle, this pathogenetic classification also holds true for the endocrine abnormalities seen in the uremic syndrome (Table 1), although frequently a combination of factors is operative in this condition.
Gamma/delta cells in tissue from patients with sarcoidosis.
Authors: M L Wilsher, M Hallowes, N M Birchall
Journal: Thorax (1996)

BACKGROUND: Because gamma/delta T lymphocytes (gamma delta cells) respond to myco-bacterial antigens in vitro and accumulate in the skin lesions of patients with certain granulomatous infections (leprosy, leishmaniasis), it was hypothesised that these cells might have a role in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis, a disease also characterised by granuloma formation. Having failed to demonstrate an increase in gamma delta cells in the blood of patients with sarcoidosis, the aim of this study was to examine samples of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and biopsy tissue. METHODS: Samples from 23 patients (13 women) with newly diagnosed sarcoidosis, of mean age 31 years and median percentage of lymphocytes in the BAL fluid of 31%, were studied. Controls included normal subjects and patients with other interstitial lung diseases (ILD). Cytopreparations of BAL fluid (n = 13) and cryostat sections (five mediastinal nodes, 14 transbronchial biopsies) were stained with alkaline phosphatase-antialkaline phosphatase and monoclonal antibodies to CD3, CD4, CD8, CD25, and gamma delta T cell receptor (TCR). RESULTS: All patients had typical chest radiographs (16 stage I, four stage II, three stage III). All were Mantoux negative with negative tuberculosis cultures. Compared with normal controls and patients with other interstitial lung diseases there was no increase in gamma delta cells in the BAL fluid (sarcoidosis, 1% (range 0-4%) total cells; ILD, 1% (0-2%); controls, 0.5% (0-2%); p &gt; 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis). Likewise, there was no increase in gamma delta cells in the transbronchial biopsy specimens (sarcoidosis, 1/high power field (hpf) (range 0-2); ILD, &lt; 1/hpf (0-4); controls &lt; 1/hpf (0-2); p &gt; 0.05). gamma delta cells were rarely seen in the lymph nodes in spite of the presence of numerous granulomas. CONCLUSION: These results provide further evidence that gamma delta cells are not increased in most patients with sarcoidosis.
Mechanisms of Pulmonary Gas Exchange Improvement during a Protective Ventilatory Strategy in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Authors: MARCO MANCINI, ELIZABETH ZAVALA, JORDI MANCEBO, CARLOS FERNANDEZ, JOAN ALBERT BARBERÀ, ANDREA ROSSI, JOSEP ROCA, ROBERT RODRIGUEZ-ROISIN
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2001)

To investigate the mechanisms underlying improvement of arterial oxygenation during a protective ventilatory strategy (PVS) in early acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), we studied eight patients during volume-controlled mechanical ventilation, keeping respiratory rate and fraction of inspired oxygen (FI(O(2))) (0.82 +/- 0.20) unchanged: (1) at baseline (tidal volume [VT] 10 to 12 ml x kg(-1); positive end-expiratory pressure [PEEP] 8 to 10 cm H(2)O); (2) during PVS (PEEP 2 cm H(2)O above the low inflexion point (P(FLEX)) and VT of 5 to 7 ml x kg(-1)); and (3) post-PVS, back to baseline conditions. Inert gas measurements were done after 30 min in each ventilatory modality. During PVS, Pa(O(2)) increased significantly from 93 +/- 27 to 166 +/- 77 mm Hg (p < 0.008) and Pa(CO(2)) rose from 39 +/- 7 to 57 +/- 11 mm Hg (p < 0.0002) because of the decrease in minute ventilation (V E) (-3.6 L x min(-1)) (p < 0.005). Both heart rate (HR, +13 min(-1)) (p < 0.002) and cardiac output (Q, +1.2 L x min(-1)) (p < 0.05) increased. Static respiratory system linear compliance increased from 36 +/- 14 to 44 +/- 16 ml. cm H(2)O(-1) (p < 0.0002). PVS provoked recruitment of previously collapsed alveoli and redistribution of pulmonary blood flow from nonventilated alveoli to normal lung. Despite the increase in Q, intrapulmonary shunt fell from 39 +/- 15% to 31 +/- 11% (p < 0.04). We conclude that the decrease in intrapulmonary shunt owing to alveolar recruitment remains the pivotal mechanism to explain improvement of arterial oxygenation during this PVS.
Calcifying Subpopulation of Bovine Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells Is Responsive to 17β-Estradiol
Authors: Mihaela Balica, Kristina Boström, Victoria Shin, Kirsten Tillisch, Linda L. Demer
Journal: Circulation (1997)

Arterial calcification, common in atherosclerosis, is associated with an increased risk of clinical events such as myocardial infarction. We previously identified a subpopulation of bovine aortic medial cells, calcifying vascular cells (CVCs), that have osteoblastic characteristics and form bone mineral in vitro in the form of calcified nodules. To assess whether estrogen modulates arterial calcification as well as bone calcification, we tested CVCs for estrogen receptors and for the effect of 17 beta-estradiol on formation of calcified nodules, calcium content, alkaline phosphatase activity, and osteocalcin concentration in the culture medium.Estrogen receptor immunoreactivity was identified in the cytoplasm and the perinuclear region of CVCs by immunocytochemistry. CVCs were treated with 17 beta-estradiol at concentrations of 0, 5, and 10 nmol/L. Twenty-one days of 17 beta-estradiol treatment resulted in a significantly increased number of calcified nodules, visualized by von Kossa staining, as well as increased calcium content of the cultures. Increases in alkaline phosphatase activity, a marker for early osteoblastic differentiation, and secreted osteocalcin, a marker for late osteoblastic differentiation, were enhanced in cells treated with 17 beta-estradiol compared with control cells.These results suggest that 17 beta-estradiol promotes osteoblastic differentiation and calcification in vascular cells and that estrogen may play a regulatory role in arterial calcification.
SOME PRACTICAL POINTS ON INFANT FEEDING AND INFANT FECES.
Authors: LOUIS FISCHER
Journal: JAMA (1897)

To properly determine the value of an infant's food be it breast fed or hand fed, we must note the following factors: 1. Does the child appear satisfied and go to sleep after its feeding. 2. How are the stools?<i>a</i>, their color;<i>b</i>, frequency;<i>c</i>, consistency. 3. Is there any flatulence or colic? 4. Does the child increase in weight, to be determined by the scales once a week, and is the food properly assimilated? A growing child needs far more food than its weight alone would indicate, for its income must exceed its expenditure so that it may grow. An infant for the first seven months or first one-half year of life should have nothing but milk. Up to this age vegetable food is unsuited to it; it is purely a carnivorous animal. Human milk contains about 4 per cent. of proteids (casein), 2.6 per cent. fat, 4.3
Effects of regular salmeterol on lung function and exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive airways disease.
Authors: A. Grove, B. J. Lipworth, P. Reid, R. P. Smith, L. Ramage, C. G. Ingram, R. J. Jenkins, J. H. Winter, D. P. Dhillon
Journal: Thorax (1996)

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of single and chronic dosing with salmeterol on exercise capacity and lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. METHODS: Twenty nine patients of mean (SE) age 64 (1.5) years, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 42(3)% of predicted, and 5-15% reversibility to salbutamol 200 micrograms were randomised to receive four weeks treatment with salmeterol 50 micrograms twice daily or placebo in a double blind crossover fashion with a one week washout period in between. Measurements of spirometric parameters, static lung volumes, and exercise capacity were made one and six hours after a single dose, and six hours after the final dose of salmeterol or placebo. RESULTS: Salmeterol produced a small increase in FEV1 at one and six hours after a single dose, and this was maintained after chronic dosing (mean difference and 95% CI versus placebo): single dosing at one hour 0.07 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.11) 1, single dosing at six hours 0.16 (95% CI 0.09 to 0.22) 1, chronic dosing at six hours 0.11 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.19) 1. The increase in forced vital capacity (FVC) was greater with salmeterol than with placebo six hours after single but not chronic dosing: single dosing at six hours 0.17 (95% CI 0.04 to 0.29) 1, chronic dosing at six hours 0.02 (95% CI -0.18 to 0.22) 1. Slow vital capacity was increased after treatment with salmeterol compared with placebo one and six hours after single but not after chronic dosing. There were no significant differences in static lung volumes or exercise capacity after single or chronic dosing with salmeterol compared with placebo. Patients reported a significantly lower Borg score for perceived exertion following the six minute walk after chronic treatment with salmeterol compared with placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Salmeterol produced a small improvement in spirometric values compared with placebo consistent with the degree of reversibility originally shown by the subjects to salbutamol 200 micrograms. This was not associated with improvements in static lung volumes or exercise capacity, but there was some symptomatic benefit in that patients were able to walk the same distance in six minutes with less perceived exertion.
Intraregional variation in treatment of end stage renal failure.
Authors: M Dalziel, C Garrett
Journal: BMJ (1987)

Insulinoma unmasked by the Cambridge dietHypoglycaemia is not usually a feature ofadherence to very low energy diets.We describe a patient who, for the first time, developed symptoms attributable to hypoglycaemia within three days of starting the Cambridge diet and was subsequently found to have an insulinoma.
Pharmacokinetics of levosulpiride after single and multiple intramuscular administrations in healthy Chinese volunteers
Authors: Chuting Gong, Janvier Engelbert Agbokponto, Wen Yang, Ernest Simpemba, Xiaohong Zheng, Quanying Zhang, Li Ding
Journal: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (2014)

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of levosulpiride in humans after single and multiple intramuscular injections. Six males and six females received single dose of either 25 mg or 50 mg levosulpiride, or multiple doses of 25 mg every 12 h for 5 consecutive days. In the single 25 mg study, the mean peak plasma concentration (C max) was 441 ng/mL, the mean area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 36 h (AUC0-36) was 1724 ng h/mL, and the mean elimination half-life (t 1/2) was 7.0 h. In the single 50 mg study, the mean C max was 823 ng/mL, the mean AUC0-36 was 3748 ng·h/mL, and the mean t 1/2 was 6.8 h. After multiple doses of 25 mg levosulpiride, the average plasma concentration (C av) was 136 ng/mL, the fluctuation index (DF) was 3.60, and the accumulation ratio (R) was 1.2. Levosulpiride injections appeared to be well tolerated by the subjects, and can be used for successive administration.
Dutch hospital consultants threaten legal action over wholesale pay cuts
Authors: T. Sheldon
Journal: BMJ (2009)

Dutch hospital consultants are threatening legal action against their government’s proposals to claw back hundreds of millions of euros from their salaries after a new payment system—designed to reward performance—sparked steep pay rises.

Both sides accept that the new system, based on declarations of treatments carried out rather than on lump sum payments, has flaws. Some hospital consultants—already among the best paid in the world—found their salaries unintentionally increased by 50% in 2008.

Measures now proposed include an 11% cut across the board for all consultants’ hourly pay rates in a bid to avoid an overspend of €375m (£323m; $534m) in 2010.

But …
Regulation of polarized extension and planar cell polarity in the cochlea by the vertebrate PCP pathway
Authors: Jianbo Wang, Sharayne Mark, Xiaohui Zhang, Dong Qian, Seung-Jong Yoo, Kristen Radde-Gallwitz, Yanping Zhang, Xi Lin, Andres Collazo, Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, Ping Chen
Journal: Nature Genetics (2005)
Chlorambucil Therapy for Lymphomas and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Authors: Ediz Z. Ezdinli
Journal: JAMA (1965)

Chlorambucil, an oral alkylating agent, was administered for a total of 205 courses to 126 patients with lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The drug benefited three fourths of the patients with Hodgkin's disease and one half of the patients with leukemia or small cell lymphosarcoma. Only one of 12 patients with reticulum cell sarcoma responded. The gradual appearance of marrow depression was the only important toxicity of the drug. Responsiveness to the drug was well maintained during subsequent chlorambucil treatments, while initially unresponsive patients, with but one exception, did not respond to later trials of the drug. The combined treatment of corticosteroids and chlorambucil in a small group of anemic and thrombocytopenic patients with leukemia may have allowed the administration of an effective dose of the alkylating agent, but did not enhance its therapeutic effectiveness.
Creativity Requires Nurture
Authors: Charles D. Aring
Journal: JAMA (1977)

IT APPEARS likely that the times have a lot to do with fostering and promoting creativity or suppressing it. Alfred Kroeber<sup>1</sup>put forward evidence that people possessing higher civilization have produced cultural products only intermittently during relatively small fractions of their time span. He pointed to the lack of genius in England during the century between 1450 and 1550 and to a whole series of genius of all sorts between 1550 and 1650. The same holds true in innumerable other instances in history, for example, in the Germany of 1550 to 1650 and 1700 to 1800. It would seem to follow that some born with an endowment for creativity have been submerged by the times into which they were born. One period that stands out because of the genius that appeared then was 1809 and the years immediately following. Born in 1809 were Charles Darwin, Edward Fitzgerald, William Gladstone,
Induction therapy with interferon-alpha 2b associated to ribavirin and ketoprofen in patients with chronic hepatitis C non-responders to interferon. A pilot study
Authors: Alberto E. Munoz, Diana Levi, Carlos Miguez, Maria Silvia Munne, Daniel Cisterna, Sandra Vladimirsky, Jorge Gonzalez, Ruben Terg
Journal: Journal of Hepatology (2002)
Surgeon acquitted of carrying out female genital mutilation in a prosecution criticised by obstetricians
Authors: C. Dyer
Journal: BMJ (2015)

An NHS trainee obstetrician who faced the first prosecution in the United Kingdom for female genital mutilation has been acquitted after the jury deliberated for less than half an hour.

Dhanuson Dharmasena, then a junior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Whittington Hospital in north London, was accused of reinfibulating a Somali woman by sewing her labia together after the birth of her first child in 2012. But he told the jury that he had put only a small suture at the top of a cut he had made to deliver the baby, to stop bleeding, in an emergency situation.

The verdict of not guilty came after Mr Justice Sweeney, who presided over the 13 day trial at Southwark Crown Court, told the jury in his summing up that they would have to consider whether the doctor had been made a “scapegoat” …
Mannose-binding lectin and Ficolin-2 gene polymorphisms predispose to cytomegalovirus (re)infection after orthotopic liver transplantation
Authors: Bert-Jan F. de Rooij, Martha T. van der Beek, Bart van Hoek, Ann C.T.M. Vossen, W. Rogier ten Hove, Anja Roos, Alexander F. Schaapherder, Robert J. Porte, Johan J. van der Reijden, Minneke J. Coenraad, Daniel W. Hommes, Hein W. Verspaget
Journal: Journal of Hepatology (2011)
Coloscopy, an Analysis of 120 Cases with Special Regards to the Technique
Authors: L. Hansen
Journal: Endoscopy (1973)

Relief measures, technique, preparation, rate of insertion, duration and a complication by application of the long coloscope are presented based on a surgical material comprising 120 examinations including cases of serious diverticulitis and a great number of cases with mechanical obstructions. Under variable experimental conditions the rate of insertion to caecum is 47. However mechanical obstructions have caused incomplete insertion in 33 cases and failure of apparatus in 3 cases. It is concluded that the cleaning procedure ought to be individual, it is not always necessary to use a time-consuming cleaning procedure. The duration of the examination has been reduced to about half an hour. Sedation contra general anaesthesia is discussed. One case of perforation with an uncomplicated postoperative course is described.
THE PATENTS IN SCARLET FEVER TOXIN AND ANTITOXIN
Authors: George F. Dick
Journal: JAMA (1927)

<h3>To the Editor:</h3> —Recent editorials in British journals indicate a lack of information concerning the purpose and the mode of administration of the patents obtained by us covering scarlet fever preparations. Had the author of the articles read our communication on this subject published inThe Journal, Sept. 26, 1925, p. 996, he would know that there is no cause for alarm. The results of the research to which he refers were published in the latter part of 1923 and the beginning of 1924. At that time, it was suggested to us that the taking out of a patent on the materials described would safeguard their quality. We were not convinced of the necessity for such a step and refused to consider it. In a short time the distribution of the scarlet fever preparations was begun by commercial manufacturers. Some of these products were undesirable, because of faulty methods of