tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Anemia in COPD patients with an exacerbation
Authors: MªCarmen Juarez Morales, Javier De Miguel Díez, Teresa Gόmez Garcia, Jorge García Angulo, Jorge Chancafe Morgan, Gema Sánchez Muñoz, Luis Puente Maestu
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (2011)

COPD typically shows poliglobulia secondary to hypoxemia. But, the opposite situation is also observed.   Aims:  Quantify and classify the anemia in COPD patients with an exacerbation, describe clinical characteristics, factors which determine the anemia and the influence of the anemia in survival.   Methods:  Observational prospective study of COPD patientes with exacerbation. Demographic and anthropometric information as well as co morbidities and lung functional test is recorded. We measured survival after discharge and mortality risk factors.   Results:  106 were included (93 men). Average age was 71±9, BMI 25.7±5.6 kg/m 2 , FEV1 39±13%. 88.9% used to smoke or were smoking at present. Anemia prevalence was 37.7%. dyslipidemia (73.6%), high blood pressure (59.4%), heart failure (59.4%) and pulmonary hypertension (44.3%). Average Charlson index was 5.9±1.4 (87.9% ≥ 5), and the META index measured by bioelectric impedianciometry was 22.3±7.8. 48.1% were taking more than 5 treatments. In logistic regression test factors that determined anemia were age, iron and creatinin levels (p  Mortality risk factors were FEV1, BMI and creatinin levels.   Conclusion:  Anemia is frequent in COPD patients with exacerbation. Survival is clearly influenced by anemia. Age, iron levels, creatinin levels and META index influence the most.
In Vitro Potentiation of Human Natural Killer Cell Activity by a Streptococcal Preparation, OK-432: Interferon and Interleukin-2 Participation in the Stimulation With OK-432&lt;xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN2"&gt;2&lt;/xref&gt;
Authors: H Wakasugi, T Kasahara, N Minato, J Hamuro, M Miyata, Y Morioka
Journal: JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute (1982)

Inasmuch as human natural killer (NK) cell activity was markedly augmented by a streptococcal immunopotentiator, OK-432, both in vivo and in vitro, the mechanism in which OK-432 augmented human NK cell activity was analyzed. Culture supernatants of nonadherent lymphocytes stimulated with OK-432 significantly augmented NK cell activity. Significant activity of both interferon (IFN) (both alpha- and gamma-types) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) was detected in the culture supernatants from nonadherent lymphocytes. Concomitant treatment of supernatants with anti-IFN-alpha antiserum and pH-2 glycine-HCI buffer or the absorption of supernatants with an IL-2-dependent cell line completely abrogated the NK-augmenting activity, whereas the treatment with either one of these resulted in only partial elimination of the activity. These results indicate that OK-432 stimulates human nonadherent lymphocytes to produce IFN and IL-2 and that both factors are primarily responsible for the NK augmentation by OK-432.
Managing the Side Effects of Psychotropic Medicationsby GoldbergJoseph F., M.D., M.S., and ErnstCarrie L., M.D., foreword by StahlStephen M., M.D., Ph.D. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Publishing, 2012, 532 pp., $68.00.
Authors: Jeffrey Katzman
Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry (2014)
Lung cancer in Hodgkin's disease: association with previous radiotherapy.
Authors: A F List, D C Doll, F A Greco
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (1985)

Seven cases of lung cancer were observed in patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) since 1970. The risk ratio for the development of lung cancer among HD patients was 5.6 times that expected in the general population. The pertinent clinical data from these patients are described and compared to 28 additional patients reported from other institutions. Small-cell lung cancer represented the predominant histologic type of lung cancer encountered in both smoking and nonsmoking patients with HD, accounting for 42% of cases overall and greater than 55% of cases reported in reviews of second malignancies. Tobacco use was noted in only 53% of patients. Twenty-eight (94%) of 30 patients developing metachronous lung cancer received supradiaphragmatic irradiation as primary therapy for HD. Nineteen (68%) of these patients received subsequent chemotherapy salvage. The median age at diagnosis of HD and lung cancer was 39 and 45 years, respectively. The interval between diagnosis of HD and metachronous lung cancer averaged seven years but appeared to vary inversely with age. HD patients treated with supradiaphragmatic irradiation or combined modality therapy may be at increased risk for developing lung cancer. The high frequency of in-field malignancies that we observed and the prevalence of small-cell lung cancer in both smoking and nonsmoking patients suggests that chest irradiation may influence the development of metachronous lung cancer in these patients. The finding of a mean latent interval in excess of seven years emphasizes the need for close long-term observation.
Laser and intense pulsed light hair removal technologies: from professional to home use
Authors: M. Haedersdal, F. Beerwerth, J.F. Nash
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2011)

Light‐based hair removal (LHR) is one of the fastest growing, nonsurgical aesthetic cosmetic procedures in the United States and Europe. A variety of light sources including lasers, e.g. alexandrite laser (755 nm), pulsed diode lasers (800, 810 nm), Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) and broad‐spectrum intense pulsed light (IPL, 590–1200 nm), are available and used widely for such procedures in dermatological/clinical settings under proper supervision. Patient selection and appropriate fluence settings are managed by professionals to maximize efficacy while minimizing adverse events. In the past 5 years, LHR devices have been sold directly to consumers for treatment in the home. In this review, we outline the principles underlying laser and IPL technologies and undertake an evidence‐based assessment of the short‐ and long‐term efficacy of the different devices available to the practising dermatologist and discuss the efficacy and human safety implications of home‐use devices.
Schizophrenia and the HLA-DRB1 Gene in the Japanese Population
Authors: Tsukasa Sasaki, Masaki Matsushita, Shinichiro Nanko, Rimmei Fukuda, James L. Kennedy, Katsushi Tokunaga
Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry (1999)

Small Japanese studies have suggested that patients with schizophrenia have higher rates of the HLA-DR1 gene than normal subjects. The authors' goal in the present study was to confirm this finding in a larger number of Japanese subjects. They also investigated the rate of DR4 in Japanese patients with schizophrenia because it has been reported that Caucasian patients with schizophrenia have higher rates of DR4.They studied the occurrence of the HLA-DRB1 gene in 233 unrelated Japanese patients with schizophrenia compared with the occurrence of the gene in a group of 493 healthy Japanese volunteers.A larger proportion of the patients with schizophrenia (15.9%) than the comparison subjects (10.5%) were found to have DR1 (DRB1*0101). The proportion of patients (36.9%) and comparison subjects (40.6%) with DR4 did not differ significantly.Consistent with the findings of three other Japanese studies, the findings of the present study suggest that the rate of HLA-DR1 may be higher in Japanese patients with schizophrenia than in normal Japanese subjects. No evidence for an association between schizophrenia and the rate of DR4 was obtained in this study, although the combined data from the present study and other Japanese studies support the finding of lower rates of DR4 among patients with schizophrenia.
What does the lay public know about heart failure? Findings from the Heart Failure Awareness Day Initiative
Authors: Stefan Störk, Ausra Kavoliuniene, Dragos Vinereanu, Rafael Ludwig, Petar Seferovic, Kenneth Dickstein, Stefan D. Anker, Gerasimos Filippatos, Pjotr Ponikowski, Mitja Lainscak
Journal: European Journal of Heart Failure (2015)
The Authors' reply
Authors: G. E. Boeckxstaens, T. Klooker
Journal: Gut (2010)

The Authors' reply We would like to thank Dr O'Sullivan for her positive comment1 on our paper recently published in Gut .2 We agree that the exact mechanism of action of ketotifen, either through mast cell stabilisation or H1 receptor blockade, needs further study. We tend to disagree, however, that we may have missed differences between patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy subjects by …
Brucella haemorrhagic pleural effusion
Authors: S A Papiris, M A Maniati, A Haritou, S H Constantopoulous
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (1994)

Brucella melitensis (BM) is a rare respiratory pathogen. The lungs are usually affected in the subacute and chronic course of the disease, when pleurisy, empyema, hilar adenopathy, pneumonia and lung abscess have been described. We present a patient with BM haemorrhagic pleural effusion, with low pH, low glucose and positive pleural fluid cultures. Brucellosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with long-standing pleural effusions of unknown aetiology.
Data from two groups should not have been combined in analysis
Authors: A J P Eccersley
Journal: BMJ (1996)

Declining sperm countSemen quality has declined among men born in France since 1950 EDrroR,-Several recent papers have reported a possible decrease in sperm counts.`15Three of them were based on data collected in single laboratories, from a relatively low number of fertile men (between 302 and 1351).`-3Their conclu- sions were in favour of a decline related to the year of birth1 or to the year of the measurement3 or of no change.2The two other papers were reviews of the same published papers, the first concluding that sperm counts had decreased and
Multimedia: Medicines Management
Authors: N Barber
Journal: BMJ (1999)

Ed Rhona Phanton, Stephen Chapman


BMJ Books, £19.95, pp 196 




ISBN 0 7279 1274 7

———————

Rating: ★★★

About £1 of every £7 that the NHS spends goes on drugs, and spending on drugs is rising rapidly. There is nothing new in this—in the 1920s the chief medical officer was making similar complaints about the expenditure on drugs. What is new is the complex and interweaving set of activities designed to manage medicines and, hence, expenditure. In Britain this extends from policy level restrictions of choice through further layers of local policy designed to influence prescribing and proceeds via the act of prescribing to the monitoring of patient outcome.

Medicines Management is a guide to the panoply of processes deployed by the NHS to influence prescribing, and the editors and most authors are from the Department of Medical Management at Keele University. It predominantly addresses primary care, although there is a nod to hospital processes and a wider systems approach in the penultimate chapter. The structure is logical, starting with the patients’ perspective, then the ethics of prescribing, then on through chapters explaining issues such as economics, evidence, ways of getting research into practice, and ending with systems to control prescribing and an action plan for medicines management. The chapters all start with clear objectives, although the content varies in style, a problem that tends to dog edited works. The chapters are well written, easy to understand, and the right sort of length.

The book’s weakness is its poor representation of patients and the conflicts that arise between their wants and those of scientific rationality. David Dickinson opens the book with a brisk chapter that addresses some of the issues, but it stands alone. The ethics chapter is particularly culpable; having identified autonomy as an ethical principle, it interprets this as prescriber autonomy rather than as patient autonomy. This theme runs throughout the book: neither compliance nor adherence is in the index, and concordance—a form of shared decision making—appears only once.

Once these limitations are recognised the book can be enjoyed as a clear overview of many of the main issues in medicines management, particularly the introduction of new drugs. I shall certainly be recommending it to my students, and it would be a good foundation for general practitioners, chief executives, new pharmaceutical advisers, and pharmacists engaged in helping general practices to manage their drugs budget.
Early versus late pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) following treatment for inoperable nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Authors: Vickie Shannon, Jana Maldonado, Chantielle Thurman
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (2013)

BACKGROUND:  COPD is a frequent co-mordidity among patients with NSCLC that may profoundly impact cancer treatment outcomes. PR benefits and timing in this setting are unclear.   PURPOSE:  To compare the effects of early and late PR following cancer therapy on exercise capacity, COPD acute exacerbations (AECOPDs), COPD-related hospital admission rates, and HRQoL endpoints among patients with COPD and inoperable NSCLC.   METHODS:  Patients with Gold Stage II-IV COPD were referred to the outpatient PR clinic for management of chronic dyspnea and fatigue following chemoradiation therapy for NSCLC. Patients were grouped into early (  31 days) time points and longitudinally studied. Baseline assessments of exercise capacity, HRQoL, dyspnea and fatigue were used to develop a 12-week, individualized PR program that included thrice weekly high intensity strength and aerobic training plus weekly educational sessions.   RESULTS:  Forty-nine early and 78 late patients completed PR. AECOPD rates were similar (2.93 early PR, versus 3.27 late PR, p =0.12), however, fewer hospital admissions for AECOPD were seen in the early group (17% versus 38%. p  2 peak, (+0.28 L/min versus +0.11 L/min, P    CONCLUSIONS:  PR post NSCLC therapy offers significant benefits with greater improvements and fewer AECOPD-related hospitalizations following early PR.
Late-breaking abstract: Differential expression profiles of genes involved in oxidative stress and inflammation in blood and sputum from healthy subjects and COPD patients
Authors: Catherine Moermans, Donat Degroote, Pierre Dorfman, Etienne Capieaux, Monique Henket, Jean-Louis Corhay, Renaud Louis
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (2011)

Background:  Environmental (mainly cigarette smoke) and genetic factors are known to be involved in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, a better understanding of the COPD genes expression dysregulation remains a major challenge.  Increased oxidative stress is thought to be central in COPD pathogenesis and directly involved in local and systemic inflammation.   Methods:  We have investigated, by RT-PCR array, the mRNA expression profile of 95 genes involved both in inflammation and oxidative stress in sputum and blood from COPD patients (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 17). We have used Ingenuity Pathway Analysis Software (IPA) to identify the networks of interactions, the biological processes and pathways in which genes showing a significant expression modification are involved.   Results:  In the blood cells of COPD, around half of genes showed modifications (26 up- and 19 down-regulated) compared to healthy controls and these were essentially involved in inflammation. Using IPA, we found that the most important cellular function altered was the cellular movement. In sputum cells, only 13 genes showed modifications (6 up- and 7 down-regulated, five were common with blood), most of them being involved in free radical scavenging and cell death.   Conclusions:  Compared to healthy subjects, there was a clear dysregulation in gene expression at systemic level, and to a lesser extent, at airway level. Therefore, gene expression profile shows differences between local and systemic compartments.
RANKL expressed on synovial fibroblasts is primarily responsible for bone erosions during joint inflammation
Authors: Lynett Danks, Noriko Komatsu, Matteo M Guerrini, Shinichiro Sawa, Marietta Armaka, George Kollias, Tomoki Nakashima, Hiroshi Takayanagi
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2015)

Objective RANKL is mainly expressed by synovial fibroblasts and T cells within the joints of rheumatoid arthritis patients. The relative importance of RANKL expression by these cell types for the formation of bone erosions is unclear. We therefore aimed to quantify the contribution of RANKL by each cell type to osteoclast differentiation and bone destruction during inflammatory arthritis. Methods RANKL was specifically deleted in T cells ( Tnfsf11 flox/Δ Lck -Cre), in collagen VI expressing cells including synovial fibroblasts ( Tnfsf11 flox/Δ Col6a1 -Cre) and in collagen II expressing cells including articular chondrocytes ( Tnfsf11 flox/Δ Col2a1 -Cre). Erosive disease was induced using the collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) models. Osteoclasts and cartilage degradation were assessed by histology and bone erosions were assessed by micro-CT. Results The inflammatory joint score during CAIA was equivalent in all mice regardless of cell-targeted deletion of RANKL. Significant increases in osteoclast numbers and bone erosions were observed in both the Tnfsf11 flox/Δ and the Tnfsf11 flox/Δ Lck -Cre groups during CAIA; however, the Tnfsf11 flox/Δ Col6a1 -Cre mice showed significant protection against osteoclast formation and bone erosions. Similar results on osteoclast formation and bone erosions were obtained in CIA mice. The deletion of RANKL on any cell type did not prevent articular cartilage loss in either model of arthritis used. Conclusions The expression of RANKL on synovial fibroblasts rather than T cells is predominantly responsible for the formation of osteoclasts and erosions during inflammatory arthritis. Synovial fibroblasts would be the best direct target in RANKL inhibition therapies.
Radiological Management of Abdominal Abscess
Authors: D P Mac Erlean, R G Gibney
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (1983)

Forty-two abdominal and retroperitoneal abscesses were drained percutaneously under ultrasound guidance. A success rate of 85.7% was achieved. Subsequent surgery was required in only 5 patients. Postoperative and spontaneous abscesses did equally well. Most intra-abdominal and retroperitoneal abscesses are amenable to this form of percutaneous drainage. The procedure requires only local anaesthesia and is well tolerated. Surgical management should probably now be reserved for those cases which are considered unsuitable for percutaneous drainage or which fail to resolve following this procedure.
LP28 : Efficacy of the oral sofosbuvir-based combinations in HCV genotype 4-mono-infected patients from the french observational cohort anrs CO22 hepather
Authors: H. Fontaine, C. Hezode, F. Zoulim, D. Samuel, M. Bourliere, G. Haour, C. Dorival-Mouly, V. Leroy, V. De Ledinghen, S. Lucier, D. Larrey, A. Tran, S. Metivier, Y. Benhamou, I. Hubert-Fouchard, F. Habersetzer, P. Marcellin, P. Mathurin, L. Alric, J.-P. Bronowicki, D. Guyader, V. Loustaud-Ratti, A. Minello, G. Riachi, I. Rosa, M. Simony, A. Diallo, F. Carrat, S. Pol
Journal: Journal of Hepatology (2015)
Prospective comparison of the sclerosing agents doxycycline and bleomycin for the primary management of malignant pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade.
Authors: G Liu, M Crump, P E Goss, J Dancey, F A Shepherd
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (1996)

PURPOSE To compare the clinical efficacy and toxicity of doxycycline and bleomycin as sclerosing agents in the primary management of malignant pericardial effusion (MPE). METHODS Twenty-seven consecutive adult patients referred to a tertiary-care institution for the management of cardiac tamponade and malignancy underwent pericardial drainage through a percutaneously placed pigtail catheter. They were then alternately assigned to undergo bleomycin or doxycycline pericardial sclerosis. RESULTS There were 13 men and 14 women, with a median age of 59 years. They mainly had lung (70%) and breast cancers (11%), and all had clinical and echocardiographic evidence of cardiac tamponade. Although all patients had successfully placed catheters, six were inadvertently dislodged before sclerosis; 11 underwent bleomycin sclerosis and 10 doxycycline sclerosis. Twenty patients (one early death) were assessable. One patient in each group failed to respond to sclerosis with the initial agent, but both were sclerosed successfully with the other agent. Sclerosis was achieved with a median of two instillations for each agent and total median doses of bleomycin 20 mg and doxycycline 1,250 mg. Seventy percent of doxycycline patients developed significant retrosternal pain, compared with no bleomycin patients (P = .04). Doxycycline patients required a median of 3.5 more days of hospitalization (8.5 v 5) and 2 more days of pericardial catheterization (7 v 5) compared with bleomycin patients. Tamponade recurred in one bleomycin patient at 253 days, and in no doxycycline patient. CONCLUSION Although bleomycin and doxycycline are equally effective sclerosing agents, bleomycin is associated with significantly less morbidity and should be the first-line chemical sclerosing agent for malignant pericardial effusions.
Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Treated With Temozolomide Versus Procarbazine for Recurrent Glioblastoma Multiforme
Authors: D. Osoba, M. Brada, W.K. A. Yung, M. Prados
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2000)

PURPOSE: To determine whether chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ) versus procarbazine (PCB) for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) was associated with improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQOL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: HRQOL was assessed at baseline and during treatment using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 and a Brain Cancer Module (BCM20) in two clinical trials that enrolled a total of 366 patients. Two hundred eighty-eight patients provided HRQOL data that could be used for analysis; 109 patients received TMZ in a phase II study, whereas 89 patients received TMZ and 90 received PCB in a randomized phase III study. Changes from baseline in the scores of seven preselected HRQOL domains (role and social functioning, global quality of life [QOL], visual disorders, motor dysfunction, communication deficit, and drowsiness) were calculated for all groups. Statistical significance, effect sizes, and proportions of patients with improved HRQOL scores (changes of ≥ 10 points) were calculated. RESULTS: Before disease progression, patients treated with TMZ were found to have an improvement in most of the preselected HRQOL domain scores compared with their baseline (pretreatment) scores. Those who were progression-free on TMZ at 6 months had improvement in all the preselected HRQOL domains. Conversely, patients treated with PCB reported deterioration in HRQOL that was independent of whether or not the disease had progressed by 6 months. Patients with disease progression, regardless of treatment, experienced a sharp decline in all domains at the time of progression. CONCLUSION: Treatment with TMZ was associated with improvement in HRQOL scores compared with treatment with PCB. The deterioration reported by PCB-treated patients was likely because of toxicity. Delaying disease progression by treatment with TMZ is beneficial to the HRQOL status of patients with recurrent GBM.
Are Life-Saving Anticancer Drugs Reaching All Patients? Patterns and Discrepancies of Trastuzumab Use in the European Union and the Usa
Authors: F. Ades Moraes, C. Senterre, D. Zardavas, E. De Azambuja, R.A. Popescu, F. Parent, M. Piccart
Journal: Annals of Oncology (2014)