tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Persistence of Transaminase Abnormalities in Former Drug Addicts
Authors: CHARLES E. CHERUBIN
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1972)

A large group of ex-addicts in residence in a rehabilitation program were studied to determine their medical history of hepatitis, the frequency of SH/Au antigen, and the prevalence of liver malfunction. Fifty percent of our population had a history of hepatitis while using drugs. Among the whites, 58.4% had had hepatitis, whereas only 26% of the nonwhites had such a history. The frequency of SH/Au antigen by Ouchterlony technique (1.2/100) was consistent with that of previous studies. There was a significant decline in serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) values as a function of time free of drug and needle use. There was a 40% frequency of abnormal results (> 50 Karmen units/ml) in tests taken soon after entry into the program; in tests taken after 4 months and up to a year there was a 20% frequency of abnormal results. The persistent abnormal SGPT results and liver biopsy findings in several residents with persistently elevated transaminases showed a high frequency of chronic inflammatory liver disease among the population.
Physicians and Health Policy
Authors: Peter E. Dans
Journal: JAMA (1980)

HEALTH policy involves decisions on the allocation of manpower, services, and finances to meet patient care, education, and research needs. Physicians venturing into policy analysis are not usually conversant with these issues, nor are they familiar with the workings of the governmental bodies and other organizations responsible for health policy formulation. It seems to be assumed that if one is a first-rate researcher or clinician, the transition will be an easy one. Too often, this assumption is erroneous. Moreover, administration and policymaking generally are held in low esteem by both practicing and academic physicians. These activities require a partial or complete withdrawal from the one-on-one patient setting and involve concerns with systems and aggregate decision making. Physicians taking on such responsibilities are viewed as rejecting the raison d'être of medicine and becoming politicians. This position may have been credible once, "but the times, they are a-changin'." All physicians must have
HEMORRHAGIC DEGENERATION OF MYOMAS AND THEIR RELATION TO SARCOMAS
Authors: ARTHUR E. HERTZLER
Journal: JAMA (1918)

By hemorrhagic degeneration of myomas is meant that condition in which spontaneous hemorrhage takes place into the substance of a myoma that has previously undergone a degeneration. Gebhard sought to indicate the essential degenerative character of the lesion by calling it a necrobiosis. The changes which underlie the condition consist of an obliterating endarteritis, hyaloid degeneration of the vessel wall and degeneration of the surrounding tumor tissue, with finally a free hemorrhage into the interstices of the degenerated tumor. The end-result of hemorrhagic myomas may be one of several: 1. The hemorrhage may become absorbed from the substance of the tumor, leaving only cholesterin crystals or small cysts. 2. More commonly the escaped blood lies for indefinite periods in a fluid state (Fig. 1), but the blood may clot, leading to vascularization and organization of the blood clot. 3. The hemorrhage may result in perforation of the capsule of uterine
A Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Childhood Type 1 Diabetes and Atopic Disease
Authors: Chris R. Cardwell, Mike D. Shields, Dennis J. Carson, Chris C. Patterson
Journal: Diabetes Care (2003)

OBJECTIVE—To review the published literature and perform a meta-analysis summarizing the evidence in support of an inverse association between type 1 diabetes and the atopic disorders: asthma, eczema, and allergic rhinitis in children. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—MEDLINE, Web of Science, and PubMed were searched to identify relevant studies. These were assessed on quality criteria, and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were calculated for each study from the reported prevalences of atopy in children with diabetes and in control children. Meta-analysis was then used to derive a combined OR and test for heterogeneity in findings between studies. RESULTS—Twenty-five studies were identified. Heterogeneity in the findings from different studies was evident but was considerably reduced when the asthma and rhinitis analyses were restricted to those studies judged to be of adequate design. The meta-analysis revealed an inverse association between asthma and type 1 diabetes, but the finding only attained significance when analysis was restricted to the studies of adequate design (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.68–0.99). In this subset an association of similar magnitude was observed between eczema and type 1 diabetes (0.82, 0.62–1.10) although this failed to attain statistical significance, and heterogeneity between studies was still present. There was little evidence of an association between rhinitis and type 1 diabetes (0.97, 0.82–1.16) in this subset of studies. CONCLUSIONS—Our analysis suggests that there is a small but significant reduction in the prevalence of asthma in children with type 1 diabetes, but the findings for the other atopic diseases are less conclusive.
Phosphomimetic Mutants of Pigment Epithelium-Derived Factor with Enhanced Antiangiogenic Activity as Potent Anticancer Agents
Authors: Alexander Konson, Sunila Pradeep, Rony Seger
Journal: Cancer Research (2010)

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is an endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis and a promising anticancer agent capable of suppressing solid tumor growth in animal cancer models. We have previously shown that PEDF can be phosphorylated and that distinct phosphorylation states of this factor differentially regulate its physiologic function. Here, we report that phosphomimetic mutants of PEDF, which possess significantly increased antiangiogenic activity, are much more efficient than wild-type (WT) PEDF in inhibiting growth and neovascularization in MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer), HCT116 (colon cancer), and U87-MG (glioblastoma) xenograft models. Importantly, the antitumor activity of the phosphomimetic mutants is comparable with that of the established antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab. However, unlike bevacizumab, these compounds act in a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-independent manner, as they do not affect the levels of VEGF-A mRNA and VEGF receptor 2 phosphorylation. Further immunohistochemical analysis revealed that PEDF mutants affect mainly tumor-residing endothelial cells and prevent the formation of intratumoral vascular network by facilitating endothelial cell apoptosis. It was also found that PEDF mutants reduce survival of endothelial cells in culture much better than WT-PEDF, an effect that is apparent even in the presence of VEGF or basic fibroblast growth factor, and promote much stronger endothelial cell apoptosis. On the other hand, PEDF and its mutants did not affect survival of cultured cancer cells, indicating that the antiangiogenic activity of these agents is the foremost element of the observed antitumor effect. These findings have specific implications on improving the properties of WT-PEDF, which is currently in preclinical development, and encourage the development of PEDF mutants as specific, neovascularization-targeting anticancer agents.
Liver Autoimmunity Triggered by Microbial Activation of Natural Killer T Cells
Authors: Jochen Mattner, Paul B. Savage, Patrick Leung, Sabine S. Oertelt, Vivien Wang, Omita Trivedi, Seth T. Scanlon, Krishna Pendem, Luc Teyton, John Hart, William M. Ridgway, Linda S. Wicker, M. Eric Gershwin, Albert Bendelac
Journal: Cell Host & Microbe (2008)

Humans with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), a disease characterized by the destruction of small bile ducts, exhibit signature autoantibodies against mitochondrial Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex E2 (PDC-E2) that crossreact onto the homologous enzyme of Novosphingobium aromaticivorans, an ubiquitous alphaproteobacterium. Here, we show that infection of mice with N. aromaticivorans induced signature antibodies against microbial PDC-E2 and its mitochondrial counterpart but also triggered chronic T cell-mediated autoimmunity against small bile ducts. Disease induction required NKT cells, which specifically respond to N. aromaticivorans cell wall alpha-glycuronosylceramides presented by CD1d molecules. Combined with the natural liver tropism of NKT cells, the accumulation of N. aromaticivorans in the liver likely explains the liver specificity of destructive responses. Once established, liver disease could be adoptively transferred by T cells independently of NKT cells and microbes, illustrating the importance of early microbial activation of NKT cells in the initiation of autonomous, organ-specific autoimmunity.
Outcome of patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy after percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation and septal myectomy surgery11Supported, in part, by grant NCC9-60 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Houston, Texas, Grant #9951522V from the America Heart Association Ohio Local Chapter, Columbus, Ohio and Grant #R01 HL56688-01A1 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.22Presented, in part, at the 49th Annual Scientific Sessions of …
Authors: Jian Xin, Takahiro Shiota, Harry M Lever, Samir R Kapadia, Marta Sitges, David N Rubin, Fabrice Bauer, Neil L Greenberg, Deborah A Agler, Jeanne K Drinko, Maureen Martin, Murat Tuzcu, Nicholas G Smedira, Bruce Lytle, James D Thomas
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2001)
Comparison of a novel teeth-protecting mouthpiece with a traditional device in preventing endoscopy-related complications involving teeth or temporomandibular joint: a multicenter randomized trial
Authors: B.-H. Min, H. Lee, J. Jeong, H. Son, J. Kim, J. Rhee, P.-L. Rhee, Y. Yoon
Journal: Endoscopy (2008)

See also: Commentaire de travail de B.-H. Min et al., pp. 472Endoscopy 2008; 40(06): 544-545DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1306840
Multiple Myeloma Treatment Transformed: A Population-Based Study of Changes in Initial Management Approaches in the United States
Authors: Joan L. Warren, Linda C. Harlan, Jennifer Stevens, Richard F. Little, Gregory A. Abel
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2013)

Despite improved outcomes for multiple myeloma, little is known about changes in initial treatment at the population level for US patients. We report trends in treatment practices.Patients (n = 1,976) with newly diagnosed myeloma in 1999, 2003, and 2007 were examined by using the National Cancer Institute's Patterns of Care Studies. We assessed use of common chemotherapies (melphalan, vincristine, and doxorubicin), novel agents (thalidomide, bortezomib, or lenalidomide), or hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) during the first year after diagnosis. By using logistic regression, we evaluated the association of race and insurance status with receipt of high-cost treatments--transplantation or novel agents.From 1999 to 2007, use of melphalan alone dropped from 32.0% to 4.1%, and vincristine and doxorubicin use declined from 18.2% to 0.4%. The percentage of patients receiving any novel agent rose from 3.9% in 1999 to 75.5% in 2007. HSCT increased from 11.1% in 1999 to 21.7% in 2007. For white patients, use of novel agents was lower for those with Medicare only (42.6%) than for those with private insurance (50.2%). For patients of other races, those with Medicare only or Medicaid were less likely to receive novel agents or transplantation compared with those with private insurance.Initial treatment for multiple myeloma has changed markedly. Most patients now receive novel agents, with a decline in the use of traditional chemotherapy. Use of transplantation and novel agents varies with race and insurance. These findings document rapid changes in patterns of care and highlight addressable disparities in myeloma care.
Changes in Body Weight Associated with Age and Marital Status
Authors: C. R. Lowe, J. R. Gibson
Journal: BMJ (1955)

Although it has long been recognized that changes in body weight are characteristic of certain diseases, surprisingly little is known about the sources of variation in weight of healthy people.There is no doubt that weight is related to height and that it increases with age even after adult stature has been reached.There is some evidence of small variations in association with region, season, occupation, and social class (Morant, 1948; Martin, 1949; Kemsley, 1950; Roberts, 1953; Clements and Pickett, 1954).It is also known that the weight added during pregnancy is considerably in excess of that due to the products of conception, and it is gener- ally believed that women who have borne children are heavier on the average than those who have not.And there our knowledge appears to end.This paper is based on data recorded during the preemployment medical examination of industrial workers at two large firms in Birmingham.It examines the relation between marital status, child-bearing, and weight in -women, and between age and weight in both the sexes.Material Cadbury Brothers Ltd., Bournville, and the General Electric Company Ltd., Witton, together employ about 16,000 workers.The data examined below were extracted from medical record cards at these two firms.The inquiry relates to 1,684 men and 5,081 women who had entered the firms within the last ten years and were in the age group 20-59 inclusive at the time of their pre-employment examin- ation.The information available included weight, height, sex, age, marital status, and, in the case of married women, size of family.The workers were wearing indoor clothes
Randomised controlled trials of proton beam therapy are needed
Authors: I. H. Kunkler
Journal: BMJ (2012)

Epstein questions whether the investment of £250m (€307m; $405m) in two NHS UK proton facilities is premature.1 The ability of protons to confine the high dose volume to the tumour while minimising the dose to adjacent normal tissues is theoretically attractive in, for example, selected paediatric intracranial tumours, skull …
Hepatitis E virus: an underestimated opportunistic pathogen in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Authors: Jurjen Versluis, Suzan D. Pas, Hendrik J. Agteresch, Robert A. de Man, Jolanda Maaskant, Marguerite E. I. Schipper, Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus, Jan J. Cornelissen, Annemiek A. van der Eijk
Journal: Blood (2013)
Interferon β, a cofactor in the interferon γ production induced by gram-negative bacteria in mice.
Authors: Y Yaegashi, P Nielsen, A Sing, C Galanos, M A Freudenberg
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1995)

The interferon (IFN) gamma production of splenocytes from closely related C57BL/10ScSn (Sn) and C57BL/10ScCr (Cr) mice was compared. Concanavalin A and CD3 monoclonal antibodies induced high levels of IFN-gamma in both Sn and Cr splenocytes. By contrast, treatment with gram-negative bacteria induced IFN-gamma only in Sn splenocytes; in Cr splenocytes, the IFN-gamma response was heavily impaired. The IFN-gamma induction by bacteria requires the cooperation of IFN-gamma-producing cells with macrophages. Depletion of macrophages from Sn splenocytes resulted in the loss of ability to produce IFN-gamma after bacterial stimulation. Reconstitution with new Sn macrophages restored the IFN-gamma responsiveness, whereas reconstitution with Cr macrophages failed to do so. Normal function of IFN-gamma-producing cells and a defective function of macrophages of Cr mice was demonstrated by evidence showing that whole or macrophage-depleted Cr splenocytes, when supplemented with Sn macrophages, acquire the ability to produce IFN-gamma in response to bacteria. A similar effect was achieved by supplementing Cr splenocytes with supernatants of bacteria-stimulated Sn macrophages or with recombinant murine IFN-beta or IFN-alpha. Preincubation of active macrophage supernatants with antibodies to IFN-beta suppressed the helper activity for Cr splenocytes. Moreover, the bacteria-induced production of IFN-gamma by Sn splenocytes could be inhibited by antibodies to murine IFN-beta. The results provide evidence that IFN-beta is an important cofactor of IFN-gamma induction, which is not induced in Cr mice by gram-negative bacteria.
A Comparison of Transtracheal Aspiration with Other Methods of Determining the Bacterial Flora of the Lower Respiratory Tract
Authors: David V. Pecora
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1963)

INFECTION of the lower respiratory tract is receiving increasing attention as a possible cause of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. For many years culture of expectorated material has been performed in an attempt to identify pathogenic bacteria that are assumed to emanate from the bronchial tree. There is much evidence that Haemophilus influenzae and pneumococci, organisms said to be the most frequent pathogens in chronic bronchitis,1 are commonly isolated from the mouth and pharynx of persons who have no respiratory ailment, and that oropharyngeal secretions mask the bacteriology of those expectorated from the lower respiratory passages.2 Attempts to refine technic by . . .
Flavonoid intake and coronary mortality in Finland: a cohort study
Authors: P. Knekt, R. Jarvinen, A. Reunanen, J. Maatela
Journal: BMJ (1996)

<h3>Abstract</h3> <b>Objective</b>: To study the association between dietary intake of flavonoids and subsequent coronary mortality. <b>Design</b>: A cohort study based on data collected at the Finnish mobile clinic health examination survey from 1967-72 and followed up until 1992. <b>Settings</b>: 30 communities from different parts of Finland. <b>Subjects</b>: 5133 Finnish men and women aged 30-69 years and free from heart disease at baseline. <b>Main outcome measure</b>: Dietary intake of flavonoids, total mortality, and coronary mortality. <b>Results</b>: In women a significant inverse gradient was observed between dietary intake of flavonoids and total and coronary mortality. The relative risks between highest and lowest quarters of flavonoid intake adjusted for age, smoking, serum cholesterol concentration, blood pressure, and body mass index were 0.69 (95% confidence interval 0.53 to 0.90) and 0.54 (0.33 to 0.87) for total and coronary mortality, respectively. The corresponding values for men were 0.76 (0.63 to 0.93) and 0.78 (0.56 to 1.08), respectively. Adjustment for intake of antioxidant vitamins and fatty acids weakened the associations for women; the relative risks for coronary heart disease were 0.73 (0.41 to 1.32) and 0.67 (0.44 to 1.00) in women and men, respectively. Intakes of onions and apples, the main dietary sources of flavonoids, presented similar associations. The relative risks for coronary mortality between highest and lowest quarters of apple intake were 0.57 (0.36 to 0.91) and 0.81 (0.61 to 1.09) for women and men, respectively. The corresponding values for onions were 0.50 (0.30 to 0.82) and 0.74 (0.53 to 1.02), respectively. <b>Conclusion</b>: The results suggest that people with very low intakes of flavonoids have higher risks of coronary disease. <h3>Key messages</h3> Key messages The protective effect of flavonoids was associated with a diet high in intake of apples and onions The effect may be mediated through prevention of oxidation of low density lipoproteins but other mechanisms could be involved Flavonoids offer an explanation for the suggested beneficial effect of fruits and vegetables in coronary heart disease Further studies should concentrate on the effects of various flavonoid compounds and on populations with different intakes
Characterization of regional diastolic pressure gradients in the right ventricle.
Authors: M Courtois, B Barzilai, F Gutierrez, P A Ludbrook
Journal: Circulation (1990)

Regional intraventricular pressure gradients exist in the left ventricle (LV) during both the early and late filling phases of diastole. These regional pressure gradients comprise a fundamental component of the mechanism of normal LV filling. To determine whether similar diastolic pressure gradients also occur in the right ventricle (RV), we measured right atrial (RA) and RV regional pressures with use of micromanometers in six anesthetized, closed-chest dogs. Tricuspid flow velocity was recorded with use of transesophageal Doppler echocardiography, and right ventriculograms were obtained with contrast angiography. As in the LV, the maximum RA-RV pressure gradient during early diastole was consistently greater if RV pressure was measured near the apex than in the inflow tract (1.6 +/- 0.5 versus 0.8 +/- 0.4 mm Hg). The area of reversed pressure was also found to be significantly greater in the apex than in the inflow tract (72 +/- 43 versus 8 +/- 6 mm Hg.msec). However, unlike the LV, the lowest minimum pressure was usually recorded in the RV outflow tract, resulting in a significantly increased RA-RV outflow tract pressure gradient compared with the RA-RV apex pressure gradient (2.5 +/- 0.8 versus 1.6 +/- 0.5 mm Hg). Analysis of right ventriculograms indicates marked narrowing of the RV outflow tract at end systole in all six animals, suggesting that an end-systolic deformation in this region is the likely mechanism for production of low early diastolic pressure in this region. During atrial contraction the RV regional pressure gradient pattern was similar to the LV pattern: the RV a-wave ascent occurred earlier in the inflow tract and later in the apex. A-wave ascent appeared to occur almost simultaneously in the apex and outflow tract. In the six animals, Doppler-derived peak tricuspid flow velocity during early diastole was 35 +/- 6 cm/sec. Early tricuspid flow acceleration (393 +/- 101 cm/sec2) was found to be significantly greater than deceleration of flow (182 +/- 59 cm/sec2). Comparison of tricuspid pressure-flow data with mitral pressure-flow data previously obtained in our laboratory indicates that the driving pressure gradient across the tricuspid valve is significantly less than across the mitral. This pressure difference corresponds to differences in acceleration and peak flow found across the two valves. Consideration of these physiological patterns of RV diastolic intraventricular pressure and their relation to filling has important implications with regard to the development of indexes that characterize diastolic pressure-flow relations and provides physiological insight relating to the location of ventricular restoring forces.
The Diagnosis of "Back-pressure" Kidneys in Cases of Enlarged Prostate
Authors: A. F. Kraus
Journal: BMJ (1942)

PROSTATEBRITISH 109 up the infant's legs and pull down the perineum with the fingers.orwith a speculum; the blood in the vagina can then be wiped away and the child will be able to breathe.This may be a life-saving procedure, and I have twice had the child crying lustily with its head still in the vagina while forceps were being prepared.Above all, remember that the child dragged out forcibly will surely die.Arrest of the head on the perineum is particularly likely to occur when birth up to the shoulders has proceeded normally, and fatal foetal injury is therefore all the more unfortunate.
Extracorporeal Renal Transplantation in Man
Authors: A. R. Lavender
Journal: JAMA (1968)

The kidney of a 9-year-old child was transplanted extracorporeally to the forearm of a 35-year-old anephric man. The kidney was perfused in a sealed chamber by blood from chronically cannulated forearm vessels. Immunosuppressive drugs and heparin sodium were administered during the transplantation period. Renal function was maintained satisfactorily until acute vascular rejection occurred on the 25th day. There were no untoward signs or symptoms attributable to the procedure, and the patient improved markedly. It is suggested that extracorporeal renal transplantation may be useful as a test for viability and functional competence of cadaver kidneys. It also may be helpful in study of immune rejection mechanisms.