tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Increased concentration of beta-endorphin in sera of patients with psoriasis and other inflammatory dermatoses
Authors: W. GLINSKI, H. BRODECKA, M. GLINSKA-FERENZ, D. KOWALSKI
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2006)

Serum beta-endorphin was quantified by radioimmunoassay in 71 patients with psoriasis vulgaris, other chronic inflammatory skin diseases with T-cell infiltrates [atopic dermatitis (n=25), and systemic sclerosis (n=34)], and 100 healthy subjects. The neuropeptide was found to be markedly (P<0.001) increased in patients with psoriasis (14.4 pg/ml), atopic dermatitis (9.2 pg/ml) and systemic sclerosis (9.8 pg/ml) compared with normal controls (6.1 pg/ml). The highest values of β-endorphin were found in patients with actively spreading plaque psoriasis (17.3 pg/ml), whereas lesion-free patients showed a reduction in neuropeptide concentration (10.2 pg/ml), The levels were much higher in patients with widespread psoriatic lesions (>60% body surface; 16.2 pg/ml), which lasted longer than 3 months (15.8 pg/ml), whereas neither the presence of stress nor itching correlated with the serum peptide concentration. Our data suggest that β-endorphin is produced in psoriatic lesions by inflammatory cells, rather than the increased levels being the result of activation of the pituitary-adrenal axis by chronic stress. The generation of neuropeptide in psoriatic lesions and its antinociceptive effect on the peripheral sensory nerves might explain why pruritus is a relatively rare phenomenon in psoriasis.
Genetic characterization of a MUT locus mutation discriminating heterogeneity in mut0 and mut- methylmalonic aciduria by interallelic complementation.
Authors: M L Raff, A M Crane, R Jansen, F D Ledley, D S Rosenblatt
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1991)

Genetic complementation of fibroblasts from patients with methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) defines a unique class of allelic mutations arising from mutations at the locus encoding the methylmalonyl coenzyme A (CoA) mutase apoenzyme. Various phenotypes of MMA have been delineated including complete absence of enzyme activity (mut0) and abnormal enzyme activity with an elevated Km for adenosylcobalamin (mut-). We describe genetic studies on a cell line (WG1130) from a patient with mut0 MMA which exhibited an unusual complementation phenotype, complementing with three of nine mut0 cell lines and four of five mut- cell lines. This suggests that interallelic complementation occurs between mutant alleles in WG1130 and subsets of alleles associated with both mut0 and mut- phenotypes. The methylmalonyl CoA mutase cDNA was cloned from WG1130 and found to contain a G354----A (Arg93----His) mutation. Gene transfer of this mutant clone into primary fibroblasts from patients with MMA confirms that this mutation expresses a mut0 phenotype when transferred into a mut0 cell line with low levels of mRNA but can contribute to apoenzyme function when transferred into mut cell lines which show correction with WG1130 by somatic cell complementation. These results point to further heterogeneity within both mut0 and mut- and may enable identification of mutations affecting discrete components of apoenzyme function.
Editorial: Be your own philosopher
Authors: S. Vaisrub
Journal: JAMA (1974)

Contrary to prevailing impression, medicine's concern with ethical problems is not a by-product of recent advances in medical knowledge and skills. True, problems such as allotment of a limited organ supply among the many in need of a transplant or deciding to terminate an artificially sustained life did not exist in the past, but abortion, euthanasia, and other issues have always presented dilemmas. Some of these, such as the decision to save the life of a mother or the newborn, were even more frequent than they are now, when medical treatment makes it possible to save both. Confronted with ethical dilemmas, the physician of bygone days would generally follow familiar guidelines provided by the canons of his faith. Practically every religious denomination had its ready answers to the then existing problems. Sometimes answers might conflict with those of other denominations, sometimes they would accord. In the latter case, similar conclusions
Myocardial injury or infarction associated with fat embolism in sickle cell disease: A report of three cases with survival
Authors: Nghia C. Dang, Cage Johnson, Mahmoud Eslami‐Farsani, L. Julian Haywood
Journal: American Journal of Hematology (2005)

Abstract Fat embolism represents a dread complication of sickle cell hemoglobinopathies. We present the details of three cases that, in addition to an acute chest syndrome, had serological and clinical parameters consistent with myocardial damage. A favorable outcome was obtained with judicious use of blood transfusion. Am. J. Hematol. 80:133–136, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
IMMUNOLOGIC STUDIES OF WATER-SOLUBLE HUMAN AMYLOID FIBRILS
Authors: Edward C. Franklin, Mordechai Pras
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1969)

Eight preparations of soluble amyloid and degraded amyloid (DAM) were compared immunologically. Unlike amyloid fibrils, six of eight preparations of DAM proved to be relatively strong immunogens. Antisera to DAM reacted weakly or not at all with normal human serum or extracts of normal tissues, but were specifically reactive with amyloid fibrils or DAM. Comparative studies of DAM'S from eight different subjects showed some degree of cross-reactivity among them, yet demonstrated that they were not identical. Similar conclusions were obtained by quantitative precipitin and complement fixation analyses. Comparison of the amyloid fibrils with the homologous DAM by complement fixation and absorption studies demonstrated the existence in DAM of antigenic determinants that were lacking or inaccessible in the native fibrils. A search for amyloid precursors and antibodies to amyloid in the sera of 12 patients proved unsuccessful.
Conversion to SI Units
Authors: M. J. McQueen
Journal: JAMA (1986)

IN 1983, seven Canadian provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) converted to the use of SI units in health care. The<i>Systeme international d'Unités</i>(SI) is the most up-to-date version of the metric system and replaces all earlier versions of that system. Conversion to SI had already taken place during the 1970s in the countries of the European community, Australia, and New Zealand. In May 1986, Kuwait took the lead among the Middle Eastern and North African countries by converting its hospitals and laboratories to SI units. Governments representing 98% of the world's population have committed themselves to using this version of the metric system. <h3>US Involvement With the Metric System</h3> As early as 1860, Congress made the use of the metric system legal throughout the United States. During and after the Second World War, growing international trade encouraged a powerful thrust toward
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
Authors: Phil Alderson
Journal: BMJ (2004)

We need to report uncertain results and do it clearly 

The title of this editorial is not new. For example, it was used nearly a decade ago for an article in the BMJ 's Statistics Notes series.1 Altman and Bland considered the dangers of misinterpreting differences that do not reach significance, criticising use of the term “negative” to describe studies that had not found statistically significant differences. Such studies may not have been large enough to exclude important differences. To leave the impression that they have proved that no effect or no difference exists is misleading.

As an example, a randomised trial of behavioural and specific sexually transmitted infection interventions for reducing transmission of HIV-1 was published in the Lancet. 2 The incidence rate ratios for the outcome of HIV-1 infection were 0.94 (95% confidence interval 0.60 to 1.45) and 1.00 (0.63 to 1.58) for two intervention groups compared with control. In …
Prenatal screening for Down's syndrome: Authors' reply
Authors: K Spencer, P Carpenter
Journal: BMJ (1993)

Responses of 88 dental and 71 medical general practitioners when asked if they considered antibiotic prophylaxis to be necessaryfor various groups ofpatients having surgical dental treatment.Figures are numbers (percentages) Prophylaxis necessary Practitioner Yes No Don't know Cardiacpacemaker {Dental 20 (23) 67 (76) 1 (1) iMedical 15 (21) 54 (76) 2 (3) Small ventricular septal defect {Dental 67 (76) 17 (19) 4 (5) IMedical 57 (80) 12 (17) 2 (3) Spitzholtervalve {Dental 46 (52) 8 (9) 34 (39) IMedical 44 (62) 22 (31) 5 (7) Atrial septal defect {Dental 68 (77) 17 (19) 4 (4) AMedical 54 (76) 13 (18) 4 (6) Prosthetic heart valve {Dental 86 (98) 2 (2) 0 PMedical 67 (94) 4 (6) 0 Hip replacement {Dental 37 (42) 48 (55) 3 (3) iMedical 6 (8) 61(86) 4 (6) Previous rheumatic fever Dental 86 (98) 2 (2) 0 IMedical 54 (76) 13 (18) 4 (6) Corrected congenital heart malformation {Dental 64 (73) 22 (25) 2 (2) iMedical 38 (53) 29 (41) 4 (6) Coronary artery bypass graft Medical 256 (37) 62 (687) 4 (6)
1170-149 A novel approach in risk stratification: Combined assessment of regional perfusion and function from rest/stress Tc-99m sestamibi gated SPECT
Authors: Cynthia C Taub, Alan W Ahlberg, Deborah Katten, Michael G Platt, Scott D Werden, David M O'Sullivan, Mark I Travin, William E Boden, Gary V Heller
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2004)
DETECTION OF HEPATITIS-B ANTIGEN BY RADIOIMMUNOASSAY IN CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE AND HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA IN GREAT BRITAIN
Authors: W.D. Reed, A.L.W.F. Eddleston, R.B. Stern, Roger Williams, A.J. Zuckerman, A. Bowes, PamelaM. Earl
Journal: The Lancet (1973)
Sex differences in thrombosis in mice are mediated by sex-specific growth hormone secretion patterns
Authors: Joshua H. Wong, Jonathan Dukes, Robert E. Levy, Brandon Sos, Sara E. Mason, Tina S. Fong, Ethan J. Weiss
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (2008)

Sex differences in thrombosis are well described, but their underlying mechanism(s) are not completely understood. Coagulation proteins are synthesized in the liver, and liver gene expression is sex specific and depends on sex differences in growth hormone (GH) secretion — males secrete GH in a pulsatile fashion, while females secrete GH continuously. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that sex-specific GH secretion patterns cause sex differences in thrombosis. Male mice were more susceptible to thrombosis than females in the thromboplastin-induced pulmonary embolism model and showed shorter clotting times ex vivo. GH-deficient little (lit) mice were protected from thrombosis, and pulsatile GH given to lit mice restored the male clotting phenotype. Moreover, pulsatile GH administration resulted in a male clotting phenotype in control female mice, while continuous GH caused a female clotting phenotype in control male mice. Expression of the coagulation inhibitors Proc, Serpinc1, Serpind1, and Serpina5 were strongly modulated by sex-specific GH patterns, and GH modulated resistance to activated protein C. These results reveal what we believe to be a novel mechanism whereby sex-specific GH patterns mediate sex differences in thrombosis through coordinated changes in the expression of coagulation inhibitor genes in the liver.
American Academy of Neurology replies to Jeanne Lenzer
Authors: S. R. Messe, E. E. Smith, T. S. D. Getchius, G. S. Gronseth
Journal: BMJ (2013)

The recent BMJ article on viewing clinical guidelines with scepticism focused mainly on the recent American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) guideline advocating use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA; alteplase) in select patients within 4.5 hours of onset of ischaemic stroke.1 

The author published a similar article in the BMJ in 2002 focusing on conflicts of interests among the investigators and potential methodological flaws in the original National Institutes of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) stroke study.2 This premise was subsequently debunked when an independent author panel reviewed the data and arrived at the same conclusions.3 Ensuing randomised trials have also supported the original findings. Since then, professional organizations including the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine have published guidelines supporting alteplase in stroke. The Joint Commission for Accreditation of Hospital Organizations has made alteplase use a quality metric and has developed primary and comprehensive stroke center certification to encourage its use. These endeavours have probably contributed to the improving outcomes for stroke patients in the US. …
Plasma cardiotrophin-1 is elevated in human hypertension and stimulated by ventricular stretch
Authors: C PEMBERTON, S RAUDSEPP, T YANDLE, V CAMERON, A RICHARDS
Journal: Cardiovascular Research (2005)

Objective: Cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) is an interleukin-6-related cytokine with known hypertrophic and protective actions upon cardiac myocytes. We provide here the first report of cardiac tissue and plasma levels of CT-1 in human and experimental hypertension, demonstrate cardiac CT-1 secretion stimulated by ventricular stretch, and characterise molecular forms of CT-1 in tissue and plasma. Methods: CT-1 levels in human and rat plasma and in rat cardiac tissue extracts were determined by specific radioimmunoassay (RIA). Cardiac CT-1 secretion during ventricular stretch was studied in isolated, perfused hearts. Molecular forms of CT-1 were identified using RIA coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results are given as mean ± SEM. Results: Plasma levels of CT-1 in patients with untreated hypertension (UTH, 606 ± 18 pmol/L, n = 24) were significantly higher than those in age-and BMI-matched normotensive volunteers (NT, 546 ± 12 pmol/L, n = 31, P<0.01 vs. UTH). CT-1 levels in matched patients with treated hypertension (THT, 618 ± 10 pmol/L, n = 35) were similar to those in UTH patients, but higher than in NT controls (P<0.01). Plasma CT-1 demonstrated a weak but significant correlation with systolic blood pressure in all patients (r = 0.241, P<0.05, n = 90). In contrast, CT-1 levels in male, 40-week-old, NT-WKY rats (1295 ± 98 pmol/L) were significantly higher than those in matched UTH-SHR (937 ± 31 pmol/L, P<0.01). In both WKY and SHR rats, atrial tissue concentrations of CT-1 were 8-fold higher than ventricular levels. Left ventricular tissue CT-1 protein concentrations were significantly higher in 40-week-old SHR compared with age-matched WKY (SHR 12.6 ± 0.5 fmol/g vs. WKY 9.5 ± 0.8 fmol/g, P<0.01). Ventricular stretch of Langendorff perfused, isolated WKY/SHR hearts resulted in significant, acute release of CT-1 and BNP. HPLC coupled with specific RIA revealed CT-1 in human/rat plasma, isolated rat heart perfusate, and rat heart tissue extracts to consist of complex, high molecular weight forms. Conclusions: This is the first report to show increased levels of plasma CT-1 in hypertensive disease. CT-1 is a unique cardiac cytokine whose release is stimulated by ventricular stretch. The atrium contains the highest levels of the protein. The stored and circulating molecular form of CT-1 is complex, which may modulate its in vivo role in cardiovascular disease.
PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE STUDY OF TOXIC EFFECTS OF LOCAL ANESTHETICS
Authors: Emil Mayer
Journal: JAMA (1923)

To the Editor:  —The executive committee of this body, the General Committee for the Study of Toxic Effects of Local Anesthetics, wishes to announce that the individual members of this committee have presented reports to date of forty-two deaths following the use of local anesthetics occurring within the last three years, independent of those reported on by former committees of the Association. Few, if any, of these have been reported in the medical journals.  These reports have been sent to the chairman of the committee and have been tabulated by him for the study of the committee. Nineteen necropsies were made, and in most of them full protocols are in the possession of the committee and are being carefully studied preparatory to the full report. Minor changes may be made in the following list, but the main facts will remain. The deaths reported are:    1. Under this heading, novocain is
The Significance of Fever in a Coronary Care Unit.
Authors: Thomas C. Gibson
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1972)

Meeting Abstracts1 May 1972The Significance of Fever in a Coronary Care Unit.Thomas C. Gibson, M.D., F.A.C.P.Thomas C. Gibson, M.D., F.A.C.P.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-76-5-864_1 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptBody temperatures are routine clinical measurements, easily taken and easily misinterpreted. A reappraisal of the significance of fever in patients with coronary heart disease was considered appropriate in the setting of the coronary care unit, and four hourly rectal temperatures were taken on 1000 successive admissions where time of onset of symptoms could be identified. If fever was defined as an elevation of 38.0 °C or more during two successive 24-hour periods, then 32.6% of all patients were febrile at some time during the first 7 days in hospital. Three hundred thirty-four patients were diagnosed as having acute myocardial infarction,... This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Burlington, Vt. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 1 May 1972Volume 76, Issue 5Page: 864-864KeywordsAcute myocardial infarctionCardiac care unitCoronary heart diseaseFeversTemperature ePublished: 1 December 2008 Issue Published: 1 May 1972 PDF downloadLoading ...
OBSERVATIONS UPON THE CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS METABOLISM IN A CASE OF ACROMEGALY SHOWING MARKED OSTEOPOROSIS
Authors: W. de M. Scriver, A. H. Bryan
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1935)

Our interest in the minleral metabolism in acro- megaly xvas arousedI 1y the remarkal)1e general- ised rarefaction of the bones showni in x-ray films of one of our patients in ani advanced state of this disease.Since we halve been unable to find in the literature anyv recordI of metabolic studies in acromegalics more recenit than that of Bergeim.Stewart and Hawk (1) in 1914, and in view of the imn)ortant a(lvances of the past few y-ears in the studv of calcium and phosphorus metabolismll, l)articularlv in certain pathological coniditions of bone, we feel that the observations whiclh we hav1,e been able to make on this patienit are worthy of recording. CASE HISTORYT. X'V., a Jewess 51 years of age, was a(dmitted to the metabolism service of the Royal Victoria Hospital on FI(". 1. April 6th, 1932, complaining of w-eakniess and failing vision.Her appearance was that of ani advanced acro- megalic (Figure 1).According to the history obtained from the patient herself, she was born in Russia, and in her early life was a strong, healthy, apparently normal girl.At the age of eleven she began to be troubled with severe gen- eralized headaches which ceased coincidenitally with the onset of menstruation two years later.She was married at 20 and had two normal children, in her 22d and 24th year respectively.At the age of 29 she came to Canada; she remembers that at this time she was admired for her general phy- sique and attractive appearance.Uintil she reached the age of 32 her menstruation lhad always been normal, but at this time it ceased completely and finally.In the fol- lowing year, sev-eral years after the death of her first husbanid, she married again, but had no further preg- nanicies.Shortly after this, her sister, who hacl not seen her for four years, faile(d to recognize her, as her fea- [I'G.2.
Development of Extrapyramidal Symptoms in Hypertensive Patients Treated with Diazoxide
Authors: D. Neary, H. Thurston, J. E. F. Pohl
Journal: BMJ (1973)

Extrapyramidal symptoms developed a variable time after the start of treatment with oral diazoxide in 15% of a series of 100 severely hypertensive patients. Six illustrative cases are described. Treatment with diazoxide could be continued in four of these. The symptoms are usually controllable either by dosage adjustment or by the use of diazepam or procyclidine. There was no evidence of irreversibility of the extrapyramidal syndromes observed.
Medical Practice and the New Curricula
Authors: Edmund D. Pellegrino
Journal: JAMA (1970)

Professions, like all closed systems, tend to self-replication. They change only when social forces threaten to take the initiative from them, and when, as is now the case, they are painfully reminded that professions themselves are ultimately instruments of specific social purpose. To speak, therefore, of the impact of curricular reform on practice is to belie a certain presumption common to educators and practitioners alike. New curricula arise primarily in response to unfilled social, political, and scientific needs. A new curriculum at first reshapes practice along more socially relevant lines. It then perpetuates the prevalent care system until new external pressures generate another wave of educational reforms. It is with this cycle in mind that I shall examine some of the probable effects of the current curricular revolution on our medical care system. It was Flexner's rather shocking revelations of the insensitivity of medical education to the relevance of the
Localization of a susceptibility locus for Peutz-Jeghers syndrome to 19p using comparative genomic hybridization and targeted linkage analysis
Authors: Akseli Hemminki, Ian Tomlinson, David Markie, Heikki Järvinen, Pertti Sistonen, Anna-Maria Björkqvist, Sakari Knuutila, Reijo Salovaara, Walter Bodmer, Darryl Shibata, Albert de la Chapelle, Lauri A. Aaltonen
Journal: Nature Genetics (1997)
Serum immunoglobulin and beta 1C-beta 1A globulin concentrations in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
Authors: K M Goel, R W Logan, W P Barnard, R A Shanks
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (1974)

Alterations in the type and concentration of serum immunoglobulins in patients with rheumatoid arthritis have been reported by several authors (
Endoscopic and histological findings in subjects with dyspepsia.
Authors: R J Earlam
Journal: BMJ (1991)

work much is done to promote change and publicise the problem.One result has been the national survey of blindness and low vision in The Gambia' -a whole country was surveyed, producing the best hard facts on blindness in west Africa.Other activities include the promotion of local courses for an ophthalmic nursing diploma in Sierra Leone and Ghana.By increasing awareness, both at home and abroad, pressure may be maintained on governments to develop services that will relieve this vast burden of suffering, and in this respect Dr Potter should be congratulated.
Hemophagocytic syndrome as a presenting sign of transformation of smoldering to acute adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma: Efficacy of anti‐retroviral and interferon therapy
Authors: Achille Aouba, Olivier Lambotte, Viorel Vasiliu, Marine Divine, Françoise Valensi, Bruno Varet, Ali Bazarbachi, Olivier Hermine
Journal: American Journal of Hematology (2004)

Abstract A 55‐year‐old Caribbean woman with a 6‐year history of smoldering adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma presented with clinical and biological symptoms of hemophagocytic syndrome. An extensive search for infectious diseases was negative. A lymph node biopsy showing large T‐cell lymphoma (CD4 − , CD25 + ) and findings of high LDH count and severe lymphocytosis led to the diagnosis of acute adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma. Anti‐retroviral therapy combining zidovudine, lamivudine, and interferon‐α was started, resulting in rapid control of both hemophagocytic syndrome and symptoms of acute adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma. Thus, we propose that adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma must be added to the spectrum of etiologies of hemophagocytic syndrome. Am. J. Hematol. 76:187–189, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.