tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
The Time Has Come for Vascular Medicine
Authors: John P. Cooke
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1990)

Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vascular disorders have led to the emergence of a new kind of internist with special skills in vascular medicine. The growth of this field will accelerate as recent major advances in vascular biology attain clinical application. In recognition of these developments, programs for vascular medicine are in place or in development across the country. Proliferation of these programs will be facilitated by multidisciplinary collaboration among cardiologists, radiologists, vascular surgeons, and other physicians with special expertise in the wide range of vascular disorders. Internists trained in these programs fill major needs; they will advance the field of vascular medicine by forming a bridge with vascular biologists to bring research advances to clinical fruition; they will apply the latest therapeutic and diagnostic tools to give optimum care to patients suffering from vascular disease and associated medical disorders such as hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and hypercoagulopathy; and they will appropriately refer these patients for invasive interventions.
Vesicoureteral Reflux and Pyelonephritis
Authors: Richard G. Middleton
Journal: JAMA (1973)

The late Dr. John A. Hutch was not the first to discover vesicoureteral reflux, but he is responsible, more than any one man, for the modern-day urologist's recognition that vesicoureteral reflux is pathological, that it renders the urinary tract vulnerable to repeated infections, and that it is a common cause of recurring pyelonephritis and renal damage. Hutch virtually insisted that urologists pay attention to this common and significant abnormality, and he devised the first antireflux operation. This small volume is a very wellwritten review of vesicoureteral reflux with abundant and excellent illustrations and a fine list of references. The material, though already familiar to urologists who have followed Hutch's many articles on reflux, is brought together by the authors in a highly readable and comprehensive form. Following a historical account, the anatomy and physiology of the normal and the abnormal ureterovesical junction are described. Diagnostic methods are discussed, with the
Endothelial characteristics of glomerular capillaries in normal, mercuric chloride-induced, and gentamicin-induced acute renal failure in the rat.
Authors: R E Bulger, G Eknoyan, D J Purcell, D C Dobyan
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1983)

A reduction in glomerular capillary endothelial pore size and density has been reported in several models of acute renal failure. It has been suggested that these changes underlie the decrease in glomerular filtration rate and altered glomerular capillary hemodynamics measured in various experimental models of acute renal failure. We have thoroughly quantitated the surface characteristics of glomerular capillaries in control rats and in rats with either mercuric chloride-induced acute renal failure (2 mg/kg body wt) evaluated at 6 and 24 h after administration of the nephrotoxin or with gentamicin (G)1-induced acute renal failure evaluated after 8-9 d of 40 mg/kg body wt twice a day. Despite reductions in glomerular filtration rate in the experimental groups, no significant differences were observed between control (C) and any experimental group with respect to percent areas occupied by fenestrated endothelium (C = 53.6 +/- 2.7%; 6 h HgCl2 = 50.9 +/- 1.9%; 24 h HgCl2 = 53.9 +/- 5.7%; G = 56.7 +/- 2.4%), by cytoplasmic ridges (C = 31.2 +/- 1.5%; 6 h HgCl2 = 29.8 +/- 1.9%; 24 h HgCl2 = 30.6 +/- 3.1%; G = 26.5 +/- 1.5%), nonfenestrated endothelium (C = 15.5 +/- 4.0%; 6 h HgCl2 = 19.3 +/- 2.0%; 24 h HgCl2 = 15.6 +/- 4.3%; G = 16.9 +/- 2.3%), in the individual pore area expressed in square nanometers (C = 1,494 +/- 75; 6 h HgCl2 = 1,326 +/- 48; 24 h HgCl2 = 1,559 +/- 130; G = 1,340 +/- 101), or in the percentage of total pore area within fenestrated areas that were measured (C = 12.8 +/- 0.8%; 6 h HgCl2 = 11.2 +/- 0.7%; 24 h HgCl2 = 10.9 +/- 0.8%; G = 10.9 +/- 0.7%). These results provide quantitative data on the normal glomerular capillary endothelial surface characteristics and suggest that reductions of glomerular filtration rate in acute renal failure are not always associated with alterations in glomerular endothelial capillaries.
Wound healing effects of porcine placental extracts on rats with thermal injury
Authors: C-H. Wu, G-Y. Chang, W-C. Chang, C-T. Hsu, R-S. Chen
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2003)

Placental extracts have been used as Chinese folk medicines to accelerate wound healing. However, the molecular mechanism of placental extracts on wound healing has not been identified. It is known that fibroblast growth factors (FGF) and transforming growth factors (TGF) are two key factors involved in wound healing.To determine the molecular mechanism of placental extracts on wound healing.The protein levels of both growth factors in rat skins with thermal injury were therefore studied to explore the molecular mechanism of placental extracts on wound healing. As cell proliferation is essential for wound healing, effects of placental extracts on fibroblast proliferation were also determined.As compared with the controls, the S phase of fibroblasts was significantly increased by 1.5-, 1.7- and 4.7-fold for 1, 10 and 30 mg mL(-1) of placental extracts, respectively. The increase of the S phase was not due to the minute amount of sex hormones in the placental extracts as the addition of equivalent amounts of hormones showed no increase of the S phase. In addition, a 2.5-fold increase of TGF-beta1 in wound skin biopsy was noticed with 30 mg mL(-1) of porcine placental extracts. The FGF levels in the wound skin receiving 30 mg mL(-1) of porcine placental extracts were also significantly increased compared with the controls.These ex vivo data support the observation that the application of 30 mg mL(-1) of placental extracts reduced the wound healing time by about 50%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to explore the molecular mechanisms of porcine placental extracts on wound healing. These results may provide the insight into the potential use of porcine placental extracts as an alternative medicine for accelerating wound healing.
Abstract 2754: Maternal use of antidepressants in pregnancy is associated with hypermethylation at the <i>IGF2</i> imprinted control regions in the offspring in a race-dependent fashion
Authors: Adelheid Soubry, Susan K. Murphy, Zhiqing Huang, Amy Murtha, Joellen M. Schildkraut, Randy L. Jirtle, Frances Wang, Joanne Kurtzberg, Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Michele Forman, Catherine Hoyo
Journal: Cancer Research (2011)

Abstract In utero exposures to environmental factors may result in persistent epigenetic modifications affecting normal development and susceptibility to chronic diseases in later life. We determined whether exposure of the growing fetus to maternal depression or antidepressants is associated with aberrant DNA methylation at two differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of the imprinted Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 (IGF2) gene, namely the DMRs upstream of the imprinted IGF2 promoters (IGF2 DMR) and the DMRs upstream of H19 (H19 DMR). Aberrant DNA methylation at these DMRs has been associated with deregulated IGF2 expression, childhood cancers and several chronic diseases during adulthood. Our study population comprises pregnant mothers and their newborns (n=436), recruited between 2005 and 2008 in Durham, NC. A standardized questionnaire was completed and medical record data were abstracted to ascertain prenatal and periconceptional depression and antidepressive drug use. DMR methylation percentages in umbilical cord blood leukocytes were quantified using pyrosequencing. While an association between depression and methylation profiles was not found, we discovered significant hypermethylation of the H19 DMRs in newborns of African American -but not Caucasian- mothers who were taking antidepressive drugs during pregnancy (β=+6.89, p=0.01). Our findings suggest that changes in the IGF2/H19-domain methylation in response to maternal exposure to antidepressants are race-dependent. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2754. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2754
Naive T cell reduction is a predictor of evolution towards RA in patients with &lt;12 months inflammatory arthritis
Authors: F. Ponchel, R. Parmar, J. Nam, E. Villeneuve, D. Corscadden, K. Henshaw, P. Emery
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2011)

<h3>Background</h3> T cell subset dys-regulation was previously shown to predict the ability to achieve remission in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), independently of the treatment received. Naïve cells frequency were the most discriminative circulating T cells although cytokine activated T cells (IRC) were informative. The aim of the current study is to determine whether T cell subset analysis performed within 4 h of blood collection can discriminate early between patients that will evolve towards UA or RA. <h3>Methods</h3> 70 patients with &lt;12 months IA were enrolled; age, DAS, CRP, symptom duration, RF and ACPA were included in the analysis. 6 colour flowcytometry was performed using standard protocols. 55 healthy controls (HC) were included to calculate age-corrected expected naïve cell frequency. <h3>Results</h3> Using newly developed 2010-RA criteria for diagnostic, 49 of the 70 patients evolved to RA, 11 remaining unclassified (UA). RA was associated with younger age (p=0.05, median 46 years compared to UA 65 years), higher DAS28 (p=0.008) compared to UA. There was no difference in symptom duration or RF. Naïve T cells are difficult to measure in the sixth decade as they decrease with age (R=−0.672, p&lt;0.001 using HC) therefore, we accounted for this by calculating the deviation from normal expected naive cell frequency in patients. UA patients showed minimal deviation (median variation +8%) from expectation, whereas RA patients showed loss of naïve T cells (median -5%, p=0.037). Symptom duration and reduction of naïve cell were also correlated in RA (R=−0.528, p=0.020) in patients &lt;6th decade of age. IRC were significantly increased in both UA and RA (p&lt;0.006) compare to HC. Treg were reduced in the UA group compared to HC (p=0.028) but not RA in whom Treg were very variable. Binary logistic confirmed 4 parameters identifying RA: age&lt;48 (p=0.0126), DAS28&gt;3.2 (p=0.022), CRP&gt;10 mg/l (p=0.026) and reduced naïve T cells (p=0.041). Patients fulfilling these three clinical RA parameters were all RA. In the 32 patients failing one or two of these three parameters, reduced naïve T-cells identified 94% of these patients as RA. UA patients showed normal naïve T-cells in 87% patients analysed. <h3>Conclusion</h3> There is clear immunological difference between UA and RA diagnosed using the new 2010-criteria: loss of naïve T cells appear particularly important with the appearance of IRC. Treg appear to have limited predictive value.
A comparative effectiveness research study of the change in blood pressure during hemodialysis treatment and survival
Authors: Jongha Park, Connie M. Rhee, John J. Sim, Yong-Lim Kim, Joni Ricks, Elani Streja, Tania Vashistha, Ramin Tolouian, Csaba P. Kovesdy, Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh
Journal: Kidney International (2013)
Hepatitis B Antigen and Polymyositis
Authors: Anastasios A. Mihas
Journal: JAMA (1978)

Concomitant polymyositis diagnosed by muscle biopsy developed in a 51-year-old man with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) hepatitis. Findings from immunofluorescent studies showed deposits of gamma-globulins and complement in both muscle and liver. The HBsAg and HBsAg-antibody complexes were detected in the liver by immunofluorescence using fluorescein-labeled antibody to hepatitis Bs.
Cannabis has medical benefits but needs further investigation, says report
Authors: Zosia Kmietowicz
Journal: BMJ (2005)

Medicines based on cannabis and its derivatives have the potential to treat a range of symptoms but need to be developed with the same care and regulation as other new drugs, says a report from the Royal College of Physicians.

The report calls for more research into cannabis based medicines for a variety of clinical situations, including appetite loss, chronic pain, and multiple sclerosis. It acknowledges also that cannabis-like substances may have a role in managing obesity, heart disease, and osteoporosis and in …
Relation between night visit rates and deprivation measures in one general practice.
Authors: R D Carlisle, S P Johnstone, J C Pearson
Journal: BMJ (1993)

To compare night visit rates in different electoral wards of one general practice with the Jarman and Townsend deprivation scores and unemployment rates.Analysis of computerised workload data.General practice in centre of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.Visits made in 588 nights to the 11,998 patients on the practice list.Night visit rates in 15 electoral wards varied from 19.6 to 55.3 visits per 1000 patients per year. The rates showed a significant association with the Townsend score (p = 0.004) and the unemployment rate (p = 0.03) but not with the Jarman score (p = 0.3). The Townsend score explained 49% of the variability; unemployment explained 31% and the Jarman score explained 9%.Even in a general practice not eligible for deprivation payments there was a 2.8-fold variation in night visit rates between wards. In this practice the Townsend score was significantly better at predicting night visit rates than the Jarman score. This method of looking at internal variation in workloads in computerised practices could give more direct data on the relation between deprivation and general practice workload than has previously been available.
806-2 Impact of Thrombolysis on Infarct Expansion and Ventricular Remodeling After Anterior Infarction: One-Year Echocardiographic Follow-up
Authors: Aleksandar D. Popović, Aleksandar Nešković, Rade Babić, Petar Otašević, James D. Thomas
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (1995)
Elastase secretion by peritoneal exudative and alveolar macrophages.
Authors: R White, H S Lin, C Kuhn
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1977)

Mouse alveolar macrophages (AM) cultured in the absence of serum secrete an elastolytic enzyme. The elastase from AM resembles the previously described elastase from peritoneal macrophages (PM) in pH optimum and inhibition profile. The macrophage enzymes do not appear to be stored, and with periodic changes in the culture medium, accumulate extracellularly for up to 10 days. Resident PM produce barely detectable levels of extracellular elastase unless given a phagocytic load. Thioglycollate-stimulated peritoneal exudative macrophages (PEM), however, secret easily detectable levels of elastase, which can be further increased with a phagocytic load. Without any additional stimulation, AM secret an elastolytic activity comparable to that of the PEM receiving a phagocytic load, but unlike PM they do not increase elastase secretion after phagocytosis.
Associations of <i>in Utero</i> Exposure to Perfluorinated Alkyl Acids with Human Semen Quality and Reproductive Hormones in Adult Men
Authors: Anne Vested, Cecilia Høst Ramlau-Hansen, Sjurdur Frodi Olsen, Jens Peter Bonde, Susanne Lund Kristensen, Thorhallur Ingi Halldorsson, Georg Becher, Line Småstuen Haug, Emil Hagen Ernst, Gunnar Toft
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2013)

Perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs), persistent chemicals with unique water-, dirt-, and oil-repellent properties, are suspected of having endocrine-disrupting activity. The PFAA compounds perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are found globally in humans; because they readily cross the placental barrier, in utero exposure may be a cause for concern.We investigated whether in utero exposure to PFOA and PFOS affects semen quality, testicular volume, and reproductive hormone levels.We recruited 169 male offspring (19-21 years of age) from a pregnancy cohort established in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1988-1989, corresponding to 37.6% of the eligible sons. Each man provided a semen sample and a blood sample. Semen samples were analyzed for sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, and morphology, and blood samples were used to measure reproductive hormones. As a proxy for in utero exposure, PFOA and PFOS were measured in maternal blood samples from pregnancy week 30.Multivariable linear regression analysis suggested that in utero exposure to PFOA was associated with lower adjusted sperm concentration (ptrend = 0.01) and total sperm count (ptrend = 0.001) and with higher adjusted levels of luteinizing hormone (ptrend = 0.03) and follicle-stimulating hormone (ptrend = 0.01). PFOS did not appear to be associated with any of the outcomes assessed, before or after adjustment.The results suggest that in utero exposure to PFOA may affect adult human male semen quality and reproductive hormone levels.
Differential DNA methylation with age displays both common and dynamic features across human tissues that are influenced by CpG landscape
Authors: Kenneth Day, Lindsay L Waite, Anna Thalacker-Mercer, Andrew West, Marcas M Bamman, James D Brooks, Richard M Myers, Devin Absher
Journal: Genome biology (2013)

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that changes with age in human tissues, although the mechanisms and specificity of this process are still poorly understood. We compared CpG methylation changes with age across 283 human blood, brain, kidney, and skeletal muscle samples using methylation arrays to identify tissue-specific age effects.We found age-associated CpGs (ageCGs) that are both tissue-specific and common across tissues. Tissue-specific age CGs are frequently located outside CpG islands with decreased methylation, and common ageCGs show the opposite trend. AgeCGs are significantly associated with poorly expressed genes, but those with decreasing methylation are linked with higher tissue-specific expression levels compared with increasing methylation. Therefore, tissue-specific gene expression may protect against common age-dependent methylation. Distinguished from other tissues, skeletal muscle age CGs are more associated with expression, enriched near genes related to myofiber contraction, and closer to muscle-specific CTCF binding sites. Kidney-specific ageCGs are more increasingly methylated compared to other tissues as measured by affiliation with kidney-specific expressed genes. Underlying chromatin features also mark common and tissue-specific age effects reflective of poised and active chromatin states, respectively. In contrast with decreasingly methylated ageCGs, increasingly methylated ageCGs are also generally further from CTCF binding sites and enriched within lamina associated domains.Our data identified common and tissue-specific DNA methylation changes with age that are reflective of CpG landscape and suggests both common and unique alterations within human tissues. Our findings also indicate that a simple epigenetic drift model is insufficient to explain all age-related changes in DNA methylation.
Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression Correlates with Local Chronic Inflammation and Tumor Neovascularization in Human Prostate Cancer
Authors: Wanzhong Wang, Anders Bergh, Jan-Erik Damber
Journal: Clinical Cancer Research (2005)

Abstract Purpose: Chronic inflammation is linked to the development of cancer in several organs, including the prostate. Up-regulated cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) may play a role in influencing cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, or angiogenesis. This study aimed to derive data from human prostate cancer to investigate whether chronic inflammation and angiogenesis were correlated with the expression of COX-2. Experimental Design: In this study, we did double-immunohistochemical analysis of a set of 43 human prostate cancer for COX-2 expression and the correlation with T-lymphocyte and macrophage densities and CD31-marked microvessel density (MVD) in situ. Results: COX-2 positive staining was detected in 40/43 cancer samples with the very heterogeneous expression. Elevated COX-2 expression was associated with high Gleason score (P = 0.002). Foci of chronic inflammation were found in all 43 samples. COX-2–positive areas were noted with high T-lymphocyte and macrophage densities than COX-2–negative tumor areas (P &amp;lt; 0.0001 and P = 0.001, respectively). MVD were also found higher in COX-2–positive areas than in COX-2–negative tumor areas (P = 0.001). Conclusions: This study shows a novel relationship between COX-2 expression and the local chronic inflammation within prostate cancer and the increased angiogenesis. It is likely that the proinflmmatory cytokines, released by T-lymphocytes and macrophages, up-regulate COX-2 in adjacent tumor cells and stimulate the angiogenesis in stromal tissues. These findings suggest that COX-2 may be an effective therapeutic target in prostate cancer treatment.
Steatosis is a determinant of fibrosis progression in chronic hepatitis C and is correlated both with body composition and viral factors
Authors: L.E. Adinolfi, M. Gambardella, R. Utili, A. Andreana, L. Rinaldi, M. Marracino, V. Iaccarino, E. Ragone, M.F. Tripodi, G. Ruggiero
Journal: Journal of Hepatology (2000)
Gulf war illness--better, worse, or just the same? A cohort study
Authors: M. Hotopf
Journal: BMJ (2003)

Firstly, to describe changes in the health of Gulf war veterans studied in a previous occupational cohort study and to compare outcome with comparable non-deployed military personnel. Secondly, to determine whether differences in prevalence between Gulf veterans and controls at follow up can be explained by greater persistence or greater incidence of disorders.Occupational cohort study in the form of a postal survey.Military personnel who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf war; personnel who served on peacekeeping duties to Bosnia; military personnel who were deployed elsewhere ("Era" controls). All participants had responded to a previous survey.United Kingdom.Self reported fatigue measured on the Chalder fatigue scale; psychological distress measured on the general health questionnaire, physical functioning and health perception on the SF-36; and a count of physical symptoms.Gulf war veterans experienced a modest reduction in prevalence of fatigue (48.8% at stage 1, 43.4% at stage 2) and psychological distress (40.0% stage 1, 37.1% stage 2) but a slight worsening of physical functioning on the SF-36 (90.3 stage 1, 88.7 stage 2). Compared with the other cohorts Gulf veterans continued to experience poorer health on all outcomes, although physical functioning also declined in Bosnia veterans. Era controls showed both lower incidence of fatigue than Gulf veterans, and both comparison groups showed less persistence of fatigue compared with Gulf veterans.Gulf war veterans remain a group with many symptoms of ill health. The excess of illness at follow up is explained by both higher incidence and greater persistence of symptoms.