tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Acid–base equilibrium in exhaled breath condensate of allergic asthmatic children
Authors: S. Carraro, G. Folesani, M. Corradi, S. Zanconato, B. Gaston, E. Baraldi
Journal: Allergy (2005)

Background: The dysregulation of airway pH control may have a role in asthma pathophysiology. The measurement of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) pH and ammonia levels may be used as a noninvasive method to study acid–base status in the airway of asthmatics. Methods: Exhaled breath condensate from 29 allergic stable asthmatic children and 13 healthy controls was collected by cooling exhaled air during tidal breathing. Ammonia was measured by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. pH was measured after deaeration of EBC samples by bubbling with argon. The children also underwent FE NO measurement. Results: Both pH and ammonia values in EBC were significantly lower in the asthmatics than in the control group [pH: ICS‐treated (median and interquartile range) 7.70 (7.62–7.74), steroid‐naïve 7.53 (7.41–7.68), controls 7.85 (7.80–7.90), P &lt; 0.01 and P &lt; 0.001, respectively; ammonia: ICS‐treated 476.17 μ M (282.50–594.80), steroid‐naïve 253.24 μ M (173.43–416.08), controls 788.30 μ M (587.29–1310.39), P &lt; 0.05 and P &lt; 0.001, respectively]. Both pH and ammonia values were higher in ICS‐treated than in steroid‐naïve asthmatic children. There was a significant correlation between EBC pH and ammonia concentrations. Conclusions: These data show that EBC pH values of stable asthmatic children are lower compared with those of healthy controls and positively correlated with ammonia concentrations, supporting the hypothesis that airway acidification may have a role in the pathobiology of allergic asthma.
Excessive Standardization Of Medical Writing
Authors: Franklin S. Glickman
Journal: JAMA (1966)

<h3>To the Editor:—</h3> Have you ever picked up a journal, opened it, read half way through the first page, then, losing patience, riffed through the summaries of everything else in the book? Have you ever thought why you did this? In recent years much has been said and written about medical writing. Discussion of style has been scant. Let us consider this aspect of the situation for a brief moment. I do not say that every man writing an article should be able to equal the literary quality of a Thoreau, a Poe, or an Osler. I do think that the average paper should be interesting and readable. It should not have the aura of having been spewed forth by some computerized Orwellian character. I do not object to brevity and clarity. I do object to such standardization that each work appears to have been cast from the same mould
A novel immunoregulatory role for NK-cell cytotoxicity in protection from HLH-like immunopathology in mice
Authors: Fernando E. Sepulveda, Sophia Maschalidi, Christian A. J. Vosshenrich, Alexandrine Garrigue, Mathieu Kurowska, Gael Ménasche, Alain Fischer, James P. Di Santo, Geneviève de Saint Basile
Journal: Blood (2014)
Rebound Phenomena after Anticoagulant Therapy in Cerebrovascular Disease
Authors: JOHN MARSHALL
Journal: Circulation (1963)

Anticoagulant therapy did not reduce the incidence of further nonfatal cerebrovascular accidents in 90 patients who had already experienced one or more such accidents as compared with a control group. Following gradual withdrawal of therapy, however, there was a significantly increased incidence of nonfatal cerebrovascular accidents during the first three months after therapy. This suggests that following cessation of anticoagulant therapy there is a period of true "rebound" during which thrombo-embolic incidents are more likely to recur.
Budget, Review Initiatives Change Playing Field at NIH
Authors: K. Hede
Journal: JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2007)

Heading into a fi fth straight year of fl at budget allocations from Congress, the National Institutes of Health fi nds itself searching for new ways to stretch investigator-initiated grant dollars just to maintain its current grant portfolio. After 5 years of budget expansion from 1998 to 2003 that doubled the NIH budget, the current fi scal belt-tightening has seemed particularly severe and has many wondering about the future of federally funded biomedical research. Given the fi scal realities, the NIH is reviewing the way it gives out grants and intends to make changes to address some of these constraints. The center for Scientifi c Review (CSR), which oversees NIH’s peerreview process, has held several open houses to get the research community’s input on structural changes that will make reviews more effi cient. An open house focusing on “disease-based” review groups, including cancer research, is scheduled for June 29 ( see http://cms.csr.nih.gov/aboutcsr/ openhouses.htm ). But there are many challenges to overcome. Much of the problem stems from a period of dramatic NIH expansion and subsequent belt-tightening, which has had an unintended consequence that is only beginning to be felt. The number of inves-
Exploring ageing and bereavement
Authors: Annabel Ferriman
Journal: BMJ (2007)

An influential group of MPs has claimed that widespread financial incompetence is adding to the cost of the United Kingdom's controversial private finance initiative (PFI).The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts made its new attack on the PFI after it discovered that the government had clawed back £100m (€145m; $200m) less than was predicted from the new private-public profit sharing schemes.The committee's chairman, the Conservative MP Edward Leigh, blamed the loss on the failure of Treasury officials to oversee key refinancing arrangements.In 2002 ministers introduced changes so that public sector bodies could share in some of the financial gains when big PFI loans were rearranged.Typically, these loans were renegotiated on a more favourable basis once PFI projects had been completed and the risks involved were lower.However, left to their own devices, officials in local hospitals had been out of their depth negotiating with their counterparts in the private sector, the committee says.In 2003 the Office of Government Commerce, which then had responsibility for PFI policy, told the public accounts committee that it expected the public sector to receive between £175m and £200m from the voluntary sharing arrangements in early PFI deals.However, up to December 2006 the government had secured the right to gains of only £93m."Proceeds gained by the public sector from PFI debt refinancing under the voluntary code for the sharing of gains are currently well short of expectations" said Mr Leigh.
Survey of use of anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Authors: P M Bath, A Prasad, M M Brown, G A MacGregor
Journal: BMJ (1993)

Five randomised controlled trials show that warfarin
reduces the risk of ischaemic strokes and death in
patients with atrial fibrillation.' We suspected that
many such patients were not receiving warfarin and
therefore reviewed the records of previous inpatients
with atrial fibrillation to see how many were receiving
warfarin or aspirin and whether those who were not
had a specific contraindication.
Radiofrequency ablation of atrial flutter. Efficacy of an anatomically guided approach.
Authors: G Kirkorian, E Moncada, P Chevalier, G Canu, J P Claudel, C Bellon, L Lyon, P Touboul
Journal: Circulation (1994)

Previous reports have shown that radiofrequency ablation can terminate atrial flutter and prevent recurrences. However, different methods have been used, and the current experience remains limited. The objective of the present study was to determine the efficacy of radiofrequency ablation of atrial tissue in patients with atrial flutter using an anatomically guided approach.We treated 22 patients aged 30 to 73 years. Atrial flutter was recurrent for a mean of 5 years despite the administration of multiple antiarrhythmic drugs. Radiofrequency current was directed to the atrial isthmus between the inferior vena cava and the tricuspid ring, regardless of the morphology of local electrograms. Radiofrequency energy was applied during typical atrial flutter in 12 patients, atypical atrial flutter in 2 patients, and successively both forms in 8 patients. In 19 patients, atrial flutter abruptly terminated. In 3 patients, atrial flutter persisted despite 37, 48, and 25 applications, respectively. Atrial recordings demonstrated that atrial flutter termination occurred as a consequence of conduction block at the site of radiofrequency energy application, regardless of the type of atrial flutter. The number of applications before termination ranged from 1 to 82 (mean, 32). Atrial flutter could no longer be induced in every case. There were no complications. During a 13-month mean follow-up, atrial flutter recurred in only 2 of the 19 patients who had a successful ablation. Four patients experienced chronic atrial fibrillation, and 2 of them returned to sinus rhythm with antiarrhythmic therapy.Radiofrequency ablation of atrial flutter using anatomic guidance is feasible and effective. Further experience is needed to delineate its role as an alternative approach to the management of refractory atrial flutter.
APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING ARSPHENAMIN AT TEMPERATURE OF BLOOD
Authors: S. R. Thompson
Journal: JAMA (1918)

This apparatus was suggested on account of severe reaction and sometimes death after the administration of arsphenamin intravenously. Physicians are realizing more and more the necessity of introducing solutions that will be free from all possible sources of irritation. The reaction called "chills and fever" following intravenous injections of arsphenamin is due, we believe, to injecting arsphenamin intravenously below the normal temperature of the blood. In giving ten or more doses of arsphenamin within from one to four hours we discovered that the patients receiving treatment when the solution was hot, or at the temperature of the blood, had no reaction or chill. Those receiving the last doses of the solution, which had cooled below the normal temperature of the blood, nearly always had more or less reaction. We have given more than a thousand doses by this method in dosages of from 0.3 to 0.6 gm. Solutions of from
Effect of Highly Radiolabelled 2,4‐Dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) on Experimental DNCB Contact Dermatitis in Guinea Pigs
Authors: G. Filipp, G. Biro, F. Bahmer, H. Mitschke, G. Lehmann
Journal: Allergy (1984)

With the aid of epicutaneous application of 2,4‐dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) solution in acetone, we induced a cutaneous allergic reaction of the delayed type. Our question was whether the development of the DNCB cutaneous sensitivity could be suppressed by highly radiolabelled DNCB. On the basis of the clonal selection theory and our own results with other in vivo ‐experimental animal models, one could suppose that the highly radiolabelled DNCB as haptens binds to the Ig‐membrane receptors of the genetically determined T‐lymphocyte clone, and that the conjugated radioactivity ( 125 I) causes a selective radioactive damage to this competent T‐lymphocyte subpopulation. By means of intracardially applied radiolabelled DNCB, we are able to induce either complete or very significant suppression of the cutaneous DNCB immune response. In the second experiment, the highly radiolabelled DNCB was not able to inhibit sensitization to a simultaneously applied 4‐ethoxy‐methylene‐2‐phenyl‐oxazolone (oxazolone). This result clearly demonstrates the antigen specificity of this form of immune suppression.
Clinical, radiographic, molecular and MRI-based predictors of cartilage loss in knee osteoarthritis
Authors: F. Eckstein, M. P. H. Le Graverand, H. C. Charles, D. J. Hunter, V. B. Kraus, T. Sunyer, O. Nemirovskyi, B. T. Wyman, R. Buck
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2011)

To examine the relationship of baseline clinical, radiographic, molecular and MRI measures with structural progression (subregional MRI-based femorotibial cartilage loss) in knee osteoarthritis (OA).Single knees of 75 female participants with radiographic knee OA (and 77 healthy control participants) were examined over 24 months using MRI. Subregional femorotibial cartilage thickness was determined at baseline and follow-up. Baseline clinical, radiographic, molecular (n=16) and quantitative MRI-based measures of the meniscus and cartilage, including delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI (dGEMRIC) and T2, were obtained. Differences in these baseline measures between radiographic osteoarthritic knees with longitudinal cartilage thinning (or thickening) and those with no significant change were evaluated by receiver operator characteristic analyses and Wilcoxon rank sum tests.The relatively strongest predictors of longitudinal cartilage thinning were reduced baseline cartilage thickness in the medial femur (area under the curve (AUC)=0.81), varus malalignment (AUC=0.77), reduced minimum joint space width and a greater radiographic joint space narrowing (JSN) score (both AUC=0.74). These remained significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons using false discovery rates. Reduced bone resorption (C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen; AUC=0.65) and a low dGEMRIC index (reflecting low proteoglycan content) in the medial tibia (AUC=0.68) were associated with longitudinal cartilage thinning, but failed to reach statistical significance after correction for multiple testing in this (small) sample.This exploratory study indicates that baseline molecular or MRI cartilage compositional markers may not provide better discrimination between knees with cartilage thinning and those without longitudinal change than simple radiographic measures, such as greater JSN score.
R T H Laennec 1781--1826 his life and work: a bicentenary appreciation.
Authors: A Sakula
Journal: Thorax (1981)

René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec was born on 17 February 1781 in Quimper and spent much of his youth in Nantes, where his uncle Guillaume was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He was considerably influenced by his uncle and went to study medicine in Paris where he qualified in 1804. Among his teachers were Corvisart and Bayle who stimulated his interest in the clinical diagnosis of diseases of the chest and especially tuberculosis, from which Laënnec himself suffered. His clinical experience and morbid anatomical dissections at the Necker Hospital culminated in his invention of the stethoscope (1816) and the writing of his masterpiece De l'Auscultation Médiate (1819) which may be regarded as the pioneer treatise from which modern chest medicine has evolved. Despite his great success in Paris, laënnec always retained a great love for his native Brittany. When his health finally broke down, he returned to his home Kerlouarnec, near Quimper, and died there on 13 August 1826, aged 45 years. On the occasion of the bicentenary of his birth we pay homage to the memory of this great French physician.
Computer assisted screening: effect on the patient and his consultation.
Authors: M Pringle, S Robins, G Brown
Journal: BMJ (1985)

The initial impact of computer assisted preventive screening in general practice consultations has been monitored. The technology has not been found stressful by patients, and the power of the consultation to alleviate low arousal has been increased by computer use. No appreciable increase in the durations of consultation was detected, despite an average computer initiated input of two minutes eight seconds. The computer has successfully prompted preventive screening and health education with a sixfold increase in the number of potentially relevant procedures being mentioned. The actual information presented by the computer has been shown to be crucial, with the terminal9s mere presence an ineffective reminder. The computer terminal was used in 65% of the consultations for which it was available, which, if sustained, represents an effective screening programme for attending patients.
BECLOMETHASONE DIPROPIONATE ENEMAS FOR TREATING INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE WITHOUT PRODUCING CUSHING'S SYNDROME OR HYPOTHALAMIC PITUITARY ADRENAL SUPRESSION
Authors: CyrusR Kumana, Mohamed Meghji, Trevor Seaton, Mario Castelli, Roger Benson, Thillainathan Sivakumaran
Journal: The Lancet (1982)
Noninvasive assessment of mitral insufficiency by transcutaneous Doppler ultrasound.
Authors: P M Nichol, D R Boughner, J A Persaud
Journal: Circulation (1976)

Instantaneous aortic arch blood velocity was recorded transcutaneously from the suprasternal notch, using a 2.2 MHz Doppler ultrasound unit, in 18 normals and 16 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization who had murmurs of mitral regurgitation. In normals aortic blood velocity rose rapidly in early systole to a midsystolic peak then fell to zero velocity. These roughly parabolic patterns had area ratios beneath the first and second halves of the curves measuring 52:48 +/- 3 (SD). With increasingly severe mitral regurgitation the pattern became skewed leftward such that the percent in the first half of systole ranged from 53-79%. From the angiograms of our sixteen patients an estimate of true percent regurgitation was made using the Fick cardiac output and ventricular volume measurements. When compared with the area under the first half of the velocity curve a strong correlation was found (r = 0.84) indicating that this Doppler technique can be used to evaluate mitral insufficiency.
Cardiovascular steroid actions: swift swallows or sluggish snails?
Authors: M Christ
Journal: Cardiovascular Research (1998)

Steroid actions on the vascular wall have been thought to depend on direct, genomic mechanisms being characterized by a considerable delay and on secondary events, including changes of coagulation, plasma lipids, and renal electrolyte and volume regulation. Recently, rapid effects of steroids on the vascular wall have been reported being clearly incompatible with the classical theory of genomic steroid action. As these effects occur in classical target tissues for genomic steroid action, and modulation of intracellular signaling has been shown to influence genomic steroid action, a two-step model of steroid action was developed integrating both genomic and nongenomic aspects and their possible interaction. This review summarizes recent studies on both types of direct, vascular steroid actions, the swift and the sluggish ones, and discusses the role of these actions in regulation of circulatory homeostasis and their potential therapeutic implications.
Indwelling needles carry greater risks than acupuncture techniques
Authors: E Ernst, A R White
Journal: BMJ (1999)

EDITOR—A discussion of the adverse effects of acupuncture has led to considerable anxiety among those who practise this treatment.1 Many have claimed that serious complications are avoidable and therefore do not occur in countries where acupuncturists are adequately trained. It has also been stated that causality is often inadequately …
Motor performance of the hand in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Kari Kauranen, Pekka Vuotikka, Markku Hakala
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2000)

To examine the motor performance of the hand in a sample of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).The patient group comprised 21 (two men, 19 women) patients with RA. Twenty one control subjects matched for age and sex were selected from a larger reference group, which had been drawn from the local population.The measured motor performance aspects were simple reaction time, choice reaction time, speed of movement, finger tapping speed, and coordination (that is, speed of movement/accuracy). Results were compared for age and sex matched pairs. The measurements were made with the Human Performance Measurement/Basic Elements of Performance system, which is a multifunctional system designed to measure different motor aspects of the hands, including reaction time, movement speed, tapping speed, and coordination.A comparison of the results for the patient and control groups indicated that the motor functions of patients with RA were impaired in all the measured aspects (with the exception of the index finger tapping test). The difference between the groups varied between 11% and 21% for the reaction time tasks, between 12% and 18% for the speed of movement tasks, and between 15% and 17% for the coordination task.Based on the results of our research, it seems that RA decreases some motor performance functions of the hand expressed as simple reaction time, choice reaction time, speed of movement, and coordination. The changes were emphasised in movements performed with several joints.
Anti-D47: a monoclonal antibody reacting with the secretory cells of human eccrine sweat glands*
Authors: J. KANITAKIS, D. SCHMITT, A. BERNARD, L. BOUMSELL, J. THIVOLET
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (1983)

Anti-D47 is a monoclonal antibody reacting with a surface antigen of human cortical thymocytes (different from the T6 antigen). It was prepared by immunization of mice with human thymocytes. The known cross-reactivity of monoclonal antibodies prepared against thymic cells with skin components prompted us to test anti-D47 on human skin as well as animal tissues. No labelling was observed on animal tissues. On human skin, anti-D47 was found to react with the secretory portion of eccrine sweat glands (ESG), i.e. with a cytoplasmic antigen of the secretory cells lining the deep portion of ESG glomeruli. No labelling was observed on apocrine sweat glands or on the excretory portion of ESG. Anti-D47 was also tested on histologically proven extramammary (vulvar) Paget's disease and basal cell epitheliomas: no staining of the neoplastic cells was observed. Anti-D47 appears to be an immunological marker of the secretory cells of human ESG and a new tool for the investigation of human sweat gland pathology.
Patients With Unknown Primaries Face Unusual Insurance Problems
Authors: Tom Reynolds
Journal: JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute (1998)

plant, following induction therapy with etoposide/ifosfamide/cisplatin.Renato Lenzi, M.D., of the University ofTexas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, has two trials using paclitaxel, cisplatin, 5-FU, and folinic acid against adenocarcinomas of unknown primary origin.A longstanding goal in research on unknown primaries has been the development of prognostic factors.Beginning in the late 1970s, several researchers including Greco and Hainsworth's group reported that patients with particular subtypes of unknown primary cancers, identifiable on pathology slides as poorly differentiated carcinoma or poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (PDC/PDA) were
The sharp edge of Damocles
Authors: M. Self
Journal: BMJ (1999)

Cicero tells of a courtier named Damocles, invited to a banquet hosted by the emperor Dionysius, who requests that Damocles is seated beneath a sword suspended from the ceiling by a single horse hair. Initial delight at being placed in the seat of honour turns sour when Damocles realises the ever present threat of untimely death.

I was fascinated to hear the term “Damocles syndrome” used to describe the psychosocial stresses experienced by survivors of childhood cancer. No story could more accurately describe the legacy of overcoming the original diagnosis.

There was no formal psychological support… where I was treated 

Sixteen years ago I developed an osteosarcoma of my femur and underwent an above knee amputation and a prolonged course of chemotherapy. I was 16 at the time and hoping to become a doctor. My life was irrevocably changed by this experience—not as you might suppose for the worse. I have experienced an intensity of life that I do not regret, in living each day as if it were my …
Atherosclerotic disease and cognitive decline
Authors: M N Payne, A F Jones, R G Murray, J M Beattie
Journal: BMJ (1994)

contents and then swallowed as a glass of water is drunk.4If swallowing is impaired, nasogastric administration of the capsule's contents is indeed an alternative, albeit less accurate.Rather than sublingual nifedipine being prescribed, it would be clearer and more accurate to prescribe nifedipine for oral administration, with additional instructions that the patient should bite the capsule before swallowing it while drinking a glass ofwater.