tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Portugal caps locum fees to meet financial bail out requirements
Authors: T. Villanueva
Journal: BMJ (2011)

Reducing the maximum fees payable to locum doctors, cutting overtime pay, and banning the use of private facilities for diagnostic tests are among the measures included in a new legislative package for the health sector aimed at reducing Portugal’s public expenditure. The cuts are expected to save up to €85m (£75m; $123m) in the first year.

After Greece and Ireland, Portugal is the third country in the eurozone to receive financial aid through a bail out by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the …
Death rates of characters in soap operas on British television: is a government health warning required?
Authors: T. Crayford, R. Hooper, S. Evans
Journal: BMJ (1997)

<h3>Abstract</h3> <b>Objective:</b> To measure mortality among characters in British soap operas on television. <b>Design:</b> Cohort analysis of deaths in <i>EastEnders</i> and <i>Coronation Street</i>, supplemented by an analysis of deaths in <i>Brookside</i> and <i>Emmerdale</i>. <b>Main outcome measures:</b> Standardised mortality ratios and the proportional mortality ratio for deaths attributable to external causes (E code of ICD-9 (international classification of diseases, ninth revision). <b>Results:</b> Staying alive in a television soap opera is not easy. Standardised mortality ratios for characters were among the highest for any occupation yet described (771 (95% confidence interval 415 to1127) for characters in <i>EastEnders</i>), and this was not just because all causes of death were overrepresented. Deaths in soap operas were almost three times more likely to be from violent causes than would be expected from a character9s age and sex. A character in <i>EastEnders</i> was twice as likely as a similar character in <i>Coronation Street</i> to die during an episode. <b>Conclusions:</b> The most dangerous job in the United Kingdom is not, as expected, bomb disposal expert, steeplejack, or Formula One racing driver but having a role in one of the United Kingdom9s most well known soap operas. This is the first quantitative estimate of the size of the pinch of salt which should be taken when watching soap operas. <h3>Key messages</h3> Characters in soap operas lead very dangerous lives Their lives are more dangerous even than those of Formula One racing drivers or bomb disposal experts People suffering from many forms of cancer and other serious diseases have better five year survival rates than do these characters Could the exaggerated portrayal of these violent and dangerous lives be contributing to our distorted national perceptions about violent crime and death?
Patterns of Failure Using a Conformal Radiation Therapy Tumor Bed Boost for Medulloblastoma
Authors: Suzanne L. Wolden, Ira J. Dunkel, Mark M. Souweidane, Laura Happersett, Yasmin Khakoo, Karen Schupak, David Lyden, Steven A. Leibel
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2003)

To assess the patterns of failure for patients with medulloblastoma receiving a conformal tumor bed boost rather than a boost to the entire posterior fossa.From 1994 to 2002, 32 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed medulloblastoma treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY) received a conformal boost to the tumor bed in conjunction with craniospinal radiation therapy. Twenty-eight patients also received chemotherapy. The median age was 9 years (range, 3 to 34 years), and the male to female ratio was 3:1. Twenty-seven patients had standard-risk disease, and five patients had high-risk disease. Craniospinal doses ranged from 23.4 to 39.6 Gy, and total tumor bed doses ranged from 54 to 59.4 Gy.With a median follow-up of 56 months, six patients have relapsed; five relapsed outside of the posterior fossa, and one failed within the posterior fossa, outside of the high-dose boost volume. Five-year actuarial disease-free and overall survival rates were 84% and 85%, respectively. Freedom from posterior fossa failure was 100% and 86% at 5 and 10 years, respectively. Freedom from distant failure was 84% at 5 years, with a trend for improvement when full-dose craniospinal radiation (36 to 39.6 Gy) was used compared with a reduced dose (23.4 Gy) of radiation (100% v 63%, respectively; P =.06). No other predictive variables were identified.Conformal treatment to the tumor bed allows for significant sparing of critical structures. The posterior fossa failure rate in this series is similar to that reported when the entire posterior fossa is treated. This approach should be investigated further in a phase III trial.
Hyperfunctional C3 convertase leads to complement deposition on endothelial cells and contributes to atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome
Authors: Lubka T. Roumenina, Mathieu Jablonski, Christophe Hue, Jacques Blouin, Jordan D. Dimitrov, Marie-Agnes Dragon-Durey, Mathieu Cayla, Wolf H. Fridman, Marie-Alice Macher, David Ribes, Luc Moulonguet, Lionel Rostaing, Simon C. Satchell, Peter W. Mathieson, Catherine Sautes-Fridman, Chantal Loirat, Catherine H. Regnier, Lise Halbwachs-Mecarelli, Veronique Fremeaux-Bacchi
Journal: Blood (2009)
Immunoglobulin G antibodies to moulds in school‐children from moisture problem schools
Authors: T. M. Taskinen, S. Laitinen, A. Nevalainen, A. Vepsäläinen, T. Meklin, M. Reiman, M. Korppi, T. Husman
Journal: Allergy (2002)

The identification of 'unknown' allergic sensitizations may determine the prognosis and treatment of patients with respiratory airway disease. Currently, the presence in homes of 'exotic' animals as pets is increasing. In this article the Siberian hamster or dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus) was identified as a new indoor source of aeroallergens and respiratory disease.The subjects were six outpatients who were treated for asthma and rhinitis. Siberian hamster hair extract was prepared with a standard wt/vol method, and patients were skin-prick tested with the extract. Serum-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)E against the Siberian hamster, common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) and golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) was determined. IgE-immunoblotting was also performed for all six sera. Specific bronchial challenge was carried out with the Siberian hamster extract.Skin prick tests (SPT) with the Siberian hamster extract, and specific IgE-antibodies against Siberian hamster, were strongly positive in all six patients. Determinations of specific IgE-antibodies against C. cricetus and M. auratus were negative in all patients. IgE-immunoblotting of the sera revealed two IgE-binding fractions (MW 18 and 32 kDa) in five of the six sera. Specific bronchial provocation tests resulted in early asthmatic responses in the two patients who were challenged.The present study reveals the Siberian hamster to be able to induce both sensitization and disease, and this species of hamster should be taken into consideration as a cause of respiratory disease in exposed subjects. A noteworthy finding was the lack of sensitization in our patients to common hamster allergens (M. auratus and C. cricetus) that are usually tested when hamster allergy is suspected.
Radiology Looks Toward 21 st Century
Authors: Timothy F. Kirn
Journal: JAMA (1988)

IN THE FUTURE, radiological imaging is going to continue to develop more technology, becoming both more sophisticated and more intricate. That ever-burgeoning complexity is going to present the specialty with its biggest challenges, according to a seven-member "prophecy panel" convened at the annual Radiological Society of North America meeting. As the specialists with the expertise, radiologists will need to assume a more integral role in diagnosis of patients undergoing radiological examination, the panelists said. The panel's charge was to predict the state of "Radiology in the 21st Century." That is a difficult task at best, considering the specialty's recent history. Perhaps no medical specialty has undergone revolution to the same extent in recent years as radiology. Dallying with radiology's penchant for acronyms, Mark Henkelman, PhD, associate professor of medical biophysics at the University of Toronto, noted that when he entered the field the "alphabet" of radiology consisted of only one
Ethics and Clinical Research
Authors: Henry K. Beecher
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1966)

HUMAN experimentation since World War II has created some difficult problems with the increasing employment of patients as experimental subjects when it must be apparent that they would not have been available if they had been truly aware of the uses that would be made of them. Evidence is at hand that many of the patients in the examples to follow never had the risk satisfactorily explained to them, and it seems obvious that further hundreds have not known that they were the subjects of an experiment although grave consequences have been suffered as a direct result of experiments described . . .
Circulatory and metabolic effects of glycerol infusion in patients with recent cerebral infarction.
Authors: J S Meyer, Y Itoh, S Okamoto, K M Welch, N T Mathew, E O Ott, S Sakaki, Y Miyakawa, E Chabi, A D Ericsson
Journal: Circulation (1975)

The effect of intravenous infusion of 10 per cent glycerol on regional cerebral blood flow (using hydrogen bolus and Xenon-133 (133Xe) clearance methods) and metabolism was investigated in 57 patients with recent cerebral infarction. Hemispheric blood flow (HBF) increased, together with increase in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and cerebral blood volume (rCBV), in foci of brain ischemia. Hemispheric oxygen consumption (HMIO2) decreased together with hemispheric respiratory quotient. Systemic blood levels of glucose, lactate, pyruvate, and triglycerides also increased after glycerol while free fatty acids (FFA) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) decreased. Hemispheric glucose consumption was unaltered after glycerol so that hemispheric glucose to oxygen ratio tended to rise. Pyruvate and lactate production by brain was unchanged. Glycerol moved across the blood brain barrier into brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Release of FFA and Pi from infarcted brain was reversed by glycerol. Total phosphate balance was maintained actoss brain both before and after glycerol infusion. Triglycerides increased in CSF after glycerol, originating either from cerebral blood or as a result of lipogenesis in cerebral tissue. The EEG Recording and neurological status of the patients improved despite decreased brain oxygen consumption. Results of this study suggest that after intravenous infusion of 10 per cent glycerol in patients with recent cerebral infarction, glycerol rapidly enters the CSF and brain compartments and favorably affects the stroke process in two ways: first, by redistribution of cerebral blood flow with increase in rCBF and rCBV in ischemic brain secondary to reduction in focal cerebral edema; and second glycerol may become an alternative source of energy either by being directly metabolized by the brain, or indirectly, by enhancing lipogenesis, or by both processes. Involvement of glycerol in lipogenesis with esterification to accumulated FFA might lead to improved coupling of oxidative phosphorylation, a hypothesis that fits the finding of improved neuronal function despite further decrease in cerebral hemispheric oxygen consumption.
The miR-30 Family Inhibits Pulmonary Vascular Hyperpermeability in the Premetastatic Phase by Direct Targeting of Skp2
Authors: Feifei Qi, Ting He, Lin Jia, Nan Song, Lifang Guo, Xuhui Ma, Chunying Wang, Min Xu, Yan Fu, Lin Li, Yongzhang Luo
Journal: Clinical Cancer Research (2015)

Abstract Purpose: Before metastasis, primary tumor can create a premetastatic niche in distant organ to facilitate the dissemination of tumor cells. In the premetastatic phase, the permeability of pulmonary vasculatures is increased to accelerate the extravasation of circulating tumor cells. However, it is not clear whether local miRNAs contribute to the vascular hyperpermeability of the premetastatic niche. Experimental Design: The expression of total miRNAs was determined using microarray in series of premetastatic lungs from tumor-bearing mice. Significantly differentially expressed miRNAs were identified and validated with qRT-PCR. Vascular permeability assays, vascular mimic systems, and orthotopic tumor models were used to investigate roles of selected miRNAs and target genes in premetastatic hyperpermeability. Results: We identified a miRNA signature in premetastatic lungs. Among these miRNAs, miR-30a, b, c, d, and e were significantly attenuated. Subsequent investigations elucidated that lung fibroblast–derived miR-30s stabilized pulmonary vessels. Overexpression of miR-30s in lungs postponed metastasis and extended overall survival of B16 tumor–bearing mice. Following studies uncovered that Skp2 was directly targeted by miR-30s. Overexpression of Skp2 could disrupt pulmonary vessels, promote lung metastasis, and decrease overall survival of B16 tumor–bearing mice. Conclusions: These findings illuminate a novel mechanism for the modulation of premetastatic niches by miR-30s, which suggest that miR-30s represent not only promising targets for antimetastasis therapy but also indicators for metastasis. Clin Cancer Res; 21(13); 3071–80. ©2015 AACR.
Pathogenesis of Venous Thrombosis
Authors: J. George Sharnoff
Journal: JAMA (1971)

<h3>To the Editor.—</h3> Unfortunately both Matzger (<b>215</b>:799,1971) and Husni (<b>216</b>:1349, 1971) in their discussions of the "Pathogenesis of Venous Thrombosis" agree with each other, as when Metzger states "the pathogenesis and prophylaxis of venous thrombosis of the lower extremities remains cloaked in mystery, despite (perhaps because of) the many articles in our overburdened literature..." They both appear to be living in the deep-dark past. Matzger's basis for the above quoted statement is a comment by DeBakey made in 1954, whereas the latest references of Husni et al include one of my own in 1963.<sup>1</sup>Both make no mention of the success of Sevitt and Gallagher (<i>Lancet</i><b>2</b>:981, 1959), or of my own recent report (<i>Surg Gynec Obstet</i><b>123</b>:303, 1966; Sharnoff and DeBlasio,<i>Lancet</i><b>2</b>:1006, 1970;<i>Amer Heart J</i><b>80</b>:848, 1970). The success attained has been based on a number of earlier studies (Sharnoff
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FOR HISTAMINE RELEASE IN ALLERGY
Authors: GERHARD KATZ
Journal: JAMA (1941)

It has long been assumed that histamine plays a role in allergic reactions and that it may in part be responsible for many of the clinical symptoms in allergy. The actual experimental evidence for this hypothesis, however, is meager and circumstantial. It is, on the whole, based on the similarity between the allergic and the histamine cutaneous reactions and on some similarities between allergic attacks and the systemic effects of histamine injections. To our knowledge, the presence of a histamine-like substance after application of allergen to tissues from sensitized patients has not been demonstrated convincingly. An experimental approach to the study of histamine<sup>1</sup>release in allergy suggested itself from observations on anaphylaxis which one of us has made recently.<sup>2</sup>It was found that blood cells from sensitized animals released part of their histamine into the plasma when brought into contact in vitro with the antigen. Extensive experimentation has
Letter: Lung cancer and smoking.
Authors: D R Redman
Journal: BMJ (1973)

Lung Cancer and Smoking SIR,-It seems that cigarette smokers adjust the number of cigarettes smokzd to obtain a predetermined dose of nicotine (Dr.M. A. H. Russell and others, 1 December, p. 512).Would it not be much safer (no tar), and much cleaner for non-smokers in the vicinity, to market nicotine inhalers, similar to those used by asthmatics?The price of these could be adjusted so that the Govern- ment need not lose revenue.The nicotine addicts would presumably not be at risk from bronchogenic carcinoma and chronic bronchitis, and there would be no carbon monoxide to contribute to atheroma forma- tion.-Iam, etc.,
Pediatric Antecedents of Adult Cardiovascular Disease — Awareness and Intervention
Authors: Julie R. Ingelfinger
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2004)

Hypertension, which is common among adults in the United States, has for several decades been recognized as a cardiovascular risk factor. Since blood pressure tends to "track" along the same percentile throughout life, children with higher blood pressures are more likely to become adults with hypertension. Therefore, the early recognition of the seeds of hypertension is crucial for introducing early interventions and reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among adults. The potential benefits of initiatives targeting such early recognition are obvious.One such initiative, Healthy People 2010, has been launched by the U.S. government with the declared "overarching goals" of increasing . . .
Funds for UK bodies foster links with institutions in developing countries
Authors: H. Mooney
Journal: BMJ (2009)

A funding scheme backed by the Department of Health and the Department for International Development has been launched to help strengthen partnerships between UK health institutions and their counterparts in developing countries.

The £3m (€3m; $5m) international health links funding scheme will run over the next three years. The scheme, set up by the British Council and the UK based charity the Tropical and Health Education Trust (THET), will aim to help build the capacity of developing countries’ health systems. The partnerships will be designed to include …
Comparison of drugs for asthma.
Authors: L Tivenius
Journal: BMJ (1971)

aspartate aminotransferase (SGOT) and alkaline phosphatase in 16 adults with serum salicyclate greater than 35 mg/100 ml as a result of single-dose self-poisoning.In only one patient was the SGOT minimally in- creased to 44 units.This was an apparently healthy 24-year-old man with a serum sali- cyclate of 80 mg/100 ml four and a half hours after taking aspirin tablets; his alkaline phosphatase was normal.A 60-year-old man with a serum salicyclate of 131 mg/100 ml eight hours after ingestion was the only patient with a raised alkaline phosphatase (16 King-Armstrong units); his SGOT was normal These findings tend to support the implied conclusion of Dr. Russell and colleagues that, age apart, increases in these enzymes in serum are probably related to prolonged administration of salicylates.-I
Somatization, Dissociation, and Tension-Reducing Behaviors in Psychiatric Outpatients
Authors: Melissa Farley, Howard Barkan
Journal: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (1997)

Background: Conceptual and methodological difficulties exist in assessing coping behaviors. Methods: This study investigated coping behaviors in 102 psychiatric outpatients. We used the Dissociative Experiences Scale, a 17-item posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist; 2 measures of somatization (the Wahler Physical Symptom Inventory and the Physical Symptom Questionnaire), and 21 questions about subject involvement in positive and pathologic tension-reducing behaviors. Results: Preliminary data suggest that dissociative symptoms, PTSD-like symptoms, and somatization are associated with a variety of positive and pathologic tension-reducing behaviors. Conclusions: The results suggest that psychiatric outpatients have an array of coping behavior: some are health-promoting, others are relatively self-destructive.
THE EFFECT OF LYMPHOCYTOSIS INDUCED WITH EMBRYONIC EXTRACT ON THE COURSE OF EXPERIMENTAL TUBERCULOSIS IN RABBITS
Authors: Kenneth C. Smithburn
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1932)

1. Chick embryo extract given intravenously did not favorably influence the course of experimental tuberculosis in rabbits, although it did cause lymphocytosis and lymphoid hyperplasia. 2. The tuberculous animals treated with chick embryo extract showed lower values for hemoglobin and red blood cells than tuberculous controls inoculated from the same suspension. 3. Under the conditions of these experiments an increase in the number of young, immature cells in the lymph nodes was accompanied by more extensive tuberculous lesions in the lymph nodes and especially in the germinal centers of the nodes. A possible analogy to lymphatic tuberculosis in children is suggested. 4. The observations of previous investigators on the progression and later regression of lesions in experimental tuberculosis have been confirmed. The distribution, character, and extent of lesions have been studied and are presented in tabular form. 5. The presence and significance of tuberculous thrombi in the lungs are discussed.
Extracellular Cardiac Matrix Biomarkers in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction Complicated by Left Ventricular Dysfunction and Heart Failure
Authors: Wafae Iraqi, Patrick Rossignol, Michael Angioi, Renaud Fay, Josette Nuée, Jean Marie Ketelslegers, John Vincent, Bertram Pitt, Faiez Zannad
Journal: Circulation (2009)

Background— Aldosterone stimulates cardiac collagen synthesis. Circulating biomarkers of collagen turnover provide a useful tool for the assessment of cardiac remodeling in patients with congestive heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction. Methods and Results— In a substudy of the Eplerenone Post–Acute Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure Efficacy and Survival Study (EPHESUS), which evaluated the effects of the selective aldosterone receptor antagonist eplerenone versus placebo, serum levels of collagen biomarkers were measured in 476 patients with congestive heart failure after acute myocardial infarction complicated with left ventricular systolic dysfunction. The combination of the type I collagen telopeptide and brain natriuretic peptide levels above median at baseline was associated with all-cause mortality and the composite end point of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization, with hazard ratios of 2.49 ( P =0.039) and 3.03 ( P =0.002), respectively. During follow-up, levels of aminoterminal propeptide of type I and type III procollagen were found to be consistently lower in the eplerenone group and significantly lower beginning at 6 months. Conclusions— Changes in biomarkers of collagen synthesis and degradation suggest that extracellular matrix remodeling is an active process in patients with congestive heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction. High type I collagen telopeptide and high brain natriuretic peptide serum levels are associated with the highest event rate. Eplerenone suppresses post–acute myocardial infarction collagen turnover changes.