tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Gabapentin for the Symptomatic Treatment of Painful Neuropathy in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus&lt;SUBTITLE&gt;A Randomized Controlled Trial&lt;/SUBTITLE&gt;
Authors: Miroslav Backonja
Journal: JAMA (1998)

for the Gabapentin Diabetic Neuropathy Study GroupContext.-Pain is the most disturbing symptom of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.As many as 45% of patients with diabetes mellitus develop peripheral neuropathies.Objective.-Toevaluate the effect of gabapentin monotherapy on pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.Design.-Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 8-week trial conducted between July 1996 and March 1997.Setting.-Outpatientclinics at 20 sites.Patients.-The165 patients enrolled had a 1-to 5-year history of pain attributed to diabetic neuropathy and a minimum 40-mm pain score on the Short-Form Mc-Gill Pain Questionnaire visual analogue scale.Intervention.-Gabapentin(titrated from 900 to 3600 mg/d or maximum tolerated dosage) or placebo.Main Outcome Measures.-Theprimary efficacy measure was daily pain severity as measured on an 11-point Likert scale (0, no pain; 10, worst possible pain).Secondary measures included sleep interference scores, the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire scores, Patient Global Impression of Change and Clinical Global Impression of Change, the Short Form-36 Quality of Life Questionnaire scores, and the Profile of Mood States results.Results.-Eighty-four patients received gabapentin and 70 (83%) completed the study; 81 received placebo and 65 (80%) completed the study.By intent-to-treat analysis, gabapentin-treated patients' mean daily pain score at the study end point (baseline, 6.4; end point, 3.9; n = 82) was significantly lower (PϽ.001) compared with the placebo-treated patients' end-point score (baseline, 6.5; end point, 5.1; n = 80).All secondary outcome measures of pain were significantly better in the gabapentin group than in the placebo group.Additional statistically significant differences favoring gabapentin treatment were observed in measures of quality of life (Short Form-36 Quality of Life Questionnaire and Profile of Mood States).Adverse events experienced significantly more frequently in the gabapentin group were dizziness (20 [24%] in the gabapentin group vs 4 [4.9%] in the control group; PϽ.001) and somnolence (19 [23%] in the gabapentin group vs 5 [6%] in the control group; P = .003).Confusion was also more frequent in the gabapentin group (7 [8%] vs 1 [1.2%];P = .06).Conclusion.-Gabapentin monotherapy appears to be efficacious for the treatment of pain and sleep interference associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and exhibits positive effects on mood and quality of life.
Challenging theory-theory accounts of social understanding: Where is the social constructivist advantage?
Authors: Derek E. Montgomery
Journal: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (2004)

Carpendale &amp; Lewis (C&amp;L) contend that correlations between sociolinguistic factors and theory-of-mind performance indicate that social knowledge develops from social interactive processes. However, theory-theory proponents also regard these correlations as compatible with their view of how mental concepts develop. A more fruitful distinction lies in the differences of both accounts in explaining how mental concepts acquire meaning.
Mitochondrial Overload and Incomplete Fatty Acid Oxidation Contribute to Skeletal Muscle Insulin Resistance
Authors: Timothy R. Koves, John R. Ussher, Robert C. Noland, Dorothy Slentz, Merrie Mosedale, Olga Ilkayeva, James Bain, Robert Stevens, Jason R.B. Dyck, Christopher B. Newgard, Gary D. Lopaschuk, Deborah M. Muoio
Journal: Cell Metabolism (2008)
Exposure to Traffic Pollution and Increased Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Jaime E. Hart, Francine Laden, Robin C. Puett, Karen H. Costenbader, Elizabeth W. Karlson
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2009)

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease that affects approximately 1% of the adult population, and to date, genetic factors explain < 50% of the risk. Particulate air pollution, especially of traffic origin, has been linked to systemic inflammation in many studies.We examined the association of distance to road, a marker of traffic pollution exposure, and incidence of RA in a prospective cohort study.We studied 90,297 U.S. women in the Nurses' Health Study. We used a geographic information system to determine distance to road at the residence in 2000 as a measure of traffic exposure. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we examined the association of distance to road and incident RA (1976-2004) with adjustment for a large number of potential confounders.In models adjusted for age, calendar year, race, cigarette smoking, parity, lactation, menopausal status and hormone use, oral contraceptive use, body mass index, physical activity, and census-tract-level median income and house value, we observed an elevated risk of RA [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.31; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.98-1.74] in women living within 50 m of a road, compared with those women living 200 m or farther away. We also observed this association in analyses among nonsmokers (HR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.04-2.52), nonsmokers with rheumatoid factor (RF)-negative RA (HR = 1.77; 95% CI, 0.93-3.38), and nonsmokers with RF-positive RA (HR = 1.51; 95% CI, 0.82-2.77). We saw no elevations in risk in women living 50-200 m from the road.The observed association between exposure to traffic pollution and RA suggests that pollution from traffic in adulthood may be a newly identified environmental risk factor for RA.
A Prospective Nested Case-Control Study of Vitamin D Status and Pancreatic Cancer Risk in Male Smokers
Authors: Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, Reinhold Vieth, Azar Azad, Pirjo Pietinen, Philip R. Taylor, Jarmo Virtamo, Demetrius Albanes
Journal: Cancer Research (2006)

Sun exposure is associated with lower death rates for pancreatic cancer in some ecological studies. Skin exposure to UVB light induces cutaneous production of precursors to 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. Pancreatic islet and duct cells express 25(OH)D(3)-1alpha-hydroxylase that generates the biologically active 1,25(OH)(2) vitamin D form. Thus, 25(OH)D concentrations could affect pancreatic function and possibly pancreatic cancer etiology. We conducted a prospective nested case-control study in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention cohort of male Finnish smokers, ages 50 to 69 years at baseline, to test whether more adequate vitamin D status, as determined by prediagnostic serum 25(OH)D concentrations, was associated with lower pancreatic cancer risk. Two hundred incident exocrine pancreatic cancer cases that occurred between 1985 and 2001 (up to 16.7 years of follow-up) were matched by age and date of blood draw to 400 controls who were alive and free of cancer at the time the case was diagnosed. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using conditional logistic regression. Higher vitamin D concentrations were associated with a 3-fold increased risk for pancreatic cancer (highest versus lowest quintile, >65.5 versus <32.0 nmol/L: OR, 2.92; 95% CI, 1.56-5.48, P(trend) = 0.001) that remained after excluding cases diagnosed early during follow-up. Contrary to expectations, subjects with higher prediagnostic vitamin D status had an increased pancreatic cancer risk compared with those with lower status. Our findings need to be replicated in other populations and caution is warranted in their interpretation and implication. Our results are intriguing and may provide clues that further the understanding of the etiology of this highly fatal cancer.
Serum Proteins in Thyroid Disease
Authors: W. W. Buchanan, D. A. Koutras, W. D. Alexander, J. Crooks
Journal: BMJ (1962)

The diagnostic significance of these changes is difficult to evaluate because in most studies the number of patients has been small.Further- more, the control series of normal subjects and of patients with other forms of thyroid disease has been inadequate for statistical evaluation.In this paper we report a detailed study of the serum protein abnormalities in 182 patients with different thyroid disorders and compare them with those found in 26 normal controls.In addition the diagnostic value of the serum flocculation tests and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (E.S.R.) has been studied, since both have been suggested as diagnostic aids in auto-immune thyroiditis (Luxton and Cooke, 1956;
Aneurysmal Degeneration of Femoropopliteal Arterial Homografts
Authors: Hendrick B. Barner
Journal: JAMA (1966)

The evanescent era of the arterial homograft began nearly 12 years ago and ended five years later in most centers. It is of interest to obtain a long-term evaluation of this method of arterial reconstruction not only to place it in its proper perspective but also because arterial homografts are once again being used. Organ homotransplantation entails homotransplantation of moderate and smaller-sized arteries which may be vulnerable to the same degenerative changes as the isolated arterial homograft. Thirty-five femoropopliteal arterial homografts have been reviewed, with the observation that all of the patent grafts have become aneurysmal. This finding has led us to believe that all similar-sized homografts that remain patent will eventually become aneurysmal. <h3>Clinical Material</h3> Arterial homografts were obtained from patients under 45 years of age who died following trauma or nonmalignant and noninfectious diseases. The grafts were removed under sterile conditions, placed in physiologic saline containing 500,000 units
Rapid development of a tophus following ipsilateral hemiparesis.
Authors: C F Donegan, P Berman, M Doherty
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (1993)

An 85 year old man with a longstanding history of non-tophaceous gout developed a single large tophus, unassociated with inflammation, on his paretic leg over a six week period following an acute hemiplegia. The rapidity of tophus formation, its localisation to the paretic limb, and the apparent blunting of the acute inflammatory response represent a previously unreported interaction between gout and neurological deficit.
Mastocytosis: Scintigraphic Findings with Bony Involvement
Authors: MARK J. MALLEY, RICHARD A. HOLMES
Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine (1988)

Mastocytosis is an uncommon disease of increased mast cell numbers which may involve multiple organ systems. Imaging with bone agents is usually less sensitive than radiographic techniques in portraying the full extent of the disease. Bone marrow imaging is helpful in demonstrating peripheral marrow expansion which can be seen in this disorder.
Intraspecific nuclear DNA variation in Drosophila
Authors: E. N. Moriyama, J. R. Powell
Journal: Molecular Biology and Evolution (1996)

We have summarized and analyzed all available nuclear DNA sequence polymorphism studies for three species of Drosophila, D. melanogaster (24 loci), D. simulans (12 loci), and D. pseudoobscura (5 loci). Our major findings are: (1) The average nucleotide heterozygosity ranges from about 0.4% to 2% depending upon species and function of the region, i.e., coding or noncoding. (2) Compared to D. simulans and D. pseudoobscura (which are about equally variable), D. melanogaster displays a low degree of DNA polymorphism. (3) Noncoding introns and 3' and 5' flanking DNA shows less polymorphism than silent sites within coding DNA. (4) X-linked genes are less variable than autosomal genes. (5) Transition (Ts) and transversion (Tv) polymorphisms are about equally frequent in non-coding DNA and at fourfold degenerate sites in coding DNA while Ts polymorphisms outnumber Tv polymorphisms by about 2:1 in total coding DNA. The increased Ts polymorphism in coding regions is likely due to the structure of the genetic code: silent changes are more often Ts's than are replacement substitutions. (6) The proportion of replacement polymorphisms is significantly higher in D. melanogaster than in D. simulans. (7) The level of variation in coding DNA and the adjacent noncoding DNA is significantly correlated indicating regional effects, most notably recombination. (8) Surprisingly, the level of polymorphism at silent coding sites in D. melanogaster is positively correlated with degree of codon usage bias. (9) Three proposed tests of the neutral theory of DNA polymorphisms have been performed on the data: Tajima's test, the HKA test, and the McDonald-Kreitman test. About half of the loci fail to conform to the expectations of neutral theory by one of the tests. We conclude that many variables are affecting levels of DNA polymorphism in Drosophila, from properties of nucleotides to population history and, perhaps, mating structure. No simple, all encompassing explanation satisfactorily accounts for the data.
Disability and Physician-Assisted Suicide
Authors: A I Batavia
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1997)

On January 8, 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vacco v. Quill 1 and Washington v. Glucksberg, 2 the two cases concerning whether a state may prohibit persons in the terminal stage of an illness from obtaining the assistance of their physicians in ending their lives. A protest by a few hundred people with disabilities, which took place in front of the courthouse that day, raised related questions: whether a right to physician-assisted suicide is in the interest of people with disabilities and whether the majority of people with disabilities are opposed to the recognition of such a right. . . .
Effects of perinatal exposure to bisphenol A on sociosexual behavior of female and male rats.
Authors: Francesca Farabollini, Stefania Porrini, Daniele Della Seta, Fiorella Bianchi, Francesco Dessì-Fulgheri
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2002)

Perinatal action of estrogens or aromatizable steroids at the central nervous system level is responsible for brain sexual differentiation. Through early contact with the central nervous system, the estrogenic compound bisphenol A (BPA) could alter the processes affecting sociosexual behavior. To test this hypothesis, we studied agonistic and sexual behavior of adult female and male rats whose mothers were administered BPA (40 microg/kg/day) during pregnancy or lactation. An intruder test revealed in males but not in females an increase in defensive behavior due to BPA. We studied the effect of BPA on sexual behavior by testing sexual orientation and sexual activity. Male sexual orientation toward a stimulus female was not affected by BPA, whereas the sexual activity test revealed a slight impairment of sexual performance due to BPA in terms of latency and frequency of intromissions. In females, BPA produced a small increase in sexual motivation and receptive behavior. In conclusion, BPA administration, both during pregnancy and during lactation, does not masculinize female behavior or potentiate masculinization processes of males. On the contrary, we observed a potentiation of female behavior in females and a depotentiation of male behavior in males.
Chloroquine: Ophthalmological Safety, and Clinical Assessment in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: S. P. B. Percival, I. Meanock
Journal: BMJ (1968)

272 patients on long-term chloroquine therapy were assessed with respect to ocular toxicity and clinical benefit. A simple scheme for rendering patients ophthalmologically safe is presented, employing the recording of central fields to red targets. Under this it was possible to diagnose a state of premaculopathy, which was reversible on stopping treatment. The incidence of premaculopathy was 41% in 143 patients who otherwise displayed no abnormality of the fundus oculi and who had received a mean total dose of 410 g. of chloroquine phosphate or the hydroxychloroquine sulphate equivalent. Under this joint ophthalmological and rheumatological supervision it was considered that the minor side-effects that may be caused by chloroquine are outweighed by its therapeutic value.
Tendinous ruptures in rheumatoid arthritis.
Authors: H Serre, L Simon, J Vidal, J Sany, Y Allieu
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (1970)

<h3>Abstract</h3> Life depends on proteins, which all exist in nascent states when the growing polypeptide chain is covalently attached to a tRNA within the ribosome. Although the nascent chains; <i>i</i>.<i>e</i>., polypeptidyl-tRNAs (pep-tRNAs), are considered as merely transient intermediates during protein synthesis, recent advances have revealed that they are directly involved in a variety of cell functions, such as gene expression control. An increasing appreciation for fine-tuning at translational levels demands a general method to handle the pep-tRNAs on a large scale. Here, we developed a method termed <i>pe</i>ptidyl-<i>t</i>RNA <i>e</i>nrichment using <i>o</i>rganic extraction and <i>s</i>ilica adsorption (PETEOS), and then identify their polypeptide moieties by mass spectrometry. As a proof-of-concept experiment using <i>Escherichia coli</i>, we identified ∼800 proteins derived from the pep-tRNAs, which were markedly biased towards the N-termini in the proteins, reflecting that PETEOS captured the intermediate pep-tRNA population during translation. Furthermore, we observed the changes in the pep-tRNA set in response to heat shock or antibiotic treatments. In summary, PETEOS will complement conventional methods for profiling nascent chains such as ribosome profiling. <h3>Significance Statement</h3> In the central dogma of biology, RNA and protein are usually regarded as two completely independent molecular species. However, they are combined into a single species called peptidyl-tRNA (pep-tRNA) during the translation process in the ribosome. Despite the importance of pep-tRNAs as precursors of all proteins in the cell, a general method to analyze pep-tRNAs on a large scale was lacking. Taking advantage of the properties of pep-tRNAs as RNA and protein, we developed a method to enrich the pep-tRNAs by organic solvent extraction and silica column separation. The method, termed PETEOS, not only provides a unique approach to examine the nascent state of proteins but also may be effective in capturing snapshots of translation status in the cell.
Cytokines and particle-induced inflammatory cell recruitment.
Authors: K E Driscoll, J M Carter, D G Hassenbein, B Howard
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (1997)

The inflammatory response is a key component of host defense. However, excessive or persistent inflammation can contribute to the pathogenesis of disease. Inflammation is regulated, in part, by cytokines, which are small, typically glycosylated proteins that interact with membrane receptors to regulate cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, and secretion. During the past 10 years studies in humans and experimental animals have demonstrated that a cytokine called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) plays a key role in the initiation of inflammatory responses in the lung and other tissues, including inflammation resulting from inhalation of noxious particles. There is now compelling evidence that one of the pathways by which inhaled particles stimulate the recruitment and subsequent activation of inflammatory cells is through the activation of lung macrophages to release TNF-alpha. TNF-alpha then acts via paracrine and autocrine pathways to stimulate cells to release other cytokines known as chemokines, which are directly chemotactic to leukocytes and other cells that participate in inflammatory and wound healing responses. In addition to a TNF-alpha-mediated pathway, there is growing evidence that some particles such as quartz and crocidolite can directly activate lung epithelial cells to release chemokines such as macrophage inflammatory protein-2, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant, and interleukin-8. A direct stimulatory effect of particles on lung epithelium may represent an additional or alternate pathway by which inhaled particles may elicit inflammation in the lung. Recent studies have suggested that oxidative stress may be a component of the mechanism by which particles activate cytokine production in cells such as macrophages and epithelial cells. The contribution of oxidative stress to particle-induced cytokine gene expression appears to be mediated, at least in part, through activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B.
Reconstitution or Resurrection of Normal Stem Cells in Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia
Authors: George P. Canellos
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1979)

Chronic granulocytic leukemia is a rare disease representing approximately less than one quarter of the adult leukemias. Despite its rarity, the disease has attracted a considerable interest. The demonstration of a consistent chromosomal abnormality, the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph1), in cells of granulocytic, erythroid and megakaryocytic origin has added clinical information that these formed elements are derived from a common progenitor. The clonal origin of the disease has been demonstrated with the use of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase banding technics in the heterozygous females and cytogenetic studies of 46/47 mosaicism.1 , 2 The enzymatic and chromosome markers remain throughout the natural history of the . . .
John Barnes Foster
Authors: J. M. S. Pearce
Journal: BMJ (2013)

With the passing of John Barnes Foster (“Jack”), British neurology has lost one of its finest clinical exponents. Educated at Newcastle Grammar school, Jack barely missed a first at Newcastle Medical School and soon excelled while training in Newcastle and at the National Hospital, Queen Square. He served in the Royal Navy and had a fruitful year with Ray Adams and E P Richardson at Massachusetts General Hospital. On his return to England at the age …
Examples Abound of Gaps in Medical Knowledge Because of Groups Excluded From Scientific Study
Authors: Paul Cotton
Journal: JAMA (1990)

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM held that propranolol is more powerful in Asians because they are "small." "I didn't believe that," says Hong-Hao Zhou, MD, a clinical pharmacology researcher at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. He is one of a growing number of researchers rejecting facile explanations for age, sex, and race differences in drugs approved solely on the basis of study in middle-aged white men. Zhou found a far more complex reason why his Chinese patients need less than half as much of the β-blocker as whites to produce a 20% heart rate drop and are 4.5 times more sensitive to blood pressure reduction measured upright and 10 times more so supine. <h3>Metabolic, Elimination Differences</h3> Asians have much faster metabolism and elimination rates for propranolol, which lower plasma concentrations. That would weaken its effect, except that it is inactivated by protein binding more in the plasma of whites. So Chinese men receive less
Management of delayed puberty.
Authors: C G Brook
Journal: BMJ (1985)

are well known to occur in athletes who train hard.4It may be that exercise simply unmasks a pre-existing heart disorder and that those with unrecognised coronary artery disease simply die rather sooner.Perhaps this might account for early death in a handful of athletes.Any suggestion that Russian athletes are more likely to drop dead than their American counterparts remains, however, highly speculative -drugs or no drugs.
The PSRO Program: Start of a New Chapter?
Authors: Paul J. Sanazaro
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1977)

PSRO's have borne out the prediction that they would be difficult to implement because of their technical, professional and political complexities. Four years and five months after the signing of PL 92–603, not one PSRO is fully operational. The reasons for this delay are straightforward: administrative inaction followed by inconsistency and rigidity in directing the program; issuance, in November, 1974, of Utilization Review regulations whose legal status and meaning remain obscure to this day; underfunding by Congress; infighting for control among the heads of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the Bureau of Quality Assurance (BQA); disputes between state agencies . . .