tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Diagnosis of asthma - a new approach
Authors: O. Löwhagen
Journal: Allergy (2012)

Abstract Current definition of asthma involves four cornerstones: inflammation, hyperresponsiveness, bronchoconstriction, and symptoms. In research, the symptoms have had the slightest attention. According to international guidelines, the asthma symptoms are episodic breathlessness, wheeze, cough, tightness of the chest, and shortness of breath. As there are several symptoms, a primary question is how they are related to bronchoconstriction, the main clinical feature of asthma. Symptoms and lung function tests are regularly used for the evaluation of clinical health status and effect of treatment. However, there is no or poor correlation between these two variables, which means that they represent different mechanisms. Reduced lung function, such as a low FEV 1 , represents bronchial constriction, what do the symptoms represent? Some symptoms such as breathlessness and shortness of breath seem not to be evidence‐based asthma symptoms. Focusing on bronchial obstruction is important in view of the potential risk of asthma attacks, but nonobstructive symptoms occur frequently and may also cause severe discomfort and poor quality of life. Interpreting all symptoms as signs of bronchoconstriction (asthma) may lead to misinterpretation when assessing health status and effect of treatment. Although a ‘soft’ variable, the strength of symptoms is that they are representing various mechanisms. The physiological preconditions for control and defense of respiration must be considered in the diagnostic process, regardless of inflammation, allergy, psychology, or other etiological factors. Based on studies on dyspnea in cardiopulmonary diseases, including asthma and asthma‐like disorders, there seems to be a continuous spectrum of symptoms and mechanisms integrated in a single asthma syndrome.
Effect of dibutylnitrosamine and saccharin on glutamyl transpeptidase-positive foci and liver cancer.
Authors: M A Pereira, S L Herren, A L Britt
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (1983)

Consistent with the proposed precursor relationship of GGTase-positive foci to hepatocarcinogenesis, the induction of foci by DBN was associated with the induction of hyperplastic nodules and hepatocellular carcinoma and the concurrent administration of sodium saccharin in the diet with DBN in the drinking water increased the tumorigenic response in the liver to DBN.
Effect of circulating immune complexes on the binding of rheumatoid factor to histones
Authors: H. A E. Gussin
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2000)

To determine whether the reaction of rheumatoid factor (RF) with solid phase histone is due to the simultaneous presence of circulating immune complexes (CICs) or aggregated IgG.Serum samples from 56 patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 50 random blood bank donors were used. Binding of immunoglobulins to histone was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by western blots. Aggregated IgG was obtained by heating at 61(o)C for 30 minutes.Among the RA sera tested by ELISA, 54% were positive for histone binding by IgM, IgG, or IgA and 20% by IgM only. Heating of normal sera caused a significant enhancement in the binding of IgG to histone (p<0.001). This binding had a non-cognate behaviour-that is, it was destroyed by pepsin treatment of serum and was not significantly inhibited by competition with free histone. The same behaviour was seen for IgM, IgG, and IgA binding from RA sera. However, cognate IgG antibody binding to histone was inhibited by free histone and was resistant to pepsin digestion. Addition of heat aggregated IgG to RA sera or pretreatment of histone with aggregated IgG caused a significant increase in IgM binding to histone.IgM, IgG, and IgA RF bind to solid phase histone as a result of attachment to histone of immune complexes or aggregated IgG and not as a result of a cognate reaction with histone.
Medical students' application of published evidence: randomised trial
Authors: A. Schwartz
Journal: BMJ (2003)

To determine how medical students apply research evidence that varies in validity of methods and importance of results to a clinical decision.Students examined a standardised patient with a whiplash injury, decided whether to order a cervical spine radiograph, and rated their confidence in their decision. They then read one of four randomly assigned variants of a structured abstract from a study of a decision rule that argued against such a procedure in this patient. Variants factorially combined two levels of validity of methods (prospective cohort or chart review) with two levels of importance of results (high sensitivity or high specificity rule). After reading the abstract, students repeated their choice and rated their confidence.Academic medical centre in the United States.164 graduating medical students.Proportion of students in each group whose beliefs shifted or stayed the same.When abstracts were of low importance students were more likely to shift their beliefs in favour of radiography, which was not supported by the evidence (odds ratio 3.42, 95% confidence interval 1.10 to 10.66). Neither methodological validity nor the interaction between validity and importance influenced decision shift. Few students acquired all necessary clinical data from the patient.Although the students could apply concepts of diagnostic testing, greater focus is needed on appraisal of validity and application of evidence to a particular patient.
The high molecular weight glutenin subunit Bx7 allergen from wheat contains repetitive IgE epitopes
Authors: A. Baar, S. Pahr, C. Constantin, S. Giavi, N. G. Papadopoulos, A. S. Pelkonen, M. J. Mäkelä, S. Scheiblhofer, J. Thalhamer, M. Weber, C. Ebner, A. Mari, S. Vrtala, R. Valenta
Journal: Allergy (2014)

Wheat is one of the most common food allergen sources for children and adults. The aim of this study was to characterize new wheat allergens using an IgE discovery approach and to investigate their IgE epitopes.A cDNA expression library representing the wheat transcriptome was constructed in phage lambda gt11 and screened with IgE antibodies from wheat food allergic patients. IgE-reactive cDNA clones coding for portions of high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits were identified by sequence analysis of positive clones. IgE epitopes were characterized using recombinant fragments from the HMW Bx7 and synthetic peptides thereof for testing of allergic patients' sera and in basophil degranulation assays.We found that the major IgE-reactive areas of HMW glutenins are located in the repetitive regions of the protein and could show that two independent IgE-reactive fragments from HMW Bx7 contained repetitive IgE epitopes.Our results demonstrate that IgE antibodies from wheat food allergic patients can recognize repetitive epitopes in one of the important wheat food allergens. Recombinant HMW Bx7 may be included into the panel of allergens for component-resolved diagnosis of wheat food allergy.
Health Care in Nicaragua: Primary Care Under Changing Regimes
Authors: Odin W. Anderson
Journal: JAMA (1993)

A number of books have been written about health services in developing countries, but none have attempted to introduce a modern preventive-curative health service in its economic, political, and social context as does this one on Nicaragua from 1980 through 1990. The authors describe the social, economic, and health services and the condition of the country at the beginning of the 1980s following the dictatorship of the Somoza family, the subsequent Cuban-type revolution by the Sandinistas, and an election in 1990 in which they were replaced by a more moderate, pluralistic type of western capitalist democracy. In addition to the political upheavals and guerilla tactics of the contras against the Sandinistas and a devastating earthquake and ferocious hurricane, Nicaraguan society emerged a somewhat better society than it had been previous to the Somozas. In addition, the population increased from an 1.7 million in 1964 to 4.1 million in 1990. From
Colonization of germ-free mice with a mixture of three lactobacillus strains enhances the integrity of gut mucosa and ameliorates allergic sensitization
Authors: Hana Kozakova, Martin Schwarzer, Ludmila Tuckova, Dagmar Srutkova, Elzbieta Czarnowska, Ilona Rosiak, Tomas Hudcovic, Irma Schabussova, Petra Hermanova, Zuzana Zakostelska, Tamara Aleksandrzak-Piekarczyk, Anna Koryszewska-Baginska, Helena Tlaskalova-Hogenova, Bozena Cukrowska
Journal: Cellular and Molecular Immunology (2015)
Testing for Phenylketonutia After Infancy
Authors: M. E. Budding
Journal: BMJ (1965)

doubt that the " Benchuca " in question was Triatoma infestans.(3) It is indisputable that Triatoma infestans has been repeatediy proved to be an excellent carrier ol Trypanosoma cruzi.The natural infection rate with T. cruzi in these bugs varies from
Comparative Epidemiology of the Mental Disorders
Authors: W. Donald Ross
Journal: JAMA (1962)

There is now an epidemic of investigations of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders. That this epidemic is assuming world-wide proportions is evidenced by the number of European and North American countries represented in this collected proceedings of the forty-ninth annual meeting of the American Psychopathological Association. That it is a desirable epidemic is substantiated by the high caliber of the papers which are presented and by the comprehensive coverage of mental health research in terms of the definition of epidemiology. The general information to be gleaned from this volume is that there are now many careful studies being made by psychiatrists and other behavioral scientists along the lines which proved so fruitful in earlier years in public health and preventive medicine and that some appreciation of the methodology and results can be obtained by reading several of the papers.
Fine Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards: Public Health Impact on Populations in the Northeastern United States
Authors: Philip R.S. Johnson, John J. Graham
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2005)

In this article we identify the magnitude of general and susceptible populations within the northeastern United States that would benefit from compliance with alternative U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annual and 24-hr mass-based standards for particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter < or = 2.5 microm (PM2.5). Understanding the scale of susceptibility in relation to the stringency or protectiveness of PM standards is important to achieving the public health protection required by the Clean Air Act of 1970. Evaluative tools are therefore necessary to place into regulatory context available health and monitoring data appropriate to the current review of the PM National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Within the New England, New Jersey, and New York study area, 38% of the total population are < 18 or > or =65 years of age, 4-18% of adults have cardiopulmonary or diabetes health conditions, 12-15% of children have respiratory allergies or lifetime asthma, and 72% of all persons (across child, adult, and elderly age groups) live in densely populated urban areas with elevated PM2.5 concentrations likely creating heightened exposure scenarios. The analysis combined a number of data sets to show that compliance with a range of alternative annual and 24-hr PM2.5 standard groupings would affect a large fraction of the total population in the Northeast. This work finds that current PM2.5 standards in the eight-state study area affect only 16% of the general population, who live in counties that do not meet the existing annual/24-hr standard of 15/65 microg/m3. More protective PM2.5 standards recommended or enacted by California and Canada would protect 84-100% of the Northeast population. Standards falling within current ranges recommended by the U.S. EPA would protect 29-100% of the Northeast population. These considerations suggest that the size of general and susceptible populations affected by the stringency of alternative PM standards has broad implications for risk management and direct bearing on the U.S. EPA's current NAAQS review and implementation.
Medical journals' subscription policies for developing countries
Authors: C. Sungur, S. Ruacan
Journal: BMJ (1993)

among outpatients was not associated with any measurable benefits to patients, but 43% of doctors used information on functional status to change treatment.5It is not appropriate to generalise from American experience to British hospitals, where geriatric services are more multidisciplinary and training is longer.Similar trials are urgently needed.It would be useful to know more detail of the patterns of compliance with both measures at both times in Wessex as this may indicate where resistance lies and where research may be most usefully targeted.Interviews with the 40 consult- ants in Wessex would also be useful to explore their views on the reasons for poor compliance and to define research needs.The main weakness of the consensus approach adopted by the Royal College of Physicians and the British Geriatrics Society (and other prestigious groups in other aspects of medicine) is that acts of faith are required to bridge gaps in scientific evidence.Spending resources in applying new technologies of unknown efficacy cannot be defended unless there is a planned evaluation of the technologies' value.The NHS Research and Development division's newly constituted health technology assessment boards should provide a useful source of new funding for this purpose.
The BMJ at Home and Abroad
Authors: F. J. Ingelfinger
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1973)

What with Life following Look to the graveyard, publishers and editors of some other journals may well eye each other with that apprehensive "who's next?"- look. Particularly vulnerable, according to a Life contributor, is the general periodical, one that does not focus sharply on a single topic such as sports, sewing or sex, but rather "cut[s] across all our special, private interests."1 Similar anxieties may haunt those responsible for general medical journals, which, like department stores, display a broad range of wares instead of presenting their offerings to the devotees of specialization, with interests ranging from acupuncture to zymology. Yet . . .
Human ventricular refractoriness. Effects of cycle length, pacing site and atropine.
Authors: S B Guss, J A Kastor, M E Josephson, D L Schare
Journal: Circulation (1976)

The effective refractory period of the right ventricle (ERP-V) was measured in 27 patients during atrial or ventricular pacing using the ventricular extra stimulus method. Pacing was conducted with impulses of 1.5-2 times diastolic threshold. The ERP-V was directly related to the basic cycle length (BCL) although the ERP-V was always greater for atrial pacing than for ventricular pacing at a given BCL. The ratio ERP-V/BCL was greater at shorter cycle lengths indicating that a larger fraction of the cycle was refractory at faster heart rates. The ratio ERP-V/QT interval did not change over a range of BCLs, but the ratio was larger for atrial pacing (.77 +/- .05 SD) than for ventricular pacing (.60 +/- .05). Atropine (1 mg i.v.) was given to six patients. The drug did not affect the ERP-V in six of eleven determinations, prolonged ERP-V twice and shortened it slightly three times. Measurements were reproducible over an hour but varied at a given BCL when measured on separate days. Asymptomatic repetitive beating occurred in seven of 27 patients when the premature stimulus was within 20 msec of the ERP-V. The effective refractory period of the right ventricle in man can be determined reproducibly and with safety. Changes induced by various perturbations parallel results from in vitro single cell and myocardial studies.
Discontinuation of hormone replacement therapy after myocardial infarction and short term risk of adverse cardiovascular events: nationwide cohort study
Authors: D.-M. Bretler, P. R. Hansen, R. Sorensen, J. Lindhardsen, O. Ahlehoff, C. Andersson, S. Z. Abildstrom, C. Torp-Pedersen, G. H. Gislason
Journal: BMJ (2012)

<b>Objective</b> To assess the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in women who discontinue hormone replacement therapy after myocardial infarction compared with those who continue. <b>Design</b> Nationwide register based cohort study. <b>Setting</b> All hospitals in Denmark. <b>Population</b> All 3322 women aged 40 years or over who survived 30 days after a myocardial infarction and were prescribed hormone replacement therapy at the time of myocardial infarction in the period 1997 to 2008. <b>Main outcome measures</b> Reinfarction, cardiovascular mortality, and all cause mortality 30 to 360 days after discharge<b>.</b> <b>Results</b> A total of 282 (8.5%) women had a reinfarction, 218 (6.6%) died of cardiovascular causes, and 357 (10.7%) died of any cause during follow-up. Women who discontinued overall hormone replacement therapy in the first year after myocardial infarction did not have a significantly different risk of reinfarction (hazard ratio 0.90, 95% confidence interval 0.68 to 1.19), cardiovascular mortality (1.21, 0.90 to 1.62), or all cause mortality (1.22, 0.97 to 1.53) than women who continued use. However, discontinuation of vaginal oestrogen was associated with a lower risk of reinfarction (hazard ratio 0.54, 0.34 to 0.86). <b>Conclusion</b> No certain conclusions can be drawn regarding increased or decreased risk of adverse cardiovascular events with continuing hormone replacement therapy after myocardial infarction. The results rule out neither a modest benefit nor a worrisome increase in risk. These figures may be valuable when a possible cardiovascular risk of hormone replacement therapy needs to be balanced with menopausal symptoms for the individual patient.
Abstract IA17: Developing improved methods to measure human DNA repair capacity
Authors: Leona D. Samson
Journal: Cancer Research (2012)

Abstract The Samson lab has been developing potentially high-throughput methods for measuring DNA repair capacity (DRC) in human cells. These approaches are modeled on the pioneering work of the late Professor Lawrence Grossman and rely on the transfection of plasmids containing specific types of DNA damage and then monitoring the repair of that damage by the expression of a reporter gene that is poorly expressed in the absence of repair. One of our goals is to simultaneously measure DRC for a variety of DNA repair pathways using a multiplexed approach and a collection of fluorescent proteins of different color. So far we have developed methods for measuring relative levels of nucleotide excision repair, homologous recombination, DNA mismatch repair, and MGMT mediated repair. We are currently extending this approach to encompass other DNA repair pathways. Measuring DNA repair capacity in various human cell types may help predict inter-individual differences in the ability of people to respond upon exposure to environmental agents and thus predict their cancer susceptibility. Moreover, knowing the DNA repair capacity of tumor cells for different types of DNA damage could help in choosing more effective chemotherapy regimens. Citation Format: Leona D. Samson. Developing improved methods to measure human DNA repair capacity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chemical Systems Biology: Assembling and Interrogating Computational Models of the Cancer Cell by Chemical Perturbations; 2012 Jun 27-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(13 Suppl):Abstract nr IA17.
Pneumoconiosis in animals exposed to poly(vinyl chloride) dust.
Authors: D H Groth, D W Lynch, W J Moorman, L E Stettler, T R Lewis, W D Wagner, C Kommineni
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (1981)

Rats, guinea pigs and monkeys were exposed by inhalation (6 hr/day, 5 days/week) for up to 22 months to a 13 mg/m3 concentration of PVC dust. Autopsies on rats and guinea pigs were performed after 12 months of exposure and on monkeys after 22 months after 22 months of exposure. Lung function tests were performed on monkeys after 9, 14 and 22 months of exposure. Aggregates of alveolar macrophages containing PVC particles were found in the lungs of all animals. These aggregates were more numerous in the monkey lungs. No fibrosis or significant cellular infiltrates were present in or near these cellular aggregates. No significant effects on pulmonary function could be demonstrated in the monkeys exposed to PVC. Under the conditions of this experiment, inhaled PVC produced a benign pneumoconiosis.
Interferon Alfa Therapy in <i>CALR</i>-Mutated Essential Thrombocythemia
Authors: Bruno Cassinat, Emmanuelle Verger, Jean-Jacques Kiladjian
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2014)

In this report, two patients with essential thrombocythemia and somatic mutations in the gene encoding calreticulin but no mutations in the Janus kinase 2 gene had a response to interferon alfa therapy.
Oral Contraceptives and Thrombophlebitis
Authors: J. Shafar, G. Behr
Journal: BMJ (1962)

A case is reported in which there is a suspected association between oral contraceptives and thromboembolic disease.  The case concerns a woman 30 years old who died following a 4-months period of taking Conovid E as a contraceptive.  The right lower lobe of the lung showed an infarct the left pulmonary artery contained an embolus and the left external iliac vein had a thrombosis.
Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) in the mediastinum: long-term survival animal experiments in transesophageal access, including minor surgical procedures
Authors: A. Fritscher-Ravens, K. Patel, A. Ghanbari, E. Kahle, A. von Herbay, T. Fritscher, H. Niemann, P. Koehler
Journal: Endoscopy (2007)

Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) within the peritoneal cavity is rapidly evolving, using transgastric, transcolonic, or transvaginal access. There is little experience with transesophageal NOTES access to the mediastinum. This prospective long-term animal survival study was performed to explore the feasibility and safety of transesophageal intrathoracic procedures including minor surgery.Nine pigs were used for acute (n = 2) and up to 6-week survival studies (n = 7), followed by autopsy and histological investigation. The esophageal incision site was chosen using EUS; this was followed by endoscopic mediastinoscopy and therapeutic procedures such as mediastinal lymph node removal, saline injection into myocardium, and pericardial fenestration. The wall was closed using a suturing system or endoscopic clips.No acute complications were recorded with respect to mediastinal structures, pericardium, cardiac rhythm, or circulatory parameters. Removal of small mediastinal lymph nodes (n = 2) was feasible, but proved to be difficult. Other procedures, specifically at the heart were all successfully performed. Endoscopy after 4 - 6 weeks showed a well-healed esophageal incision. Autopsy with histology revealed no signs of mediastinitis, infection, bleeding, or pericarditis. The esophageal scar was found to be well healed in all cases, but with a muscular gap where clip closure had been used.Transmural esophageal incision and endoscopic partial mediastinoscopy including therapeutic procedures on the heart or mediastinum proved feasible in long-term survival animal studies. Clip closure of the defect was effective, but did not close the esophageal muscle layer. Other means such as endoscopic suturing appear to be preferable.