tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Immunodiagnosis of Snake Bite
Authors: B. M. Greenwood, D. A. Warrell, N. M. Davidson, L. D. Ormerod, H. A. Reid
Journal: BMJ (1974)

Management of a patient with snake bite is influenced by the nature of the offending snake. Species diagnosis based on the patient9s history and physical signs is often unreliable and the possibility of making a species diagnosis by immunological means has therefore been investigated. Wound aspirates, blister fluids, sera, and urine samples from patients with snake bite were examined for the presence of species-specific venoms using immunodiffusion. A positive species diagnosis was made in 40 out of 101 patients. Immunodiagnosis was especially successful in patients bitten by the puff adder, Bitis arietans, and the African spitting cobra, Naja nigricollis. A higher success rate could probably be achieved using more specific antisera and more sensitive assay techniques.
Chronic Autoimmune Neutropenia Due to Anti-NA2 Antibody
Authors: Parviz Lalezari, An-Fu Jiang, Lonna Yegen, Maria Santorineou
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1975)

In exploring the immunologic causes of chronic neutropenia, we identified a persistent neutrophil-specific antibody with NA2 specificity in the blood of a nontransfused two-year-old girl with severe neutropenia. No such antibody was detected in the maternal blood. The antibody was first studied and identified when the patient was 11 months old, but she had had clinical manifestations since the age of one month. After a trial of steroid therapy, a marked but temporary reduction in the antibody titer occurred, accompanied by the rise of the neutrophils to normal level. Neutropenia reoccurred, however, when the antibody titer began to rise, despite continuation of steroid therapy. This transient response allowed the patient's neutrophils to become available and identified as NA2-positive. Although the cause of this disorder remains obscure, the data presented indicate that the anti-NA2 autoantibody is responsible for the neutropenia observed.
Immunosuppression in Cardiac Transplantation
Authors: Jeffrey D. Hosenpud
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2005)

In this issue of the Journal, Hershberger and colleagues present data from a multicenter trial of immunosuppression in cardiac-transplant recipients showing that daclizumab, a monoclonal antibody against the interleukin-2 receptor, reduces the overall incidence of cellular rejection.1 In discussing these data, I will focus on three areas: the role of and difficulty in carrying out randomized, controlled trials of immunosuppressive regimens in heart-transplant recipients, the end points one is forced to choose in performing such studies, and the clinical relevance of the primary end point of cellular rejection, as well as the possibility of a negative outcome.Any group that . . .
DETERMINANTS OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN APOLIPOPROTEIN B AND NON-HIGH DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN-CHOLESTEROL AMONG PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY REFERRAL LIPID MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Authors: Deepthi Vodnala, Melvyn Rubenfire, Sangeetha Krishnan, James Maciejko, Robert Brook
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2013)
Doctors' leaders suggest cutting medical school places by 5% in Scotland to save money
Authors: B. Christie
Journal: BMJ (2010)

Doctors across Scotland are being asked to identify where money is being wasted in local services to help deliver savings that have the least impact on patient care.

An email address has been set up by the British Medical Association in Scotland (nomorenhswaste@bma.org.uk) to gather information from doctors of local examples of wasteful spending. The evidence will then be presented to politicians.

The initiative comes as the BMA launched its manifesto for next year’s Scottish Parliament elections, which identifies one potential saving that may prove controversial. It calls on politicians to …
PNEUMONIC FEVER—ITS MORTALITY. WITH A CONSIDERATION OF SOME OF THE ELEMENTS OF PROGNOSIS.Read before the Chicago Medical Society, December 7, 1891.
Authors: EDWARD F. WELLS
Journal: JAMA (1892)

The death-rate of pneumonic fever varies, according to the statements of authors, from<i>nil</i>to 100 percent. I have collected and tabulated the statistics of 223,730 cases of this disease, of which number 40,276 perished from the direct effects of the malady—a rate of 18.1 per cent. These cases have been drawn from every available source, from all parts of the world, and have been subjected to every imaginable mode of treatment. Numerous schools of medical philosophy, and eras of fashion in therapeutics, have also passed through the various stages of their existence during the period of time covered by this inquiry. Notwithstanding this, it will be noticed that the death-rate of all the larger collections of cases—with few exceptions—is nearly the same, although they were probably subjected to widely different, possibly diametrically opposite, methods of therapeusis. From this we may infer that treatment alone has exercised but little influence
RELAX: Detecting Relaxed Selection in a Phylogenetic Framework
Authors: Joel O. Wertheim, Ben Murrell, Martin D. Smith, Sergei L. Kosakovsky Pond, Konrad Scheffler
Journal: Molecular Biology and Evolution (2014)

Relaxation of selective strength, manifested as a reduction in the efficiency or intensity of natural selection, can drive evolutionary innovation and presage lineage extinction or loss of function. Mechanisms through which selection can be relaxed range from the removal of an existing selective constraint to a reduction in effective population size. Standard methods for estimating the strength and extent of purifying or positive selection from molecular sequence data are not suitable for detecting relaxed selection, because they lack power and can mistake an increase in the intensity of positive selection for relaxation of both purifying and positive selection. Here, we present a general hypothesis testing framework (RELAX) for detecting relaxed selection in a codon-based phylogenetic framework. Given two subsets of branches in a phylogeny, RELAX can determine whether selective strength was relaxed or intensified in one of these subsets relative to the other. We establish the validity of our test via simulations and show that it can distinguish between increased positive selection and a relaxation of selective strength. We also demonstrate the power of RELAX in a variety of biological scenarios where relaxation of selection has been hypothesized or demonstrated previously. We find that obligate and facultative γ-proteobacteria endosymbionts of insects are under relaxed selection compared with their free-living relatives and obligate endosymbionts are under relaxed selection compared with facultative endosymbionts. Selective strength is also relaxed in asexual Daphnia pulex lineages, compared with sexual lineages. Endogenous, nonfunctional, bornavirus-like elements are found to be under relaxed selection compared with exogenous Borna viruses. Finally, selection on the short-wavelength sensitive, SWS1, opsin genes in echolocating and nonecholocating bats is relaxed only in lineages in which this gene underwent pseudogenization; however, selection on the functional medium/long-wavelength sensitive opsin, M/LWS1, is found to be relaxed in all echolocating bats compared with nonecholocating bats.
Did survival of patients with distant metastasis from breast cancer improve during the last three decades? A cohort study on 4071 breast cancers.
Authors: T Delozier, O Switsers, J Ollivier, C Levy, A Rivière, D Allouache
Journal: Cancer Research (2009)

Abstract Abstract #3129 Introduction: During the last three decades we observed a dramatic improvement in disease free and overall survival in early breast cancer. The improvement of survival of patients who underwent distant metastases is not obvious.&amp;#x2028; The objective of the study was to determine whether the survival of women with distant recurrent breast cancer has improved from 1973 to 2002.&amp;#x2028; Method: We analyzed survival of 4071 women who developed distant metastasis from breast cancer between January 1973 and December 2002 whatever the primary tumor status and initial treatment were. Patients were divided into five groups based on year of breast cancer distant recurrence.&amp;#x2028; Results: In the unadjusted analysis there was a slight but significant improvement in survival across the five groups (p&amp;lt;0.0001), leading to a median survival time of 11.0, 13.9, 17.9, 16.2, 17.3 and 19.8 months respectively and a two-year survival probability of 27.2, 32.3, 39.6, 37.6, 38.7 and 41.0% respectively. In a multivariate analysis including other prognostic factors for metastatic breast carcinoma (age, tumor size, node involvement, tumor grade, estradiol receptors status, site of metastasis and delay from primary treatment), year of recurrence remain a prognostic factor (p=0,001).&amp;#x2028; Survival improvement was more obvious for women with bone metastasis and for women under 70 years old when primary treatment did not include adjuvant chemotherapy.&amp;#x2028; Conclusion: These results suggest that survival of women with distant recurrent breast cancer improved during the last three decades. Nevertheless this improvement is moderate and the long term survival probability is still weak. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 3129.
Is Pulmonary Vein Isolation Necessary for Curing Atrial Fibrillation?
Authors: Giuseppe Stabile, Pietro Turco, Vincenzo La Rocca, Pasquale Nocerino, Eugenio Stabile, Antonio De Simone
Journal: Circulation (2003)

Pulmonary veins (PVs) play a pivotal role in initiating and perpetuating atrial fibrillation (AF). We investigated if PV electrical isolation from the left atrium is required for curing AF.Fifty-one patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF underwent circumferential radiofrequency ablation of PV ostia performed with an anatomic approach. The end point of the ablation procedure was the recording of low peak-to-peak bipolar potentials (<0.1 mV) inside the lesions. Left atrium pacing was used to assess the conduction between the PVs and the left atrium. During a mean follow-up period of 16.6+/-3.9 months, 41 patients (80.4%) were free of atrial arrhythmias. When patients with and without AF recurrence were analyzed, no significant difference was observed in the mean number of PVs in which the ablation end point was reached (3.4+/-1.2 versus 3.7+/-0.87) and PVs isolated (1.5+/-1.4 versus 1.6+/-1). We noted that, although in 29 of 41 patients (71%) without AF recurrence, the ablation end point was reached in all PVs mapped, it was only possible to demonstrate the isolation of all PVs mapped in 2 patients. On the other hand, in 7 of 10 patients (70%) with AF recurrence, the ablation end point was reached in all PVs mapped, whereas one patient had all PVs isolated.Our findings show that with the use of a pure anatomic approach, it is possible to prevent AF in >80% of patients undergoing catheter ablation. Moreover, the isolation of PVs is not crucial for curing AF.
Intracellular Signals Mediating the Food Intake-Suppressive Effects of Hindbrain Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Activation
Authors: Matthew R. Hayes, Theresa M. Leichner, Shiru Zhao, Grace S. Lee, Amy Chowansky, Derek Zimmer, Bart C. De Jonghe, Scott E. Kanoski, Harvey J. Grill, Kendra K. Bence
Journal: Cell Metabolism (2011)
A Trial of Three Antiretroviral Regimens in HIV-1–Infected Children
Authors: Katherine Luzuriaga, Margaret McManus, Lynne Mofenson, Paula Britto, Bobbie Graham, John L. Sullivan
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2004)

Depletion of CD4 T-cell counts or progression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease occurs rapidly in children, but few data address the efficacy of aggressive therapy for HIV-infected children.We evaluated the safety, tolerability, and activity of three regimens of antiretroviral therapy in a multicenter, open-label, phase 1-2 trial. Children infected with HIV type 1 (HIV-1) were stratified at entry according to age--three months or younger (early therapy) or older than three months (delayed therapy)--and assigned sequentially to one of three regimens. Children continued to receive treatment for up to 200 weeks if the plasma HIV-1 RNA level was less than 1000 copies per milliliter by 16 weeks.Plasma HIV-1 RNA levels fell from a median of 5.3 log copies per milliliter (range, 3.3 to 6.4 log copies per milliliter) at baseline to less than 1000 copies per milliliter at 16 weeks in 32 of 52 infants (62 percent). Plasma HIV-1 RNA levels were below 400 copies per milliliter at 48 weeks in 26 infants (50 percent) and at 200 weeks in 23 infants (44 percent). An intention-to-treat analysis revealed that significantly more children who received stavudine, lamivudine, nevirapine, and nelfinavir had plasma HIV-1 RNA levels of less than 400 copies per milliliter at 48 weeks (83 percent) and 200 weeks (72 percent) than children who received reverse-transcriptase inhibitors alone (P=0.001 and P=0.01, respectively). Fewer infants in the delayed-therapy group than in the early-therapy group (30 percent vs. 60 percent) had plasma HIV-1 RNA levels of less than 400 copies per milliliter at 200 weeks (P=0.03). Treatment-associated adverse effects were infrequent.In this phase 1-2 trial involving HIV-1-infected children, an age of three months or younger at the initiation of therapy and treatment with stavudine, lamivudine, nevirapine, and nelfinavir were associated with improved long-term viral suppression. Larger, randomized trials are required to define the optimal time to initiate therapy and the optimal regimen for these infants.
Five year follow-up of patients with operable breast cancer whose sentinel nodes were completely sectioned at 0.25mm.
Authors: K Dowlatshahi, R Alvarado, M Harrison, T Witt, J Gatta, K Bloom
Journal: Cancer Research (2009)

Abstract Abstract #1017 Background: 20-30% of patients with operable breast cancer and negative axillary lymph nodes develop recurrence within 10 years. With the advent of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) as a substitute to axillary lymph node dissection for staging of these patients, detailed examination of sentinel nodes for metastases has become feasible. Our group has previously reported on detection of 25% occult metastases in 200 patients with T1-T2 invasive breast cancer whose sentinel nodes were initially sectioned at 2-3 mm intervals and stained with H&amp;E. The blocks were then sectioned at 0.25 mm intervals in the entirety and stained with immuno-histochemical technique (IHC). Some patients were given conventional chemo-hormonal therapy based upon tumor prognostic factors. We now present the disease recurrence in these patients at median follow-up of five years.&amp;#x2028; Methods: Prospectively registered records of 209 consecutive patients with T1-T2 invasive breast cancer treated with lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy at Rush University Medical Center by three surgeons between December 1997 and May 2002 were reviewed. Of the remaining 175, the nodes were sectioned at 0.25 mm throughout and stained with IHC. The remaining 123 cases had no metastases. Adjuvant chemo-hormonal therapy was given to 38 patients with unfavorable prognostic factors and none to 85.&amp;#x2028; Results: The mean age of the patients and their tumor size were 54.6 years and 1.44 cm respectively. The mean length of follow up was 5.8 years. 34 of 209 patients had metastases in their sentinel nodes based on 2-3 mm sectioning and H&amp;E staining. They were offered adjuvant chemo-hormonal therapy. 27 accepted and7 did not. Of the 209 patients, 175 had negative SLNB by routine examination. Of these, 52 (29.7%) were found to have occult metastases (isolated cells: 31, colonies&amp;gt; 0.2 mm: 21) upon 0.25 mm sectioning and IHC staining. Details of the findings are summarized in the table. The incidence of disease recurrence was noted to be similar in the subsets of patients with and without occult metastases.&amp;#x2028; Conclusion&amp;#x2028; Complete sectioning of the sentinel nodes in 209 patients with T1 and T2 breast cancer resulted in detection of occult metastases in 52 patients ranging in size from single cells to colonies of cells measuring up to 1500 microns. However, the incidence of disease recurrence at 5 year appears unaffected by these metastases.&amp;#x2028; &amp;#x2028; m*: Small metastases: isolated cells&amp;#x2028; M*: Large metastases: colonies of cells. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 1017.
Nomenclature: What is your name?
Authors: G. Chamberlain
Journal: BMJ (1997)

For a couple of decades obstetricians and midwives have been preaching that women having babies were usually normal; they and their offspring were only occasionally subject to pathological processes and most proceeded physiologically. Following this realisation came the problem of what to call the recipients of obstetric care. If they were not ill they were not patients yet they sought medical help to keep them on the straight and narrow of normal childbirth. The more direct minded professional attendants called them women. Confusion expanded when the social scientists christened the women clients, presumably a part of the psychobabble endeavouring to hint at control over …
Adrenaline and the Inner World
Authors: Simon L Bacon
Journal: BMJ (2006)

detectives found Mollie Jamieson at the shop where she worked in Melbourne, Australia, and told her bluntly that her 21 year old daughter, Carolyn, was dead.Mollie and her husband were then interrogated for hours over what they knew of their daughter's illegal abortion.But it was the first they knew of it.Such was the shame surrounding abortion that Carolyn had been unable to tell her parents of the real reason she was going away on "holiday."Carolyn was the last woman known to have died from illegal abortion in Victoria before a 1969 judicial ruling that abortion was lawful if necessary to protect a woman from serious danger to life or health.Her death also had another important effect-it horrified a former military doctor, Bertram Wainer, so much that he gave up his general practice in Melbourne to push for abortion law reform.Wainer's partner in this high profile and dangerous campaign was Jo Richardson, a university student activist whom he met through the Abortion Law Reform Association, and who later became his wife.Together they set up Australia's first openly operating abortion clinic in 1972.In 1985 Mollie Jamieson was one of hundreds of women who responded to an advertisement placed by Dr Wainer in a Melbourne newspaper asking for people's stories of abortion."The next generation must know what it was like for women," the advertisement said.Two years later, Dr Wainer died.For almost 20 years, Jo Wainer carried with her the yellowing transcripts of the interviews that had emerged from people who responded to the advertisement.Finally, she felt the time was right to publish them in Lost: Illegal Abortion Stories, a slim book that packs a powerful emotional punch.
Genetic impact of vaccination on breakthrough HIV-1 sequences from the STEP trial
Authors: Morgane Rolland, Sodsai Tovanabutra, Allan C deCamp, Nicole Frahm, Peter B Gilbert, Eric Sanders-Buell, Laura Heath, Craig A Magaret, Meera Bose, Andrea Bradfield, Annemarie O'Sullivan, Jacqueline Crossler, Teresa Jones, Marty Nau, Kim Wong, Hong Zhao, Dana N Raugi, Stephanie Sorensen, Julia N Stoddard, Brandon S Maust, Wenjie Deng, John Hural, Sheri Dubey, Nelson L Michael, John Shiver, Lawrence Corey, Fusheng Li, Steve G Self, Jerome Kim, Susan Buchbinder, Danilo R Casimiro, Michael N Robertson, Ann Duerr, M Juliana McElrath, Francine E McCutchan, James I Mullins
Journal: Nature Medicine (2011)
Influence of age and severity of dermatitis on the percutaneous absorption of hydrocortisone in children
Authors: M. TURPEINEN
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (1988)

The results of 55 4-h hydrocortisone absorption tests in 38 children with atopic or seborrhoeic dermatitis were analysed to evaluate the effect of age and severity of the dermatitis on percutaneous absorption of hydrocortisone. The children were divided into three groups on the basis of the severity of the dermatitis. The absorption of hydrocortisone caused a significantly higher mean rise of serum cortisol in 20 children with severe dermatitis (Group A) than in 17 children with moderate dermatitis (Group B). The mean post-application rise of serum cortisol in 18 children with mild dermatitis (Group C) was significantly lower than in the children with moderate dermatitis. There was a significant negative linear correlation between age and the post-application rise of serum cortisol in Groups A and C. In these groups the mean post-application rise of serum cortisol was significantly higher in children aged under 18 months than in children aged 18 months or over. Severe widespread dermatitis and an age under 18 months are two relevant risk factors in the topical use of hydrocortisone.
Thromboembolism and Cor Pulmonale Complicating Ventriculovenous Shunt
Authors: Blaise E. Favara
Journal: JAMA (1967)

NEUROSURGICAL attempts at establishing shunts from the cerebroventricular system to various sites have met with remarkable success in the management of hydrocephalus. In some cases where drainage is from cerebral ventricle to the superior vena cava or right atrium sepsis or thromboembolism, or both, have been observed as serious complications. We have observed a child in whom cor pulmonale occurred in this way and in whom the autopsy findings suggest a pathogenic mechanism to our knowledge not previously emphasized. <h3>Report of a Case</h3> A white boy was first admitted to this hospital on Oct 25, 1965 at 3 years and 8 months of age, for surgical correction of a right acetabular defect. He was born by breech delivery and required resuscitation (birth weight was 4,091 gm [9 lb]). At 9 days of age a congenital meningomyelocele was repaired and at 2 weeks of age bilateral club feet were corrected surgically.
European parliament criticises H1N1 pandemic response
Authors: R. Watson
Journal: BMJ (2011)

The European Union parliament has branded as “disproportionate” some of the public health measures that governments took during the H1N1 pandemic two years ago. MEPs have also called on European Union countries to overhaul their prevention plans to make them more effective, coherent, and flexible.

In a strongly worded resolution the parliament urges the World Health Organization to revise the definition of a pandemic to take account not just of its geographical spread but also of its severity.

The resolution and accompanying report were drafted by the French Green MEP Michele Rivasi. After they were approved on 8 March in Strasbourg she said, “This report …