tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
The Natural History of the Development of Obesity in a Cohort of Young U.S. Adults between 1981 and 1998
Authors: Kathleen M. McTigue, Joanne M. Garrett, Barry M. Popkin
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2002)

Background: Understanding the natural history of obesity in a population may be a critical step toward developing effective interventions. Objective: To assess the development of body mass and examine the role of race or ethnicity, sex, and birth year in obesity onset in young U.S. adults. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a national sample with oversampling of minority ethnic groups. Participants: 9179 persons. Measurements: Body mass index (BMI) calculated from 12 self-reported height and weight samples recorded between 1981 and 1998. Logistic regression identified predictors of obesity at age 35 to 37 years. Cox proportional-hazards models compared the incidence of obesity by ethnicity and birth year. Results: Overall, 26% of men and 28% of women were obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) by age 35 to 37 years. Race or ethnicity and baseline BMI were significant predictors of obesity. Obesity onset was 2.1 (95% CI, 1.6 to 2.7) times faster for black women and 1.5 (CI, 1.1 to 2.0) times faster for Hispanic women than for white women. The pattern for men differed: Overall, obesity developed most rapidly in Hispanic men, but relative rates of obesity onset for white men compared with black men varied according to age. The rate of obesity onset increased 26% to 28% over an 8-year span in birth year. Conclusions: Marked ethnic-based differences were found in rates of weight accumulation in young U.S. adults, with later birth cohorts experiencing earlier onset of obesity. To alter the course of obesity in the United States, interventions should target young adults, especially those of minority ethnic groups.
Factors Underlying Different Myopia Prevalence between Middle- and Low-income Provinces in China
Authors: Zhongqiang Zhou, Xiaochen Ma, Hongmei Yi, Xiaopeng Pang, Yaojiang Shi, Qianyun Chen, Mirjam E. Meltzer, Carlos Price-Sanchez, Mingguang He, Scott Rozelle, Ian Morgan, Nathan Congdon
Journal: Ophthalmology (2015)
Rise in abortions reflects poor links between contraception and abortion services, say campaigners
Authors: J. Carlowe
Journal: BMJ (2011)

The number of abortions in England and Wales is far higher than a decade ago—despite improved contraception uptake.

Figures released by the Department of Health, show that 189 574 abortions took place in 2010—0.3% more than in 2009 and 8% more than in 2000 (175 542).

The rise has alarmed sexual health experts who point out that contraception rates had been improving. They are now calling for the government to shake up reproductive health services.

Responding to the figures, Paula Franklin, director of clinical development at Marie Stopes International said: “With improvements in contraception rates last year, these figures come as a particular surprise . . . Although …
Pentoxifylline Inhibits TNF- α Production from Human Alveolar Macrophages
Authors: LEILA JOHN MARQUES, LING ZHENG, NIKOLAOS POULAKIS, JOSUNE GUZMAN, ULRICH COSTABEL
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (1999)

Tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ) is an important proinflammatory cytokine. Recently, pentoxifylline (POF) has been shown to suppress the synthesis of TNF- α from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human monocytes in cell cultures and in vivo. The aim of this study was to investigate whether POF-induced suppression of TNF- α secretion affects peripheral blood monocytes (PBM) and alveolar macrophages (AM) equally, and whether POF is able to suppress the spontaneous TNF- α production from AM in pulmonary sarcoidosis in vitro. In seven patients without interstitial lung disease we studied the effect of POF on LPS-stimulated PBM and AM cultured for 24 h. In six patients with sarcoidosis we investigated the effect of POF on the enhanced spontaneous TNF- α production by AM in vitro. POF induced a dose-dependent suppression of the LPS-stimulated TNF- α production which was not different for PBM and AM, respectively. In sarcoidosis, POF inhibited the spontaneous TNF- α production of AM at 0.1 mM by 91% and at 1 mM by 98%. In conclusion, POF inhibits LPS-induced TNF- α production from PBM and AM to a similar extent and can also inhibit the exaggerated spontaneous TNF- α production from AM in sarcoidosis in vitro. This may be the basis for further clinical trials to evaluate POF as an immunotherapeutic agent in sarcoidosis.
Albumin Lung/Heart Ratio Change
Authors: Fred S. Mishkin
Journal: JAMA (1987)

We investigated a simple method that can be used at the bedside for documenting the net accumulation of albumin in the lung. The technique employs measurement with a computer-linked gamma camera of the activity ratio in an area of the right lung compared with the same-sized area in the heart at 20 minutes and three hours following intravenous injection of technetium Tc 99m albumin. We applied this measurement to three groups of patients: a control group and patients with roentgenographic evidence of edema classified according to clinically available criteria as either hydrostatic edema or permeability edema to see if we could document differences among these groups. In control patients this ratio did not increase by more than seven units between the 20-minute and three-hour measurements. Of 18 patients classified by other routine clinical means as having hydrostatic pulmonary edema, 89% showed no increase in lung albumin accumulation. In 29 patients with permeability edema associated with the so-called adult respiratory distress syndrome, 31% showed evidence of net pulmonary albumin accumulation. These findings suggest that some patients otherwise classified as having hydrostatic edema have concomitant permeability changes in the microvasculature and that permeability edema represents a spectrum of endothelial damage.
Fighting Prostate Cancer with Radium-223 — Not Your Madame's Isotope
Authors: Neha Vapiwala, Eli Glatstein
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2013)

As each year ushers in new and innovative survival-enhancing treatments for castration-resistant prostate cancer with bone metastases, patients and their physicians have a sense of empowerment associated with this growing therapeutic arsenal.15 Nonetheless, nearly 30,000 men still die from prostate cancer every year, and many have debilitating illness from osseous involvement. For this latter group, Alpharadin in Symptomatic Prostate Cancer Patients, a randomized, placebo-controlled study reported by Parker et al. in this issue of the Journal, focuses on a new weapon in anticancer therapy.6 Radium-223 dichloride (radium-223), the first alpha emitter to undergo phase 3 testing and receive approval . . .
CULTIVATION OF VACCINE VIRUS
Authors: C. P. Li, T. M. Rivers
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1930)

1. A strain of neurovaccine virus was cultivated in a medium consisting of minced chick embryo suspended in Tyrode's solution. 2. The virus upon cultivation apparently lost none of its essential characteristics. 3. The culture virus can be preserved and stored for long periods of time. Furthermore, the preserved virus can be used to initiate fresh cultures.
Iron and folate supplements during pregnancy.
Authors: D. J. Swinhoe, A. B. Maclean, B. E. Gibson
Journal: BMJ (1989)

pulse.An electrocardiogram showed sinus bradycardia with wide QRS complexes (132 ms) and a prolonged PR interval (188 ms) suggesting flecainide toxicity.2There was no evidence of renal impairment.His parents had stored the flecainide syrup in their refrigerator, and, although they had seen "floaters" in the syrup, they had continued his treatment as instructed.Flecainide treatment was discontinued for six days and his electro- cardiogram returned to normal.The same dose of oral flecainide (20 mg twice daily) was then restarted and was prepared as freshly reconstituted powders.He is now 3 months old and developing normally.He has continued to take oral flecainide powders and has had no recurrence of his tachycardia or electrocardiographic signs of flecainide toxicity.We believe that the gross delay in atrial and ventricular conduction was due to the inadvertent administration of a toxic dose of flecainide syrup.This was caused by the storage of flecainide at 4°C, which in turn caused crystallisation of the drug into visible floaters of concentrated flecainide.When the crystals were ingested a toxic flecainide dose was received.We were able to confirm crystallisation of flecainide from syrup when it was refrigerated on the ward.We recommend that oral flecainide powders should be freshly reconstituted before each dose.
Eleven Years of Diphtheria Immunization in a Rural District
Authors: G. Nicholson, A. Z. Baker
Journal: BMJ (1940)

of 2 years, and 90(),' during childhood or adolescence.The sex incidence is equal.The picture presented is a com- bination of acute adrenal insufficiency and the phenomena of a fulminating infection-for example, purpUra, pyrexia, etc. Characteristically, a previously healthy child with perhaps brief respiratory catarrhal infection becomes sud- denly collapsed, with H-lippocratic facies.Vomiting and hyperpyrexia may occur.PLurpuLric haemorrhages are present at the onset, and rapidly become extensive, even to the simulation of post-mortem lividity.Meningitic signs are usually absent.Diagnosis must be made on the clinical features of the case, as the cerebrospinal fluid is usually normal and little time is available for study -of blood electrolytes.Death occurs usually within twenty- four houLrs of the onset. TreatmentThese patients die from a combination of the results of fulminating infection and acute adrenal insufficiency.The former muLst be combated with chemotherapy (the infection in 600%, of cases being due to the ineninlgococcus and less ofteni to the haemolytic streptococcus).The acute adrenal insufficiency is treated with large doses of sodium chloride (enterally or parenterally) and adrenal cortical hormone--the extract or desoxycorticosterone.That treatment is practicable and possible was demon- strated in the case of Carey's (1940), in which recovery was effected in a patient with this syndrome. SummaryA case of fulminating septicaemia.purpura.and adrenal haemorrhage (Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome) is reported.The salient features of the clinical picture are described, and rational and effective therapy is outlined.My thanks are due to Dr.
Bacillus piliformis infection (Tyzzer's disease) in a patient infected with HIV-1: Confirmation with 16S ribosomal RNA sequence analysis
Authors: Kathleen J. Smith, Henry G. Skelton, Edward J. Hilyard, Col Ted Hadfield, Robert S. Moeller, Sylvana Tuur, Catherine Decker, Kenneth F. Wagner, Peter Angritt
Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (1996)
Further observations on transient entrainment: importance of pacing site and properties of the components of the reentry circuit.
Authors: K Okumura, R W Henthorn, A E Epstein, V J Plumb, A L Waldo
Journal: Circulation (1985)

Transient entrainment of circus-movement tachycardia utilizing an atrioventricular (AV) bypass pathway was studied in 13 patients (nine with the orthodromic form, two with the antidromic form, and two with both the orthodromic and antidromic forms). All patients had a left-sided AV bypass pathway. Pacing at selected rates faster than the spontaneous rate was performed during the tachycardia at a site proximal or distal to the AV node, an area of slow conduction within the reentry loop. Rapid pacing from a site proximal to the AV node (from the right atrium during the orthodromic form of the arrhythmia or the right ventricle during the antidromic form of the arrhythmia) always demonstrated at least one of the three entrainment criteria: constant fusion beats except for the last captured beat, which was entrained but not fused (first criterion); progressive fusion (second criterion); localized conduction block to a site(s) for 1 paced beat associated with interruption of the tachycardia followed by activation of that site(s) by the next paced beat from a different direction and with a shorter conduction time (third criterion). In contrast, rapid pacing from a site distal to the AV node (from the right ventricle during the orthodromic form of the arrhythmia, or the right atrium during the antidromic form of the arrhythmia) transiently entrained the tachycardia, but never demonstrated any entrainment criteria because the antidromic wave front from the pacing impulse always blocked in the AV node (concealed entrainment). We conclude that the location of the pacing site relative to the components of a reentry loop is critical to the demonstration of the criteria of transient entrainment; i.e., if it is proximal to an area of slow conduction and/or unidirectional block within a reentry loop, transient entrainment should be demonstrable, but if it is distal, it will not be demonstrable.
Science, medicine, and the future: Tolerance and autoimmunity
Authors: I. R Mackay
Journal: BMJ (2000)

Immune tolerance and autoimmunity are important clinically. Firstly, there are at least 40 known or suspected autoimmune diseases, and many are common (see box). Overall, 1 person in 31 is affected.1 Moreover, autoimmune type 1 diabetes is the most common of all chronic diseases of children. Secondly, autoimmune disease is poorly diagnosed because the onset can be stealthy, and initial symptoms are often non-specific—tiredness, fatigue, or fever. Thirdly, patients with autoimmune disease will expect an interpretation of their illness from their doctor. Fourthly, new insights are set to revolutionise management, by replacement of blanket immunosuppression with new selective immunotherapies

#### Prevalence of autoimmune diseases

Figure 1 illustrates how tolerance is established and maintained and how it fails with ensuing autoimmunity. Specific immune and autoimmune responses involve the same elements. These include ( a ) an antigen (or autoantigen); ( b ) a response by interacting families and subsets of cells that include antigen presenting cells, T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes; ( c ) messenger molecules, cytokines, chemokines, and their receptors; and ( d ) signalling and costimulatory molecules on cell surfaces (fig 2). Many of the functionally important cell surface molecules and their receptors are described by the cluster of differentiation (CD) nomenclature, based on their identification by characterised monoclonal antibodies.

#### Predicted developments

Closer insights into generation of natural immune tolerance to self

Clarification of importance of apoptosis for loss of tolerance and development of autoimmunity

Enhanced understanding of how the “wrong …
Potentials and limitations of histone repeat sequences for phylogenetic reconstruction of Sophophora
Authors: A. M. Baldo, D. H. Les, L. D. Strausbaugh
Journal: Molecular Biology and Evolution (1999)

Simplified DNA sequence acquisition has provided many new data sets that are useful for phylogenetic reconstruction, including single- and multiple-copy nuclear and organellar genes. Although transcribed regions receive much attention, nontranscribed regions have recently been added to the repertoire of sequences suitable for phylogenetic studies, especially for closely related taxa. We evaluated the efficacy of a small portion of the histone repeat for phylogenetic reconstruction among Drosophila species. Histone repeats in invertebrates offer distinct advantages similar to those of widely used ribosomal repeats. First, the units are tandemly repeated and undergo concerted evolution. Second, histone repeats include both highly conserved coding and variable intergenic regions. This composition facilitates application of "universal" primers spanning potentially informative sites. We examined a small region of the histone repeat, including the intergenic spacer segments of coding regions from the divergently transcribed H2A and H2B histone genes. The spacer (about 230 bp) exists as a mosaic with highly conserved functional motifs interspersed with rapidly diverging regions; the former aid in alignment of the spacer. There are no ambiguities in alignment of coding regions. Coding and noncoding regions were analyzed together and separately for phylogenetic information. Parsimony, distance, and maximum-likelihood methods successfully retrieve the corroborated phylogeny for the taxa examined. This study demonstrates the resolving power of a small histone region which may now be added to the growing collection of phylogenetically useful DNA sequences.
A trial speech screening test for school entrants.
Authors: M J Rigby, I Chesham
Journal: BMJ (1981)

An objective, low-cost means of screening school entrant children for speech disorders was designed, and speech therapists evaluated the doctor's screening results. In a field trial comprising 438 children, an accuracy rate of 92% was reported, with a referral rate by doctors of 14%, and speech therapists subsequently observing or treating 10%. The trial showed also the effects on accuracy rates of setting different pass levels.
STUDIES ON SCRUB TYPHUS (TSUTSUGAMUSHI DISEASE)
Authors: Fred L. Rights, Joseph E. Smadel
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1948)

Antigenic differences among strains of R. tsutsugamushi are sufficiently great that vaccines prepared from certain strains fail to induce resistance in mice to infection with other strains. Although the results of cross-vaccination tests indicate varying degrees of relationship between a number of the strains, there is no correlation between source of the rickettsia and antigenic pattern of the agent.
Effects of Naltrexone Sustained- Release/Bupropion Sustained-Release Combination Therapy on Body Weight and Glycemic Parameters in Overweight and Obese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Priscilla Hollander, Alok K. Gupta, Raymond Plodkowski, Frank Greenway, Harold Bays, Colleen Burns, Preston Klassen, Ken Fujioka
Journal: Diabetes Care (2013)

To assess the efficacy and safety of 32 mg naltrexone sustained-release (SR)/360 mg bupropion SR (NB) in overweight/obese individuals with type 2 diabetes with or without background oral antidiabetes drugs.This was a 56-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in which 505 patients received standardized lifestyle intervention and were randomized 2:1 to NB or placebo. Coprimary end points were percent weight change and achievement of ≥5% weight loss. Secondary end points included achievement of HbA1c <7% (53 mmol/mol), achievement of weight loss ≥10%, and change in HbA1c, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, and lipids.In the modified intent-to-treat population (54% female, 80% Caucasian, and mean age 54 years, weight 106 kg, BMI 37 kg/m(2), and HbA1c 8.0% [64 mmol/mol]), NB resulted in significantly greater weight reduction (-5.0 vs. -1.8%; P < 0.001) and proportion of patients achieving ≥5% weight loss (44.5 vs. 18.9%, P < 0.001) compared with placebo. NB also resulted in significantly greater HbA1c reduction (-0.6 vs. -0.1% [6.6 vs. 1.1 mmol/mol]; P < 0.001), percent of patients achieving HbA1c <7% (53 mmol/mol) (44.1 vs. 26.3%; P < 0.001), and improvement in triglycerides and HDL cholesterol compared with placebo. NB was associated with higher incidence of nausea (42.3 vs. 7.1%), constipation (17.7 vs. 7.1%), and vomiting (18.3 vs. 3.6%). No difference was observed between groups in the incidence of depression, suicidal ideation, or hypoglycemia.NB therapy in overweight/obese patients with type 2 diabetes induced weight loss, which was associated with improvements in glycemic control and select cardiovascular risk factors and was generally well tolerated with a safety profile similar to that in patients without diabetes.
THE AUTODIGESTION OF NORMAL SERUM THROUGH THE ACTION OF CERTAIN CHEMICAL AGENTS. I
Authors: Shotaro Yamakawa
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1918)

1. The neutral fats, fatty acids, and lipoid bodies of serum seem to play no part in autodigestion. Neither the addition of fats or lipoids in excess to the serum, nor their removal by extraction with ether influences the phenomenon of autodigestion. 2. There is present in native serum an antienzymic substance which is closely related to the autolytic ferment of serum. 3. The antiseroprotease of normal serum has almost the same thermal resistance as the seroprotease; that is, it survives heating at 55 degrees C. for 30 minutes but is completely inactivated at 60 degrees C. for the same length of time. 4. The ferment can be removed from the serum by means of inorganic adsorbents, but the antienzymic substance remains in the treated serum. 5. The autolytic power of the sera of man and other animals is much weaker than that of guinea pig serum, but they contain as much as does the latter of the antisubstance which inhibits the digestion of the activated guinea pig serum. 6. The autodigestion of the activated serum is due to the splitting of the serum protein by the proteolytic ferment of the same serum and is brought about by the destruction of the antienzymic substance by the chemical reagents. On the other hand, the digestion products in a mixture of a foreign substrate and guinea pig serum are derived from the direct digestion of the substrate by the serum ferment. This digestion takes place in spite of the presence of the antiseroprotease. The serum separated from the substrate can no longer produce a split product, but is as actively antienzymic as the original serum and undergoes autodigestion only when treated with acetone or other chemical activators.
MULTICENTER STUDY OF THE SAFETY AND EFFECTS OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY SINUS LEFT VENTRICULAR PACING LEADS
Authors: Seth Sheldon, Thomas Bunch, Gregory Cogert, Nancy Acker, Connie Dalzell, John Higgins, Raul Espinosa, Samuel Asirvatham, Yong-Mei Cha, Joel P. Felmlee, Robert E. Watson, Jeffrey Anderson, Miriam H. Brooks, Jeffrey Osborn, Paul Friedman
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2014)
Occupational Toluene Exposure Induces Cytochrome P450 2E1 mRNA Expression in Peripheral Lymphocytes
Authors: Ania Mendoza-Cantú, Fabiola Castorena-Torres, Mario Bermúdez de León, Bulmaro Cisneros, Lizbeth López-Carrillo, Aurora E. Rojas-García, Alberto Aguilar-Salinas, Maurizio Manno, Arnulfo Albores
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2005)

Print workers are exposed to organic solvents, of which the systemic toxicant toluene is a main component. Toluene induces expression of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), an enzyme involved in its own metabolism and that of other protoxicants, including some procarcinogens. Therefore, we investigated the association between toluene exposure and the CYP2E1 response, as assessed by mRNA content in peripheral lymphocytes or the 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone (6OH-CHZ)/chlorzoxazone (CHZ) quotient (known as CHZ metabolic ratio) in plasma, and the role of genotype (5′-flanking region RsaI/PstI polymorphic sites) in 97 male print workers. The geometric mean (GM) of toluene concentration in the air was 52.80 ppm (10–760 ppm); 54% of the study participants were exposed to toluene concentrations that exceeded the maximum permissible exposure level (MPEL). The GM of urinary hippuric acid at the end of a work shift (0.041 g/g creatinine) was elevated relative to that before the shift (0.027 g/g creatinine; p &lt; 0.05). The GM of the CHZ metabolic ratio was 0.33 (0–9.3), with 40% of the subjects having ratios below the GM. However, the average CYP2E1 mRNA level in peripheral lymphocytes was 1.07 (0.30–3.08), and CYP2E1 mRNA levels within subjects correlated with the toluene exposure ratio (environmental toluene concentration:urinary hippuric acid concentration) (p = 0.014). Genotype did not alter the association between the toluene exposure ratio and mRNA content. In summary, with further validation, CYP2E1 mRNA content in peripheral lymphocytes could be a sensitive and noninvasive biomarker for the continuous monitoring of toluene effects in exposed persons.