tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Catheterization of the Urethra in Girls
Authors: Sergio Manzano, Laurence Elisabeth Lacroix
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2014)

To the Editor: As Manzano et al. noted in their Video in Clinical Medicine (July 10 issue), 1 it is sometimes difficult for the examiner to identify the urethral meatus when attempting to perform catheterization of the urinary bladder in girls.In such instances, it may be helpful to draw the labial tissue upward by moving the nondominant hand anteriorly after spreading the labia majora with two fingers. 2 If the meatus remains hard to visualize, we suggest enlisting an assistant for the following maneuver, which we term "labial lift."Both the examiner and the assistant should gently grasp one of the labia majora -the examiner on the side of her nondominant hand and the assistant opposite.Together, they lift the labia anteriorly, laterally, and caudad (Fig. 1).As shown in the figure, using the corner of a small piece of sterile gauze helps to maintain a comfortable hold on the labia, which may become slippery after sterile preparation.We have found that this technique seldom fails to allow the necessary visualization of the meatus.
Predicting Recidivism After Orthotopic Liver Transplantation for Alcoholic Liver Disease
Authors: Robert W. Osorio, Nancy L. Ascher, Mark Avery, Peter Bacchetti, John P. Roberts, John R. Lake
Journal: Hepatology (1994)

ABSTRACT With appropriate selection criteria, patients with end–stage alcoholic liver disease who undergo orthotopic liver transplantation have similar graft and patient survivals as patients undergoing transplantation for other causes. However, because of the possibility of recidivism after orthotopic liver transplantation there is still reluctance to transplant alcoholic patients. This study examined the association between pretransplant psychosocial variables and the risk of recidivism after orthotopic liver transplantation. At our institution, 43 patients received orthotopic liver transplantation for the referral diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease from February 1, 1988 to May 1, 1991. This represented 17% of all first transplants (43 of 257) performed during this period. Patients were interviewed before orthotopic liver transplantation by a single psychiatrist and responses to a defined set of questions were entered into a clinical database. All 43 patients diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease and a comparison group of patients transplanted for diagnoses other than alcoholic liver disease received a postoperative questionnaire regarding past and present alcohol use. Patients enrolled in the study all had at least 7 mo of follow–up, with the median follow–up being 21 mo. Eighty–six percent of alcoholic liver disease patients (37 of 43) and 86% of patients in the comparison group (37 of 43) of ALD patients agreed to participate in the study. Nineteen percent of alcoholic liver disease patients (7 of 37) and 24% of patients in the comparison group (9 of 37) admitted to having used alcohol after orthotopic liver transplantation, with 8% (3 of 37) and 11% (4 of 37) currently using alcohol, respectively. No association between amount or duration of alcohol used before liver transplantation and recidivism was found in patients with alcoholic liver disease. Binge use of alcohol, history of driving under the influence of alcohol, history of alcohol withdrawal, and other drug use also were not associated with recidivism in alcoholic liver disease patients. Patients who participated in in–patient or out–patient rehabilitation programs before or after transplantation, or who admitted they were alcoholics, had similar rates of recidivism. Being married, employed or having a history of psychiatric symptoms requiring treatment were not associated with recidivism rates in alcoholic liver disease patients. Finally, after multivariate analysis only one variable was associated with recidivism in alcoholic liver disease patients, sobriety less than 6 mo. These findings support the selection criterion of abstinence from alcohol for&gt;6 mo before alcoholic liver disease patients undergo orthotopic liver transplantation. (Hepatology 1994;20:105-110.)
Utility of Tc-99m GSA SPECT Imaging in Estimation of Functional Volume of Liver Segments in Health and Liver Diseases
Authors: TAKEYOSHI IMAEDA, MASAYUKI KANEMATSU, SHUICHI ASADA, MATSUZO SEKI, HIDETAKA DOI, SHIGETOYO SAJI
Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine (1995)

The authors examined whether there was a difference In liver function among hepatic segments In liver cirrhosis cases, and In cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with liver cirrhosis. If the average counts In the lateral segment of the left lobe were set at 1, the average counts in the right upper and lower segment of the liver were 0.75 ∼ 1.02 (0.89 ± 0.09, mean ± SD) in normal cases, 0.38 ∼ 2.24 (1.01 ± 0.39) in liver cirrhosis cases, and 0.61 ∼ 2.85 (1.15 ± 0.58) in HCC cases. There is a significant difference between normal cases and liver cirrhosis cases or HCC cases (P < 0.001). Also, In HCC cases, if the average counts in the cancer-bearing segment of the liver were set at 1, the average counts In the noncancerous segment of the liver were 0.55 ∼ 2.85 (1.23 ± 0.58), and many average counts in the cancer-bearing segment were equal to, or lower than those in the noncancerous segment. It has been found that there were significant differences in function among hepatic segments in liver cirrhosis cases, and in HCC cases. Furthermore, the liver function in the cancer-bearing segment tended to be worse due to the existence of carcinoma compared with that in the noncancerous segment.
Is hypertension really a neglected disease?
Authors: D. Kamerow
Journal: BMJ (2010)

If the US Institute of Medicine says so, it must be true



Quick, what do you think of when you hear the term “neglected disease”? Kala-azar, perhaps, or schistosomiasis? Me, too. In fact, Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge these days (sorry, BMJ ), says that the neglected diseases are “a group of tropical infections which are especially endemic in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas.” So I was a little surprised to read a new US Institute of Medicine report that says that hypertension should be added to the list of neglected diseases ( BMJ 2010;340:c1074, doi:10.1136/bmj.c1074).

Everyone knows the IOM. Usually termed the “prestigious Institute of Medicine,” it is the most junior branch of the US National Academies, “advisers to the Nation on science, engineering, and medicine” (as their tagline has it). IOM, chartered in 1970, includes about 1200 distinguished medical doctors and scientists. They serve on various committees and issue reports on all manner of health related topics at the request of the government and foundations.

The Centers for …
Study of the factors that cause specific transformation in cultures of lymphocytes from patients with quinine- and quinidine-induced immune thrombocytopenia.
Authors: P K Hosseinzadeh, B G Firkin, S L Pfueller
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1980)

Quinine- or quinidine-induced thrombocytopenic purpura is caused by synthesis of an immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibody, which caused platelet damage in the presence of the offending drug. The nature of the antigenic stimulus has been examined by measuring incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA during lymphocyte transformation to blast cells in the presence of the drug. Although patients' lymphocytes responded normally to the nonspecific mitogen, phytohemagglutinin P, they did not respond to either drug or platelets alone. However, significant transformation occurred when patients' lymphocytes were cultured for 7 d with homologous or autologous platelets in the presence of therapeutic concentrations of the drugs (0.39-39 microM). Platelet membranes were more active than intact platelets on the basis of protein content, whereas platelets from a patient with Bernard-Soulier syndrome were inactive. Washed platelets pretreated with the drugs were inactive when cultured with lymphocytes in the absence of the drugs, whereas platelets pretreated similarly in plasma caused transformation. Control lymphocytes from 20 normal patients and 6 patients with nondrug-induced thrombocytopenia were not transformed by drugs and platelets in the presence of normal serum or serum containing drug-dependent antibody, showing that the observed response was specific for presensitized lymphocytes. Thus lymphocytes of patients with drug-induced thrombocytopenia are transformed by an antigen that forms after interaction of plasma, specific platelet membrane components and the drug.
Health Groups Pin Antitobacco Hopes on Turn-of-Century High School Class
Authors: Andrea T. Berggren
Journal: JAMA (1991)

APPROXIMATELY 20% of US high school seniors still smoke, according to the American Cancer Society. In hopes of substantially reducing that percentage by the close of this decade, the cancer society, American Heart Association, and American Lung Association continue to be involved in a 12-year tobacco education and awareness program for the elementary, junior high, and high school years. It was set into motion in 1988, when the high school class of (the year) 2000 entered first grade (<i>JAMA</i>. 1988;260:13-14; and<i>JAMA</i>. 1988;260:1836). These children now are in the fourth grade. The three sponsoring organizations are hoping that, whether a given class member goes on to earn his or her high school diploma or not, the individual will be part of the first smoke-free generation. This "Smoke-Free Class of 2000" project involved sending kits to more than 60 000 first-grade teachers around the country in its first year. Follow-up mailings
Effect of the exocrine pancreatic secretions on iron absorption.
Authors: H Kavin, R W Charlton, P Jacobs, R Green, J D Torrance, T H Bothwell
Journal: Gut (1967)

EDITORIAL COMMENT The influence of pancreatic extract on iron salts and their absorption has been investigated in vitro, in experimental animals, and in patients with pancreatic insufficiency.It is suggested that the binding of iron by pancreatic extract is non-specific adsorption and that pancreatic exocrine secretions play little or no part in the physiological control of iron absorption.The role of the exocrine secretions of the pancreas in the absorption of iron has been the subject of extensive investigation.There is a considerable body of evidence indicating that deficiency of the pancreatic secretions leads to excessive absorption of iron, and consists of observations both in experimental animals and in human subjects.The animal evidence includes the increase in carcass iron observed after pancreatectomy (Taylor, Stiven, and Reid, 1931), after ligation of the pancreatic duct (Taylor, Stiven, and Reid, 1935; Gillman,
Health Care and American Business
Authors: John K. Iglehart
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1982)

American industry, historically a slumbering giant when it came to influencing the delivery of health-care services that it purchased, is awakening to the need to become a more sophisticated buyer of such services for one overriding reason: Soaring costs are crimping profit margins as never before. Closer scrutiny by private employers (and, in selected instances, their affiliated labor unions) of their health-care purchases is a slowly evolving phenomenon. Once passive, private businesses began to demonstrate moderate interest in national health issues in the 1970s during debates over national health insurance, health planning, alternative delivery systems, and medical quality assurance. Now . . .
Coronary artery inflammation is associated with in vivotemperature elevation: Quantitation in a porcine coronary model
Authors: Robert S. Schwartz, M.Pauliina Moore, Michael A. Jorgenson, James D. Madison, Michael R. Mooney, Patty Rieger, Tracy Maahs, Duane M. Dickens
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2003)
Chloride cells and osmoregulation
Authors: José A. Zadunaisky
Journal: Kidney International (1996)

The chloride cells of the gill secretory epithelium of fish that make the transition from fresh water to sea water adapt to the increased salinity by responding to a rapid signal that stimulates chloride secretion. In this paper, data are presented supporting the view that the transient increase in plasma osmolarity that can be measured during the transition is responsible for the stimulation of chloride secretion. A maximal increase of 65 mOsm in the plasma of Fundulus heteroclitus (the killifish) was found during acclimation to sea water. Similar or greater increases of osmolarity induced by mannitol on the basolateral side of isolated opercular epithelial membranes of the same species of fish containing great numbers of chloride cells produced stimulation of chloride secretion detected as the short circuit current. The shrinkage of the chloride cell activates the Na-K-2Cl cotransporter, and the Na/H exchanger and requires the integrity of apical chloride channels and normal levels of Ca. A Cl/HCO3 exchanger did not participate in this osmotic response to higher salinity. Chloride cell volume responses to osmolarity were studied with imagine and quantitative optics.
Cholinesterase inhibitors were associated with increased risk for syncope and its consequences in older persons with dementia
Authors: Calvin Hirsch
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2009)

Source Citation Gill SS, Anderson GM, Fischer HD, et al. Syncope and its consequences in patients with dementia receiving cholinesterase inhibitors: a population-based cohort study. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:867-73. 19433698
Expression of Livin, an antiapoptotic protein, is an independent favorable prognostic factor in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Authors: Jaewon Choi, Yu Kyeong Hwang, Ki Woong Sung, Soo Hyun Lee, Keon Hee Yoo, Hye Lim Jung, Hong Hoe Koo, Hee-Jin Kim, Hyong Jin Kang, Hee Young Shin, Hyo Seop Ahn
Journal: Blood (2006)
Cardiovascular protection by oestrogen is partly mediated through modulation of autonomic nervous function
Authors: X.-J. Du, R. A. Riemersma, A. M. Dart
Journal: Cardiovascular Research (1995)

Experimental studies have provided evidence that the autonomic nervous activity is modulated by oestrogen. Such modulation at central and peripheral levels tends to suppress sympathetic but elevate parasympathetic tone to the cardiovascular system. Thus, available data support the view that cardiovascular protection by oestrogen may, at least in part, be mediated by its influence on autonomic nervous function.
Activation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase in Estrogen Receptor α–Positive Breast Cancer Cells <i>In vitro</i> Induces an <i>In vivo</i> Molecular Phenotype of Estrogen Receptor α–Negative Human Breast Tumors
Authors: Chad J. Creighton, Amy M. Hilger, Shalini Murthy, James M. Rae, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Dorraya El-Ashry
Journal: Cancer Research (2006)

Abstract Breast cancer presents as either estrogen receptor α (ERα) positive or negative, with ERα+ tumors responding to antiestrogen therapy and having a better prognosis. By themselves, mRNA expression signatures of estrogen regulation in ERα+ breast cancer cells do not account for the vast molecular differences observed between ERα+ and ERα− cancers. In ERα− tumors, overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or c-erbB-2, leading to increased growth factor signaling, is observed such that mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase (MAPK) is significantly hyperactivated compared with ERα+ breast cancer. In ERα+/progesterone receptor–positive, estrogen-dependent MCF-7 breast cancer cells, we stably overexpressed EGFR or constitutively active erbB-2, Raf, or MAP/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase, resulting in cell lines exhibiting hyperactivation of MAPK, estrogen-independent growth, and the reversible down-regulation of ERα expression. By global mRNA profiling, we found a “MAPK signature” of ∼400 genes consistently up-regulated or down-regulated in each of the MAPK+ cell lines. In several independent profile data sets of human breast tumors, the in vitro MAPK signature was able to accurately distinguish ER+ from ER− tumors. In addition, our in vitro mRNA profile data revealed distinct mRNA signatures specific to either erbB-2 or EGFR activation. A subset of breast tumor profiles was found to share extensive similarities with either the erbB-2-specific or the EGFR-specific signatures. Our results confirm that increased MAPK activation causes loss of ERα expression and suggest that hyperactivation of MAPK plays a role in the generation of the ERα− phenotype in breast cancer. These MAPK+ cell lines are excellent models for investigating the underlying mechanisms behind the ERα− phenotype. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(7): 3903-11)
HPV testing could cut cervical cancers by a third, finds study
Authors: Z. Kmietowicz
Journal: BMJ (2013)

Testing women for the human papillomavirus (HPV) before traditional cervical cytology could prevent around 600 cases of cervical cancer a year in England, a third of the number of cases diagnosed, a study has found.

To estimate the potential effect of primary HPV testing in England, researchers identified more than 8750 women with cervical cancer and looked at their screening records. 

They found that nearly 40% had had a negative cytology test in the six years before their cancer was diagnosed, compared with 70% of women without cervical cancer. They estimated that using an HPV test that was 95% sensitive as the …
Factors Associated with Persistent Airflow Limitation in Severe Asthma
Authors: ANNEKE ten BRINKE, AEILKO H. ZWINDERMAN, PETER J. STERK, KLAUS F. RABE, ELISABETH H. BEL
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2001)

Persistent airflow limitation can develop in nonsmoking patients with asthma. However, the prevalence and risk factors for airways obstruction with incomplete reversibility in asthma are unknown. We assessed the prevalence of persistent airflow limitation (defined as postbronchodilator FEV1 or FEV1/VC < 75% predicted) in 132 nonsmoking outpatients with severe asthma visiting chest physicians in general hospitals in The Netherlands. They had used inhaled corticosteroids ( ⩾ 1,600 μ g/d) and/or daily oral prednisone and long-acting bronchodilators for > 1 yr. In addition, we examined whether persistent airways obstruction in these patients was associated with specific clinical characteristics (age at onset, smoking history, atopic status, bronchodilator reversibility, provocative concentration of histamine causing a 20% decrease in FEV1 [PC20histamine]) or markers of inflammation (exhaled nitric oxide [NO], blood eosinophils, total IgE; and eosinophilia or neutrophilia in induced sputum). Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (OR). Persistent airflow limitation was observed in 49% of the patients in the study, and apart from older age and longer asthma duration, was strongly associated with a sputum eosinophils percent ⩾ 2% (OR = 7.7; confidence interval [CI]: 2.4 to 25), PC20histamine ⩽ 1.0 mg/ml (OR = 3.9; CI: 1.2 to 13), and adult onset ( ⩾ 18 yr) of asthma (OR = 3.3; CI: 1.2 to 9). Only sputum eosinophilia appeared to be independently associated with persistent airflow limitation (OR = 8.9; CI: 1.3 to 59). In conclusion, persistent airflow limitation is common in adult patients with severe asthma, and is associated with adult onset of the disease, airway hyperresponsiveness, and most importantly, sputum eosinophilia. These findings suggest that eosinophilic airway inflammation contributes to persistent airflow limitation in severe asthma. Whether reduction of sputum eosinophils with more vigorous treatment leads to a better prognosis in severe asthma is still an open question.Keywords: asthma; severity of illness index; airway obstruction; sputum; eosinophilia
Effect of Psychological Intervention in the Form of Relaxation and Guided Imagery on Cellular Immune Function in Normal Healthy Subjects
Authors: R. Zachariae, J.S. Kristensen, P. Hokland, J. Ellegaard, E. Metze, M. Hokland
Journal: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (1990)

The present study measured the effects of relaxation and guided imagery on cellular immune function. During a period of 10 days 10 healthy subjects were given one 1-hour relaxation procedure and one combined relaxation and guided imagery procedure, instructing the subjects to imagine their immune system becoming very effective. Even though no major changes in the composition of the major mononuclear leukocyte subsets could be demonstrated a significant increase in natural killer function was demonstrated. These data suggest that relaxation and guided imagery might have a beneficial effect on the immune defense and could form the basis of further studies on psychological intervention and immunological status.
Rosiglitazone-loaded nanospheres for modulating macrophage-specific inflammation in obesity
Authors: Daniele Di Mascolo, Christopher J. Lyon, Santosh Aryal, Maricela R. Ramirez, Jun Wang, Patrizio Candeloro, Michele Guindani, Willa A. Hsueh, Paolo Decuzzi
Journal: Journal of Controlled Release (2013)
Ileal Crohn's disease is best treated by surgery
Authors: M J G Farthing
Journal: Gut (2002)

Burrill Crohn et al in 1932 stated that “medical therapy is purely palliative and supportive . . ... but in general the proper approach to complete cure is by surgical resection . . ..”. However, by 1987 Bryan Brooke, a committed and creative inflammatory bowel disease surgeon, recognised that “the surgical stance is now one of reluctance . . . operation is withheld as a last resort when all else has failed to achieve palliation or support”. Thus over half a century the surgical view radically changed from reckless enthusiasm to one of extreme conservatism. However, there has always been a fascination with the idea that early resection of localised ileal disease might result in long lasting remission and avoid unwanted complications that would inevitably lead to surgery.
751-2 Combined Treatment with 3 Antiplatelet Agents Reduces Neointimal Proliferation In Canine Coronary Arteries After Angioplasty
Authors: H. Vernon Anderson, Janice McNatt, Kexin Cui, lowell Mower, Cory Martin, Jean Pierre Maffrand, Fred DeClerck, Fred Clubb, L. Maximilian Suia, James T. Willerson
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (1995)
LDL receptor–related protein mediates cell-surface clustering and hepatic sequestration of chylomicron remnants in LDLR-deficient mice
Authors: Kenneth C.-W. Yu, Wei Chen, Allen D. Cooper
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (2001)

It has been proposed that in the liver, chylomicron remnants (lipoproteins carrying dietary lipid) may be sequestered before being internalized by hepatocytes. To study this, chylomicron remnants labeled with a fluorescent dye were perfused into isolated livers of LDL receptor-deficient (LDLR-deficient) mice (Ldlr(-/-)) and examined by confocal microscopy. In contrast to livers from normal mice, there was clustering of the chylomicron remnants on the cell surface in the space of DISSE: These remnant clusters colocalized with clusters of LDLR-related protein (LRP) and could be eliminated by low concentrations of receptor-associated protein, an inhibitor of LRP. When competed with ligands of heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), the remnant clusters still appeared but were fewer in number, although syndecans (membrane HSPGs) colocalized with the remnant clusters. This suggests that the clustering of remnants is not dependent on syndecans but that the syndecans may modify the binding of remnants. These results establish that sequestration is a novel process, the clustering of remnants in the space of DISSE: The clustering involves remnants binding to the LRP, and this may be stabilized by binding with syndecans, eventually followed by endocytosis.