tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Comparison of cetirizine, ebastine and loratadine in the treatment of immediate mosquito‐bite allergy
Authors: A. Karppinen, H. Kautiainen, L. Petman, P. Burri, T. Reunala
Journal: Allergy (2002)

Background: People frequently experience whealing and delayed papules from mosquito bites. Whealing is mediated by antisaliva immunoglobulin (Ig)E antibodies and histamine. Cetirizine, ebastine and loratadine have earlier shown effects on mosquito‐bite reactions but no comparative studies exist. Methods: A double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, cross‐over study was performed with cetirizine 10 mg, ebastine 10 mg and loratadine 10 mg in 29 mosquito‐bite‐sensitive adults exposed to Aedes aegypti mosquito‐bites. The size of the bite lesion and the intensity of pruritus (visual analog scale) were measured at 15 min and 2, 6 and 24 h. Results: Cetirizine and ebastine, but not loratadine, decreased significantly the size of whealing ( P &lt; 0.01) and accompanying pruritus ( P &lt; 0.001) compared to placebo. Cetirizine was most effective on pruritus but caused more often sedation than ebastine or loratadine. The delayed bite symptoms remained too faint for any statistical comparison. Conclusion: This comparative study in mosquito‐bite‐sensitive adults shows that cetirizine and ebastine decrease significantly whealing and accompanying pruritus, and that cetirizine seems to be the most effective against pruritus.
Early improvement in left ventricular diastolic function after relief of chronic right ventricular pressure overload.
Authors: H C Dittrich, L C Chow, P H Nicod
Journal: Circulation (1989)

Chronic right ventricular pressure overload is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Whether or not an abrupt reduction in pulmonary artery pressure in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension results in early improvement of left ventricular diastolic function is unknown. To assess this, the Doppler indexes of left ventricular diastolic function and echocardiographic measures of left ventricular volume were analyzed in 22 patients (age, 41 +/- 14 years, mean +/- SD) before and within 1 week after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Mean duration of cardiopulmonary symptoms was 37 months (range, 4 months to 9 years). After operation, mean pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance decreased (50 +/- 13 to 29 +/- 9 mm Hg and 904 +/- 654 to 283 +/- 243 dynes.sec/cm5, respectively, both p less than 0.001), pulmonary artery wedge pressure was unchanged (11 +/- 5 to 12 +/- 5 mm Hg), and cardiac index increased (2.0 +/- 0.5 to 2.8 +/- 0.7 l/min/m2 p less than 0.001). Left ventricular end-diastolic volume and stroke volume increased significantly (58.5 +/- 18.0 to 76.6 +/- 25.0 ml and 30.3 +/- 12.3 to 41.8 +/- 12.5 ml, respectively, both p less than 0.001) after surgery.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Medicolegal Aspects of Reports on Adverse Drug Reaction
Authors: Richard P. Bergen
Journal: JAMA (1965)

With the rapid development of new drugs to treat human illness, the problem of adverse reactions to drugs has increased. In order to assure adequate care, the physician must have available to him the most complete and current information obtainable. To assist in providing this information, the Council on Drugs of the American Medical Association has established the Registry on Adverse Reactions.  Physicians and hospitals throughout the country are being urged to report detailed information on instances of adverse effects from drugs to the Registry. Because follow-up of these cases may be required to obtain more information from the physician, it is necessary to identify the cases. A code number is used for this purpose in order to keep the identity of the patient strictly confidential.  Obviously certain medicolegal questions arise when any program of this kind is established. Do physicians or hospitals encounter new legal risks or increase their
A practical guide to topical therapy in children
Authors: C.C. Long, C.M. Mills, A.Y. Finlay
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (1998)

The parents of children with skin disease are often unsure how much topical therapy, particularly of corticosteroids, they should apply. The aims of this study were to devise simple guidelines on topical therapy for children, parents, doctors and nurses, and to check the accuracy of these guidelines in practice. The guidelines are based upon four principles: the adult fingertip unit (FTU); the 'rule of 9s'; standard height and weight charts for children; and standard nomograms for calculating body surface area. Twenty-four children (11 boys and 13 girls) aged 6 months to 9 years 4 months with atopic eczema were recruited and the number of FTUs required to treat different anatomical areas calculated in accordance with the proposed guidelines. Ointment was applied and the number of FTUs needed for each area was recorded. The amount used was then compared with that predicted. No child required a greater number of FTUs than that predicted, and the number of FTUs predicted for each anatomical region was accurate to within 1 FTU. The guidelines provide a useful indication of how much topical therapy is required for children, and advice sheets have been prepared for children of different ages.
DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING RÔLE OF SYPHILIS IN CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Authors: LEWIS A. CONNER
Journal: JAMA (1934)

At the meeting of the American Medical Association last year the Frank Billings Lecture was devoted to a review of the important part played by the great physician whose name the lectureship bears in the astonishing progress made by medical education in this country during the past thirty years. The distinguished speaker, Dr. Thayer, closed his remarks with the following prayer: "May he who has played so large a part in this progress long be spared to guide us with his wise counsel." This fervent wish, which surely must have been shared by everyone in the large audience, might well have been directed also to the lecturer himself. It is sad indeed to realize that within a few months of the time these words were spoken both Frank Billings and William Sydney Thayer had ended their earthly careers. In mourning the almost simultaneous loss of two such leaders one can
Increased Susceptibility of Breast Cancer Cells to Stress Mediated Inhibition of Protein Synthesis
Authors: Shehla Pervin, An H. Tran, Shaghayegh Zekavati, Jon M. Fukuto, Rajan Singh, Gautam Chaudhuri
Journal: Cancer Research (2008)

Abstract Protein synthesis is a tightly controlled process, and its deregulation plays an important role in tumorigenesis. Protein synthesis remains poorly understood with very few well-identified validated targets for therapeutic purposes. In this study, we use nitric oxide (NO), which suppresses protein synthesis by inactivating eukaryotic initiation factor 2-α (eIF2-α), to examine the mechanism by which low and high oxidative stress inhibits protein synthesis. In breast cancer cells, low NO stress induced heme-regulated inhibitor (HRI) activation, which facilitated gradual decline in short half-life proteins. High NO stress induced HRI and protein kinase R (PKR) activation, leading to a sharp decline in protein synthesis as accessed by a decline in short and long half-life proteins and dramatic morphologic changes. In contrast, human mammary epithelial (HME) and Ras transfected untransformed HME (MCF-10A1 neo N) cells were less susceptible to NO-induced inhibition of protein synthesis and cytostasis. Our results suggest that NO-induced cytostasis in breast cancer cells was due to PKR activation and increased phosphorylation of eIF2-α, whereas the reduced susceptibility of normal mammary epithelial cells to NO could be due to the inaccessibility of PKR, which is bound to inhibitor p58. [Cancer Res 2008;68(12):4862–74]
Rapid Endothelial Turnover in Atherosclerosis-Prone Areas Coincides With Stem Cell Repair in Apolipoprotein E–Deficient Mice
Authors: Georgios Foteinos, Yanhua Hu, Qingzhong Xiao, Bernhard Metzler, Qingbo Xu
Journal: Circulation (2008)

Background— Recently, it has been shown that stem/progenitor cells may repair damaged/lost endothelial cells in vein grafts and wire-injured arteries. In the present study, we investigated endothelial cell turnover and regeneration in apolipoprotein E (apoE) −/− /transgenic mice carrying LacZ genes driven by an endothelial TIE2 promoter. Methods and Results— To assess cell proliferation on the surface of aortas in apoE −/− mice and wild-type controls, BrdU was injected into the tail vein and labeled on en face preparation. BrdU-positive cells on the aortas were observed occasionally in wild-type mice and frequently at sites prone to lesion development in apoE −/− mice (0.18±0.1% versus 1.12±0.2%; P &lt;0.001). Endothelial integrity tests demonstrated that the areas with high rate of cell turnover displayed Evans blue leakage, low levels of VE-cadherin expression, and increased cell attachment, as evidenced by Evans blue dye injection, immunostaining, and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Furthermore, immunostaining for CD34, Sca-1, Flk-1, and CD133 indicated that ≈3% to 5% of total cells on the aorta were positive in apoE −/− mice. En face double labeling using Ki-67 and progenitor markers revealed that 30% to 50% of progenitor + cells expressed Ki-67, indicating a state of proliferation. To clarify the origin of endothelial progenitor cells participating in endothelial repair in apoE −/− mice, a chimeric mouse model was created by bone marrow transplantation between apoE −/− and LacZ +/+ /apoE −/− mice. Ten months after bone marrow transplantation, ≈3% to 4% of total cells in the lesion-prone areas were β-gal positive in apoE −/− with apoE −/− /TIE2-LacZ bone marrow mice. When cells of aortas from chimeric mice were cultivated on Matrigel-coated plates, a capillary-like structure was found, which showed β-gal/CD31 or β-gal/von Willebrand factor double positivity. By a combined analysis of laser dissection microscopy and nest reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, it was found that β-gal + cells were mainly expressing CD31 and CD144. Conclusions— Our findings provide the first quantitative data on endothelial turnover and repair by progenitor cells that are, at least in part, derived from bone marrow during development of atherosclerosis in apoE −/− mice.
ACTIVE SUPPRESSION AS A POSSIBLE MECHANISM OF TOLERANCE IN TETRAPARENTAL MICE
Authors: S. Michael Phillips, Thomas G. Wegmann
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1973)

Previous work has indicated that tetraparental mice, chimeric since the eight-cell stage because of embryo fusion using histoincompatible strain combinations, possess autospecific immune cells and blocking antibodies. Although this phenomenon has been demonstrated in vitro, it may have relevance to the self-tolerance shown by these mice in vivo. The experiments described here indicate that spleen cells from tetraparental mice can block mixed lymphocyte reactions between the two parental cell types, but not between unrelated strains. Furthermore, this suppressive ability is not affected by an otherwise effective treatment of the tetraparental spleen cells with anti-theta antibody and complement. The in vitro experimental system elaborated here should help to characterize the cell type responsible for the suppression.
Importance of adequate heparin dosage in arterial angioplasty in a porcine model.
Authors: M Heras, J H Chesebro, W J Penny, K R Bailey, J Y Lam, D R Holmes, G S Reeder, L Badimon, V Fuster
Journal: Circulation (1988)

Acute occlusion after a successful angioplasty is a severe complication that has been reported in 2-12% of patients. Therefore, to determine whether there was a relation between the dosage of heparin and the presence of mural thrombosis, we studied in a pig model the relation between the dosage of heparin and acute platelet-thrombus deposition on the site of arterial injury. We retrospectively analyzed the effect of three heparin regimens on platelet deposition in 32 normal pigs (mean weight, 32.7 kg) that underwent bilateral carotid angioplasty and were sacrificed 90 +/- 26 minutes later. Pigs in protocol 1 (n = 7) received an intravenous bolus injection of 4,000 units heparin 10 minutes before angioplasty. Pigs in protocol 2 (n = 11) received two bolus injections of 4,000 units heparin 40 minutes apart; the angioplasty was performed immediately after the second bolus. Pigs in protocol 3 (n = 14) had an initial 4,000-unit bolus injection of heparin followed immediately by an infusion of 4,000 units/hr; angioplasty was performed 20 minutes after starting the infusion. 111In-labeled platelet deposition on deeply injured (torn into the media) arterial segments were 86.3 +/- 68, 56.2 +/- 56.9, and 37.7 +/- 37.7 X 10(6)/cm2 for protocols 1, 2, and 3, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Long-term low-dose maintenance pegylated interferon may prevent decompensation in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension: Are we there yet?
Authors: Gennaro D'Amico, Fabio Tine
Journal: Hepatology (2012)

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Several studies have reported that low doses of interferon can delay the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and progression of chronic hepatitis C. We investigated the incidence of clinical events among participants of the Evaluation of PegIntron in Control of Hepatitis C Cirrhosis (EPIC)(3) program. METHODS: Data were analyzed from an open-label randomized study of patients with chronic hepatitis C who had failed to respond to interferon alfa plus ribavirin. All patients had compensated cirrhosis with no evidence of HCC. Patients received peginterferon alfa-2b (0.5 μg/kg/week; n = 311) or no treatment (controls, n = 315) for a maximum period of 5 years or until 98 patients had a clinical event (hepatic decompensation, HCC, death, or liver transplantation). The primary measure of efficacy was time until the first clinical event. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in time to first clinical event among patients who received peginterferon alfa-2b compared with controls (hazard ratio [HR], 1.452; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.880-2.396). There was no decrease in the development of HCC with therapy. The time to disease progression (clinical events or new or enlarged varices) was significantly longer for patients who received peginterferon alfa-2b compared with controls (HR, 1.564; 95% CI: 1.130-2.166). In a prospectively defined subanalysis of patients with baseline portal hypertension, peginterferon alfa-2b significantly increased the time to first clinical event compared with controls (P =.016). There were no new safety observations. CONCLUSIONS: Maintenance therapy with peginterferon alfa-2b is not warranted in all patients and does not prevent HCC. However, there is a potential clinical benefit of long-term suppressive therapy in patients with preexisting portal hypertension.
A Saturable, Vasopressin-Sensitive Carrier for Urea and Acetamide in the Toad Bladder Epithelial Cell
Authors: Sherman Levine, Nicholas Franki, Richard M. Hays
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1973)

The permeability of the toad bladder to a series of isotopically labeled nonelectrolytes was determined in the presence of 150 mM unlabeled acetamide. Under these conditions, overall bladder function was unimpaired, as shown by a normal response to vasopressin of short-circuit current and permeability coefficient of [(3)H]water,[(14)C]ethanol, and [(14)C]propionamide. The permeability of the bladder to isotopic acetamide and urea, however, was significantly depressed by unlabeled acetamide, in both the absence and presence of vasopressin. These experiments indicate a competition between unlabeled and isotopic species for binding sites, and show the existence of a saturable, vasopressin-sensitive carrier for urea and acetamide in the epithelial cell membrane.
Abstract A66: Insights into the pathogenesis of hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome: Deciphering the role of Hrpt2 within bone development
Authors: Casey J. Droscha, Diegel Cassandra, Bart O. Williams
Journal: Cancer Research (2013)

Abstract Hyper-parathyroidism-jaw tumor (HPT-JT) syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder in which patients present with parathyroid adenoma or carcinoma, renal cysts, and fibro-osseous tumors of the maxilla or mandible. HPT-JT is caused by loss of heterozygosity or inactivating mutations within the hyperparathyroidism 2 (HRPT2) gene that encodes the tumor suppressor parafibromin. As a core member of the Polymerase Associated Factors (PAF) complex, parafibromin binds to nuclear β-catenin and is known to associate with RNA Polymerase II to facilitate transcriptional initiation and elongation. Recently, the ability of parafibromin to associate with β-catenin and drive Wnt target gene transcription was found to be dependent on dephosphorylation by protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (Shp2). Additionally, Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) has been identified as a negative regulator of Wnt target gene transcription through interaction with parafibromin. Together, these findings suggest that the phosphorylation status of parafibromin may define its role as a transcriptional repressor or activator. Our objective is to determine how the phosphorylation status of parafibromin regulates Wnt target gene transcription. As Wnt is well known as a positive regulator of osteogenesis, which plays an important role during HPT-JT, it is also important to decipher the role parafibromin plays within osteoblast differentiation. Conditional deletion of Hrpt2 within mature osteoblasts using osteocalcin-driven Cre results in increased bone mineral density, cortical thickness, and overall stiffness of 3- and 6-month-old murine femurs. In addition, loss of Hrpt2 within mesenchymal progenitors using Dermo1-driven Cre results in embryonic lethality at approximately embryonic day 12.5. However, initial in vitro investigations assessing rates of mineralization and calcium deposition within Hrpt2-null osteoblasts show no significant changes as compared to wildtype controls. From these results, it is clear that parafibromin is essential for embryonic development and is a potential inhibitor of bone mass accrual, yet further investigation as to what genes are being occupied and regulated by parafibromin is needed. These findings will aid in the understanding of bone development and may provide insight into the pathogenesis of HPT-JT. Citation Format: Casey J. Droscha, Diegel Cassandra, Bart O. Williams. Insights into the pathogenesis of hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome: Deciphering the role of Hrpt2 within bone development. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Third AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research; Sep 18-22, 2013; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(19 Suppl):Abstract nr A66.
CHARTS FOR TESTING EYES
Authors: Edward B. Heckel
Journal: JAMA (1927)

The difficulty of obtaining on the open market accurate test charts, to record distant vision, prompted me many years ago to have these made by hand. In this manner only could one be sure that they would be mathematically correct. They were also made in sufficient variety so as to eliminate memory in making the tests. All of these letters, at their respective distances (200, 100, 70, 50, 40, 30, 20, 15 and 10 feet) subtend an angle of five minutes, while the component parts of the letters subtend an angle of one minute. The B. K. Elliott Company now offers these in lithographed form. The original letters were all made within squares divided into twenty-five squares, respectively, and the letters were drawn in such a way that the component parts of the letters include the small squares. The sizes of the squares are as follows:
A clinical prediction model to identify patients at high risk of death in the emergency department
Authors: Michael Coslovsky, Jukka Takala, Aristomenis K. Exadaktylos, Luca Martinolli, Tobias M. Merz
Journal: Intensive Care Medicine (2015)

Rapid assessment and intervention is important for the prognosis of acutely ill patients admitted to the emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to prospectively develop and validate a model predicting the risk of in-hospital death based on all available information available at the time of ED admission and to compare its discriminative performance with a non-systematic risk estimate by the triaging first health-care provider. Prospective cohort analysis based on a multivariable logistic regression for the probability of death. A total of 8,607 consecutive admissions of 7,680 patients admitted to the ED of a tertiary care hospital were analysed. Most frequent APACHE II diagnostic categories at the time of admission were neurological (2,052, 24 %), trauma (1,522, 18 %), infection categories [1,328, 15 %; including sepsis (357, 4.1 %), severe sepsis (249, 2.9 %), septic shock (27, 0.3 %)], cardiovascular (1,022, 12 %), gastrointestinal (848, 10 %) and respiratory (449, 5 %). The predictors of the final model were age, prolonged capillary refill time, blood pressure, mechanical ventilation, oxygen saturation index, Glasgow coma score and APACHE II diagnostic category. The model showed good discriminative ability, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.92 and good internal validity. The model performed significantly better than non-systematic triaging of the patient. The use of the prediction model can facilitate the identification of ED patients with higher mortality risk. The model performs better than a non-systematic assessment and may facilitate more rapid identification and commencement of treatment of patients at risk of an unfavourable outcome.
Evidence for an association with type 2 diabetes mellitus at the PPARG locus in a South Indian population
Authors: Karani S. Vimaleswaran, Venkatesan Radha, Munuguru Gopal Jayapriya, Saurabh Ghosh, Partha P. Majumder, M. R. Sathyanarayana Rao, Viswanathan Mohan
Journal: Metabolism (2009)
Primary graft failure after myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for hematologic malignancies
Authors: R F Olsson, B R Logan, S Chaudhury, X Zhu, G Akpek, B J Bolwell, C N Bredeson, C C Dvorak, V Gupta, V T Ho, H M Lazarus, D I Marks, O T H Ringdén, M C Pasquini, J R Schriber, K R Cooke
Journal: Leukemia (2015)
Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes: Summary of responses
Authors: Birte Twisselmann
Journal: BMJ (2004)

EDITOR—As Britain's daily papers reported Israel's historic vote on withdrawing from the occupied territories, the debate about Summerfield's personal view raged on.1–3 By 27 October well in excess of 400 responses had been posted on bmj.com, including two from Summerfield providing the detailed sources for his personal view.

The debate started mainly with opposing views, moving on to mainly views in favour and then more of …