tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Refractory period following induced asthma: contributions of exercise and isocapnic hyperventilation.
Authors: I Ben-Dov, I Gur, E Bar-Yishay, S Godfrey
Journal: Thorax (1983)

To compare the refractory period that follows exercise and isocapnic hyperventilation, 10 asthmatic children performed two pairs of challenge tests in random order at least six hours apart. In pair A a hyperventilation challenge was followed by an exercise challenge and in pair B the order was reversed. Both pairs of tests were done while the children were breathing cold dry air. Tests were matched in terms of work load, ventilation, and end tidal carbon dioxide tension (PCO2). The mean percentage fall in FEV1 (delta FEV1) after the first challenge (hyperventilation) of pair A and the first challenge (exercise) of pair B were the same (30% (SEM 2%)) and 30% (4%) respectively). The mean delta FEV1 of the exercise test following hyperventilation in pair A and of hyperventilation following exercise in pair B was 22% (4%) and 18% (4%) respectively. Both these latter results were significantly lower than the respective delta FEV1 when the challenge was the first test of the pair. Although the mean refractoriness index (reduction in induced asthma in the second test of each pair compared with the first test) was greater when exercise was the first challenge, the difference was not significant.
Adult epiglottitis Cefuroxime is effective
Authors: K F Barker, B Patel, A Swann
Journal: BMJ (1994)

fore repeated at a serum dilution of 1:20 after absorbing with double the quantity of anti-G antibodies, and unequivocal positive results for parvovirus B19 IgM were then obtained.It would be unfortunate if high concentrations of parvovirus Bi 9 IgG were to mask the laboratory confirmation of acute infection with less sensitive techniques when the diagnosis was suspected clinically.With regard to the management of an outbreak of parvovirus B19 infection, we have prepared a fact sheet for professionals and an explanatory leaflet for parents which we are happy to make available.
Evaluation of Quantitative IFN-γ Response for Risk Stratification of Active Tuberculosis Suspects
Authors: John Z. Metcalfe, Adithya Cattamanchi, Eric Vittinghoff, Christine Ho, Jennifer Grinsdale, Philip C. Hopewell, L. Masae Kawamura, Payam Nahid
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2009)

Rationale: The contribution of interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) to appropriate risk stratification of active tuberculosis suspects has not been studied.Objectives: To determine whether the addition of quantitative IGRA results to a prediction model incorporating clinical criteria improves risk stratification of smear-negative–tuberculosis suspects.Methods: Clinical data from tuberculosis suspects evaluated by the San Francisco Department of Public Health Tuberculosis Control Clinic from March 2005 to February 2008 were reviewed. We excluded tuberculosis suspects who were acid fast–bacilli smear–positive, HIV-infected, or under 10 years of age. We developed a clinical prediction model for culture-positive disease and examined the benefit of adding quantitative interferon (IFN)-γ results measured by QuantiFERON-TB Gold (Cellestis, Carnegie, Australia).Measurements and Main Results: Of 660 patients meeting eligibility criteria, 65 (10%) had culture-proven tuberculosis. The odds of active tuberculosis increased by 7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3–11%) for each doubling of IFN-γ level. The addition of quantitative IFN-γ results to objective clinical data significantly improved model performance (c-statistic 0.71 vs. 0.78; P < 0.001) and correctly reclassified 32% of tuberculosis suspects (95% CI,11–52%; P < 0.001) into higher-risk or lower-risk categories. However, quantitative IFN-γ results did not significantly improve appropriate risk reclassification beyond that provided by clinician assessment of risk (4%; 95% CI, −7 to +22%; P = 0.14).Conclusions: Higher quantitative IFN-γ results were associated with active tuberculosis, and added clinical value to a prediction model incorporating conventional risk factors. Although this benefit may be attenuated within highly experienced centers, the predictive accuracy of quantitative IFN-γ levels should be evaluated in other settings.
Psychopathology of Aging
Authors: Nathan T. Sidley
Journal: JAMA (1962)

The proceedings of the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the American Psychopathological Association in 1960 comprise the contents of this volume. The presentations, perhaps somewhat arbitrarily, are divided into 4 sections: epidemiology, psychology, psychophysiology and genetics, and management problems. Unfortunately the volume is not integrated around a definition of "Psychopathology" in the aged, (i.e., by what criteria are individuals with pathological psyches to be differentiated from those with normal psyches), and they utilize such gross examples of pathology as admission to a mental hospital, a situation without refinement of conceptualization and tantamount to granting to others the opportunity of forming a definition, without control over those formulations. Problems of evaluating such important questions as incidence and severity of psychopathology in the aged (or in any group) are severe because of these definition issues, and more attention might profitably have been devoted in the book to this issue. There were several interesting
Carcinoma of the Breast in Pregnancy and Lactation
Authors: Ian Macdonald
Journal: JAMA (1967)

Several decades ago, carcinoma of the breast first diagnosed during pregnancy or lactation acquired an evil reputation. Some clinicians concluded that the association was so ominous that such women were categorically inoperable. The unfavorable course of these patients was thought to be due to high levels of hormonal production characteristic of pregnancy and lactation. These dismal convictions of incurability became most prevalent in the decade after Lacassagne<sup>11</sup>produced experimental murine breast cancer by the use of diethylstilbestrol. From this classic demonstration, a number of extrapolative assumptions were derived, some of which still becloud clinical thinking today. Although investigations in later years showed basic disparities in breast cancer in mice and women, there is a persistent belief in the importance of estrogens in the causation of mammary carcinoma in women and as an incitant of its pattern of growth. A corollary phobia is the supposed hazard of substitutional therapy with
Structure-Based Comparative Analysis and Prediction of N-Linked Glycosylation Sites in Evolutionarily Distant Eukaryotes
Authors: Phuc Vinh Nguyen Lam, Radoslav Goldman, Konstantinos Karagiannis, Tejas Narsule, Vahan Simonyan, Valerii Soika, Raja Mazumder
Journal: Genomics Proteomics & Bioinformatics (2013)

Abstract The asparagine-X-serine/threonine (NXS/T) motif, where X is any amino acid except proline, is the consensus motif for N-linked glycosylation. Significant numbers of high-resolution crystal structures of glycosylated proteins allow us to carry out structural analysis of the N-linked glycosylation sites (NGS). Our analysis shows that there is enough structural information from diverse glycoproteins to allow the development of rules which can be used to predict NGS. A Python-based tool was developed to investigate asparagines implicated in N-glycosylation in five species: Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Arabidopsis thaliana and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our analysis shows that 78% of all asparagines of NXS/T motif involved in N-glycosylation are localized in the loop/turn conformation in the human proteome. Similar distribution was revealed for all the other species examined. Comparative analysis of the occurrence of NXS/T motifs not known to be glycosylated and their reverse sequence (S/TXN) shows a similar distribution across the secondary structural elements, indicating that the NXS/T motif in itself is not biologically relevant. Based on our analysis, we have defined rules to determine NGS. Using machine learning methods based on these rules we can predict with 93% accuracy if a particular site will be glycosylated. If structural information is not available the tool uses structural prediction results resulting in 74% accuracy. The tool was used to identify glycosylation sites in 108 human proteins with structures and 2247 proteins without structures that have acquired NXS/T site/s due to non-synonymous variation. The tool, Structure Feature Analysis Tool (SFAT), is freely available to the public at http://hive.biochemistry.gwu.edu/tools/sfat.
TREATMENT OF CANCER WITH THYMUS EXTRACT
Authors: Adolph M. Hanson
Journal: JAMA (1930)

<h3>To the Editor:</h3> —Work by Walter Jones (Concerning the Enzyme of the Thymus Gland,<i>Ztschr. f. physiol. Chem</i>.<b>41</b>:101, 1904) showed that the thymus gland contains a soluble enzyme which attaches to the nucleoproteins of the gland when these are separated with acetic acid and dissolved in sodium carbonate. In this manner he was able to separate it from the soluble constituents of the gland and so determine more accurately the products of decomposition that are formed through its action. He found that at body temperature, and in the concentration in which it exists in the gland, the enzyme rapidly decomposes the nucleoproteins by the formation of phosphoric acid and xanthine bases. These xanthine bases differ from those that are formed as the result of the action of boiling acids on thymic nucleic acids. This proteolytic enzyme differs from trypsin in that it is most active in acid liquids
Drug companies criticised for exaggeration
Authors: A. Ferriman
Journal: BMJ (1999)

Complaints against pharmaceutical companies for breaching the industry's voluntary advertising code of practice remained at high levels in 1998, according to a report from the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority.

The authority received 144 complaints, only one less than the record set in 1994 and reached again in 1997. The authority was set up in 1993 by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to police the code; since then it has dealt with over 640 complaints.

Its latest quarterly report reveals that 36 complaints were dealt with in the last quarter of 1998, 27 of which were upheld. The companies receiving the most were Astra (5); Glaxo …
615 HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION INTERFERE WITH TLR4 STIMULATION LEADING TO TH1 DISABLED FUNCTION OF MONOCYTE-DERIVED DENDRITIC CELLS
Authors: L. Perrin-Cocon, S. Aguauge, O. Diaz, B. Vanbervliet, S. Dollet, A. Guironnet-Paquet, P. Andre, V. Lotteau
Journal: Journal of Hepatology (2008)
Update in Asthma 2011
Authors: Shamsah Kazani, Elliot Israel
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2012)

The prevalence of asthma in the United States has increased by 12% since 2001 (1). Variability in response to guideline-based therapy has been increasingly recognized. Exciting clinical advances in 2011 related to biomarker-targeted asthma treatment. There were also reports on advances in the understanding of potential immune, cellular, and biochemical mechanisms that contribute to asthma pathobiology, work in defining genetic contributors to asthma, and elucidation of environmental factors that can influence the development or expression of the disease. This review summarizes relevant articles in the Journal, along with several pertinent studies published elsewhere in 2011.
CRYOBALLOON VERSUS RADIOFREQUENCY FOR PULMONARY VEIN RE-ISOLATION AFTER A FAILED INITIAL ABLATION PROCEDURE IN PATIENTS WITH PAROXYSMAL ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
Authors: Evgeny Pokushalov, Alexander Romanov, Sergey Artyomenko, Vera Baranova, Denis Losik, Sevda Bairamova, Alexander Karaskov, Suneet Mittal, Jonathan S. Steinberg
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2013)
Congenital self-healing Langerhans cell histiocytosis with persistent cellular immunological abnormalities
Authors: B. WHITEHEAD, M. MICHAELS, R. SAHNI, S. STROBEL, J.I. HARPER
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (1990)

We describe an infant who presented at birth with numerous haemorrhagic and encrusted skin lesions, hepatomegaly, lymphadenopathy, raised hepatic transaminases, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. The diagnosis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis was confirmed by immunohistochemistry, which demonstrated the presence of CD 1, S‐100 and DR positive cells in the skin infiltrate. The skin lesions resolved spontaneously after 6 weeks but recurred at 3 months and again were self involuting with resolution by 9 months. Persistent circulating T‐cell abnormalities, including T‐cell lymphopenia and the presence and persistence of peripheral blood CD 1+ cells were noted throughout the first year of life.
Global target profile of the kinase inhibitor bosutinib in primary chronic myeloid leukemia cells
Authors: L L Remsing Rix, U Rix, J Colinge, O Hantschel, K L Bennett, T Stranzl, A Müller, C Baumgartner, P Valent, M Augustin, J H Till, G Superti-Furga
Journal: Leukemia (2008)
Group A Streptococcal Infections and Acute Rheumatic Fever
Authors: A L Bisno
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1991)

STREPTOCOCCUS PYOGENES (group A streptococcus) is one of the most common and ubiquitous of human pathogens. It causes a wide array of infections, the most frequent of which are acute pharyngitis ("strep throat") and impetigo (pyoderma). Other manifestations of infection with group A streptococcus include sinusitis, otitis, peritonsillar and retropharyngeal abscess, pneumonia, scarlet fever, erysipelas, cellulitis, lymphangitis, puerperal sepsis, vaginitis, myositis, gangrene, and perianal cellulitis. The organism has, moreover, long been the focus of intense clinical and investigative interest because of its association with two nonsuppurative sequelae: acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Infections caused by group A streptococci were . . .
Methodological quality of guidelines in gastroenterology
Authors: Rui Malheiro, Matilde de Monteiro-Soares, Cesare Hassan, Mário Dinis-Ribeiro
Journal: Endoscopy (2014)

Clinical guidelines are a common feature in modern endoscopy practice and they are being produced faster than ever. However, their methodological quality is rarely assessed. This study evaluated the methodological quality of current clinical guidelines in the field of gastroenterology, with an emphasis on endoscopy.Practice guidelines published by the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE), British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) were searched between September and October 2012 and evaluated using the AGREE II (Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation) instrument (23 items, scores 1 - 7 for each item; higher scores mean better quality).A total of 100 guidelines were assessed. The mean number of items scoring 6 or 7 per guideline was 9.2 (out of 23 items). Overall, 99 % of guidelines failed to include the target population in the development process, and 96 % did not report facilitators and barriers to guideline application. In addition, 86 % did not include advice or tools, and 94 % did not present monitoring or auditing criteria.The global methodological quality of clinical guidelines in the field of gastroenterology is poor, particularly regarding involvement of the target population in the development of guidelines and in the provision of clear suggestions to practitioners.
Value of forced diuresis in acute barbiturate poisoning.
Authors: G. E. Mawer, H. A. Lee
Journal: BMJ (1968)

The therapeutic usefulness of forced diuresis in severe barbi turate poisoning has yet to be evaluated by a controlled clinical trial. In the absence of such a trial its usefulness can be judged only indirectly from urinary barbiturate excretion rates. Unfortunately, however, the rate of apparent barbiturate excre tion varies with the method of its measurement. The usual clinical laboratory procedures (Varley, 1967) depend on chloroform or ether extraction of barbiturate fol lowed by spectrophotometric estimation. When applied to bio logical fluids they estimate not only unchanged barbiturate hypnotic but also a proportion of the metabolic derivatives (Bloomer, 1967). The resultant error is small when plasma is extracted, for the concentrations of unchanged barbiturate hypnotic and metabolites are of the same order in plasma. When urine is extracted, however, the error may be large, for the concentrations of metabolites may be several times greater than the concentration of unchanged barbiturate. Using more selective methods, Bloomer (1965, 1966) found that the urinary excretion of unchanged pentobarbitone and quinalbarbitone during forced diuresis was only a minor factor in the elimination of these driigs. Linton, Luke, and Briggs (1967) described the results of forced diuresis in 110 patients with severe barbiturate poisoning. They concluded that the barbiturate excretion rates justified forced diuresis in cases of poisoning by long-acting barbiturates and by cyclobarbitone. They also concluded that forced diuresis was useful in cases of poisoning by intermediate-acting barbi turates if the blood level had reached 4 mg./100 ml. and that mannitol had no practical advantages over frusemide. How ever, these conclusions were based on a method of barbiturate estimation which is not specific for unchanged hypnotic. The present report describes the pattern of barbiturate excre tion in four pairs of patients poisoned by pentobarbitone, amylobarbitone, butobarbitone, and phenobarbitone. Forced diuresis was induced with mannitol and frusemide, and the following were determined: (1) the rate of excretion of speci fically identified unchanged barbiturate hypnotic; (2) the extent to which the excretion rate was exaggerated by a less specific assay technique; (3) the rate of excretion of derivatives of barbituric acid, both unchanged barbiturate hypnotic and metabolites; and (4) the relative effects of frusemide and mannitol on the urinary excretion of unchanged barbiturate hypnotic.
Effect of Institutional Prestige on Reviewers' Recommendations and Editorial Decisions
Authors: Joseph M. Garfunkel
Journal: JAMA (1994)

<h3>Objective.</h3> —To determine whether manuscripts from institutions with greater prestige are more likely to be recommended for publication by reviewers and to be accepted for publication. <h3>Design.</h3> —Retrospective study of reviewers' recommendations and editorial decisions for manuscripts from the United States received at the<i>Journal of Pediatrics</i>between January 1 and July 31,1992. Manuscripts were classified as major papers or as brief reports. Institutions were ranked in quintiles according to the monetary value of grants funded by the National Institutes of Health. Reviewers' recommendations were classified as reject, reconsider, or accept, and editorial decisions as accept or reject, without regard to qualifying recommendations. <h3>Results.</h3> —For the 147 brief reports, lower institutional rank was associated with lower rates of recommendation for acceptance and of selection for publication. For the 258 major papers, however, there was no significant relationship between institutional rank and either the reviewers' recommendations or the acceptance rate. Similar results were found when the manuscripts were divided into five numerically equal groups according to institutional rank. <h3>Conclusions.</h3> —Major manuscripts from institutions with greater prestige were no more likely to be recommended or accepted for publication than those from institutions with lesser prestige. In contrast, the likelihood of recommendation for acceptance and of selection for publication of brief reports appeared to correlate with the prestige of the institution. (<i>JAMA</i>. 1994;272:137-138)
Prevalence of NIDDM Among Populations of the African Diaspora
Authors: Richard S Cooper, Charles N Rotimi, Jay S Kaufman, Eme E Owoaje, Henry Fraser, Terrence Forrester, Rainford Wilks, Lisa K Riste, J Kennedy Cruickshank
Journal: Diabetes Care (1997)

OBJECTIVE Rates of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus have risen sharply in recent years among blacks in the U.S. and the U.K. Increases in risk have likewise been observed in the island nations of the Caribbean and in urban West Africa. To date, however, no systematic comparison of the geographic variation of NIDDM among black populations has been undertaken. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In the course of an international collaborative study on cardiovascular disease, we used a standardized protocol to determine the rates of NIDDM and associated risk factors in populations of the African diaspora. Representative samples were drawn from sites in Nigeria, St. Lucia, Barbados, Jamaica, the United States, and the United Kingdom. A total of 4,823 individuals aged 25–74 years were recruited, all sites combined. RESULTS In sharp contrast to a prevalence of 2% in Nigeria, age-adjusted prevalences of self-reported NIDDM were 9% in the Caribbean and 11% in the U.S. and the U.K. Mean BMI ranged from 22 kg/m2 among men in West Africa to 31 kg/m2 in women in the U.S. Disease prevalence across sites was essentially collinear with obesity, pointing to site differences in the balance between energy intake and expenditure as the primary determinant of differential NIDDM risk among these populations. CONCLUSIONS In ethnic groups sharing a common genetic ancestry, these comparative data demonstrate the determining influence of changes in living conditions on the population risk of NIDDM.
"Local innovation" is to replace "central control" in public health strategy
Authors: Z. Kmietowicz
Journal: BMJ (2010)

The government is to hand the responsibility for public health to local councils and end the “hoarding” of power in Whitehall with its “multiple top-down targets,” which it says have failed to reduce health inequalities across England.

The health secretary for England, Andrew Lansley, said that transfer of power to local communities aimed “to improve the health of the public and to improve the health of the poorest fastest.”

He added, “Rooting public health within local communities is bringing public health to where it really needs to be.”

Public health in England will have a ringfenced budget of an estimated £4bn (€4.8bn; $6.2bn) taken from the total NHS budget. Part of the budget will go directly to Public Health England, the new public health service, for population-wide issues. Another part will go directly to local authorities, which will be set a series of outcome measures to determine whether people’s health actually improves.

The new public health agency will be staffed by experts from some of the bodies abolished earlier this year, such as the Health Protection Agency, and will be “supported by work with industry and other partners to promote healthy living,” says the government’s white paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People .

A new “health premium” of extra funding will be distributed to councils according to their progress. Although the details on how the premiums will work have not yet been finalised, Mr …
Amitriptyline and Trimipramine in Neurotic Depressed Outpatients: A Collaborative Study
Authors: KARL RICKELS, STANFORD E. BAZILIAN, PAUL E. GORDON, CHARLES C. WEISE, HAROLD S. FELDMAN, DANIEL A. WILSON
Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry (1970)

In a double-blind controlled study of 122 patients from four populations, amitriptyline produced the most and placebo the least amount of symptomatic improvement, with trimipramine slightly less efficacious than amitriptyline; general practice patients tended to improve the most and medical clinic patients the least. The authors suggest that amitriptyline may be more potent than trimipramine at equal dosages, as evidenced by its greater production of side effects, and that the small difference in clinical efficacy between the two drugs may thus be dosage related.