tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Dietary lipids and blood cholesterol: quantitative meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies
Authors: R. Clarke, C. Frost, R. Collins, P. Appleby, R. Peto
Journal: BMJ (1997)

<h3>Abstract</h3> <b>Objective:</b> To determine the quantitative importance of dietary fatty acids and dietary cholesterol to blood concentrations of total, low density lipoprotein, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. <b>Design:</b> Meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies of solid food diets in healthy volunteers. <b>Subjects:</b> 395 dietary experiments (median duration 1 month) among 129 groups of individuals. <b>Results:</b> Isocaloric replacement of saturated fats by complex carbohydrates for 10% of dietary calories resulted in blood total cholesterol falling by 0.52 (SE 0.03) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol falling by 0.36 (0.05) mmol/l. Isocaloric replacement of complex carbohydrates by polyunsaturated fats for 5% of dietary calories resulted in total cholesterol falling by a further 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol falling by 0.11 (0.02) mmol/l. Similar replacement of carbohydrates by monounsaturated fats produced no significant effect on total or low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Avoiding 200 mg/day dietary cholesterol further decreased blood total cholesterol by 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.10 (0.02) mmol/l. <b>Conclusions:</b> In typical British diets replacing 60% of saturated fats by other fats and avoiding 60% of dietary cholesterol would reduce blood total cholesterol by about 0.8 mmol/l (that is, by 10-15%), with four fifths of this reduction being in low density lipoprotein cholesterol. <h3>Key messages</h3> The quantitative importance of diet to blood cholesterol remains uncertain because non-experimental dietary studies in community subjects are unreliable and experimental (“metabolic ward”) studies have been too small to be separately reliable We conducted a meta-analysis of 395 published, metabolic ward experiments of the effects of various dietary lipids on blood cholesterol Isocaloric increases in saturated fat intake were associated with increases in total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol and smaller increases in high density lipoprotein cholesterol; increased polyunsaturated fat intake decreased total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol; monounsaturated fat had no significant effect on total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol but increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol In the average British diet replacement of 60% of the saturated fat by other dietary fats and avoidance of 60% of dietary cholesterol would reduce blood cholesterol by about 0.8 mmol/l (that is, by 10-15%), with four fifths of this reduction being in low density lipoprotein cholesterol The effect on vascular disease of a prolonged difference of 0.8 mmol/l in blood cholesterol concentration depends on the relative importance at different ages of the benefits of reducing low density lipoprotein cholesterol and the hazards of reducing high density lipoprotein cholesterol, which require further study
Nedocromil sodium reduces cigarette smoke-induced bronchoconstrictor hyperresponsiveness to substance P in the guinea-pig
Authors: DJ Dusser, H Lacroix, N Desmazes-Dufeu, M Mordelet-Dambrine, GL Roisman
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (1995)

Acute exposure to cigarette smoke provokes airway hyperresponsiveness to substance P and inactivates neutral endopeptidase (NEP). To determine whether nedocromil sodium can prevent cigarette smoke-induced hyperresponsiveness to substance P, we studied two groups of anaesthetized guinea-pigs. One group of guinea-pigs was pretreated with aerosolized 0.9% NaCl solution (90 breaths), the other group was pretreated with aerosolized nedocromil sodium (10(-4) M, 90 breaths). In each animal, pretreatment was followed by either exposure to the smoke of one cigarette or exposure to air. After acute exposure to cigarette smoke or to air, we measured the change in total pulmonary resistance (RL) induced by increasing concentrations of aerosolized substance P. In the absence of nedocromil sodium, the bronchoconstrictor responses to substance P were greater in cigarette smoke-exposed guinea-pigs than in air-exposed animals. Aerosolized nedocromil sodium had no effect on the response to substance P in air-exposed animals, but it reduced cigarette smoke-induced hyperresponsiveness to substance P. The preventive effect on cigarette smoke-induced hyperresponsiveness to substance P was observed at concentrations of aerosolized nedocromil sodium of 3 x 10(-5), 10(-4), and 3 x 10(-4) M. In vitro, cigarette smoke solution inhibited NEP activity from lung membrane preparations, but this inhibitory effect was not modified by nedocromil sodium (10(-4) M). We conclude that aerosolized nedocromil sodium reduces cigarette smoke-induced airway hyperresponsiveness to substance P in vivo. This action of nedocromil sodium is not due to a protective effect on cigarette smoke-induced inactivation of NEP in vitro.
Physical Diagnosis of Pain: An Atlas of Signs and Symptoms
Authors: Matthias Karst
Journal: JAMA (2010)

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to use our site, or clicking "Continue," you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy | Continue JAMA HomeNew OnlineCurrent IssueFor Authors Publications JAMA JAMA Network Open JAMA Cardiology JAMA Dermatology JAMA Health Forum JAMA Internal Medicine JAMA Neurology JAMA Oncology JAMA Ophthalmology JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery JAMA Pediatrics JAMA Psychiatry JAMA Surgery Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry (1919-1959) Podcasts Clinical Reviews Editors' Summary Medical News Author Interviews More JN Learning / CMESubscribeJobsInstitutions / LibrariansReprints & Permissions Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Statement 2023 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved Search All JAMA JAMA Network Open JAMA Cardiology JAMA Dermatology JAMA Forum Archive JAMA Health Forum JAMA Internal Medicine JAMA Neurology JAMA Oncology JAMA Ophthalmology JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery JAMA Pediatrics JAMA Psychiatry JAMA Surgery Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry Input Search Term Sign In Individual Sign In Sign inCreate an Account Access through your institution Sign In Purchase Options: Buy this article Rent this article Subscribe to the JAMA journal
A Century of Vaccination: Small-Pox Epidemics and Small-Pox Mortality before and since Vaccination Came into Use
Authors: E. J. Edwardes
Journal: BMJ (1902)

As the title indicates, the subject here considered is the mor- tality from small-pox during the nineteenth century-a cen- tury of vaccination-as contrasted with previous small-pox mortality before vaccination was in use, with especial refer- enee to epidemic outbreaks of the disease.A word on statistics before going further.When a person dies of small-pox that death and its cause are unmistakeable; the whole surrounding community is aware of the solid fact that the person is dead of small-pox.A hole is made in the ground and he is buried, and the death is noted amongst the other deaths by local officials and reported to the central Government.From time to time the latter furnishes state- ments as to the number of these deaths and the localities, and perhaps the ages, of the victims.Now educated people have airily remarked to the writer when such records have been mentioned, " Ah, but you know statistics can prove any- thing."Therefore be it known that the only manipulation of official records in this article is that the deaths in a popula- tion are stated as deaths per i,ooo,ooo of that population, and this is absolutely necessary for the purpose of comparison with other populations.You cannot say, because 4,ooo deaths from small-pox occur in one year in a country, and 2,000 deaths in another country, that small-pox is twice as fatal in the former country, unless you state at the same time that their populations are exactly the same in number.Some standard of comparison is essentially necessary, and the number I,000,000 is convenient.The term "Irate," then, unless otherwise specified, means here the number of deaths in one year from small-pox per million living in any given country, and the term " average rate " or rate during a given period means simply the average of the yearly rates during that period.The term " deaths" means deaths from small-pox unless otherwise specified.Apparently, then, the question is merely a comparison of rates.But on the threshold of the subject we are confronted by this difficulty, that official " rates" are for the most part a product of the nineteenth century; for example, the official
Autoimmune Thyroid Disease: Further Developments in Our Understanding*
Authors: A. P. WEETMAN, A. M. McGREGOR
Journal: Endocrine Reviews (1994)

DEVELOPMENTS in thyroid autoimmunity have been reviewed in this journal previously (1, 2), but since then there have been major advances in our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for autoimmunity in general, generated in large part by the application of novel molecular techniques. These discoveries in turn have been used to develop new directions of research in the field of autoimmune thyroid disorders, which will be the subject of the present article. Approximately the same format has been adopted as in our previous review (1), in an attempt to provide continuity, but we have chosen to emphasize particularly work conducted during the last 5 yr for obvious reasons. Before considering the thyroid disorders themselves, however, it is worth providing a brief resume of what is known currently about immunoregulation and self-tolerance in general, and then reviewing the results obtained in animal models of thyroiditis that continue to generate otherwise unobtainable insights into pathogenesis.
Cancer and Date of Birth
Authors: J. M. Davies
Journal: BMJ (1963)

<h3>Abstract</h3> Attention allows us to focus sensory processing on behaviorally relevant aspects of the visual world. Directing attention has been associated with a number of changes in sensory representation including multiplicative gain as well as shifts in the size and location of neuron receptive fields in early visual cortex. But, which, if any, of these physiological effects can account for the behavioral benefits of attention? Here we use a large scale computational model of primate visual cortex to perform a set of experiments in which we decouple changes in spatial tuning from changes in gain. We show that increased gain at cued locations in a neural network observer model mimics the improvement of human subjects on an attentional task with a spatial cue. Increasing gain resulted in changes in receptive field size and location similar to physiological effects, yet when we forced the model to use only these spatial tuning changes the model failed to produce any behavioral benefit. Instead, we found that gain alone was both necessary and sufficient to explain behavioral improvement during attention. Our results suggest that receptive field shifts are a result of the signal gain that boosts behavioral performance rather than the core mechanism of spatial attention.
A Nutritional Formula Enriched With Arginine, Zinc, and Antioxidants for the Healing of Pressure Ulcers
Authors: Emanuele Cereda, Catherine Klersy, Marcella Serioli, Aldo Crespi, Federico D'Andrea
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2015)

Trials on specific nutritional supplements for the treatment of pressure ulcers (PUs) have been small, inconsistent in their formulations, or unsuccessful in controlling for total supplement calorie or protein content.To evaluate whether supplementation with arginine, zinc, and antioxidants within a high-calorie, high-protein formula improves PU healing.Multicenter, randomized, controlled, blinded trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01107197).Long-term care and home care services.200 adult malnourished patients with stage II, III, and IV PUs.An energy-dense, protein-rich oral formula enriched with arginine, zinc, and antioxidants (400 mL/d) or an equal volume of an isocaloric, isonitrogenous formula for 8 weeks.The primary end point was the percentage of change in PU area at 8 weeks. Secondary end points included complete healing, reduction in the PU area of 40% or greater, incidence of wound infections, the total number of dressings at 8 weeks, and the percentage of change in area at 4 weeks.Supplementation with the enriched formula (n = 101) resulted in a greater reduction in PU area (mean reduction, 60.9% [95% CI, 54.3% to 67.5%]) than with the control formula (n = 99) (45.2% [CI, 38.4% to 52.0%]) (adjusted mean difference, 18.7% [CI, 5.7% to 31.8%]; P = 0.017). A more frequent reduction in area of 40% or greater at 8 weeks was also seen (odds ratio, 1.98 [CI, 1.12 to 3.48]; P = 0.018). No difference was found in terms of the other secondary end points.Participation was restricted to patients who were malnourished, were able to drink oral supplements, and were living in long-term care institutions or receiving home care services.Among malnourished patients with PU, 8 weeks of supplementation with an oral nutritional formula enriched with arginine, zinc, and antioxidants improved PU healing.Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Maggiore della Carità.
Polypill inventor puts product online after failing to get backing from industry
Authors: Z. Kmietowicz
Journal: BMJ (2013)

Healthy people with no history of cardiovascular events will be able to buy over the internet a combination of four drugs that reduce cholesterol concentrations and blood pressure, after the professor behind the concept of the polypill launched the product online to bring it to people in the UK.

Nicholas Wald, head of the centre for environmental and preventive medicine at Queen Mary University of London, told the BMJ that he took the action to launch the product after the polypill failed to attract backing from a drug company.

“Over the years we have tried to see whether big pharma were interested, but they do not see it as a big money winner,” he said. “It is priced at about £1 [€1.20; $1.60] a day, and I think …
Benign prostatic enlargement.
Authors: J P Blandy
Journal: BMJ (1971)

Benign enlargement of the prostate occurs in nearly all men as they grow older, but only one in ten is likely to need a sur geon.1 Surgical relief is required for obstruction to the outflow of the bladder. The obstruction may be due to hypertrophy of the muscle at the bladder neck, or to the for mation of benign adenoma in the prostate, or (as is usual) a combination of both processes (Fig. 1, a-f). If there is resis tance to the free emptying of the bladder the pressure rises inside it and like the myocardium in response to valvular stenosis it undergoes hypertrophy. Unfortunately, though the hypertrophy of the bladder detrusor may restore flow to something near normal, hypertrophy is accompanied by trabeculation and sacculation?herniation of the mucosa between bands of muscle. When these herniations no longer empty out, the residual urine inside the diverticula may become infected (Fig. 2). As the process continues, the detru sor fails (just as the myocardium fails) and no longer pushes its contents past the obstructed outflow. The residual urine in the bladder may then become infected, and stones may be formed (Fig. 3). At the same time the ureterovesical valve may give way and allow reflux up the ureter, or the bulk of the adenoma may compress the intramural ureter. In either event the ureter develops dilatation and the kidney becomes hydronephrotic. This in turn leads to loss of renal concentrat ing and acidifying power, and ultimately to diminished glomerular filtration and uraemia. To correct the trouble the obstructing muscle and adenoma have to be removed from the neck of the bladder. Pills, freez ing, and injections have all been tried in vain, and are (so far) neither so safe nor so reliable as surgical excision. The opera tion can be done either by an open or a transurethral approach, each with advantages and disadvantages. Open
Long Non-Coding RNAs and their Biological Roles in Plants
Authors: Xue Liu, Lili Hao, Dayong Li, Lihuang Zhu, Songnian Hu
Journal: Genomics Proteomics & Bioinformatics (2015)

Abstract With the development of genomics and bioinformatics, especially the extensive applications of high-throughput sequencing technology, more transcriptional units with little or no protein-coding potential have been discovered. Such RNA molecules are called non-protein-coding RNAs (npcRNAs or ncRNAs). Among them, long npcRNAs or ncRNAs (lnpcRNAs or lncRNAs) represent diverse classes of transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides. In recent years, the lncRNAs have been considered as important regulators in many essential biological processes. In plants, although a large number of lncRNA transcripts have been predicted and identified in few species, our current knowledge of their biological functions is still limited. Here, we have summarized recent studies on their identification, characteristics, classification, bioinformatics, resources, and current exploration of their biological functions in plants.
Diet Pills Redux
Authors: Gregory D. Curfman
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1997)

Between 1967 and 1972, there was a serious outbreak of primary pulmonary hypertension in Western Europe.1 The incidence of the disorder among patients seen at major cardiac catheterization centers in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria increased by a factor of 10. This unusual epidemic was traced to the use of an appetite-suppressant drug, aminorex (Menocil), which had been introduced in Europe shortly before. The drug was quickly withdrawn from the market, but not before it had resulted in substantial morbidity and a mortality rate of 50 percent among affected patients. Postmortem examinations in fatal cases disclosed obstructive lesions in the muscular . . .
Sexual Life after Gynaecological Operations
Authors: A. G. Amias
Journal: BMJ (1975)

which are poorly matched to the demand unit.While a frequency mismatch between patient and pacemaker may be uncommon, a combination of this with borderline amplitude may explain the increased incidence of inappropriate fixed-rate pacing in sick sinus syndrome.Thus, in summary, failure of inhibition of demand pacemakers may be expected to be more common in patients with sick sinus syndrome than in those with heart block because of a greater likelihood of myocardial infarction causing a fall in amplitude of the input signal to the pacemaker.Patients with sick sinus syndrome and a normal scalar QRS duration may have a sensed QRS in which the frequency distribution does not match the demand pacemaker.-Weare, etc.,
Hypocalcaemia after intravenous bisphosphonate
Authors: Shazia Breay
Journal: BMJ (2004)

Editor-The Data Protection Act 1998 does not prohibit the processing of personal information for medical research purposes.Indeed, it is clear from section 33 of the act that such processing is expressly permitted.If it were otherwise, then the act would be in direct conflict with the core aims of the laws that underpin it-namely, the Council of Europe Convention of 1981 and the European Union Directive of 1995.These laws seek to facilitate data processing activities, primarily "free flows" of information, rather than suppress data processing.The problems to which Peto et al refer in their editorial on data protection, informed consent, and research are not Data Protection Act problems but, rather, problems caused by ignorance and misunderstanding. 1 With basic training on the key mechanisms of the act the problems of which the authors complain can be easily overcome.Training need not be an expensive task either.Legal compliance can be achieved at comparatively modest cost.There are two additional points of note.Firstly, the Data Protection Act regulates the processing of personal information relating to living individuals.Thus, research following death is not regulated.Secondly, the act and case law make clear that information will not be "personal data" if it does not identify a living person or if it does not have the individual as its focus or is not significantly biographical.So, if medical researchers do not actually need or seek identification information the act should not be engaged.
A2.3 STAT3-regulated gene expression in circulating CD4<sup>+</sup>T cells discriminates RA patients independently of clinical parameters in early arthritis: a validation study
Authors: AG Pratt, AE Anderson, J Diboll, N Nair, A Skelton, D Lendrem, B Hargreaves, C Routledge, P Brown, P Stocks, A Barton, JD Isaacs
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2015)

<h3>Background and objectives</h3> We previously identified a 12-gene "signature," enriched for STAT3 target genes, which was predictive of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in circulating CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells of early arthritis patients. We conducted an independent replication study, and interpreted its findings in the context of other clinically relevant baseline parameters. <h3>Materials and methods</h3> Gene expression in highly purified peripheral blood CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells from disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD)- and steroid-naïve patients with suspected inflammatory arthritis was measured using Illumina microarray technology. A nested analysis focussed on normalised expression of those transcripts hybridised by the 12 probes identified during the previous study. Concurrent STAT3 pathway activation was determined in CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells by paired whole blood flow cytometry, and detailed clinical and serological data were recorded for all participants. Analyses included the use of univariate tests, hierarchical clustering and logistic regression. <h3>Results</h3> In this independent cohort of 161 early arthritis patients, normalised expression of ten out of the 12 CD4<sup>+</sup> T cell "signature" genes studied differed significantly between patients presenting with RA and alternative diagnoses (p &lt; 0.05). Hierarchical clustering using the signature discriminated an RA-enriched subgroup of early arthritis patients. Differential expression was most pronounced for the STAT3-regulated genes PIM1, BCL-3 and SOCS3 (&gt;1.3-fold difference; p &lt; 0.001 in each case), each of whose expression correlated strongly with paired CD4<sup>+</sup> T cell intracellular phospho-STAT3. Multivariate analysis confirmed that the expression of each of these three genes predicted a diagnosis of RA independently of CRP, ESR, swollen joint count and age. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The regulation of gene expression by STAT3 in circulating CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells is confirmed as an early event in RA pathogenesis. The functional relevance of this observation remains the subject of on-going in vitro investigation.
More drug trials end early hiding potential problems
Authors: Michael Day
Journal: BMJ (2005)

A growing number of trials sponsored by the drug industry are halted early on the grounds that apparent treatment benefits have emerged rapidly. The warning comes from Canadian researchers whose review of 143 randomised controlled trials has found a “frequent failure to report relevant information” and “implausibly large treatment effects” ( JAMA 2005;294:2228-30).

The proportion of randomised trials halted early has doubled in the past 10 years, from 0.5% in 1990-4 to 1.2% in 2000-4. And the scientific validity of the data they provide is not proved, say the researchers from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.

Dr Victor Montori, the lead …