tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Environmental Mercury Contamination
Authors: Thomas B. Eyl
Journal: JAMA (1972)

Hartung and Dinman have edited much interesting, useful information on mercury. Natural distribution, industrial uses, environmental dynamics and biological effects are reliably given, but some of the analytical data is unreliable. Many of the human blood and urine mercury levels, presented poker-faced, are virtually worthless. The assumption that 2.5 ppm mercury in fish caused a fish-kill near Caspian, Michigan in August 1970 is at best extremely dubious. Unfortunately, political legerdemain, industrial vested interests and pseudoscientific hocus-pocus are evident to the initiated reader. Nowhere in the book is there mention of the 1971 statement of a Swedish expert committee: "In analyses of blood and certain other types of biological materials, we must recognize that individual analytical results may vary greatly from the true levels." (<i>Reviewer's transl.—Nord Hyg Tidskr</i>[suppl 3] 1971, p 19). Nor is there mention of the well-documented fact that the same human blood samples analyzed for mercury levels
Abstract 4996: Interferon consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP) promotes epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like phenomena, cell motility, and invasion via TGF-β signaling in U2OS cells
Authors: Jee Young Sung, Seog-Yun Park, June Hyuk Kim, Hyun Guy Kang, Jong Hyung Yoon, Yoon Sook Na, Yong-Nyun Kim, Byung-Kiu Park
Journal: Cancer Research (2014)

Abstract Interferon consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP) is a transcription factor induced by interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and a member of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family. ICSBP is predominantly expressed in hematopoietic cells and regulates the immune response and cell growth and differentiation. However, little is known about its function in non-hematopoietic cells. Here we show a novel function for ICSBP in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like phenomena (ELP), cell motility, and invasion in human osteosarcoma cell lines, including U2OS cells. IFN-γ treatment induced ICSBP expression and EMT-like morphological change in U2OS cells, which were suppressed by ICSBP knock-down. To further investigate the role of ICSBP in ELP, we established a stable U2OS cell line that overexpresses ICSBP. ICSBP expression caused U2OS cells to have a more elongated shape and an increased vimentin and fibronectin expression. ICSBP expression also promoted adhesiveness, motility, and invasiveness of U2OS cells. ICSBP up-regulated transforming growth factor (TGF)-β receptors and activated TGF-β signaling cascades, which were responsible for ELP as well as increased cell motility and invasion. In addition, ICSBP-induced TGF-β receptor activation resulted in the up-regulation of Snail. Knock-down of Snail attenuated the ICSBP-induced augmentation of cell motility and invasion. Up-regulation of Snail, ELP, and increased invasion by ICSBP expression were also observed in other osteosarcoma cell lines, such as Saos-2 and 143B. Furthermore, ICSBP and TGF- β receptor I were expressed in 45/54 (84%) and 47/54 (87%) of human osteosarcoma tissues, respectively, and showed significant correlation (r= 0.47, p= 0.0007) with respect to their expression levels. Taken altogether, these data demonstrate a novel function for ICSBP in ELP, cell motility, and invasion through the TGF-β and Snail signaling pathways Citation Format: Jee Young Sung, Seog-Yun Park, June Hyuk Kim, Hyun Guy Kang, Jong Hyung Yoon, Yoon Sook Na, Yong-Nyun Kim, Byung-Kiu Park. Interferon consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP) promotes epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like phenomena, cell motility, and invasion via TGF-β signaling in U2OS cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4996. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4996
Isolated Congenital Mitral Insufficiency with Particular Reference to Left Heart Volumes
Authors: GRAHAM A. H. MILLER, RICHARD BROWN, H. J. C. SWAN
Journal: Circulation (1964)

Clinical, hemodynamic, and angiocardiographic findings are described in seven cases of congenital mitral insufficiency. The volumes and changes in volume of the left atrium and left ventricle were calculated from the angiocardiograms and were found to be increased above the range of normal. Left ventricular stroke volumes thus obtained were compared with forward flows calculated from indicatordilution curves in order to quantitate regurgitant flow. Regurgitant flows varied between 19 and 94 per cent of the total left ventricular ejection volume, and forward flow was maintained as a result of a considerable increase in left ventricular volume. The left ventricular ejection volume was 50 to 64 per cent of the end-diastolic volume.
A CASE OF SYMMETRICAL GANGRENE (RAYNAUD'S DISEASE)
Authors: E. Goodall
Journal: BMJ (1919)

JO 9 admnitted that, they coWu.never recognize a sbape, there wae only-a, ".feeling that there was something tliere" sometliing too ill defined to describe.These indefinite Porm8 appeaved.owly in.the; early stages and generally in bWidnaaa that were recovering.They are probably due "ethe-misiatrpyetation of feeble and: indefinite sensations excited in functionally depressed areas of the visual cortex.
Taking bites from health care
Authors: D. Carnall
Journal: BMJ (1995)

Watchdog received so many health related letters and calls that its producers decided to give health its own programme. Watchdog HealthCheck is the result. Hosted live by Judith Hann and charged with “investigating with the same style and force” as its sister programme, it combined news and radio items with three short documentary reports, each lasting about seven minutes.

First up for hard hitting analysis was the private practice of NHS consultants. Can it be right, the programme asked, that for the payment of pounds sterling70, patients should be able to shorten their wait for the same consultant from eight months to three days? Posing as prospective patients, the reporters telephoned some 40 consultants and found that two thirds offered more than one half day …
Urban air pollution and mortality in a cohort of Norwegian men.
Authors: Per Nafstad, Lise Lund Håheim, Torbjørn Wisløff, Frederick Gram, Bente Oftedal, Ingar Holme, Ingvar Hjermann, Paul Leren
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2004)

We investigated the association between total and cause-specific mortality and individual measures of long-term air pollution exposure in a cohort of Norwegian men followed from 1972-1973 through 1998. Data from a follow-up study on cardiovascular risk factors among 16,209 men 40-49 years of age living in Oslo, Norway, in 1972-1973 were linked with data from the Norwegian Death Register and with estimates of average yearly air pollution levels at the participants' home addresses from 1974 to 1998. Cox proportional-hazards regression was used to estimate associations between exposure and total and cause-specific mortality. During the follow-up time 4,227 men died from a disease corresponding to an ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases, Revision 9) code < 800. Controlling for a number of potential confounders, the adjusted risk ratio for dying was 1.08 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06-1.11] for a 10- microg/m3 increase in average exposure to nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the home address from 1974 through 1978. Corresponding adjusted risk ratios for dying from a respiratory disease other than lung cancer were 1.16 (95% CI, 1.06-1.26); from lung cancer, 1.11 (95% CI, 1.03-1.19); from ischemic heart diseases, 1.08 (95% CI, 1.03-1.12); and from cerebrovascular diseases, 1.04 (95% CI, 0.94-1.15). The findings indicate that urban air pollution may increase the risk of dying. The effect seemed to be strongest for deaths from respiratory diseases other than lung cancer.
Limitations of Listing Specific Medical Interventions in Advance Directives
Authors: Allan S. Brett
Journal: JAMA (1991)

Recent events, including the Cruzan decision and the passage of the Patient Self-Determination Act, have renewed interest in the strengths and limitations of various types of advance directives. In one well-known approach, the competent person indicates preferences for or against a series of specific medical interventions that might be considered if the person loses decision-making capacity. However, such lists of interventions may shift attention away from overall treatment goals or may prescribe inappropriate medical care. Moreover, listing specific interventions in advance does not necessarily enhance self-determination or reduce uncertainty in decision making.
Out with “the old,” elderly, and aged
Authors: Marianne Falconer, Desmond O'Neill
Journal: BMJ (2007)

In his analysis of the challenge of simultaneously assisting and engaging in a respectful way with groups of differing status in society, the sociologist Richard Sennett reflected on why respect—which, unlike food, costs nothing—is in such short supply.1 One answer lies in the language we use. Listening to the wishes of clients and patients with disability or of a different ethnicity has led to a more sensitive use of language in encounters with people from these groups. 

Older people, who not only are key clients of health services but also experience ageism as a widespread and potent barrier to adequate health care,2 have clearly signalled their wishes to be addressed in respectful terms. In a Europe-wide survey they have articulated a preference for “older” or “senior” as the defining adjectives for their demographic grouping.3 They also said which terms they deemed unacceptable: “elderly,” “aged,” and “old,” with a particularly forceful rejection of elderly. This is echoed by the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations, which has outlined …
Postnatal development of disaccharidase activities in jejunal fluid of preterm neonates.
Authors: A J Mayne, G A Brown, D Sule, A S McNeish
Journal: Gut (1986)

Because human fetuses of 26-30 weeks gestation are known to have low levels of intestinal mucosal lactase activity, it has been assumed that live born preterm neonates of comparable gestational age are also lactase deficient. We have previously shown that disaccharidase activities in jejunal fluid in infants are highly significantly correlated with enzyme activities in the adjacent mucosa. We have now measured disaccharidase activities cross-sectionally and longitudinally in the jejunal fluid of a group of very preterm neonates of 26-29 weeks gestation who were fed with pasteurised human milk. Lactase activity was within the normal range for older infants and children within the first week of life. Sucrase: lactase ratios fell significantly in the second and third weeks of life, strongly suggesting a further increase in lactase activity. This increase was independent of postconceptional age. Preterm neonates are not as lactase deficient as previously believed, and this has implications in the search for optimal feeding regimes.
Adult Still's Disease Complicated by Cardiac Tamponade
Authors: Jerry C. Jacobs
Journal: JAMA (1983)

<h3>To the Editor.—</h3> In Dr Jamieson's report, "Adult Still's Disease Complicated by Cardiac Tamponade," no mention is made of the possibility of treatment of this manifestation of the disease with pericardiocentesis and local corticosteroid injection rather than with systemic corticosteroids. Treatment of uremic pericardial effusion with local steroid instillation was first reported by Buselmeier in 1973 and summarized in an expanded report in 1978.<sup>1</sup>A large series was also described by Fuller,<sup>2</sup>and successful applications of this technique to both children and adults with tamponade caused by rheumatoid pericarditis were subsequently reported by four other groups.<sup>3-6</sup>Prolonged daily administration of systemic steroids may be avoided in at least some patients with rheumatoid pericarditis and tamponade (provided they do not have sufficient concurrent myocarditis to require systemic therapy), and this mode of therapy should be considered for patients such as Dr Jamieson's.
Agranulocytosis and Dose of Methimazole
Authors: David S. Cooper, Gilbert H. Daniels, E. Chester Ridgeway
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1984)

ExcerptTo the editor: In a recent article, we retrospectively reviewed 14 cases of antithyroid-drug-related agranulocytosis (1) and reported that the risk of agranulocytosis from methimazole increased with patient age and drug dose (1). Since then, we have heard our results interpreted by others to mean that methimazole in daily doses of 30 mg or less does not cause agranulocytosis. This was clearly not our intention. One 45-year-old patient in our series developed agranulocytosis while taking 30 mg/d, and we have recently seen a 75-year-old patient develop agranulocytosis on this dose. Other examples of agranulocytosis due to methimazole at doses of...
The Mystique of Medical Training
Authors: Steven L. Dubovsky
Journal: JAMA (1983)

FOR CENTURIES, the physician has been viewed by his community as beyond reproach and virtually infallible in his decisions, which often involve matters of life and death. Such esteem has helped to create a mystique that, while reassuring to patients, can lead to great pressure on each new generation of physicians. Already present when the young physician begins his training is an obsession for perfection that can be promulgated in the house-staff training period and that continues to grow in practicing and academic physicians who function under often inhumane stress as they strive to heal and care for humanity. House officers are required to adapt constructively to the many stresses they face in the practice of medicine. Confrontation with illness and death, long hours and inadequate time with families, a prolonged period of apprenticeship, increasing complexities of medical technology, new frontiers in medical ethics, and the burgeoning volume of medical
Etiology of Prolongation of the P-R Interval in Patients with an Endocardial Cushion Defect
Authors: ALBERT L. WALDO, GERARD A. KAISER, FREDERICK O. BOWMAN, JAMES R. MALM
Journal: Circulation (1973)

Conduction time from the region of the sinus node to the region of the atrioventricular (A-V) node was studied during open heart surgery in 13 patients with an endocardial cushion type atrial septal defect, eight patients with a secundum type atrial septal defect, one patient with a sinus venosus type atrial septal defect, and eight patients with an intact atrial septum. Internodal conduction time was prolonged by an average of 37 msec (range 15-69 msec) in patients with an endocardial cushion defect when compared with the other three groups of patients. However, when the atria were paced from the A-V nodal region, the resulting P-R intervals in patients with an endocardial cushion defect were similar to those of patients in the other three groups, a fact that indicates normal A-V nodal-His-Purkinje conduction in patients with an endocardial cushion defect. It was therefore concluded that the prolonged P-R interval which patients with an endocardial cushion defect often manifest is due simply to prolonged internodal conduction time. Further, we have suggested that the data from this study support the concept that specialized atrial internodal pathways play an important role in conduction between the sinus and A-V nodes.
Revealing the role of phospholipase Cβ3 in the regulation of VEGF-induced vascular permeability
Authors: Luke H. Hoeppner, Kathryn N. Phoenix, Karl J. Clark, Resham Bhattacharya, Xun Gong, Tracey E. Sciuto, Pawan Vohra, Sandip Suresh, Santanu Bhattacharya, Ann M. Dvorak, Stephen C. Ekker, Harold F. Dvorak, Kevin P. Claffey, Debabrata Mukhopadhyay
Journal: Blood (2012)
Behold the Christmas miracle of antioxidants
Authors: Ben Goldacre
Journal: BMJ (2007)

The frequency of negative hydrogen breath tests due to colonic bacterial flora which are unable to produce hydrogen was determined after oral lactulose challenge in 98 healthy Dutch schoolchildren. There was a negative result in 9.2%. The probability of a false normal lactose breath test (1:77) was calculated from these results together with those from a separate group of children with lactose malabsorption (also determined by hydrogen breath test). A study of siblings and mothers of subjects with a negative breath test did not show familial clustering of this condition. Faecal incubation tests with various sugars showed an increase in breath hydrogen greater than 100 parts per million in those with a positive breath test while subjects with a negative breath test also had a negative faecal incubation test. The frequency of a false negative hydrogen breath test was higher than previously reported, but this does not affect the superiority of this method of testing over the conventional blood glucose determination.
The Challenge for Primary Care
Authors: M. Marshall
Journal: BMJ (2004)

Primary care might not be the sexiest part of the NHS, but it is essential if the health service is to function effectively. Each day over 95% of the contacts that patients make with the NHS take place in primary care. Most of these are dealt with without any input from the hospital sector. Primary care services are cost effective, most of them are of high quality, and we know that patients rate them highly. Why then do so many frontline primary care professionals feel demoralised and fearful …
Apatitic Urinary Calculi From Early American Indians
Authors: Carl W. Beck
Journal: JAMA (1966)

Ancient urinary calculi have been reported sparingly in the literature. The first known vesical stone was discovered by Elliot Smith among bones of a predynastic Egyptian who lived before 4800 BC.<sup>1</sup>Indian Sanskrit documents mention suprapubic removal of calculi. These artisans further recognized that broken fragments from a calculus could act as nucleating centers for renewed stone growth. Hippocrates (460-370 BC) identified both renal and vesical calculi. Willams<sup>2</sup>discovered a bladder stone in the mummy of a basket-maker's grave in Arizona that dated back at least 3,000 years. Smith<sup>3</sup>analyzed genitourinary-tract calculi from a skeleton in a burial at Indian Knoll, Ky. The present study is concerned with the occurrence of urinary calculi from two midwestern Indian burials in Fulton County, Illinois, and Marion County, Indiana. These two occurrences, as well as those reported in the literature, indicate that early man apparently suffered from urinary-tract diseases similar
Analysis of outcome measures within treatment groups
Authors: P. Sedgwick
Journal: BMJ (2012)

Researchers investigated the effects of a school based educational programme aimed at reducing consumption of carbonated drinks to prevent weight gain in children. The programme was delivered over one school year and focused on promoting a healthy diet. A cluster randomised controlled trial study design was used. Six primary schools in southwest England were recruited. The control group received no intervention. In total, 325 children aged 7-11 years were randomised to intervention and 319 to control.1

The main outcome measures included consumption of carbonated drinks. Consumption was measured as the number of glasses (average size 250 ml) drunk during a three day period, recorded both at baseline and at the end of the trial. The number of drinks consumed was normally distributed. Over one school year, the consumption of carbonated drinks decreased by a mean of 0.6 glasses in the intervention group (95% confidence interval −1.0 to −0.1; P=0.02) but increased by 0.2 glasses (−0.2 to 0.5; P=0.4) in the control group.

Which of the following statements, if any, are true?

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Late Lumen Loss After Coronary Angioplasty Is Associated With the Activation Status of Circulating Phagocytes Before Treatment
Authors: Anneke Pietersma, Marcel Kofflard, L. Elly A. de Wit, Theo Stijnen, Johan F. Koster, Patrick W. Serruys, Wim Sluiter
Journal: Circulation (1995)

Background The purpose of this pilot study was to identify biological risk factors for restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) to predict the long-term outcome of PTCA before treatment. Methods and Results To investigate whether blood granulocytes and monocytes could determine luminal renarrowing after PTCA, several characteristics of these phagocytes were assessed before angioplasty in 32 patients who underwent PTCA of one coronary artery and who had repeat angiograms at 6-month follow-up. The plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-6, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, and lipoprotein(a) before angioplasty were assessed as well. We found that the expression of the membrane antigens CD64, CD66, and CD67 by granulocytes was inversely associated with the luminal renarrowing normalized for vessel size (relative loss) at 6 months after PTCA, while the production of IL-1β by stimulated monocytes was positively associated with the relative loss. Next, these univariate predictors were corrected for the established clinical risk factors of dilation of the left anterior descending coronary artery and current smoking, which were statistically significant classic predictors in our patient group. Only the expression of CD67 did not predict late lumen loss independent of these established clinical risk factors. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that luminal renarrowing could be predicted reliably ( R 2 =.65; P &lt;.0001) in this patient group on the basis of the vessel dilated and only two biological risk factors that reflect the activation status of blood phagocytes, ie, the expression of CD66 by granulocytes and the production of IL-1β by stimulated monocytes. Conclusions The results of the present study indicate that activated blood granulocytes prevent luminal renarrowing after PTCA, while activated blood monocytes promote late lumen loss. To validate this new finding, further study in an independent patient group is required.
Qualifications and Reciprocity as Viewed by the Illinois Board.
Authors: B. D. Harison
Journal: JAMA (1906)

[Editor's Note: Dr. James A. Egan, Springfield, calls attention to a typographical error in his letter, which was published inThe Journal, August 4. On page 374, line 17, for 1889 read 1899. Nine lines below the same error is repeated. —Ed.] Detroit, Aug. 4, 1906. <h3>To the Editor:</h3> —When I referred to the "disturbed periods" of my worthy brother Egan of Illinois, in my communication toThe Journal, published July 21, I did not anticipate in the least that your readers would be furnished with so complete a demonstration of the affliction so mildly suggested by me. I am truly sorry, not for myself, as I am immune, but for those of your readers who do not enjoy personalities and recriminations. In my letter I criticised the action of the Illinois State Board of Health in resigning from the American confederation from the standpoint of the reasons given