tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology of Epiretinal Membrane in a Large Cohort of Patients with Uveitis
Authors: Benjamin P. Nicholson, Mei Zhou, Mahdi Rostamizadeh, Preema Mehta, Elvira Agrón, Wai Wong, Henry Wiley, Robert Nussenblatt, H. Nida Sen
Journal: Ophthalmology (2014)
The Good Society: The Humane Agenda
Authors: D. Black
Journal: BMJ (1996)

J K Galbraith Sinclair-Stevenson, £12.99, pp 152 ISBN 1–85619-509-0

Brought up in Scotland in the same tradition as Galbraith was raised in Ontario and, like him, nourished for decades on alien corn, I should warm to this book. And warm I did, for its content as much as for my empathy with its author.

In his search for the good society Galbraith discards Utopian solutions, such as “comprehensive socialism” or generalised “privatisation”: “As a broad rule, privatization ranks with comprehensive socialism in irrelevance.” Efficient production in the developed world leads to what in an earlier book he termed the …
Sodium valproate and thrombocytopenia.
Authors: D A Winfield, P Benton, M L Espir, L J Arthur
Journal: BMJ (1976)

Sodium valproate and thrombocytopeniaPublished reports on the value of sodium valproate (Epilim) as an anticonvulsant drug have been encouraging.'Acquired platelet function defects ofdoubtful significance have been found and attributed to this drug,2 and there have been two reports of haemorrhages, prolonged bleeding times, and thrombocytopenia in patients on sodium valproate with other anticonvulsant drugs.3 4 The patient we report here developed thrombocytopenia when taking sodium valproate alone, and the investigations are recorded. Case reportA 6-year-old boy weighing 20 kg had been having major and minor seizures for two years and had failed to respond to other anticonvulsant drugs.On treatment with sodium valproate 400 mg four times a day, all other drugs having been stopped, he was rendered fit-free for eight months.His mother then reported that he had developed hair loss and multiple spon- taneous bruises.The bleeding time was prolonged and the platelet count was 15 x 109/1, but other tests of coagulation were normal.Sodium valproate was immediately discontinued.The serum level at this time was very high
Scintigraphic Findings in Klippel-Feil Syndrome
Authors: JANUSZ KIKUT, LEONARD M. FREEMAN
Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine (1997)

The clinical triad, described by Klippel and Feil in 1912, consists of a short neck, low dorsal hair line, and restricted neck mobility. It is the result of congenital synostosis of several cervical vertebrae. In 50% of these patients, the full clinical triad is not even present. However, there are a wide variety of associated congenital abnormalities: urogenital, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculo-skeletal have been described. In the majority of cases, diagnosis of the Klippel-Feil syndrome is established in conjunction with the clinical symptoms and radiographic appearance. On occasion, certain characteristics of the syndrome may be identified on a bone scan as the current case shows.
Bacterial PCR in the diagnosis of joint infection
Authors: J Jalava
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2001)

To evaluate the value of broad range bacterial PCR in the diagnosis of joint infection and to find out if there are bacteria causing arthritis which are not cultivable by the present methods.Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with broad range bacterial primers and DNA sequencing (bacterial PCR) was used to analyse 154 synovial fluid (SF) samples from patients with different arthritic diseases.Bacterial DNA was detected in 18 SF samples, including samples from six patients with culture proven purulent arthritis, and from three patients with possible purulent arthritis. Three samples from patients with culture confirmed purulent arthritis remained negative in bacterial PCR.The results indicate that in the usual diagnostic laboratory setting bacterial PCR does not offer any obvious advantage over bacterial culture in the microbiological diagnosis of joint infection.
Fundamentals of the Tracer Method
Authors: S. J. Adelstein
Journal: JAMA (1973)

This slim volume of eight chapters presents the methodological substrate for working with tracers in general and radioactive ones in particular. The scheme of the book is contained in the chapter headings: Tracers, Introduction to Mathematical Concepts, Statistical Methods, Data Presentation, Experimental Design, Qualitative Biomedical Examples, Mathematical Development, and Quantitative Biomedical Examples of Tracer Kinetics. The substance of each chapter is sufficient for an individual text and the authors consequently make no attempt at completeness or formal derivation. On the contrary, it is their aim to present the scope of their discipline, the tracer method, so that the uninitiated or newly initiated can see what tools and concepts are required to work in its confines. The chapter on experimental design is particularly original and deserves reading even out of context. It deals in a straightforward manner with phenomenology as empiricism, and with problem-solving as "how to pose a question" and
Meeting the needs of chronically ill people
Authors: E. H Wagner
Journal: BMJ (2001)

Papers pp 962, 968 See also Primary care p 970 

This special issue of the BMJ and this month's issue of the Western Journal of Medicine once again focus on the needs of patients with chronic illness, on the advances in clinical and behavioural management, and on the challenges of assuring that patients receive optimal care. Achieving such optimal care challenges both patients and their care givers. This is especially so in developing countries, which are facing rapid increases in the prevalences of major chronic diseases.

Evidence based care for many chronic illnesses requires increasingly complicated drug regimens, ongoing support of self management, and close monitoring. Articles in this week's BMJ describe modern management for coronary heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and anticoagulation therapy. They emphasise that achieving the best possible outcomes depends on competent self management and decision making by patients, as well as clinical treatments.

But audits and surveys …
Lessons from Legionnaires' Disease
Authors: ROBERT P. HUDSON
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1979)

In July 1976 a pneumonialike epidemic from a previously unrecognized microorganism erupted among Legionnaires who had attended a meeting in Philadelphia. There were an estimated 182 cases, in which 29 patients died. Among other things the episode shows that even in a medically sophisticated industrialized nation, a bacterial pathogen can produce a small epidemic and defy identification for almost 6 months. One historical implication of the event is the need to consider the possibility of a return of large-scale epidemic disease rivaling the sweeps of bubonic plague in fourteenth-century Europe. Such epidemics could occur through any of a variety of microorganismic mechanisms recognized as operating at the present time. It is suggested that humans would react to such a disaster much as their progenitors did centuries ago.
Abdominal Varices Mimicking an Acute Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage During Technetium-99m Red Blood Cell Scintigraphy
Authors: ALBERT J. MORENO, BILL F. BYRD, DAVID E. BERGER, GOTTLIEB L. TURNBULL
Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine (1985)

Abdominal varices consisting of a caput medusae and dilated mesenteric veins resulted in pooling of Tc-99m tagged red blood cells (RBC) within these dilated vessels in a 57-year-old man with severe Laennec's cirrhosis. The atypical radiotracer localization within the abdomen mimicked an acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Clinical suspicion and careful evaluation of scintigraphic gastrointestinal bleeding studies will avoid false-positive interpretations.
Actions of Ca2+ antagonists on two types of Ca2+ channels in rat aorta smooth muscle cells in primary culture.
Authors: T Kuga, J Sadoshima, H Tomoike, H Kanaide, N Akaike, M Nakamura
Journal: Circulation Research (1990)

Mechanisms of blockade of two types of Ca2+ channels by the organic Ca2+ antagonists, nicardipine, diltiazem, verapamil, and flunarizine, were examined in rat aorta smooth muscle cells in primary culture by using the whole-cell voltage-clamp method. T-type Ca2+ current (T-type ICa) was isolated by an internal perfusion of 5 mM F-, which irreversibly suppressed the L-type ICa, without affecting T-type ICa. L-type ICa was isolated by setting a holding potential at -60 mV, at which most of the T-type Ca2+ channels were inactivated. L-type ICa is halved by 0.1 microM nicardipine, 3.0 microM diltiazem, 0.6 microM verapamil, and 0.1 microM flunarizine, whereas T-type ICa is halved by the same drugs at 0.6, 30, 30, and 0.1 microM, respectively. Diltiazem and verapamil accelerated the decay of L-type ICa and cumulatively blocked L-type ICa during repetitive step depolarizations elicited every 30 seconds ("use-dependent block"). Diltiazem and verapamil neither changed the decay of T-type ICa nor showed a use-dependent block of T-type ICa. Nicardipine and flunarizine blocked both L- and T-type ICa from the first depolarization step after drug treatment ("tonic block") and shifted their steady-state inactivation curves to the left. The estimated binding constants of nicardipine and flunarizine for the inactivated state of T-type Ca2+ channels (48 and 19 nM, respectively) were smaller than those for the resting state of L-type Ca2+ channels (160 and 90 nM, respectively). A low concentration (0.1 microM) of nicardipine initially potentiated T-type ICa and then reduced it. We conclude from these results that 1) nicardipine and flunarizine block not only the resting state but, more preferentially, the inactivated state of both the L- and T-type Ca2+ channels; 2) verapamil and diltiazem preferentially act on the open state of the L-type Ca2+ channel and on the resting and inactivated state of the T-type Ca2+ channel; and 3) the T-type Ca2+ channel of the rat aorta smooth muscle cells appears to be more sensitive to nicardipine and flunarizine than does the L-type Ca2+ channel at around the resting membrane potential.
Educational Requirements of the Medical Technologist
Authors: Philip M. Richardson
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1951)

THE training of the medical technologist is extremely varied, owing in large measure to the rapid growth of the hospital laboratory over the last forty years. Qualifications were not seriously considered when a few simple routine tests were performed. However, the importance of the laboratory in diagnosis has been established, and with the ever-increasing number and complexity of examinations, it becomes quite clear that only well trained, intellectually honest personnel should be employed. The American Medical Association has suggested certain minimum standards, listed below, but it remains for the profession itself to attract those who might properly qualify. The experience . . .
Barium Enema Septicemia
Authors: Lawrence S. Richman
Journal: JAMA (1973)

<i>A patient with acute leukemia and depressed bone marrow following chemotherapy developed a</i>Clostridium perfringens<i>septicemia immediately following a barium enema examination.</i> Autopsy showed ulcerated colonic mucosa with phagocytized bacteria within the colonic wall. There was no leukemic involvement of the colon nor was there any intestinal perforation. Comparison of the antemortem and postmortem bacteriological findings as well as the temporal relationship leads us to incriminate the barium enema as the prime causative factor in this patient's fatal septicemia.
Ottawa ankle rules for the injured ankle
Authors: J. Heyworth
Journal: BMJ (2003)

Papers p 417 

What could possibly be more straightforward than the assessment of an injured ankle? Patients with ankle injuries, usually sustained recreationally or in a simple fall, attend emergency departments throughout the world in their hundreds of thousands every year. Most of these patients will have sustained simple injury to ligamentous soft tissue or a small avulsion fracture of no clinical significance. A minority will have sustained more serious fractures, requiring immobilisation or internal fixation. Patients with ankle injury constitute approximately 5% of all patients who visit emergency departments, although fewer than 15% of these patients will have clinically significant fractures.

Differentiating between these two groups of patients is not always easy, particularly for relatively inexperienced clinicians. The safety net for indeterminate examination has always been recourse to radiography. However, such an unselective policy has resulted in inestimable numbers of unnecessary exposures to radiation for …
The role of environmental factors in medically unexplained symptoms and related syndromes: conference summary and recommendations.
Authors: Howard M Kipen, Nancy Fiedler
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2002)

This monograph of peer-reviewed articles is based on presentations at the conference "Environmental Factors in Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms and Related Syndromes" held 10-12 January 2001 in Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. The purpose of the conference was to determine research priorities for elucidating the role of environmental factors in medically unexplained symptoms and symptom syndromes. These include conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities, sick building syndrome, Gulf War illness, and the like. Approximately 1 1/2 days were devoted to plenary talks and 1 day was devoted to break-out sessions to discuss epidemiologic, psychosocial, and experimental research. Recommendations were made for a series of epidemiologic, psychosocial, and experimental research approaches, with acknowledgment that nosology issues are clearly fundamental to advancing understanding of these conditions.
Comparison of Aspirin and Benorylate in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: D. L. Beales, H. C. Burry, R. Grahame
Journal: BMJ (1972)

In a double-blind between-patient study of aspirin and benorylate carried out in 72 outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis, benorylate 4 g twice daily was shown to be an effective analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug, its effects being indistinguishable from those of aspirin 1.2 g four times daily. Compared with the pretreatment values both drugs produced a statistically significant improvement (P < 0.01) in functional grade, overall pain, articular index, and grip strength at the end of the first and second weeks. The overall incidence of side effects was less with benorylate, though this difference was not significant at the 5% level.
Recurring meningitis: beware the normal looking ear.
Authors: I Durham, I J Mackenzie
Journal: BMJ (1987)

A propos de 2 observations: episodes repetes de meningite bacterienne ayant pour porte d'entree une fistule sousarachnoidienne de l'oreille moyenne bien qu'il n'y ait eu aucun symptome ni signe et que les explorations aient donne des resultats negatifs
Laser-CT scanner-computer linkups hint of neurosurgery of future
Authors: Phil Gunby
Journal: JAMA (1982)

Layer by layer, in a kind of horizontal slicing approach, a laser vaporizes the cells of a brain tumor. Following a neoplasm's irregular contours deep within a brain is a demanding task, yet the neurosurgeon's hands never waver. In fact, those hands will not touch either the laser or the patient during this phase of microsurgery, unless bleeding or some other complication arises. Instead, the laser is directed by a computer that, thanks to a tomographic stereotactic system, has constructed a three-dimensional map of the tumor. Now, using that three-D model as its guide, the computer is directing the laser more precisely than any human could ever do.... No, this human-hands-off, completely computer-controlled approach hasn't yet become part of neurosurgery. But it is the stuff from which tomorrow's journal articles may be compiled. One person who sees such automated laser surgery on the horizon is Patrick J. Kelly, MD, associate
Association of Volume With Outcome of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery
Authors: Jonathan A. Showstack
Journal: JAMA (1987)

Empirical evidence suggests that mortality rates for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery are lower in hospitals that perform a higher volume of the procedure. In recent years, the criteria for CABG surgery have been expanded to include patients with a wide variety of co-morbidities. To address the question of whether the volume-outcome relationship continues to exist for this new group of patients, discharge abstracts for 18,986 CABG operations at 77 hospitals in California in 1983 were analyzed using multiple-regression techniques. Higher-volume hospitals had lower in-hospital mortality (adjusted for case mix); this effect was greatest in patients who might be characterized as having "non-scheduled" CABG surgery. Higher-volume hospitals also had shorter average postoperative lengths of stay and fewer patients with extremely long stays. The results of this study suggest that the greatest improvement in average outcomes for CABG surgery would result from the closure of low-volume surgery units.
Hemodynamic Evaluation of a Cloth-Covered Starr-Edwards Valve Prosthesis
Authors: FRANK E. KLOSTER, RODNEY H. HERR, ALBERT STARR, HERBERT E. GRISWOLD
Journal: Circulation (1969)

Hemodynamic studies were performed in 22 patients three to ten months after insertion of cloth-covered Starr-Edwards prostheses. The aortic valve was replaced in ten patients, the mitral in ten, and both valves in two. Moderate aortic systolic pressure gradients were found in all patients with aortic prostheses (range 17 to 68 mm Hg, mean 41 mm Hg), and the calculated valve orifice areas were small (average 0.92 cm 2 ). Mitral diastolic pressure gradients in those with mitral prostheses averaged 9.4 mm Hg and were associated with persistently elevated left atrial pressure (average 18 mm Hg). These findings compare unfavorably with the hemodynamic characteristics of previous Starr-Edwards prostheses. Factors contributing to the functional stenosis appear to be smaller valve orifices and turbulent blood flow generated by the coarse cloth surfaces and a shorter excursion of the ball.
Oncogenomics 2005 Meeting Report: Dissecting Cancer through Genome Research
Authors: Ellen G. Feigal, Nicholas C. Dracopoli, Jeffrey M. Trent
Journal: Cancer Research (2005)

Abstract The Oncogenomics Conference was held on February 2 to 5, 2005 at the Omni San Diego Hotel, San Diego, CA. The meeting chairpersons were Dr. Jeffrey Trent (Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ) and Dr. Nicholas Dracopoli (Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Princeton, NJ). This fourth conference sponsored by the AACR brought together a diverse group of scientists working in the fields of genome research, cancer biology, and epidemiology, and explored how genomic research can be used most effectively to impact the clinical response to cancer. Advances in the clinical application of pharmacogenomics to predict response to oncology therapeutic modalities led to a dramatic increase in the number of presentations and posters with a clinical focus at this year's meeting. The keynote address was given by Dr. William Evans (St. Jude Children's Hospital, Memphis, TN) who discussed the pharmacogenomics of acute lymphoblastic leukemia as a cancer paradigm.
General Anaesthesia: Basic Sciences, Clinical Practice
Authors: John R. Gordon
Journal: JAMA (1972)

This two-volume work is the latest in a series of editions which began in 1949 with Frankis T. Evans'<i>Modern Practice of Anaesthesia</i>. In 1959 Professor Gray, who is now Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Liverpool, joined Dr. Evans as coeditor when the textbook was enlarged to two volumes and the title became<i>General Anaesthesia</i>. But now the book's countless readers may no longer refer to it familiarly as "Evans and Gray" for Dr. Evans has retired. Dr. Gray and his new coeditor, John F. Nunn, offer the present edition as a tribute to Evans; and an impressive tribute it is. The number of authors has increased from 48 in the previous edition to 89 in the present. There are 64 new contributors, nine of whom are American. The variety of points-ofview from both sides of the Atlantic immeasurably strengthens the book in providing broad coverage of the
Open lung biopsy in neonatal and paediatric patients referred for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
Authors: D Inwald
Journal: Thorax (2004)

This study was undertaken to determine the usefulness, safety, and most appropriate timing of open lung biopsy in infants and children considered for and on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for respiratory failure.A retrospective review of children referred for consideration of and placed on ECMO in our institution in the period 1996-2002.506 patients were referred, 15 (3%) of whom underwent antemortem open lung biopsy (eight neonatal, four paediatric, and three cardiac patients). In the neonatal group open lung biopsy contributed to clinical decision making in all patients. Four neonates had a fatal lung dysplasia (three alveolar capillary dysplasia and one surfactant protein B deficiency) and treatment was withdrawn. Of the other four neonates, two had pulmonary hypoplasia, one had pulmonary lymphangiectasia, and one had meconium aspiration with mild barotrauma. Treatment was continued in these four patients and two survived. In the paediatric group the biopsies were of clinical relevance in two infants with pertussis who had lung infarction on biopsy in whom treatment was withdrawn. In the other two paediatric patients the biopsies were equivocal, treatment was continued, but both patients died. In the cardiac group, who presented perioperatively with pulmonary hypertension, the biopsies excluded a fatal lung dysplasia and severe pulmonary vascular disease but all three infants died. One patient had non-fatal bleeding complications.Open lung biopsy is clinically most useful when performed to diagnose fatal lung dysplasias in neonates and to confirm the presence of viable lung tissue in patients with acute lung injury due to pertussis infection.
Chronic Exposure to Ambient Ozone and Asthma Hospital Admissions among Children
Authors: Shao Lin, Xiu Liu, Linh H. Le, Syni-An Hwang
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2008)

The association between chronic exposure to air pollution and adverse health outcomes has not been well studied.This project investigated the impact of chronic exposure to high ozone levels on childhood asthma admissions in New York State.We followed a birth cohort born in New York State during 1995-1999 to first asthma admission or until 31 December 2000. We identified births and asthma admissions through the New York State Integrated Child Health Information System and linked these data with ambient ozone data (8-hr maximum) from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. We defined chronic ozone exposure using three indicators: mean concentration during the follow-up period, mean concentration during the ozone season, and proportion of follow-up days with ozone levels > 70 ppb. We performed logistic regression analysis to adjust for child's age, sex, birth weight, and gestational age; maternal race/ethnicity, age, education, insurance status, smoking during pregnancy, and poverty level; and geographic region, temperature, and co-pollutants.Asthma admissions were significantly associated with increased ozone levels for all chronic exposure indicators (odds ratios, 1.16-1.68), with a positive dose-response relationship. We found stronger associations among younger children, low sociodemographic groups, and New York City residents as effect modifiers.Chronic exposure to ambient ozone may increase the risk of asthma admissions among children. Younger children and those in low socioeconomic groups have a greater risk of asthma than do other children at the same ozone level.