tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
The Role of Selenium in Thyroid Hormone Action*
Authors: MARLA J. BERRY, P. REED LARSEN
Journal: Endocrine Reviews (1992)

RECENT progress in the field of thyroid hormone deiodination has led to a greater understanding, not only of this critical process, but also of mechanisms more basic to protein synthesis in general. The cloning of the type I deiodinase, demonstration that this enzyme is a selenoprotein, and subsequent identification of selenocysteine insertion sequences in the noncoding portion of the gene have provided considerable insight into the mechanism of incorporation of this unusual amino acid into proteins. The purpose of this review is to discuss some of these advances and their implications. We begin by providing a brief background of the deiodination process and the discovery of the enzymes involved, followed by a discussion of some of the extensive characterization studies that have been performed on these enzymes over the years. Comprehensive reviews of these earlier studies have been published previously (1, 2). We next describe the expression cloning of the type I deiodinase and its identification as a selenoenzyme, evidence of which was provided from nutritional, biochemical, and molecular biological techniques. The latter permitted biochemical analyses of the wild type selenocysteinecontaining deiodinase and a mutant enzyme containing cysteine, providing insight into the importance of this rare amino acid in the active site of the enzyme. Evidence is reviewed which indicated that the type II deiodinase is not a selenoprotein. The discovery that selenocysteine is encoded by a UGA codon, normally a stop codon, led to the question: How is UGA encoding selenocysteine distinguished from UGA specifying termination? Studies addressing this recognition process are presented. Finally, the presence of selenium in the type I deiodinase has important clinical implications for treatment of combined selenium and iodine deficiency, and these are addressed.
Keratoacanthoma arising in hypertrophic lichen planus
Authors: A. Badell, J. Marcoval, I. Gallego, A. Moreno, J. Peyrí
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2000)

Journal Article Keratoacanthoma arising in hypertrophic lichen planus Get access A. Badell, A. Badell Department of Dermatology, Ciutat Sanitària i Universitària de Bellvitge, C/. Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, E‐mail: abadellg@meditex.es Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar J. Marcoval, J. Marcoval Department of Dermatology, Ciutat Sanitària i Universitària de Bellvitge, C/. Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, E‐mail: abadellg@meditex.es Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar I. Gallego, I. Gallego Department of Dermatology, Ciutat Sanitària i Universitària de Bellvitge, C/. Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, E‐mail: abadellg@meditex.es Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar A. Moreno, A. Moreno Department of Dermatology, Ciutat Sanitària i Universitària de Bellvitge, C/. Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, E‐mail: abadellg@meditex.es Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar J. Peyrí J. Peyrí Department of Dermatology, Ciutat Sanitària i Universitària de Bellvitge, C/. Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, E‐mail: abadellg@meditex.es Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar British Journal of Dermatology, Volume 142, Issue 2, 1 February 2000, Pages 380–382, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2133.2000.03319.x Published: 01 February 2000
How Themistocles Zammit found Malta Fever (brucellosis) to be transmitted by the milk of goats
Authors: H V Wyatt
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2005)

One hundred years ago on 14 June 1905, Themistocles Zammit, a Maltese doctor, found that five out of six goats reacted to the blood test for brucellosis, then known as Mediterranean or Malta Fever. Vassallo has recounted the search for the source of the disease,1 but Zammit's previous experiments and how he came to test those goats have not been described.

The discovery that apparently healthy goats could be carriers of the disease has been termed 'one of the greatest advances ever made in the study of epidemiology'.2 It not only led in a few years to the elimination of the disease among British servicemen, but also revolutionized ideas about animal vectors of disease. Yet Zammit is all but forgotten. The discovery has been described as having arisen from an 'intuitive flash' that the goat might be susceptible,3 and was dismissed as an accident by Sir David Bruce4—a judgment echoed in one of Bruce's obituaries: 'After months of hard and disappointing work, Dr Zammit, a Maltese colleague, happened to examine the blood of a goat'.5

The discovery was neither flash of intuition nor accident. After a year's work, the Mediterranean Fever Commission (MFC) had made little progress. With Zammit's intervention the problem was solved.6 That so many goats were naturally infected was so dramatic a finding that previous work was forgotten—especially since Zammit made few notes.
Nodular Glomerulosclerosis in the Nondiabetic Smoker
Authors: Samih H. Nasr, Vivette D. D'Agati
Journal: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2007)

Emerging evidence supports that the entity known as idiopathic nodular glomerulosclerosis is not idiopathic. A strong causative association with longstanding cigarette smoking and hypertension has been identified. Morphologically, smoking-associated nodular glomerulosclerosis closely resembles diabetic nephropathy. The potential roles of advanced glycation end products, oxidative stress, angiogenesis, and hemodynamic perturbations are explored.
Localization and mechanism of ventricular tachycardia by ice mapping 1 week after the onset of myocardial infarction in dogs.
Authors: L J Gessman, J B Agarwal, T Endo, R H Helfant
Journal: Circulation (1983)

We developed a new technique of "ice mapping" to localize the site of termination of ventricular tachycardia in dogs 4 to 8 days after the onset of myocardial infarction. During programmed stimulation-induced ventricular tachycardia, the epicardium was mapped by moving an ice probe with a 1 cm tip over the infarct, lateral border, and normal areas. In 31 of 46 morphologically distinct sustained ventricular tachycardias, a specific area could be found that reproducibly terminated ventricular tachycardia. During ventricular tachycardia, bridging or late diastolic electrical activity was recorded from ice termination sites. In vitro microelectrode studies of 10 ice termination sites revealed slow conduction, but no spontaneous or triggered automaticity or delayed afterdepolarizations. Conduction slowed to complete block when the Tyrode perfusate was cooled from 37 degrees to 27 degrees C. We conclude that ice mapping can physiologically localize a site responsible for maintenance of ventricular tachycardia by termination of the arrhythmia, and that the presence of bridging or late diastolic electrical activity, slow conduction with cooling-induced block, and absence of spontaneous or triggered automaticity or delayed afterdepolarizations suggest that local cooling terminates ventricular tachycardia by slowing or blocking conduction in a reentrant loop.
Gas exchange, expiratory flow obstruction and the clinical spectrum of asthma
Authors: PD Wagner, G Hedenstierna, R Rodriguez-Roisin
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (1996)

More than any other chronic respiratory disease, asthma is characterized by functional and clinical variability: expiratory flow obstruction, dyspnoea and wheezing may be absent, mild, or severe. Moreover, pulmonary gas exchange often does not closely relate to measured airway obstruction. Accordingly, the correlation between arterial oxygen tension and airflow (Pa,O2) rate indices of obstruction is poor, both in a single patient over time, and within groups of clinically similar patients. Here, these concepts are extended by examining relationships between airflow obstruction and gas exchange across the clinical spectrum of asthma (from asymptomatic to acute severe). Six individual studies encompassing 86 patients are analysed together, focusing on: 1) airways obstruction; 2) arterial blood gas data; and 3) the distribution of alveolar ventilation/perfusion (V'A/Q') ratios, measured by the multiple inert gas elimination technique. V'A/Q' mismatching was greater than normal even when forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was normal, but with increasing severity of airways obstruction there was essentially no further deterioration in gas exchange until FEV1 reached about 40% of predicted normal values. Then, with little further airways obstruction, gas exchange rapidly worsened, Pa,O2 falling to about 50 torr. This study emphasizes that what has been observed in individual patients and within clinically similar patient groups can be extended across the spectrum of asthma severity: airways obstruction and gas exchange are poorly correlated. Furthermore, these results suggest that spirometric data alone may not adequately define remission, nor clearly identify those patients liable to serious gas exchange deterioration.
Abatacept in relapsing polychondritis
Authors: Stanford L Peng, Donald Rodriguez
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2013)

Relapsing polychondritis (RPC) is an uncommon but often life-threatening multisystem disease characterised by recurrent or persistent inflammation of cartilaginous tissues, with no known consistently efficacious treatment.1 A T cell-predominant autoimmune aetiology has been implicated.2 Abatacept is a costimulation modulator that suppresses T cell activity, and one report has suggested that abatacept may be efficacious in one case, but did not present disease endpoints.3 We report here our experience with abatacept in four subjects with RPC, which was performed in the context of a small open-label study (NCT01272856).

Key clinical characteristics of the subjects, all meeting the Michet criteria for RPC,4 are shown in table 1. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Abatacept 125 mg subcutaneously weekly was planned to be administered for 24 weeks, but two subjects discontinued early: subject 001 developed worsening pulmonary and neurological disease and discontinued at …
Maternal Hemoglobin Concentration During Pregnancy and Risk of Stillbirth
Authors: Olof Stephansson
Journal: JAMA (2000)

ContextHigh and low maternal hemoglobin concentrations during pregnancy have been reported to increase risk of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth, which is a predictor of stillbirth.The relationship between hemoglobin concentration during pregnancy and risk of stillbirth is unclear.Objective To study the associations among hemoglobin concentration at first measurement during antenatal care, change in hemoglobin concentration during pregnancy, and risk of stillbirth.Design, Setting, and Participants Population-based, matched case-control study of births from 1987 through 1996 in Sweden including 702 primiparous women with stillbirths occurring at 28 weeks' gestation or later and 702 primiparous women with live births. Main Outcome MeasuresRisk of stillbirth, classified as malformed or nonmalformed, antepartum or intrapartum, preterm or term, and SGA or non-SGA, compared by maternal hemoglobin concentration at first antenatal measurement and weekly changes in hemoglobin concentration during pregnancy, adjusted for maternal age, body mass index, height, smoking, socioeconomic status, and week of first hemoglobin measurement. ResultsIn multivariate analyses, compared with women with hemoglobin concentrations of 126 to 135 g/L at first antenatal measurement, women with concentrations of 146 g/L or higher were at increased risk of stillbirth (odds ratio [OR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-3.3).This risk was slightly increased when the analysis was restricted to antepartum stillbirths without malformations (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.1-3.8).When we further restricted the analyses to preterm and SGA antepartum nonmalformed stillbirths, the ORs increased to 2.7 (95% CI, 1.1-6.4)and 4.2 (95% CI, 1.3-13.9),respectively.Excluding women with preeclampsia and eclampsia further increased these risks.Average weekly change in hemoglobin concentration during early or late pregnancy was not significantly associated with risk of stillbirth, although a larger decrease in concentration tended to be protective.Anemia (hemoglobin concentration Ͻ110 g/L) was not significantly associated with risk of stillbirth in multivariate analyses (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.5-2.7). ConclusionsHigh hemoglobin concentration at first measurement during antenatal care appears to be associated with increased risk of stillbirth, especially preterm and SGA antepartum stillbirths.
Sports participation in non-compaction cardiomyopathy: a systematic review
Authors: Harsha V Ganga, Paul D Thompson
Journal: British Journal of Sports Medicine (2013)

Non-compaction cardiomyopathy (NCCM) is typified by deep invaginations of the myocardium and is caused by an arrest of normal myocardial morphogenesis. NCCM was once considered rare, but is now widely recognised owing to frequent use of advanced imaging techniques. NCCM can also be detected when competitive athletes undergo preparticipation screening for cardiac disease or when being evaluated for cardiac symptoms. It is not clear how athletes with NCCM should be managed. We searched PubMed and Google for articles addressing the issue of NCCM and athletic participation. We were able to identify only 18 cases of NCCM described in the context of sports, athletics or exercise. We conclude that there are insufficient data to develop firm recommendations on how to manage vigorous activity in patients with NCCM and future registries of sudden death in athletes should include a careful search for cases of NCCM among the victims so that clinicians can develop more definitive recommendations for athletes with this condition.
Ectopic Internal Carotid Artery Seen Initially as Middle Ear Tumor
Authors: J. Michael Anderson
Journal: JAMA (1983)

An ectopic carotid artery is rare. Its first symptoms may be neurological and could bring the patient to the neurologist during the initial evaluation. However, more often, the neurologist examines a patient in whom serious neurological deficit has occurred after transtympanic exploration of an undiagnosed vascular mass. Because diagnosis can be definitively established by angiography and the consequences of injury to an aberrant carotid artery are serious, operative exploration of vascular middle ear masses probably should be deferred until an ectopic carotid artery has been excluded by angiography. (<i>JAMA</i>1983;249:2228-2230)
Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure in the First Year of Life and Behavioral Scores at 7 Years of Age
Authors: Nicholas C. Newman, Patrick Ryan, Grace LeMasters, Linda Levin, David Bernstein, Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, James E. Lockey, Manuel Villareal, Tiina Reponen, Sergey Grinshpun, Heidi Sucharew, Kim N. Dietrich
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2013)

There is increasing concern about the potential effects of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on the developing brain. The impact of TRAP exposure on childhood behavior is not fully understood because of limited epidemiologic studies.We explored the association between early-life exposure to TRAP using a surrogate, elemental carbon attributed to traffic (ECAT), and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms at 7 years of age.From the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS) birth cohort we collected data on exposure to ECAT during infancy and behavioral scores at 7 years of age. Children enrolled in CCAAPS had at least one atopic parent and a birth residence either < 400 m or > 1,500 m from a major highway. Children were followed from infancy through 7 years of age. ECAT exposure during the first year of life was estimated based on measurements from 27 air sampling sites and land use regression modeling. Parents completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition, when the child was 7 years of age. ADHD-related symptoms were assessed using the Hyperactivity, Attention Problems, Aggression, Conduct Problems, and Atypicality subscales.Exposure to the highest tertile of ECAT during the child's first year of life was significantly associated with Hyperactivity T-scores in the "at risk" range at 7 years of age, after adjustment [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.0, 2.7]. Stratification by maternal education revealed a stronger association in children whose mothers had higher education (aOR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.3, 4.1).ECAT exposure during infancy was associated with higher Hyperactivity scores in children; this association was limited to children whose mothers had more than a high school education.
Single-institute comparative analysis of unrelated bone marrow transplantation and cord blood transplantation for adult patients with hematologic malignancies
Authors: Satoshi Takahashi, Tohru Iseki, Jun Ooi, Akira Tomonari, Kashiya Takasugi, Yoko Shimohakamada, Toshiki Yamada, Kaoru Uchimaru, Arinobu Tojo, Naoki Shirafuji, Hideki Kodo, Kenzaburo Tani, Tsuneo Takahashi, Takuhiro Yamaguchi, Shigetaka Asano
Journal: Blood (2004)
The Highly Rearranged Mitochondrial Genome of the Plague Thrips, Thrips imaginis (Insecta: Thysanoptera): Convergence of Two Novel Gene Boundaries and an Extraordinary Arrangement of rRNA Genes
Authors: R. Shao
Journal: Molecular Biology and Evolution (2003)

To help understand the mechanisms of gene rearrangement in the mitochondrial (mt) genomes of hemipteroid insects, we sequenced the mt genome of the plague thrips, Thrips imaginis (Thysanoptera). This genome is circular, 15,407 bp long, and has many unusual features, including (1) rRNA genes inverted and distant from one another, (2) an extra gene for tRNA-Ser, (3) a tRNA-Val lacking a D-arm, (4) two pseudo-tRNA genes, (5) duplicate control regions, and (6) translocations and/or inversions of 24 of the 37 genes. The mechanism of rRNA gene transcription in T. imaginis may be different from that of other arthropods since the two rRNA genes have inverted and are distant from one another. Further, the rRNA genes are not adjacent or even close to either of the two control regions. Tandem duplication and deletion is a plausible model for the evolution of duplicate control regions and for the gene translocations, but intramitochondrial recombination may account for the gene inversions in T. imaginis. All the 18 genes between control regions #1 and #2 have translocated and/or inverted, whereas only six of the 20 genes outside this region have translocated and/or inverted. Moreover, the extra tRNA gene and the two pseudo-tRNA genes are either in this region or immediately adjacent to one of the control regions. These observations suggest that tandem duplication and deletion may be facilitated by the duplicate control regions and may have occurred a number of times in the lineage leading to T. imaginis. T. imaginis shares two novel gene boundaries with a lepidopsocid species from another order of hemipteroid insects, the Psocoptera. The evidence available suggests that these shared gene boundaries evolved by convergence and thus are not informative for the interordinal phylogeny of hemipteroid insects. We discuss the potential of hemipteroid insects as a model system for studies of the evolution of animal mt genomes and outline some fundamental questions that may be addressed with this system.
Functional connectomics from resting-state fMRI
Authors: Stephen M. Smith, Diego Vidaurre, Christian F. Beckmann, Matthew F. Glasser, Mark Jenkinson, Karla L. Miller, Thomas E. Nichols, Emma C. Robinson, Gholamreza Salimi-Khorshidi, Mark W. Woolrich, Deanna M. Barch, Kamil Uğurbil, David C. Van Essen
Journal: Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2013)
Matrix metalloproteinases in COPD
Authors: A. Churg, S. Zhou, J.L. Wright
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (2011)

There is considerable evidence that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are up- and/or downregulated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), particularly in emphysema, in which they probably participate in proteolytic attack on the alveolar wall matrix. Recent data suggest that MMPs also have major roles in driving inflammation or shutting it down, as well as modifying the release of fibrogenic growth factors, processes that are important in the genesis of the various lesions of COPD. In cigarette smoke-induced animal models of emphysema, MMP-12 appears to play a consistent and important role, whereas the data for other MMPs are difficult to interpret. In human lungs, evidence for a role for MMPs is more tenuous and there are numerous contradictions in the literature. Little is known about the effects of MMPs in small airway remodelling, smoke-induced pulmonary hypertension and chronic bronchitis, but MMP-12 participates in experimental small airway modelling. To date, the accumulated data suggest that selective inhibition of MMP-12 might be a viable therapy for emphysema and small airway remodelling, but subtle differences in the functions of MMP-12 in animals and humans mandate caution with this approach. Whether inhibition of other MMPs might be useful is unclear.
<i>ERCC4</i> Associated with Breast Cancer Risk: A Two-Stage Case-Control Study Using High-throughput Genotyping
Authors: Roger Laughlin Milne, Gloria Ribas, Anna González-Neira, Rainer Fagerholm, Antonio Salas, Emilio González, Joaquín Dopazo, Heli Nevanlinna, Mercedes Robledo, Javier Benítez
Journal: Cancer Research (2006)

The failure of linkage studies to identify further high-penetrance susceptibility genes for breast cancer points to a polygenic model, with more common variants having modest effects on risk, as the most likely candidate. We have carried out a two-stage case-control study in two European populations to identify low-penetrance genes for breast cancer using high-throughput genotyping. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected across preselected cancer-related genes, choosing tagSNPs and functional variants where possible. In stage 1, genotype frequencies for 640 SNPs in 111 genes were compared between 864 breast cancer cases and 845 controls from the Spanish population. In stage 2, candidate SNPs identified in stage 1 (nominal P < 0.01) were tested in a Finnish series of 884 cases and 1,104 controls. Of the 10 candidate SNPs in seven genes identified in stage 1, one (rs744154) on intron 1 of ERCC4, a gene belonging to the nucleotide excision repair pathway, was associated with recessive protection from breast cancer after adjustment for multiple testing in stage 2 (odds ratio, 0.57; Bonferroni-adjusted P = 0.04). After considering potential functional SNPs in the region of high linkage disequilibrium that extends across the entire gene and upstream into the promoter region, we concluded that rs744154 itself could be causal. Although intronic, it is located on the first intron, in a region that is highly conserved across species, and could therefore be functionally important. This study suggests that common intronic variation in ERCC4 is associated with protection from breast cancer.