tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Funding long term care for older people: Heirs will have to forgo their inheritance
Authors: E. Grundy, D. Jolley, I. Heath
Journal: BMJ (1999)

Children born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection What do authors mean by control infants?Editor-Sutcliffe et al compare babies born through intracytoplasmic sperm injection with control babies (matched for social class, maternal education, region, and sex) born after unassisted conception. 1 In their table they give means, standard deviations, and 95% confidence intervals for the two groups separately.These confidence intervals tell us about the estimation of the mean in the population of which the babies are a random sample, which they are not.They tell us nothing about the comparison between the cases and controls.These controls have been chosen to be similar to the study babies in many ways; they are not a representative sample of babies.It is the difference between the study babies and the control babies that is of interest, and the confidence interval we should have is that for this difference in mean.We cannot work this out from the data given, because this is a paired study and we have unpaired standard deviations.All we have for the comparison is the implication, not actually stated, that the differences are not significant.What we should be given are confidence intervals that tell us how different the cases and controls are.
Charm and respectability?
Authors: R A CHAPMAN
Journal: Cardiovascular Research (1993)

Journal Article Charm and respectability? Get access R A CHAPMAN R A CHAPMAN British Heart Foundation Research Group, School of Veterinary Science, Park Row, Bristol BS1 5LS Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Cardiovascular Research, Volume 27, Issue 3, March 1993, Pages 537–538, https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/27.3.537a Published: 01 March 1993
Lipid Keratopathy and Atheroma
Authors: DAVID G. COGAN, TOICHIRO KUWABARA
Journal: Circulation (1958)

Lipid plaques in corneas of patients with lipid keratopathy, in corneas of hypercholesteremic rabbits and in the arteries of man and the hypereholesteremic rabbit are described. An interesting and thought-provoking analogy is drawn between the plaques that can be seen and followed in the eye during life with the more occult plaques of blood vessels in atheromatosis.
Does first trimester progesterone prophylaxis increase the live birth rate in women with unexplained recurrent miscarriages?
Authors: A. Coomarasamy, E. G. Truchanowicz, R. Rai
Journal: BMJ (2011)

Miscarriage is the commonest complication of pregnancy, occuring in one in six clinically recognised pregnancies.1 Recurrent miscarriage is the loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies. Women with recurrent miscarriage (in contrast to women with sporadic miscarriage) tend to lose genetically normal pregnancies.1 After comprehensive investigation, a cause for recurrent miscarriage is identified in less than half of couples.1 Most couples are therefore labelled as having unexplained recurrent miscarriage.

Progesterone, secreted by the corpus luteum and the placenta, has a central role in maintaining a pregnancy.1 It is theoretically plausible that progesterone supplementation may reduce the risk of miscarriage in women with a history of recurrent miscarriages, and the first trial using progesterone for such women was published in the BMJ in 1953.2 This …
Alternative complement pathway activation increases mortality in a model of burn injury in mice.
Authors: J A Gelfand, M Donelan, A Hawiger, J F Burke
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1982)

We have studied the role of the complement system in burn injury in an experimental model in mice. A 25% body surface area, full-thickness scald wound was produced in anesthetized animals. Massive activation of the alternative complement pathway, but not the classical pathway, was seen. This activation was associated with the generation of neutrophil aggregating activity in the plasma, neutrophil aggregates in the lungs, increased pulmonary vascular permeability, and increased lung edema formation. Decomplementation with cobra venom factor (CVF) or genetic C5 deficiency diminished these pathologic changes, and CVF pretreatment substantially reduced burn mortality in the first 24 h. Preliminary data show that human burn patients have a similar pattern of complement activation involving predominantly the alternative pathway, indicating the possible relevance of the murine model to human disease.
Induction of immunoglobulin isotype switching in cultured I.29 B lymphoma cells. Characterization of the accompanying rearrangements of heavy chain genes.
Authors: J Stavnezer, S Sirlin, J Abbott
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1985)

The murine B cell lymphoma I.29 contains cells expressing surface IgM or IgA with identical heavy chain variable regions (9, 25, and D. Klein and J. Stavnezer, unpublished data). Purified IgM+ cells from the lymphoma have been adapted to culture and induced to switch to IgA, IgE, or IgG2 by treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or by treatment with a monoclonal anti-I.29 antiidiotype plus LPS. Clones of IgM+ cells have been obtained and induced to switch. Under optimal conditions, 30% of the cells in the culture expressed IgA 8 d after the inducers were added, and by 15 d 90% of the cells were IgA+. In actively switching cultures, up to 50% of the cells whose cytoplasm stained positively with anti-IgA stained simultaneously with anti-IgM, which indicates that the appearance of IgA+ cells in the cultures was due to isotype switching and not to clonal outgrowth. Examination by Southern blotting experiments of the Ig heavy chain genes in I.29 cells before and after switching revealed that isotype switching was accompanied by DNA recombinations that occurred within or immediately 5' to the tandemly repeated switch sequences. Within 3 d after the addition of inducers of switching, the nonexpressed chromosome underwent a variety of deletions or expansions within the S mu region, and a portion of the S alpha regions had undergone a 0.9-kb deletion. In cultures that contained at least 12% IgA+ cells, rearranged, expressed alpha genes, produced by recombination between the S mu region within the expressed mu gene and the S alpha region, were detected.
General practice fundholding.
Authors: M Drummond, B Crump, R Hawkes, M Marchment
Journal: BMJ (1990)

Cure is possible in small cell lung cancer, albeit in only a small proportion of patients mostly within a good prognosis category.This, and the chemosensitivity of the tumour imply that an unknown proportion of other patients in whom a complete response is obtained are nearly cured.Priority should, therefore, be given to exploring methods of increasing the intensity of chemotherapy.
Impact of Sex on Cardiovascular Outcome in Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk
Authors: Kai Kappert, Michael Böhm, Roland Schmieder, Helmut Schumacher, Koon Teo, Salim Yusuf, Peter Sleight, Thomas Unger
Journal: Circulation (2012)

Epidemiological data suggest that sex independently contributes to cardiovascular risk. Clinical trials are often hampered by the enrollment of few female patients.The Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination With Ramipril Global End Point Trial (ONTARGET) and the parallel Telmisartan Randomized Assessment Study in ACE Intolerant Subjects With Cardiovascular Disease (TRANSCEND) included a large proportion of female patients (9378 female versus 22 168 male patients). Differences in male and female patients enrolled in ONTARGET/TRANSCEND were analyzed for the primary 4-fold end point (composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or admission to hospital for heart failure), a secondary 3-fold end point (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke), and individual components of the primary composite. Baseline characteristics included age, ethnicity, body mass index, physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, formal education, clinical diagnosis for study entry, patient history, and concomitant medication. Patients were followed up until death or the end of the study (median, 56 months). Compared with male patients, female patients had a 19% significantly lower risk for the 4-fold end point and 21% for the 3-fold end point (after adjustment for study, treatment, and the above baseline values). Similarly, the adjusted risk for cardiovascular death (17%) and myocardial infarction (22%), but not for stroke and hospitalization for heart failure, was also significantly lower in women. Diabetic female patients were characterized by a higher risk for acute myocardial infarction compared with diabetic male patients, whereas alcohol consumption resulted in significantly lower risk in women.In our analysis made up of 70.3% male and 29.7% female patients, an ≈20% lower risk for the combined cardiovascular end points in female patients was observed despite treatment with cardioprotective agents. This difference was driven primarily by a significantly lower incidence of myocardial infarction. Thus, we demonstrate in a large interventional trial that sex greatly affects the occurrence of cardiovascular events in patients with vascular disease or high-risk diabetes mellitus.URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00153101.
Increased cortical bone mineral content but unchanged trabecular bone mineral density in female ERβ–/– mice
Authors: S.H. Windahl, O. Vidal, G. Andersson, J.A. Gustafsson, C. Ohlsson
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1999)

Ovariectomy in young, growing rodents results in decreased trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) and increased radial growth of the cortical bone. Both of these effects are reversed by treatment with estrogen. The aim of the present study was to determine the physiological role of estrogen receptor-β (ERβ) on bone structure and bone mineral content (BMC). The BMC was increased in adult (11 weeks old), but not prepubertal (4 weeks old), female ERβ–/– mice compared with wild-type (WT) mice. This increase in BMC in females was not due to increased trabecular BMD, but to an increased cross-sectional cortical bone area associated with a radial bone growth. Male ERβ–/– mice displayed no bone abnormalities compared with WT mice. Ovariectomy decreased the trabecular BMD to the same extent in adult female ERβ–/– mice as in WT mice. The expression levels of osteoblast-associated genes — α1(I) collagen, alkaline phosphatase, and osteocalcin mRNAs — were elevated in bone from adult ERβ–/– females compared with WT mice. These observations provide a possible explanation for the increased radial bone growth seen in female mutants, suggesting a repressive function for ERβ in the regulation of bone growth during female adolescence. In summary, ERβ is essential for the pubertal feminization of the cortical bone in female mice but is not required for the protective effect of estrogens on trabecular BMD.
Community treatment orders
Authors: K. Jethwa, N. Galappathie
Journal: BMJ (2008)

Insufficient evidence exists to support the new legislation for England and Wales

Community treatment involves the use of mental health legislation to impose varying requirements on some mental health patients who live in the community. The Mental Health Act 1983 made no comprehensive provision for community treatment. This has meant that some patients who improve in hospital are discharged to the community, become non-compliant with treatment, and have a relapse. The Mental Health Act 2007, which will come into force in England and Wales in November 2008, sets out how supervised community treatment should work.

The new legislation applies only to patients detained in hospital for treatment. The clinician responsible for the patients’ care may discharge them from hospital under a supervised community treatment order. The order can specify variable conditions that the patient must abide by, including the need to comply with treatment. The order is renewable and can be discharged only by the responsible clinician or a mental health review tribunal. …
Evaluation of Primary Brain Tumors With FLT-PET: Usefulness and Limitations
Authors: Tsuneo Saga, Hidekazu Kawashima, Norio Araki, Jun A. Takahashi, Yasuaki Nakashima, Tatsuya Higashi, Natsuo Oya, Takahiro Mukai, Masato Hojo, Nobuo Hashimoto, Toshiaki Manabe, Masahiro Hiraoka, Kaori Togashi
Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine (2006)

The purpose of this report was to investigate the potential of positron emission tomography using F-18 fluorodeoxythymidine (FLT-PET) in evaluating primary brain tumors.FLT-PET was performed in 25 patients with primary brain tumors. FLT uptake in the lesion was semiquantitatively evaluated by measuring the maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and the tumor-to-normal tissue ratio (TNR). SUVmax and TNR were compared with the histologic grade and the expression of the proliferation marker (Ki-67).FLT uptake in normal brain parenchyma was very low, resulting in the visualization of brain tumors with high contrast. Both SUVmax and TNR significantly correlated with the malignant grade of brain gliomas, in which high SUVmax/TNR was obtained for high-grade gliomas. Patients with primary lymphoma also showed SUVmax/TNR equivalent to glioblastoma. There was a positive correlation between SUVmax/TNR and the Ki-67 index. In contrast, spuriously high SUVmax and TNR were obtained in 3 of 6 patients with suspected recurrent tumors (2 patients with recurrent grade 2 glioma and one patient with postoperative granuloma), all of which showed lesion enhancement on MRI after Gd administration.FLT-PET can be used to evaluate the malignant grade and proliferation activity of primary brain tumors, especially malignant brain tumors. However, the presence of benign lesions showing blood-brain barrier disruption cannot be distinguished from malignant tumors and needs to be carefully evaluated.
Value of peak exercise oxygen consumption for optimal timing of cardiac transplantation in ambulatory patients with heart failure.
Authors: D M Mancini, H Eisen, W Kussmaul, R Mull, L H Edmunds, J R Wilson
Journal: Circulation (1991)

BACKGROUND Optimal timing of cardiac transplantation in ambulatory patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction is often difficult. To determine whether measurement of peak oxygen consumption (VO2) during maximal exercise testing can be used to identify patients in whom transplantation can be safely deferred, we prospectively performed exercise testing on all ambulatory patients referred for transplant between October 1986 and December 1989. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients were assigned into one of three groups on the basis of exercise data: Group 1 (n = 35) comprised patients accepted for transplant (VO2 less than or equal to 14 ml/kg/min); group 2 (n = 52) comprised patients considered too well for transplant (VO2 greater than 14 ml/kg/min); and group 3 (n = 27) comprised patients with low VO2 rejected for transplant due to noncardiac problems. All three groups were comparable in New York Heart Association functional class, ejection fraction, and cardiac index (p = NS). Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure was significantly lower in group 2 than in either group 1 or 3 (p less than 0.05), although there was wide overlap. Patients with preserved exercise capacity (group 2) had cumulative 1- and 2-year survival rates of 94% and 84%, which are equal to survival levels after transplantation. In contrast, patients rejected for transplant (group 3) had survival rates of only 47% at 1 year and 32% at 2 years, whereas patients awaiting transplantation (group 1) had a survival rate of 70% at 1 year (both p less than 0.005 versus patients with VO2 greater than 14 ml/kg/min). All deaths in group 2 were sudden. By univariate and multivariate analyses, peak VO2 was the best predictor of survival, with only pulmonary capillary wedge pressure providing additional prognostic information. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that cardiac transplantation can be safely deferred in ambulatory patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction and peak exercise VO2 of more than 14 ml/min/kg.
Googling your treatment for analgesia in labour
Authors: James Holding, Michael V Holmes
Journal: BMJ (2006)

EDITOR—Giustini described how Google has become the most powerful influence in searching the internet.1 In a recent observational study on the labour ward at University College Hospital, London, we found that 33% of pregnant women used the internet as a source of information about labour pain relief. This is a change from the results of a previous study conducted five years ago …
Self help groups and professionally conducted group interventions are different
Authors: A. Bottomley, R. Thomas
Journal: BMJ (1998)

EDITOR—Watts's letter about cancer self help groups is misleading.1 For example, the author refers to Fallowfield as having undertaken a review on self help or support groups,2 yet this article was a simple comment on a review by Meyer and Mark.3 In addition, Watts refers to Spiegel et al's study, which reported details of survival gains4; but this study had numerous methodological …
Herpes Simplex Virus in Idiopathic Facial Paralysis (Bell Palsy)
Authors: Kedar Karim Adour
Journal: JAMA (1975)

Sera from all 41 adult patients with idiopathic facil paralysis (Bell palsy) and 35 (85%) of 41 matched controls who had never had Bell palsy contained antibodies to herpes simplex virus (P smaller than.05). The frequency of antibodies to herpes zoster virus did not differ in patients and controls. A rise in antibody titer, indicating primary herpes simplex virus infection, was not found in these patients. That Bell palsy may be caused by reactivation of herpes simplex virus is suggested by (1) clinical, neurologic, laboratory, and immunologic similarities between idiopathic facial paralysis and known manifestations of reactivated herpes simplex virus infection, and (2) the known neurotropism of herpes simplex virus, including its presence in latent form in the trigeminal ganglia, and parallels with known facial paralysis due to varicella zoster virus, a closely related agent. The presence of antibodies to herpes simplex virus is the only common factor among the patients tested in this study.
IS DABIGATRAN SAFE IN &amp;lsquo;REAL LIFE&amp;rsquo;?
Authors: Valay Parikh, Vinod Chainani, Maureen Howard, Simit Doshi, Houssein Abdul Sater, Zahraa Abdul Sater, Mrinalini Krishnan, Soad Bekheit, Marcin Kowalski
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2012)
Evaluation of Combination Chemotherapy
Authors: Liang Zhao, M. Guillaume Wientjes, Jessie L-S. Au
Journal: Clinical Cancer Research (2004)

Abstract Isobologram and combination index (CI) analyses are the two most popular methods for evaluating drug interactions in combination cancer chemotherapy. As the commonly used CI-based software program uses linear regression, our first objective was to evaluate the effects of logarithmic data transformation on data analysis and conclusions. Monte-Carlo simulations were conducted with experimentally relevant parameter values to generate error-containing effect or concentration-effect data of single agents and combinations. The simulated data were then analyzed with linear and nonlinear regression. The results showed that data transformation reduced the accuracy and precision of the regression-derived IC50, curve shape parameter and CI values. Furthermore, as neither isobologram nor CI analyses provide output of concentration-effect curves for investigator evaluation, our second objective was to develop a method and the associated computer program/algorithm to (a) normalize drug concentrations in IC50 equivalents and thereby enable simultaneous presentation of the curves for single agents and combinations in a single plot for visual inspection of potential curve shifts, (b) analyze concentration-effect data with nonlinear regression, and (c) use the curve shift analysis simultaneously with isobologram and CI analyses. The applicability of this method was shown with experimentally obtained data for single agent doxorubicin and suramin and their combinations in cultured tumor cells. In summary, this method, by incorporating nonlinear regression and curve shift analysis, although retaining the attractive features of isobologram and CI analyses, reduced the potential errors introduced by logarithmic data transformation, enabled visual inspection of data variability and goodness of fit of regression analysis, and simultaneously provided information on the extent of drug interaction at different combination ratios/concentrations and at different effect levels.
Hypoxia inducible factor 2 alpha inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma growth through the transcription factor dimerization partner 3/ E2F transcription factor 1-dependent apoptotic pathway
Authors: Hai-Xiang Sun, Yang Xu, Xin-Rong Yang, Wei-Min Wang, Haibo Bai, Ruo-Yu Shi, Suresh K. Nayar, Ranjan P. Devbhandari, Yi-zhou He, Qin-Feng Zhu, Yun-Fan Sun, Bo Hu, Mehtab Khan, Robert A. Anders, Jia Fan
Journal: Hepatology (2012)

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are activated in many tumors and show either promoter or suppressor activity, depending on tumor cell biology and background. However, the role of HIF member HIF-2α remains unclear in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, HIF-2α expression was measured in HCC and paired peritumoral tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunofluorescence assays, and the clinical significance was explored in 246 HCC patients. In cell culture, HIF-2α levels were up-regulated or down-regulated by use of expression or short hairpin RNA recombinant plasmid, respectively. Cells were analyzed by immunoblotting, chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with microarray, coimmunoprecipitation, and immunohistochemical staining. In vivo tumor growth was analyzed in nude mice. We found that the average expression of HIF-2α was relatively low in HCC tissues, and the decreased level was associated with lower overall survival ( P = 0.006). High HIF-2α expression in HCC cells induced higher levels of apoptosis and expression of proapoptotic proteins and inhibited cell and tumor growth. Furthermore, HIF-2α inhibited expression of the novel target gene, transcription factor dimerization partner 3 (TFDP3). TFDP3 protein was found to bind with E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1) and inhibit its transcriptional activity through both p53-dependent and -independent pathways. Reintroduction of TFDP3 expression reversed HIF-2α-induced apoptosis. Conclusions : Data gathered from cell lines, tumorigenicity studies, and primary HCC samples demonstrate a negative role of HIF-2α in tumors, which is mediated by the TFDP3/E2F1 pathway. Our study provides evidence supporting a possible tumor-suppressor role for HIF-2α and has uncovered a mechanism that links HIF-2α to a fundamental biological regulator, E2F1. (Hepatology 2013)
TCT-407 Evaluation of the Acute and Long Term Renal Artery Re-Innervation Attempt Response Following Catheter-Based Renal Denervation in a Swine Model: An Immunohistochemical Characterization
Authors: Serge D. Rousselle, Randy Hart, Joan Wicks, Armando Tellez
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2014)