tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Thyroid Insult: Flame Retardants Linked to Alterations in Pregnant Women’s TSH Levels
Authors: Kellyn S. Betts
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2010)

Sprawling Cities Have the Most Very Hot DaysThe urban heat island effect, the phenomenon in which a city has higher temperatures than surrounding countryside, is known to contribute to higher rates of heat-related mortality in summer months when temperatures soar.Although extreme heat events have become more common in large U.S. cities, a new study indicates that sprawling cities experience more than double the rate of extreme heat events in the summer compared with more compact urban areas [EHP 118( 10):1425-1428; Stone et al.].The authors considered 53 U.S. metropolitan areas for which data were available on sprawl and extreme heat event.Sprawl had been assessed in a 2003 study using an index based on land use data from the 2000 census along with measures of population density, average street block size, proximity of homes to businesses, and land use mix.Extreme heat events were defined as days on which the minimum, maximum, or average temperature exceeded the 85th percentile of a base period of 1961-1990.The authors compared the extent of sprawl for each metropolitan area with that area's average annual rate of extreme heat events from 1956 through 2005.Over the 50 years examined,
Regulator calls for faster improvements at troubled Mid Staffordshire trust
Authors: A. O'Dowd
Journal: BMJ (2009)

Improvements at the troubled Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust must speed up to satisfy the NHS regulator that sufficient change is underway.

The Care Quality Commission has published a second progress report on the trust, which in March received one of the most critical reports of recent years for its failings in care.

A review by the former regulator, the Healthcare Commission, found that “appalling” emergency care at the trust led to unnecessary deaths of patients because of a lack of staff and equipment.

In its new progress report, the Care Quality Commission said the trust was making progress but the pace of …
Prevention of Helicobacter pylori infection by lactobacilli in a gnotobiotic murine model.
Authors: A M Kabir, Y Aiba, A Takagi, S Kamiya, T Miwa, Y Koga
Journal: Gut (1997)

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium which causes gastric inflammatory diseases. Oral inoculation of H pylori usually results in only a temporary colonisation without a successful infection in the stomach of conventional mice in which lactobacilli are the predominant indigenous bacteria. AIM: To determine whether lactobacilli exert an inhibitory effect on colonisation by H pylori in the stomach. METHODS: The effects of H pylori on attachment to murine and human gastric epithelial cells and the H pylori mediated release of interleukin-8 (IL-8) by these cells were examined in vitro. Lactobacillus salivarius infected gnotobiotic BALB/c mice and control germ free mice were inoculated orally with H pylori to examine whether L salivarius can inhibit colonisation by H pylori. RESULTS: L salivarius inhibited both the attachment and IL-8 release in vitro. H pylori could not colonise the stomach of L salivarius infected gnotobiotic BALB/c mice, but colonised in large numbers and subsequently caused active gastritis in germ free mice. In addition, L salivarius given after H pylori implantation could eliminate colonisation by H pylori. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the possibility of lactobacilli being used as probiotic agents against H pylori.
Assessment of Liver Function in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A New Evidence-Based Approach—The ALBI Grade
Authors: Philip J. Johnson, Sarah Berhane, Chiaki Kagebayashi, Shinji Satomura, Mabel Teng, Helen L. Reeves, James O'Beirne, Richard Fox, Anna Skowronska, Daniel Palmer, Winnie Yeo, Frankie Mo, Paul Lai, Mercedes Iñarrairaegui, Stephen L. Chan, Bruno Sangro, Rebecca Miksad, Toshifumi Tada, Takashi Kumada, Hidenori Toyoda
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2014)

Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have associated chronic liver disease, the severity of which is currently assessed by the Child-Pugh (C-P) grade. In this international collaboration, we identify objective measures of liver function/dysfunction that independently influence survival in patients with HCC and then combine these into a model that could be compared with the conventional C-P grade.We developed a simple model to assess liver function, based on 1,313 patients with HCC of all stages from Japan, that involved only serum bilirubin and albumin levels. We then tested the model using similar cohorts from other geographical regions (n = 5,097) and other clinical situations (patients undergoing resection [n = 525] or sorafenib treatment for advanced HCC [n = 1,132]). The specificity of the model for liver (dys)function was tested in patients with chronic liver disease but without HCC (n = 501).The model, the Albumin-Bilirubin (ALBI) grade, performed at least as well as the C-P grade in all geographic regions. The majority of patients with HCC had C-P grade A disease at presentation, and within this C-P grade, ALBI revealed two classes with clearly different prognoses. Its utility in patients with chronic liver disease alone supported the contention that the ALBI grade was indeed an index of liver (dys)function.The ALBI grade offers a simple, evidence-based, objective, and discriminatory method of assessing liver function in HCC that has been extensively tested in an international setting. This new model eliminates the need for subjective variables such as ascites and encephalopathy, a requirement in the conventional C-P grade.
Randomized Trial of Influenza Vaccine With Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor or Placebo in Cancer Patients
Authors: Ramesh K. Ramanathan, Douglas M. Potter, Chandra P. Belani, Samuel A. Jacobs, Stefan Gravenstein, Felix Lim, Hyoung Kim, Steven Savona, Terry Evans, Dianne Buchbarker, Mary B. Simon, Jane K. Depee, Donald L. Trump
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2002)

To determine whether granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) would improve response to influenza vaccination in cancer patients.In a randomized, patient-blinded, placebo-controlled trial carried out in 1997 to 2000, 133 patients were stratified into five groups of treatment and disease. Single doses of standard split trivalent influenza vaccine and either placebo or 250 micro g of GM-CSF were administered at the same time. Hemagglutination inhibition assay titers were measured before and 4 weeks after vaccination.Standard analyses, which define response as at least a four-fold increase in titers, detect no effect of GM-CSF for any of the three influenza subtypes in the trivalent vaccines (P >or=.12). Analysis that includes the magnitude of the change in titers and combines responses of the subtypes suggests that the placebo group had the greater response (P =.051), thus indicating that GM-CSF does not improve response. Ancillary analyses show that response declines both with increasing age and with higher initial titers. The fraction of patients with at least a four-fold increase in titers was 0.36 (95% confidence interval, 0.29 to 0.42)A single 250- micro g dose of GM-CSF administered with the influenza vaccine does not improve response to vaccination. Response in cancer patients is low and declines as age and initial titer increase.
Animal Models for the Study of Drugs in Ischemic Stroke
Authors: S E Karpiak, A Tagliavia, C G Wakade
Journal: The Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology (1989)

Due to the massive data sets available for drug candidates, modern drug discovery has advanced to the big data era. Central to this shift is the development of artificial intelligence approaches to implementing innovative modeling based on the dynamic, ...Read More
THREE CASES OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS OF LARGE ARTERIES, WITH TRAUMATIC ANEURYSM
Authors: J. A. C. Macewen
Journal: BMJ (1915)

THE clhief interest in the first of the cases here reported lies in the fact that it is possible for a perforating wound of the aorta, albeit small, to be inflicted without deatl resulting.This man, who had his aorta shot tlhrougl, lived for three weeks after the wound, and died from concurrent injury to the lung.CASE I.-Perforation of thle Aorta, aboutt an inlch above the Aortic Valre, by a Fragnment of Shrapnel: Traumnatic Anteutrysm.Sergeant B., aged 33, was wounded on October
Should Doctors Ever Lie on Behalf of Patients?
Authors: Warren Kinghorn
Journal: JAMA (1999)

IS IT EVER ETHICAL FOR A PHYSICIAN TO CODE A PATIENT’S DIAGNOSIS falsely inamedicalrecordtogainbenefits forthepatient?Thesmallamount of empirical research available suggests that many physicians do indeed choose to deceive third-party payers. In a decade-old survey, 70% of a sample of clinicians stated that hypothetically, they would write “rule outcancer” tosecure funding for screeningmammography if thepatient’s insurance would not otherwise fund it. Nearly half the physicians in a more recent surveyadmitted toexaggerating theseverityofpatients’ conditions to get the care they felt the patient needed. In another study, in 1998, 39% of the physician sample admitted to exaggerating the severity ofpatients’ conditions,changingofficialbillingdiagnoses,anddocumenting nonexistent symptoms—all to gain additional benefits for patients. Several approaches to such a dilemma have been articulated. One consider the ethics of lying. Sissela Bok champions the “principle of veracity,” which emphasizes the intrinsic moral undesirability of a lie because no one likes to be deceived. Others worry about the effect lying would have on trust on the patient-physician relationship. Still others worry that exaggerated and inaccurate diagnoses may frighten patients and compromise their future clinical care. Alternatively, the question may be interpreted as one of distributive justice. The reimbursement boundaries set by third-party payers are a de facto resource allocation mechanism. Much has been written about whether physicians should ever withhold available interventions because of a high cost-to-benefit ratio. The same reasoning applies to the question of whether physicians should ever transgress reimbursement boundaries to secure benefits not covered by insurance plans. Entrants in the 1999 John Conley Ethics Essay Contest for Medical Students were asked: “Suppose a potentially useful procedure is available that is not covered by a patient’s medical insurance. Under what circumstances, if any, would you consider it appropriate to miscode (and thereby make available) the needed procedure?” Peter Ubel, MD, frames the issue as a question of distributive justice. Then, from opposed perspectives, the winners of this year’s contest argue that miscoding is unethical because of its effect on the “medical commons” (Dena Rifkin) and that miscoding is sometimes justifiable based on the role society accords physicians (Greg Webster). On reading these essays, we hope readers will be better equipped to answer this question for themselves.
Role of CD11b in Focal Acid–induced Pneumonia and Contralateral Lung Injury in Rats
Authors: HIDEAKI MOTOSUGI, WILLIAM M. QUINLAN, MARK BREE, CLAIRE M. DOERSCHUK
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (1998)

Neutrophil emigration in response to acid aspiration does not require the adhesion complex, CD11/ CD18. This study examined the role of CD11b/CD18 using the anti-CD11b F(ab ′ )2, 1B6, in focal HCl– induced intracapillary neutrophil sequestration and edema formation within rat lungs, as well as the effect of pretreatment with endotoxin on this injury. The results show that at the site of aspiration pneumonia, anti-CD11b F(ab ′ )2 did not inhibit neutrophil sequestration or edema formation, either with or without endotoxin pretreatment. In the contralateral lung, focal HCl aspiration induced neutrophil sequestration that was inhibited by the anti-CD11b F(ab ′ )2, but no edema formation. The combined effect of endotoxin pretreatment and HCl aspiration induced CD11b/CD18-independent edema formation in the contralateral lung. These data indicate that CD11b/CD18-independent pathways mediate neutrophil sequestration and edema formation at that pneumonic site with or without pretreatment with endotoxin. CD11b/CD18 mediates neutrophil sequestration at distant sites when no endotoxin is present, although this CD11b/CD18-dependent sequestration is not association with edema formation. The combined effects of endotoxin and HCl aspiration induce edema formation at distant sites that could not be prevented by inhibiting the function of the CD11b/CD18 prior to aspiration.
Statins, antihypertensive treatment, and blood pressure control in clinic and over 24 hours: evidence from PHYLLIS randomised double blind trial
Authors: G. Mancia, G. Parati, M. Revera, G. Bilo, A. Giuliano, F. Veglia, G. Crepaldi, A. Zanchetti
Journal: BMJ (2010)

<b>Objective</b> To investigate the possibility that statins reduce blood pressure as well as cholesterol concentrations through clinic and 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. <b>Design</b> Randomised placebo controlled double blind trial. <b>Setting</b> 13 hospitals in Italy <b>Participants</b> 508 patients with mild hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia, aged 45 to 70 years. <b>Intervention</b> Participants were randomised to antihypertensive treatment (hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg once daily or fosinopril 20 mg once daily) with or without the addition of a statin (pravastatin 40 mg once daily). <b>Main outcome measures </b>Clinic and ambulatory blood pressure measured every year throughout an average 2.6 year treatment period. <b>Results</b> Both the group receiving antihypertensive treatment without pravastatin (n=254) (with little change in total cholesterol) and the group receiving antihypertensive treatment with pravastatin (n=253) (with marked and sustained reduction in total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol) had a clear cut sustained reduction in clinic measured systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as in 24 hour, and day and night, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Pravastatin performed slightly worse than placebo, and between group differences did not exceed 1.9 (95% confidence interval −0.6 to 4.3, P=0.13) mm Hg throughout the treatment period. This was also the case when participants who remained on monotherapy with hydrochlorothiazide or fosinopril throughout the study were considered separately. <b>Conclusions</b> Administration of a statin in hypertensive patients in whom blood pressure is effectively reduced by concomitant antihypertensive treatment does not have an additional blood pressure lowering effect. <b>Trial registration</b> BRISQUI_*IV_2004_001 (registered at Osservatorio Nazionale sulla Sperimentazione Clinica dei Medicinali—National Monitoring Centre on Clinical Research with Medicines).
Increase in bone mineral density of patients with spondyloarthropathy treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha
Authors: F Allali
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2003)

<b>Objective:</b> To determine the changes in bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with spondyloarthropathy (SpA) treated with infliximab. <b>Patients and methods:</b> 29 patients (six women; 23 men) aged 22–68 years, with persistently active SpA despite a high dose of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and/or treatment with methotrexate or sulfasalazine, were studied. Median duration of disease was 13 years (range 3–30). Twenty five patients were treated with 5 mg/kg and four with 3 mg/kg of infliximab at weeks 0, 2, 6 and then received either no infusion (n=3), or additional infusion of infliximab every other month (n=6), and the remainder received one infusion only in the case of a relapse. Lumbar and femoral BMD was measured by dual energy <i>x</i> ray absorptiometry at baseline and six months later. Serum osteocalcin and urinary deoxypyridinoline were measured in 19 patients at weeks 0, 2, 24, and in 13 patients at all visits. <b>Results:</b> In six months there was a significant increase in BMD at the spine (3.6%, p=0.001), total hip (2.2%, p=0.0012), and trochanter (2.3%, p=0.0012). A trend for increase (1.1%) was observed at the femoral neck. There was an increase in osteocalcin between baseline and week 6 (third infusion)—median 1.45 μg/l (p=0.013). No change in marker of bone resorption was observed at the same time. There was no change in biochemical markers between baseline and final visits. There was a trend for a correlation between the decrease at six months in erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and lumbar spine BMD change (<i>r</i><sub>s</sub>=−0.35, p=0.06). <b>Conclusion:</b> These data suggest that a benefit of anti-tumour necrosis factor α therapy on BMD in patients with SpA may be through an uncoupling effect on bone cells.
Subcutaneous ‘lipoma-like’ B-cell lymphoma associated with HCV infection: a new presentation of primary extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of MALT
Authors: M. Paulli, L. Arcaini, M. Lucioni, E. Boveri, D. Capello, F. Passamonti, M. Merli, S. Rattotti, D. Rossi, R. Riboni, E. Berti, U. Magrini, R. Bruno, G. Gaidano, M. Lazzarino
Journal: Annals of Oncology (2009)
The donor lung: conservation of a precious resource
Authors: C. A Keller
Journal: Thorax (1998)

Lung transplantation became a reality in 1963 when Dr James Hardy performed the first successful single lung transplant1 in a patient with chronic pulmonary disease and bronchogenic carcinoma. His patient survived 18 days, eventually succumbing to renal failure. His opportunity for success was hampered by a lack of adequate immunosuppressive agents, limited perioperative monitoring, and a lack of adequate support systems such as haemodialysis. Over the next two decades numerous lung transplants were performed. Although all ended as failures, valuable information and experience accumulated in the areas of immune system alteration, diagnosis and treatment of rejection, and opportunistic infections.2 The role of prophylactic antibiotic regimens was better defined. Since the mid 1980s many of these issues have been resolved, and many centres currently perform lung transplantation with progressively better survival rates. The availability of cyclosporin as an immunosuppressive agent allowed reduced doses of corticosteroids to be used and has had a dramatic impact on the successful outcome of lung transplantation. The latest report from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)3 in the USA recognises 95 centres registered to perform heart-lung transplants and 91 to perform lung transplantation. As more centres have the technological expertise to perform transplantation, and as this technology expands to treat a wider range of chronic lung diseases, there has been an inevitable increase in the number of patients listed for transplantation and, consequently, significant prolongation of waiting times. This is a problem which is now affecting all countries with active transplant programmes; in this paper these problems are discussed in relation to data for transplantation in the USA.

Transplant physicians have constantly to analyse this fluctuation in waiting times. Patients must “get in” in the UNOS list at a time when they are significantly and irreversibly impaired by their chronic pulmonary disease, …
Tumor Suppression by IFN Regulatory Factor-1 Is Mediated by Transcriptional Down-regulation of Cyclin D1
Authors: Andrea Kröger, Anja Stirnweiss, Julia Elisabeth Pulverer, Katjana Klages, Martina Grashoff, Jörg Reimann, Hansjörg Hauser
Journal: Cancer Research (2007)

Abstract IFNs have been ascribed to mediate antitumor effects. IFN regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1) is a major target gene of IFNs. It inhibits cell proliferation and oncogenic transformation. Here, we show that 60% of all mRNAs deregulated by oncogenic transformation mediated by c-myc and H-ras are reverted to the expression levels of nontransformed cells by IRF-1. These include cell cycle–regulating genes. An indirect target is cyclin D1. Activation of IRF-1 decreased cyclin D1 expression and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 kinase activity concomitant with change in the levels of hyperphosphorylated retinoblastoma protein. These effects are mediated by inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway and a transcriptional repression of cyclin D1. As shown by in vitro assays and tumor growth in nude mice, IRF-1–mediated effects on cell cycle progression were found to be overridden by ectopic expression of cyclin D1. Conversely, decrease of cyclin D1 by RNA interference experiments prevents transformation and tumor growth. The data show that cyclin D1 is a key target for IRF-1–mediated tumor-suppressive effects. [Cancer Res 2007;67(7):2972–81]
Air Pollution and Respiratory Infections during Early Childhood: An Analysis of 10 European Birth Cohorts within the ESCAPE Project
Authors: Elaina A. MacIntyre, Ulrike Gehring, Anna Mölter, Elaine Fuertes, Claudia Klümper, Ursula Krämer, Ulrich Quass, Barbara Hoffmann, Mireia Gascon, Bert Brunekreef, Gerard H. Koppelman, Rob Beelen, Gerard Hoek, Matthias Birk, Johan C. de Jongste, H.A. Smit, Josef Cyrys, Olena Gruzieva, Michal Korek, Anna Bergström, Raymond M. Agius, Frank de Vocht, Angela Simpson, Daniela Porta, Francesco Forastiere, Chiara Badaloni, Giulia Cesaroni, Ana Esplugues, Ana Fernández-Somoano, Aitana Lerxundi, Jordi Sunyer, Marta Cirach, Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, Göran Pershagen, Joachim Heinrich
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2013)

Few studies have investigated traffic-related air pollution as a risk factor for respiratory infections during early childhood.We aimed to investigate the association between air pollution and pneumonia, croup, and otitis media in 10 European birth cohorts--BAMSE (Sweden), GASPII (Italy), GINIplus and LISAplus (Germany), MAAS (United Kingdom), PIAMA (the Netherlands), and four INMA cohorts (Spain)--and to derive combined effect estimates using meta-analysis.Parent report of physician-diagnosed pneumonia, otitis media, and croup during early childhood were assessed in relation to annual average pollutant levels [nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter≤2.5 μm (PM2.5), PM2.5 absorbance, PM10, PM2.5-10 (coarse PM)], which were estimated using land use regression models and assigned to children based on their residential address at birth. Identical protocols were used to develop regression models for each study area as part of the ESCAPE project. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted effect estimates for each study, and random-effects meta-analysis was used to calculate combined estimates.For pneumonia, combined adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were elevated and statistically significant for all pollutants except PM2.5 (e.g., OR=1.30; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.65 per 10-μg/m3 increase in NO2 and OR=1.76; 95% CI: 1.00, 3.09 per 10-μg/m3 PM10). For otitis media and croup, results were generally null across all analyses except for NO2 and otitis media (OR=1.09; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.16 per 10-μg/m3).Our meta-analysis of 10 European birth cohorts within the ESCAPE project found consistent evidence for an association between air pollution and pneumonia in early childhood, and some evidence for an association with otitis media.
Commission for Racial Equality investigates Department of Health
Authors: Owen Dyer
Journal: BMJ (2007)

The UK Commission for Racial Equality is to launch a formal investigation to discover whether the Department of Health is failing to meet its duty to promote race equality under the Race Relations Act 1976, it was announced last week.

Anthony Robinson, the commission's director of legal services and enforcement, said, “We are concerned about the Department of Health, as we have reason to believe that they have not been meeting their obligations under the law.

“This is worrying, as they influence and shape local health services, and we have to make sure as a regulator [that] communities are not being disadvantaged on the ground because this work …