tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
FIRST RESULTS OF MICROSPHERE EMBOLIZATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR ALCOHOL IN PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL SEPTAL MYOCARDIAL ABLATION
Authors: Pieter A. Vriesendorp, Nicolas Van Mieghem, Wim Vletter, Folkert Ten Cate, A.F.L. Schinkel, Michelle Michels
Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2014)

Percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation (PTSMA) using microsphere embolization instead of alcohol is a new interventional technique to treat patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Six HCM patients (age 68.4±6.3) with severe left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT)
<i>ASAP1</i>, a Gene at 8q24, Is Associated with Prostate Cancer Metastasis
Authors: Dong Lin, Akira Watahiki, Jane Bayani, Fang Zhang, Lin Liu, Victor Ling, Marianne D. Sadar, John English, Ladan Fazli, Alan So, Peter W. Gout, Martin Gleave, Jeremy A. Squire, Yu-Zhuo Wang
Journal: Cancer Research (2008)

Metastatic prostate cancer is a terminal disease, and the development of reliable prognostic tools and more effective therapy is critically important for improved disease survival and management. This study was aimed at identifying genes that are differentially expressed in metastatic and nonmetastatic prostate cancer cells and, as such, could be critical in the development of metastasis. Long-SAGE analysis was used to compare a transplantable human metastatic prostate cancer subline, PCa1-met, with a nonmetastatic counterpart, PCa2. Both sublines were developed from a patient's prostate cancer specimen via subrenal capsule grafting and subsequent orthotopic implantation into SCID mice. Among various differentially expressed genes identified, ASAP1, an 8q24 gene encoding an ADP-ribosylation factor GTPase-activating protein not previously associated with prostate cancer, was up-regulated in the metastatic subline as confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Immunohistochemistry of xenograft sections showed that cytoplasmic ASAP1 protein staining was absent or weak in benign tissue, significantly stronger in nonmetastatic PCa2 tissue, and strongest in PCa1-met tissue. In clinical specimens, ASAP1 protein staining was elevated in 80% of primary prostate cancers and substantially higher in metastatic lesions compared with benign prostate tissue. Moreover, additional ASAP1 gene copies were detected in 58% of the primary prostate cancer specimens. Small interfering RNA-induced reduction of ASAP1 protein expression markedly suppressed in vitro PC-3 cell migration (approximately 50%) and Matrigel invasion (approximately 67%). This study suggests that the ASAP1 gene plays a role in prostate cancer metastasis and may represent a therapeutic target and/or biomarker for metastatic disease.
Is the syllable frame stored?
Authors: Willem J. M. Levelt, Niels O. Schiller
Journal: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (1998)

This commentary discusses whether abstract metrical frames are stored. For stress-assigning languages (e.g., Dutch and English), which have a dominant stress pattern, metrical frames are stored only for words that deviate from the default stress pattern. The majority of the words in these languages are produced without retrieving any independent syllabic or metrical frame.
A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SCROTAL SWELLING AND RICKETTSIA BODIES TO MEXICAN TYPHUS FEVER
Authors: M. Ruiz Castaneda
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1930)

THE EXPERIMENTS RECORDED ABOVE HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE FOLLOWING POINTS: 1. Scrotal swelling can appear in guinea pigs directly inoculated from a human case of Mexican typhus fever. 2. In certain strains of this disease, a number of generations of guinea pigs may show absolutely no scrotal swelling, which, however, may reappear in subsequent animals, suggesting-though not absolutely proving-that the scrotal swelling is an integral part of the disease and is not due to an incidental accompanying organism. If the latter were true, one would expect the organisms that caused the scrotal swelling to disappear during the negative generations. 3. A typhus fever sustained by a guinea pig without scrotal swelling protects against the swelling upon subsequent inoculation with a strain which produces this with considerable regularity. 4. Louse passage increases the capacity of a strain to produce the scrotal lesion, probably because of the considerable accumulation of rickettsia in the louse, but in the experiment noted, even after louse passage, two generations without swelling occurred, followed by reoccurrence of the swelling. We believe that these observations, taken together, can be interpreted in favour of the likelihood that the swelling is a part of the disease and that the rickettsia-like organisms described by Mooser in the tunica vaginalis have etiological significance.
Residential Exposure to Traffic Is Associated With Coronary Atherosclerosis
Authors: B. Hoffmann, S. Moebus, S. Möhlenkamp, A. Stang, N. Lehmann, N. Dragano, A. Schmermund, M. Memmesheimer, K. Mann, R. Erbel, K.-H. Jöckel
Journal: Circulation (2007)

Long-term exposure to fine-particulate-matter (PM2.5) air pollution may accelerate the development and progression of atherosclerosis. We investigated the associations of long-term residential exposure to traffic and fine particulate matter with the degree of coronary atherosclerosis.We used baseline data on 4494 participants (age 45 to 74 years) from the German Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study, a population-based, prospective cohort study that started in 2000. To assess exposure differences, distances between residences and major roads were calculated, and annual fine particulate matter concentrations, derived from a small-scale dispersion model, were assigned to each address. The main outcome was coronary artery calcification (CAC) assessed by electron-beam computed tomography. We evaluated the association between air pollution and CAC with logistic and linear regression analyses, controlling for individual level risk factors of coronary atherosclerosis. Compared with participants living >200 m away from a major road, participants living within 50, 51 to 100, and 101 to 200 m had odds ratios of 1.63 (95% CI, 1.14 to 2.33), 1.34 (95% CI, 1.00 to 1.79), and 1.08 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.39), respectively, for a high CAC (CAC above the age- and gender-specific 75th percentile). A reduction in the distance between the residence and a major road by half was associated with a 7.0% (95% CI, 0.1 to 14.4) higher CAC. Fine particulate matter exposure was associated with CAC only in subjects who had not been working full-time for at least 5 years.Long-term residential exposure to high traffic is associated with the degree of coronary atherosclerosis.
Decreased Risk of Stroke Among 10-Year Survivors of Breast Cancer
Authors: Maartje J. Hooning, Lucille D.A. Dorresteijn, Berthe M.P. Aleman, Arnoud C. Kappelle, Jan G.M. Klijn, Willem Boogerd, Flora E. van Leeuwen
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2006)

Purpose To assess treatment-specific risk of cerebrovascular events in early breast cancer (BC) patients, accounting for cerebrovascular risk factors. Patients and Methods We studied the incidence of cerebrovascular accidents (CVA; stroke and transient ischemic attack [TIA]) in 10-year survivors of early BC (n = 4,414) treated from 1970 to 1986. Follow-up was 96% complete until January 2000. Treatment-specific incidence of CVA was evaluated by standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) based on comparison with general population rates and by Cox proportional hazards regression. Results After a median follow-up of 18 years, 164 strokes and 109 TIAs were observed, resulting in decreased SIRs of 0.8 (95% CI, 0.6 to 0.9) for stroke and 0.8 (95% CI, 0.7 to 1.0) for TIA. Significantly increased risk of stroke was found in women who had received hormonal treatment (HT; tamoxifen) and in women who had hypertension or hypercholesterolemia, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.9, 2.1, and 1.6, respectively. Patients irradiated on the supraclavicular area and/or internal mammary chain (IMC) did not experience a higher risk of stroke (HR = 1.0; 95% CI, 0.7 to 1.6) or TIA (HR = 1.4; 95% CI, 0.9 to 2.5) compared with patients who did not receive radiotherapy or who were irradiated on fields other than the supraclavicular area or IMC. Conclusion Long-term survivors of BC experience no increased risk of cerebrovascular events compared with the general population. HT is associated with an increased risk of stroke. Radiation fields including the carotid artery do not seem to increase the risk of stroke compared with other fields.
Refractory pneumothorax treated by parietal pleurolysis.
Authors: J L Hansen
Journal: Thorax (1976)

Pneumothorax, persisting in spite of efficient drainage, may in some cases be caused by discrepancy between lung volume and size of the pleural cavity. The logical treatment is reduction of the pleural cavity simultaneously with a traditional surgical procedure on the pulmonary tissue. An increasing number of refractory pneumothoraces--both spontaneous and istrogenic--is probably due to the fact that more people are living with and suffer the sequelae of pulmonary disease. During a 15-year survey a parietal pleurolysis, tailored to fit the size and shape of the lung, was performed in 10 patients as the main surgical procedure in 100 thoracotomies for 1130 cases of spontaneous and 62 cases of iatrogenic pneumothorax. The results were encouraging.
Systemic markers of inflammation in stable bronchiectasis
Authors: CB Wilson, PW Jones, CJ O'Leary, DM Hansell, RB Dowling, PJ Cole, R Wilson
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (1998)

Patients with bronchiectasis have an active local and systemic inflammatory response during infective exacerbations. Systemic markers of inflammation were investigated during a stable phase of their illness, because continued inflammation could affect their general health and be involved in disease progression. The relationship between levels of various systemic markers of inflammation and extent of disease on computed tomographic scan, lung function, sputum bacteriology and health related quality of life (HRQoL) was investigated in 87 noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis patients. Several markers were elevated and correlated with the extent of disease and poor lung function. The total white cell count, neutrophil count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate correlated with both disease measures. Sputum bacteriology did not correlate with inflammation markers and patients with positive and negative cultures were similar. C-reactive protein and total white cell count correlated with some components of a disease-specific HRQoL questionnaire. In conclusion, patients with bronchiectasis in a stable phase have raised systemic markers of inflammation. Some markers, particularly the neutrophil count, correlate with disease severity. This result is in keeping with the hypothesis that the level of inflammation determines disease progression and health status.
Staffing and poor team work are letting maternity services down, says report
Authors: A. O'Dowd
Journal: BMJ (2008)

Consultant obstetricians are failing to spend enough time on labour wards, a report from the NHS watchdog says. The Healthcare Commission has published a national report on maternity services after a review of 150 NHS trusts in England.

The report says that although women are generally positive, the NHS has to improve maternity services. Consultants’ presence in labour wards is too low, according to the report, because they are spending more time on other duties, including gynaecological work.

Safer Childbirth, published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists last year, recommends that labour wards should have 40 hours a week with a consultant present or 60 in larger units. 

However, only 68% of trusts reported meeting this standard, and some …
Ultrasonic imaging of the coronary arteries in open-chest humans: evaluation of coronary atherosclerotic lesions during cardiac surgery.
Authors: D J Sahn, B G Barratt-Boyes, K Graham, A Kerr, A Roche, D Hill, P W Brandt, J G Copeland, R Mammana, L P Temkin, W Glenn
Journal: Circulation (1982)

We explored techniques that would allow the surgeon to localize coronary artery lesions demonstrated angiographically or to supplement angiographic information in patients who are undergoing coronary artery bypass procedures by intraoperative scanning of the coronary arteries using ultrasound. A 9-MHz electronically focused water-path ultrasound scanner was first used to image the coronary arteries in three anesthetized, open-chest sheep. In a subsequent study, 10 human subjects undergoing cardiac surgery for valve replacement who had normal coronary angiograms were scanned during heart surgery to provide images of normal coronary arteries. The ultrasound probe was sterilized with gas and placed directly on the beating heart by the surgeon. In the third phase of this study, 21 patients with coronary artery disease were scanned and the ultrasonic appearance of their imaged coronary lesions was compared to independently interpreted angiographic estimates of percent obstruction, with close correlation (r = 0.91). The ultrasound scan could be used to identify lesions in vessels beyond proximal occlusions, which are not visualized well angiographically, and could localize the site of lesions to determine placement of saphenous vein bypass grafts. This new technique may provide a method for evaluating coronary atherosclerotic lesions during coronary artery surgery and aid decisions regarding placement of saphenous vein grafts.
Cytosine methylation and hydroxymethylation mark DNA for elimination in Oxytricha trifallax
Authors: John R Bracht, David H Perlman, Laura F Landweber
Journal: Genome biology (2012)

Abstract Background Cytosine methylation of DNA is conserved across eukaryotes and plays important functional roles regulating gene expression during differentiation and development in animals, plants and fungi. Hydroxymethylation was recently identified as another epigenetic modification marking genes important for pluripotency in embryonic stem cells. Results Here we describe de novo cytosine methylation and hydroxymethylation in the ciliate Oxytricha trifallax . These DNA modifications occur only during nuclear development and programmed genome rearrangement. We detect methylcytosine and hydroxymethylcytosine directly by high-resolution nano-flow UPLC mass spectrometry, and indirectly by immunofluorescence, methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation and bisulfite sequencing. We describe these modifications in three classes of eliminated DNA: germline-limited transposons and satellite repeats, aberrant DNA rearrangements, and DNA from the parental genome undergoing degradation. Methylation and hydroxymethylation generally occur on the same sequence elements, modifying cytosines in all sequence contexts. We show that the DNA methyltransferase-inhibiting drugs azacitidine and decitabine induce demethylation of both somatic and germline sequence elements during genome rearrangements, with consequent elevated levels of germline-limited repetitive elements in exconjugant cells. Conclusions These data strongly support a functional link between cytosine DNA methylation/hydroxymethylation and DNA elimination. We identify a motif strongly enriched in methylated/hydroxymethylated regions, and we propose that this motif recruits DNA modification machinery to specific chromosomes in the parental macronucleus. No recognizable methyltransferase enzyme has yet been described in O. trifallax , raising the possibility that it might employ a novel cytosine methylation machinery to mark DNA sequences for elimination during genome rearrangements.
Fractionation of human T lymphocytes on wheat germ agglutinin-sepharose.
Authors: U Hellström, M L Dillner, S Hammarström, P Perlmann
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1976)

T cells from human peripheral blood was purified by fractionation on columns charged with human immunoglobulin and rabbit anti-human immuno-globulin. When assayed with 125I- or fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA), a weakly binding and a strongly binding subpopulation could be distinguished. These T-cell subpopulations were fractionated on columns charged with WGA, convalently bound to Sepharose 6MB. The cells responding to the mitogens leukoagglutinin from Phaseolus vulgaris and concanavalin A were enriched in the strongly binding subpopulation (approximately 20% of the T cells) while they were depleted from the weakly binding subpopulation.
Underdiagnosed and Undertreated Depression Among Racially/Ethnically Diverse Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Dara H. Sorkin, Quyen Ngo-Metzger, John Billimek, Kristin J. August, Sheldon Greenfield, Sherrie H. Kaplan
Journal: Diabetes Care (2011)

To examine racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms and in provider recognition of depression among Latino, Asian, and non-Hispanic white patients with type 2 diabetes.Patients (n = 1,209) with type 2 diabetes were recruited from five university-affiliated primary care clinics for an observational study.Vietnamese American (133, 59.4%) and Mexican American (351, 50.2%) patients were more likely to report symptoms consistent with clinical depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression [CES-D] scale score ≥ 22) than non-Hispanic whites (119, 41.6%; F [2, 1206] = 8.05, P < 0.001). Despite comparable diabetes care, Vietnamese and Mexican patients with high depressive symptoms were less likely to be diagnosed and treated than non-Hispanic whites (all P values < 0.001). Minority patients who reported low levels of trust in their provider were less likely to have been diagnosed or treated for depression (adjusted odds ratio 0.65, 95% CI 0.44-0.98, P < 0.05).Innovative strategies are needed to improve recognition of depressive symptoms in minority patients.
ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY OF RED CELL MEMBRANES AFTER EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION WITH THE VIRUS OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE
Authors: B. Epstein, N. M. Fonseca, E. De Robertis
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1951)

Guinea pigs were inoculated with the Vallée O type strain of the virus of foot-and-mouth disease. 42 to 48 hours after inoculation red blood cells washed in saline were found to be infective for normal guinea pigs suggesting that erythrocytes carry virus entities at the height of generalization of the disease. This infection is no longer obtained at 92 hours after inoculation when general symptoms of the disease decline. A replica-transfer technique was developed with which hemolyzed blood smears could be observed under the electron microscope. By direct examination and also shadow-casting with palladium, normal red cell membranes show only a very fine structure on the surface. Rounded masses of high electron density appear in the ghosts between 24 and 72 hours after inoculation with virus. The number and particularly the density of these masses tend to increase from 24 to 42 and 72 hours. In some cases they are disposed preferentially in single lines forming ring figures; in other cases they are distributed at random. At 42 hours after inoculation it was possible to detect dense particles of 20 to 70 mµ. within the masses. Measurements of 100 masses at 72 hours gave results ranging from 116 to 437 mµ with a mean diameter of 246 mµ. Results based on 105 electron micrographs and on thousands of cells demonstrate that practically all red cell membranes contained dense masses 24 to 72 hours after inoculation. 92 hours after inoculation, coinciding with the disappearance of infectivity of the erythrocytes, the masses could no longer be seen and the membranes looked entirely normal. Although the facts reported here may be suggestive of a relationship between the dense masses within the red cell membranes and the presence of virus entities in washed erythrocytes, no definite interpretation of these findings is postulated at present.
Reduced Cardiac L-Type Ca <sup>2+</sup> Current in Ca <sub>v</sub> β <sub>2</sub> <sup>−/−</sup> Embryos Impairs Cardiac Development and Contraction With Secondary Defects in Vascular Maturation
Authors: Petra Weissgerber, Brigitte Held, Wilhelm Bloch, Lars Kaestner, Kenneth R. Chien, Bernd K. Fleischmann, Peter Lipp, Veit Flockerzi, Marc Freichel
Journal: Circulation Research (2006)

Cardiac myocyte contraction depends on transmembrane L-type Ca 2+ currents and the ensuing release of Ca 2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Here we show that these L-type Ca 2+ currents are essential for cardiac pump function in the mouse at developmental stages where the functional significance of the heart becomes imperative to blood flow and to the continuing growth and survival of the embryo. Disruption of the Ca v β 2 gene, which encodes for the predominant ancillary β subunit of cardiac Ca 2+ channels, resulted in diminished L-type Ca 2+ currents in cardiomyocytes of embryonic day 9.5 (E9.5). This led to a functionally compromised heart, causing defective remodeling of intra- and extraembryonic blood vessels and embryonic death following E10.5. The defects in vascular remodeling were also observed when the Ca v β 2 gene was selectively targeted in cardiomyocytes, demonstrating that they are secondary to cardiac failure rather than a result of the lack of Ca v β 2 proteins in the vasculature. Partial rescue of the Ca 2+ channel currents by a Ca 2+ channel agonist significantly postponed embryonic death in Ca v β 2 −/− mice. Taken together, these data strongly support the essential role of L-type Ca 2+ channel activity in cardiomyocytes for normal heart development and function and that this is a prerequisite for proper maturation of the vasculature.
FURTHER STUDIES ON EFFECTS OF TISSUE EXTRACTS ON STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS
Authors: Leo G. Nutini, Sister Eva Maria Lynch
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1946)

1. The ability of alcoholic-precipitated extracts of beef tissue-brain, spleen, heart, and kidney-to stimulate the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, in vitro, and to convert the yellow S form to a white R variant with altered biochemical characteristics conforming to those of an avirulent organism, has been confirmed. 2. The avirulence of the white R variant has been established by tests in vivo on mice. 3. Staphylococcus aureus infections induced subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, and intravenously in mice responded favorably to brain extract following subcutaneous or oral administration. The mortality was 2 per cent in 444 experimental animals and 81 per cent in 448 control animals. 4. The extracts appeared equally efficient when used therapeutically (mortality 2 per cent of 162 experimental animals and 90 per cent in the control series) or prophylactically (mortality 2 per cent of 282 experimental animals and 76 per cent in 286 control mice). Extracts of brain and spleen were more effective than those of either heart or kidney. 5. Studies concerning the mechanism of action of the tissue extracts indicate that they prevented the formation of toxin by Staphylococcus aureus, and had but little effect on toxin actions. 6. Toxicity tests revealed that the brain and spleen extracts were relatively non-toxic, dosages equivalent to 2 per cent of the body weight being well tolerated. Kidney and heart extracts were much more toxic, producing mortality in dosages as low as 0.3 per cent of the body weight.