tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
High Prevalence of Sickle Cell Trait in African Americans with ESRD
Authors: Vimal K. Derebail, Patrick H. Nachman, Nigel S. Key, Heather Ansede, Ronald J. Falk, Abhijit V. Kshirsagar
Journal: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2010)

Sickle cell trait (HbAS) associates with impaired urinary concentration, hematuria, and renal papillary necrosis, but its prevalence among African Americans with ESRD is unknown. We performed a cross-sectional study reviewing available hemoglobin phenotypes for 188 of 206 adult African-American patients receiving renal replacement therapy in four dialysis units. Results from the state newborn screening program in corresponding counties provided the local population prevalence of sickle trait among African Americans. Compared with the general African-American population, HbAS was twice as common among African Americans with ESRD (15% versus 7%, P < 0.001). Prevalence of hemoglobin C trait (HbAC) was similarly more common (5% versus 2%, P < 0.01). The higher prevalence of HbAS and HbAC in the ESRD population raises the possibility that these hemoglobinopathies contribute to a decline in kidney function, either alone or in conjunction with other known risk factors for renal disease. The potential effect of HbAS on the development and progression of CKD and its effect on the course and management of patients with ESRD deserve further study.
A two-decade comparison of prevalence of dementia in individuals aged 65 years and older from three geographical areas of England: results of the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study I and II
Authors: Fiona E Matthews, Antony Arthur, Linda E Barnes, John Bond, Carol Jagger, Louise Robinson, Carol Brayne
Journal: The Lancet (2013)

BackgroundThe prevalence of dementia is of interest worldwide. Contemporary estimates are needed to plan for future care provision, but much evidence is decades old. We aimed to investigate whether the prevalence of dementia had changed in the past two decades by repeating the same approach and diagnostic methods as used in the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC CFAS) in three of the original study areas in England.Methods Between1989 and 1994, MRC CFAS investigators did baseline interviews in populations aged 65 years and older in six geographically defined areas in England and Wales. A two stage process, with screening followed by diagnostic assessment, was used to obtain data for algorithmic diagnoses (geriatric mental state–automated geriatric examination for computer assisted taxonomy), which were then used to estimate dementia prevalence. Data from three of these areas—Cambridgeshire, Newcastle, and Nottingham—were selected for CFAS I. Between 2008 and 2011, new fieldwork was done in the same three areas for the CFAS II study. For both CFAS I and II, each area needed to include 2500 individuals aged 65 years and older to provide power for geographical and generational comparison. Sampling was stratified according to age group (65–74 years vs ≥75 years). CFAS II used identical sampling, approach, and diagnostic methods to CFAS I, except that screening and assessement were combined into one stage. Prevalence estimates were calculated using inverse probability weighting methods to adjust for sampling design and non-response. Full likelihood Bayesian models were used to investigate informative non-response.Findings7635 people aged 65 years or older were interviewed in CFAS I (9602 approached, 80% response) in Cambridgeshire, Newcastle, and Nottingham, with 1457 being diagnostically assessed. In the same geographical areas, the CFAS II investigators interviewed 7796 individuals (14 242 approached, 242 with limited frailty information, 56% response). Using CFAS I age and sex specific estimates of prevalence in individuals aged 65 years or older, standardised to the 2011 population, 8·3% (884 000) of this population would be expected to have dementia in 2011. However, CFAS II shows that the prevalence is lower (6·5%; 670 000), a decrease of 1·8% (odds ratio for CFAS II vs CFAS I 0·7, 95% CI 0·6–0·9, p=0·003). Sensitivity analyses suggest that these estimates are robust to the change in response.InterpretationThis study provides further evidence that a cohort effect exists in dementia prevalence. Later-born populations have a lower risk of prevalent dementia than those born earlier in the past century.FundingUK Medical Research Council.
Delusions and Suicidality
Authors: Michael F. Grunebaum, Maria A. Oquendo, Jill M. Harkavy-Friedman, Steven P. Ellis, Shuhua Li, Gretchen L. Haas, Kevin M. Malone, J. John Mann
Journal: American Journal of Psychiatry (2001)

OBJECTIVE: Delusions have been considered a risk factor for suicidal behavior. To determine whether specific delusion types are related to suicidal behaviors, the authors compared the clinical characteristics of patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia who did and did not have a history of suicide attempts. METHOD: After admission for inpatient or outpatient psychiatric treatment, 429 patients (ages 14–72 years; 47.1% male; and 73.0% Caucasian) were assessed with a structured clinical interview that generated axis I and II diagnoses. In addition, their psychiatric symptoms, history of suicide attempts, and overall functioning were rated. RESULTS: Data for three diagnostic subgroups (223 patients with major depression, 150 with schizophrenia, and 56 with bipolar disorder) were analyzed separately. Multivariate analyses did not find evidence of a relationship between delusions and history of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts in any of the diagnostic groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not find evidence that the presence of delusions distinguished persons with or without a history of suicide attempt.
HLA antigen distribution in different clinical subgroups demonstrates genetic heterogeneity in lichen planus
Authors: G.LA NASA, F. COTTONI, M. MULARGIA, C. CARCASSI, A. VACCA, A. PIZZATI, A. LEDDA, M.A. MONTESU, D. CERIMELE, L. CONTU
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2010)

HLA-A, B, Cw, DR and DQ antigens were serologically determined in 105 patients suffering from lichen planus (LP). Of these patients, 87 had idiopathic LP and 18 had secondary LP. In the first group, 43 had cutaneous LP without mucosal lesions, 17 had cutaneous LP with mucosal lesions and 27 had purely mucosal LP. No HLA antigen was found to be significantly associated with secondary LP or with mucosal idiopathic LP. In cutaneous idiopathic LP with or without mucosal lesions, the HLA-DR1 and DQ1 antigen frequency was significantly increased, and that of HLA-DQ3 significantly decreased. Among the HLA-DR1 cutaneous idiopathic LP patients, 78.5% carried the DRB1*0101 allele, and 21.4% the DRB1*0102 allele, compared with 35.7 and 67.8%, respectively, of the HLA-DR1 controls. Our data demonstrate that idiopathic LP is influenced by HLA-associated genetic susceptibility and resistance factors not involved in secondary LP, and that cutaneous idiopathic LP is a genetically and therefore pathogenetically different condition from purely mucosal idiopathic LP.
Thrombopoietin emerges as a new haematopoietic cytokine that confers cardioprotection against acute myocardial infarction
Authors: J. W. Calvert, D. J. Lefer
Journal: Cardiovascular Research (2007)

Colony stimulating factors (CSFs), also called haematopoietic growth factors, are circulating cytokines that regulate the bone marrow production of red cells, white cells, and platelets. CSFs have also been reported to act on stem cells to regulate lineage-specific differentiation.1 Erythropoietin (EPO) controls red cell production and has been utilized in recombinant form for the treatment of anaemia in patients with end-stage renal disease since 1988. Granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) acts on haematopoietic stem cells to regulate neutrophil progenitor proliferation and differentiation. G-CSF is routinely used to mobilize stem cells in normal patients for transplantation of cells into patients with haematological malignancies, or in the patients themselves. Several recent reports have suggested that these cytokines possess properties that extend beyond their haematopoietic properties, such as the ability to protect the heart against injury caused by ischaemia and reperfusion (I/R).2,3 Baker et al. 4 now demonstrate for the first time in this issue of Cardiovascular Research that a third haematopoietic growth factor, thrombopoietin (TPO), is able to provide cardioprotection against myocardial I/R injury in a rat model by mechanisms independent of its haematopoietic properties.

TPO affects nearly all aspects of platelet production, from self-renewal and expansion of haematopoietic stem cells, through stimulation of the proliferation of megakaryocyte progenitor cells, to support the maturation of these cells into platelet-producing cells.5 Since its purification in 1994, TPO has been used to treat thrombocytopenia caused by many conventional chemotherapy regimens.6 … 

*Corresponding author. Tel: +1 718 430 2645; fax: +1 718 430 8989. E-mail address : dlefer{at}aecom.yu.edu
Genomics and Drug Response
Authors: Liewei Wang, Howard L. McLeod, Richard M. Weinshilboum
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (2011)

harmacogenomics is the study of the role of inherited and acquired genetic variation in drug response. 1Clinically relevant pharmacogenetic examples, mainly involving drug metabolism, have been known for decades, but recently, the field of pharmacogenetics has evolved into "pharmacogenomics," involving a shift from a focus on individual candidate genes to genomewide association studies.Such studies are based on a rapid scan of markers across the genome of persons affected by a particular disorder or drug-response phenotype and persons who are not affected, with tests for association that compare genetic variation in a case-control setting. 2 An example is provided in this issue of the Journal: McCormack and colleagues, testing for genomewide association, identified an HLA allele that is associated with hypersensitivity reactions to the anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug carbamazepine in persons of European descent. 3Pharmacogenomics facilitates the identification of biomarkers that can help physicians optimize drug selection, dose, and treatment duration and avert adverse drug reactions.In addition, pharmacogenomics can provide new insights into mechanisms of drug action and as a result can contribute to the development of new therapeutic agents.In 2003, two reviews of pharmacogenetics were published the Journal. 4,5Since then, both genomic science and its application to drug response have undergone major advances. 6Here we review some of those advances, with an emphasis on discovery through genomewide association studies.We describe examples that highlight principles of pharmacogenomics that are relevant to a wide variety of drugs.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has altered drug labels and issued warnings about pharmacogenomic variation affecting drug response, raising the issue of the level of evidence required to show clinical utility 7 and the respective roles of regulatory agencies such as the FDA and of academic and professional societies in the evaluation of pharmacogenetic analyses for the clinic. C a r diova scul a r DrugsMany drugs have proven efficacy in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.Not uncommonly, these drugs have narrow therapeutic indexes that are influenced by genetic variation -a hallmark of drugs for which pharmacogenomic approaches are likely to provide substantial clinical benefit.The anticoagulant agents warfarin and clopidogrel are high on the list of widely prescribed cardiovascular drugs with narrow therapeutic indexes.The pharmacogenomic features of these drugs illustrate the rapid evolution of our understanding of the role of inheritance in the variation in drug efficacy and the risk of adverse drug reactions.In the case of both agents, the application of classic candidate-gene pharmacogeneticsThe New England Journal of Medicine Downloaded from nejm.org
Proximal biceps rupture: management of an unusual injury in an arm wrestler
Authors: D A Pratt, T D Tennent
Journal: British Journal of Sports Medicine (2007)

Arm wrestling may cause unusual injuries, which may require operative repair in the sporting individual. Injury to the proximal biceps as a consequence of arm wrestling has not been reported previously. The diagnosis and treatment of a 36-year-old man who sustained a proximal biceps rupture while arm wrestling and his operative management are described.
Depression, Heart Rate Variability, and Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Robert M. Carney, James A. Blumenthal, Phyllis K. Stein, Lana Watkins, Diane Catellier, Lisa F. Berkman, Susan M. Czajkowski, Christopher O’Connor, Peter H. Stone, Kenneth E. Freedland
Journal: Circulation (2001)

Background Clinical depression is associated with an increased risk for mortality in patients with a recent myocardial infarction (MI). Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) has been suggested as a possible explanation for this association. The purpose of this study was to determine if depression is associated with reduced HRV in patients with a recent MI. Methods and Results Three hundred eighty acute MI patients with depression and 424 acute MI patients without depression were recruited. All underwent 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring after hospital discharge. In univariate analyses, 4 indices of HRV were significantly lower in patients with depression than in patients without depression. Variables associated with HRV were then compared between patients with and without depression, and potential confounds were identified. These variables (age, sex, diabetes, and present cigarette smoking) were entered into an analysis of covariance model, followed by depression status. In the final model, all but one HRV index (high-frequency power) remained significantly lower in patients with depression than in patients without depression. Conclusions We conclude that greater autonomic dysfunction, as reflected by decreased HRV, is a plausible mechanism linking depression to increased cardiac mortality in post-MI patients.
Statistical Challenges in Preprocessing in Microarray Experiments in Cancer
Authors: Kouros Owzar, William T. Barry, Sin-Ho Jung, Insuk Sohn, Stephen L. George
Journal: Clinical Cancer Research (2008)

Abstract Many clinical studies incorporate genomic experiments to investigate the potential associations between high-dimensional molecular data and clinical outcome. A critical first step in the statistical analyses of these experiments is that the molecular data are preprocessed. This article provides an overview of preprocessing methods, including summary algorithms and quality control metrics for microarrays. Some of the ramifications and effects that preprocessing methods have on the statistical results are illustrated. The discussions are centered around a microarray experiment based on lung cancer tumor samples with survival as the clinical outcome of interest. The procedures that are presented focus on the array platform used in this study. However, many of these issues are more general and are applicable to other instruments for genome-wide investigation. The discussions here will provide insight into the statistical challenges in preprocessing microarrays used in clinical studies of cancer. These challenges should not be viewed as inconsequential nuisances but rather as important issues that need to be addressed so that informed conclusions can be drawn.
Genetic Landscape of Human Papillomavirus–Associated Head and Neck Cancer and Comparison to Tobacco-Related Tumors
Authors: D. Neil Hayes, Carter Van Waes, Tanguy Y. Seiwert
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2015)

Head and neck cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. It is often amenable to curative intent therapy when localized to the head and neck region, but it carries a poor prognosis when it is recurrent or metastatic. Therefore, initial treatment decisions are critical to improve patient survival. However, multimodality therapy used with curative intent is toxic. The balance between offering intensive versus tolerable and function-preserving therapy has been thrown into sharp relief with the recently described epidemic of human papillomavirus-associated head and neck squamous cell carcinomas characterized by improved clinical outcomes compared with smoking-associated head and neck tumors. Model systems and clinical trials have been slow to address the clinical questions that face the field to date. With this as a background, a host of translational studies have recently reported the somatic alterations in head and neck cancer and have highlighted the distinct genetic and biologic differences between viral and tobacco-associated tumors. This review seeks to summarize the main findings of studies, including The Cancer Genome Atlas, for the clinician scientist, with a goal of leveraging this new knowledge toward the betterment of patients with head and neck cancer.
Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor and Its Receptors in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
Authors: Yoshikazu Inoue, Talmadge E. King, Elizabeth Barker, Elaine Daniloff, Lee S. Newman
Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2002)

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a potent mitogenic factor for smooth muscle cells, myofibroblasts, and fibroblasts, proliferation of which is a hallmark of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). Mast cells produce bFGF and have been associated with pulmonary fibrosis. We hypothesize that smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells will be spatially associated with bFGF-containing mast cells and that bFGF receptors will be expressed on the effector cells in IPF and LAM. We performed quantitative immunohistochemistry for bFGF, mast cell tryptase, smooth muscle actin for smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells, and fibroblast growth factor receptors (Flg, Bek) and measured collagen and elastic fiber in lung sections from IPF (n = 14), LAM (n = 9), and control lung (n = 10). IPF and LAM lung contained more smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells than did control lung. bFGF-containing mast cells were abundant both in IPF and LAM and were associated with collagen, elastic fibers, and smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells in IPF. Flg was expressed on epithelial cells, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells, and macrophages in IPF. In LAM, Flg was expressed on epithelial cells adjacent to smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cell aggregates. Bek was expressed dominantly on smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells in LAM and on smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells as well as neutrophils in IPF. These data suggest that mast cell-derived bFGF might exert fibrogenic, proliferative effects on smooth muscle cell/myofibroblast-like cells through its receptors.
Metabolic features of the reproductive phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome
Authors: Lisa Moran, Helena Teede
Journal: Human Reproduction Update (2009)

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition in women of reproductive age with well established metabolic abnormalities. There are numerous diagnostic criteria generating several reproductive diagnostic phenotypes [National Institute of Health (NIH) hyperandrogenic anovulatory PCOS and non-NIH PCOS including hyperandrogenic ovulatory or non-hyperandrogenic anovulatory PCOS]. There is ongoing debate regarding the optimal diagnostic criteria for PCOS and on the metabolic implications of newer non-NIH PCOS phenotypes. We reviewed the literature on the presence of risk factors for type 2 diabetes (DM2) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) across the reproductive diagnostic phenotypes of PCOS with the aims of comparing the metabolic features of the NIH and non-NIH groups and identifying potential high metabolic risk phenotypes of PCOS. NIH PCOS patients present with greater obesity, abdominal obesity, insulin resistance (IR) and risk factors for DM2 and CVD compared with non-NIH ovulatory and non-hyperandrogenic PCOS patients. Where differences in metabolic features exist between the phenotypes, they are generally related to the degree of total and abdominal obesity. There is emerging evidence suggesting ovulatory and non-hyperandrogenic PCOS have greater metabolic abnormalities than controls primarily linked to abdominal adiposity. There is currently no evidence that non-hyperandrogenic PCOS is associated with a less adverse metabolic profile than ovulatory PCOS. Current metabolic evidence appears to justify the inclusion of both non-NIH PCOS groups (ovulatory and non-hyperandrogenic) as PCOS subgroups. NIH PCOS is associated with a more adverse metabolic profile including greater total and abdominal obesity, IR and risk factors for CVD and DM2 than non-NIH phenotypes.
Health Communication in the Latino Community: Issues and Approaches
Authors: John P. Elder, Guadalupe X. Ayala, Deborah Parra-Medina, Gregory A. Talavera
Journal: Annual Review of Public Health (2009)

With reference to the Communication-Persuasion model, we describe various research issues and challenges when considering the health of Latinos, and implications for designing and evaluating health communication and behavior change efforts in this population. Latinos, collectively the nation's largest minority group, vary substantially in terms of socioeconomic and legal status, their country of origin and the extent of ongoing contact with that country, their region of residence within the United States, their generation status and levels of acculturation, and psychosocial factors. Health communication efforts with Latinos need to focus on family, cultural traditions, and collectivism while attending to acculturation, language, generation and national origin. The most extensive intervention topic in Latino health promotion has been the application of the lay health advisor model. This and other fundamental communication approaches, as well as audience and population characteristics, need to be considered within the context of dynamic and complex societal changes.
Aspirin and asthma: barking up the right tree?
Authors: Andrew A Clayton, Douglas L Forrester, Alan J Knox
Journal: Thorax (2008)

According to World Health Organization estimates, 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma. It is the most common chronic condition in childhood and continues to impose a high burden of morbidity and mortality in adulthood; over 250 000 people are thought to have died from asthma in 2005. In the UK 5.2 million people are currently receiving treatment for asthma.

There has been an apparent increase in incidence over recent years, at least in children and adolescents. Data in adults are more sparse but suggest that incidence increases slightly with age, albeit to a level much lower than that in children.1 The aetiology of asthma at all ages is still not fully understood although environmental allergens, immunological and genetic factors are all known to contribute. In this issue of Thorax Kurth et al 2 report interesting post hoc data from the Women’s Health Study which suggest that assignment of 100 mg aspirin on alternate days reduces the relative risk of newly reported diagnosis of asthma in otherwise healthy adult women ( see page 514 ).

The first descriptions of aspirin-like medication come from the time of Hippocrates …