tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Work Performance of the Isolated Perfused Beating Heart in the Hereditary Myocardiopathy of the Syrian Hamster
Authors: ANDRIES J. BRINK, AMANDA LOCHNER, J. C. N. Kotzé, M. McGregor
Journal: Circulation Research (1967)

The work performance of the isolated beating heart of control Syrian hamsters and hamsters suffering from an inbred myocardiopathy was studied in a system using a myographic differential force transducer. A stretch force of either 3.75 or 8.75 g was applied to the hearts. Myocardial metabolism of pyruvate-3- 14 C and palmitate-1- 14 C was studied with and without a stretch force. A definite reduction in work performance of the myopathic heart could be demonstrated. Peak height of contraction, tension-time index, tension time per minute and heart rate were significantly lower. The progressive myocardial fiber lengthening, caused by the stretch force, was less in the myopathic hearts. No difference was observed between the uptake and oxidation of pyruvate-3- 14 C and palmitate-1- 14 C by control and myopathic hearts. The presence of a stretch force affected metabolism of both hearts in a similar manner. Two mechanisms for explaining the reduction in work performance by the myopathic heart were observed, namely, a reduction in heart rate and a relative inability of the myopathic muscle fibers to lengthen. The depressed mechanical performance could not be related directly with altered substrate metabolism or with reduction in total muscle mass.
Immune Complexes in Congenital and Natal Cytomegalovirus Infections of Man
Authors: Sergio Stagno, John E. Volanakis, David W. Reynolds, Robert Stroud, Charles A. Alford
Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation (1977)

The occurrence of circulating immune complexes was investigated in 31 patients with cytomegalovirus infection (29 infected in utero and 2 with natal infection) and 34 uninfected controls. Anti-complementary activity above 1:20 occurred in 34% (29/86) of the sera tested from the infected group in contrast to 7.5% (3/40) in the controls (P < 0.005). When assayed by means of a lymphoblastoid cell line (Raji cell test), the reactivity in these groups was 45 (39/86) and 2.7% (1/36), respectively (P < 0.001). Correlation of results between these two complement-dependent assays occurred in 75% of samples collected from the infected group. Frequency of reactivity was higher in severe intrauterine infection and during the 1st yr of life paralleling the patterns of viral excretion and humoral immune responses. Physicochemical characterization demonstrated that reactive substances in sera were acid-dissociable and, in one sample tested, contained 7S IgG antibodies with cytomegalovirus (CMV) specificity. Circulating immune complexes were heavier (18-22S) in sick, as opposed to subclinically CMV-infected patients, in whom intermediate size complexes (12-16S) were found. In three of four symptomatic patients whose demise was due to severe congenital infection, granular deposits of immunoglobulins and C3 were detected in a pattern typical of immune complexes along the glomerular basal membrane of the glomeruli. Whether or not circulation and deposition of heavier immune complexes contributed to the adverse clinical outcome is unresolved. Because of the high incidence of both congenital and natal CMV infections, definition of the pathogenetic potentials of both heavy and intermediate size immune complexes is required to design more effective therapeutic measures.
US judge says ban on partial birth abortion is unconstitutional
Authors: Janice Hopkins Tanne
Journal: BMJ (2004)

A federal district court judge in San Francisco has ruled that the law banning “partial birth abortion” is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. The law was passed last November and signed by President Bush, who praised it as ending “an abhorrent practice” ( BMJ 2003;327:1009).

After the ruling President Bush's press secretary said that the president disagreed with the ruling and that the administration would continue to defend the law in the courts. The Department of Justice, which is headed by John Ashcroft, the attorney general and the defendant in the case, issued a statement saying it had worked “to fulfil the goal of the president to protect innocent new life from the practice of partial birth abortion, and we will continue to do so.”

The law defines a partial birth abortion as a procedure in which the doctor “deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a headfirst presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of …
LYMPHOID CELL DEPENDENCE OF EOSINOPHIL RESPONSE TO ANTIGEN
Authors: M. P. McGarry, R. S. Speirs, V. K. Jenkins, J. J. Trentin
Journal: The Journal of Experimental Medicine (1971)

Quantitative determinations were made of the capacity of isogenic bone marrow, spleen, and thymic cells from primed and/or nonprimed mice to repopulate the hemopoietic tissues and to mount an inflammatory and antibody response to specific antigen (tetanus toxoid) in heavily irradiated and reconstituted recipients. Spleen cells from primed mice but not from normal mice had the capacity to adoptively transfer an anamnestic antitoxin titer in irradiated animals in the absence of transplanted bone marrow cells, and during retarded myeloid regeneration. Spleen cells alone or bone marrow cells alone produced an insignificant and a moderate peritoneal eosinophil response, respectively, to antigen. In the presence of bone marrow cells, normal spleen cells augment the capacity of recipient animals to mount an eosinophil response to antigen. A much greater augmentation occurs in animals reconstituted with splenic or thymic cells from primed animals. The increase in antitoxin titers appears to be independent of the response of eosinophils since: (a) marked accumulation of eosinophils can occur in animals with no measurable humoral antitoxin, and (b) high antitoxin titers can occur in animals which do not have marked eosinophil responses. It is suggested that a thymic-derived or thymic-dependent mononuclear cell population is necessary for optimal eosinophil response to antigen. The neutrophil and mononuclear cell responses to antigen are determined by different mechanisms from those which determine the eosinophil response. These studies together with earlier findings strongly indicate that the eosinophil granulocytes play a role in the immune response to antigen.
Phagocytosis of brushite crystals by pig neutrophils.
Authors: F K Higson, O T Jones
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (1985)

Neutrophils from pig blood were disrupted by homogenisation or sonication and placed on an analytical sucrose gradient.Pig neutrophil azurophil granules were less dense than the specific granules, unlike those from neutrophils of most other mammalian species.Brushite crystals, which stimulate the respiratory burst in pig neutrophils, were found by electron microscopy to be phagocytosed.Membrane-limited vesicles containing crystals were obtained from a dense region of the sucrose gradient loaded with a homogenate of crystal treated cells.Intake of crystals involved preferential mobilisation of cytochrome b from the plasma membrane and the fusion of both specific and azurophil granules with the primary phagosome.Plasma membrane and granule markers appear in a crystal-containing region of the sucrose gradient when cells are treated with crystals.They are present in much lower concentration at this location in gradients from cells untreated with a crystal stimulus.
Insulin Prevents Cardiomyocytes From Oxidative Stress–Induced Apoptosis Through Activation of PI3 Kinase/ <i>Akt</i>
Authors: Ryuichi Aikawa, Masao Nawano, Yaping Gu, Hideki Katagiri, Tomoichiro Asano, Weidong Zhu, Ryozo Nagai, Issei Komuro
Journal: Circulation (2000)

Background —Loss of cardiomyocytes by apoptosis is proposed to cause heart failure. Reactive oxygen species induce apoptosis in many types of cells including cardiomyocytes. Because insulin has been reported to have protective effects, we examined whether insulin prevents cardiomyocytes from oxidative stress–induced apoptotic death. Methods and Results —Cultured cardiomyocytes of neonatal rats were stimulated by hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). Apoptosis was evaluated by means of the TUNEL method and DNA laddering. Incubation with 100 μmol/L H 2 O 2 for 24 hours increased the number of TUNEL-positive cardiac myocytes (control, ≈4% versus H 2 O 2 , ≈23%). Pretreatment with 10 − 6 mol/L insulin significantly decreased the number of H 2 O 2 -induced TUNEL-positive cardiac myocytes (≈12%) and DNA fragmentation induced by H 2 O 2 . Pretreatment with a specific phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, wortmannin, and overexpression of dominant negative mutant of PI3K abolished the cytoprotective effect of insulin. Insulin strongly activated both PI3K and the putative downstream effector Akt . Moreover, a proapoptotic protein, Bad , was significantly phosphorylated and inactivated by insulin through PI3K. Conclusions —These results suggest that insulin protects cardiomyocytes from oxidative stress–induced apoptosis through the PI3K pathway.
CpG Hypermethylation of <b> <i>MDR1</i> </b> Gene Contributes to the Pathogenesis and Progression of Human Prostate Cancer
Authors: Hideki Enokida, Hiroaki Shiina, Mikio Igawa, Tatsuya Ogishima, Toshifumi Kawakami, William W. Bassett, Jason W. Anast, Long-Cheng Li, Shinji Urakami, Masaharu Terashima, Mukesh Verma, Motoshi Kawahara, Masayuki Nakagawa, Christopher J. Kane, Peter R. Carroll, Rajvir Dahiya
Journal: Cancer Research (2004)

Abstract Multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene encodes for P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a Mr 170,000 transmembrane calcium-dependent efflux pump that is inactivated in prostate cancer. We hypothesize that inactivation of the MDR1 gene through CpG methylation contributes to the pathogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. To test this hypothesis, CpG methylation status of the MDR1 promoter and its correlation with clinicopathological findings were evaluated in 177 prostate cancer samples and 69 benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) samples. Cellular proliferation index and apoptotic index were determined by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and single-strand DNA immunostaining, respectively. After 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatment, increased expression of MDR1 mRNA transcript was found in prostate cancer cell lines (DU145, DuPro, and ND1). MDR1 methylation frequency was significantly higher in prostate cancer samples compared with BPH samples (54.8 versus 11.6%, respectively, P &amp;lt; 0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that PC patients are 11.5 times more likely to have MDR1 methylation than BPH patients (95% confidence interval 4.87–27.0) and that MDR1 methylation is independent of the age. Significant correlation of MDR1 methylation was observed with high pT category (P &amp;lt; 0.001), high Gleason sum (P = 0.008), high preoperative prostate-specific antigen (P = 0.01), and advancing pathological features. In addition, PCNA-labeling index were significantly higher in methylation-specific PCR (MSP)-positive than in MSP-negative prostate cancer samples (P = 0.048). In contrast, no significant difference in apoptotic index was found between MSP-positive and -negative prostate cancer samples. These findings suggest that CpG hypermethylation of MDR1 promoter is a frequent event in prostate cancer and is related to disease progression via increased cell proliferation in prostate cancer cells.
Nutrigenomics, Rumen-Derived Bioactive Fatty Acids, and the Regulation of Milk Fat Synthesis
Authors: Dale E. Bauman, Kevin J. Harvatine, Adam L. Lock
Journal: Annual Review of Nutrition (2011)

Mammary synthesis of milk fat continues to be an active research area, with significant advances in the regulation of lipid synthesis by bioactive fatty acids (FAs). The biohydrogenation theory established that diet-induced milk fat depression (MFD) in the dairy cow is caused by an inhibition of mammary synthesis of milk fat by specific FAs produced during ruminal biohydrogenation. The first such FA shown to affect milk fat synthesis was trans-10, cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid, and its effects have been well characterized, including dose-response relationships. During MFD, lipogenic capacity and transcription of key mammary lipogenic genes are coordinately down-regulated. Results provide strong evidence for sterol response element-binding protein-1 (SREBP1) and Spot 14 as biohydrogenation intermediate responsive lipogenic signaling pathway for ruminants and rodents. The study of MFD and its regulation by specific rumen-derived bioactive FAs represents a successful example of nutrigenomics in present-day animal nutrition research and offers several potential applications in animal agriculture.
Left Ventricular Function Described in Physical Terms
Authors: Dean L. Franklin, Robert L. van Citters, Robert F. Rushmer
Journal: Circulation Research (1962)

A description in standard physical terminology of the variations of the left ventricle in its role as a pump was derived. Left ventricular pressure, left ventricular outflow, and an external dimension of the left ventricle were measured in unanesthetized, active dogs during spontaneous activities and infusions of autonomic drugs. Secondary variables pertinent to a functional description of a pump were derived continuously from the primary variables by analogue computers. The derived variables included stroke volume, cardiac output, effective power, stroke work, average power, volume acceleration, rate of change of pressure, duration of systole, and heart rate. These techniques allowed a detailed description in meaningful terminology of the integrated effects on the left ventricle of such stimuli as sleep, startle, exercise, postural variations, and infusions of autonomic drugs. The descriptions of the variations in the characteristics of the left ventricle allow tests to be made of hypothetical cardiovascular control mechanisms. The use of standard, well-accepted, physical terminology allows the descriptions to be evaluated in different laboratories by totally different measuring techniques. The terminology used was contrasted with operationally denned or ambiguous terms such as "contractility" or "vigor of contraction."
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS AND THE DE FACTO MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
Authors: Garyson S. Norquist, M.D., M.S.P.H, Darrel A. Regier, M.D., M.P.H
Journal: Annual Review of Medicine (1996)

▪ Abstract Recent national epidemiologic studies have provided data on the number of people in the United States with mental and addictive disorders. Many of these people receive their care in the general medical care sector. This has important implications for diagnosis and treatment of mental and addictive disorders.
The distribution pattern of segmental vitiligo: clues for somatic mosaicism
Authors: N. van Geel, R. Speeckaert, E. Melsens, S.P. Toelle, M. Speeckaert, S. De Schepper, J. Lambert, L. Brochez
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2012)

Journal Article The distribution pattern of segmental vitiligo: clues for somatic mosaicism Get access N. van Geel, N. van Geel Department of Dermatology Nanja van Geel. E‐mail: nanja.vangeel@ugent.be Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar R. Speeckaert, R. Speeckaert Department of Dermatology Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar E. Melsens, E. Melsens Department of Dermatology Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar S.P. Toelle, S.P. Toelle Department of Neurology, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar M. Speeckaert, M. Speeckaert Department of Internal Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar S. De Schepper, S. De Schepper Department of Dermatology Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar J. Lambert, J. Lambert Department of Dermatology Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar L. Brochez L. Brochez Department of Dermatology Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar British Journal of Dermatology, Volume 168, Issue 1, 1 January 2013, Pages 56–64, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.12013 Published: 01 January 2013 Article history Accepted: 13 August 2012 Published: 01 January 2013
Disease-Free Survival Advantage of Weekly Epirubicin Plus Tamoxifen Versus Tamoxifen Alone As Adjuvant Treatment of Operable, Node-Positive, Elderly Breast Cancer Patients: 6-Year Follow-Up Results of the French Adjuvant Study Group 08 Trial
Authors: Pierre Fargeot, Jacques Bonneterre, Henri Roché, Alain Lortholary, Mario Campone, Isabelle Van Praagh, Alain Monnier, Moïse Namer, Simon Schraub, Jean-Claude Barats, Jean-Paul Guastalla, Marie-Josèphe Goudier, Isabelle Chapelle-Marcillac
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2004)

To assess whether an epirubicin (EPI) -based chemotherapy plus hormonal regimen improves disease-free (DFS) in women older than 65 years, with node-positive, operable breast cancer (BC), relative to tamoxifen (TAM) alone.A total of 338 patients were randomly assigned after surgery to receive TAM 30 mg/d for 3 years (TAM, n = 164), or EPI 30 mg on days 1, 8, and 15 every 28 days for six cycles plus TAM 30 mg/d for 3 years (EPI-TAM, n = 174). In both arms, patients received radiotherapy, delivered after chemotherapy (CT) in the EPI-TAM group.The 6-year DFS rates were 69.3% with TAM and 72.6% with EPI-TAM (P = .14). The multivariate analysis shows a relative risk of relapse of 1.93 (95% CI, 1.70 to 2.17) with TAM compared with EPI-TAM (P = .005). The 6-year OS, related to disease progression, was 79.1% and 79.8%, respectively (P = .41). Compliance with CT was good: 96.9% of patients received six cycles. The acute toxicity per patient was mild: grade 2 neutropenia in 5.9%, grade 2 anemia in 2.0%, grade 3 nausea or vomiting in 4.6%, and grade 3 alopecia in 7.2%. Five cases (in five patients) of decreased left ventricular ejection fraction occurred after CT: three after adjuvant CT, and two after anthracycline-based CT for relapse. One patient died as a result of dysrhythmia related to carcinomatous lymphangitis. No secondary leukemia occurred.This study conducted in node-positive elderly patients demonstrates a significant contribution of a weekly EPI regimen in terms of DFS. Moreover, this regimen is safe for hematologic, nonhematologic, and cardiac toxicities.
Heretical thoughts on the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis.
Authors: M Keynes
Journal: Gut (1988)

Progress reportHeretical thoughts on the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis Acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis was first described by R H Fitz 99 years ago, and, seven years later, H Chiari suggested that the pancreatic necrosis was caused by a protein autodigestion.l2 Fitz had believed that the pancreatitis originated 'by extension of a [bacterial] gastroduodenal inflam- mation along the pancreatic duct', but, on the report of the bacteriologist, W H Welch, on two of his patients, and from reports on five others in the literature, E L Opie found that, because of the variable and inconstant results of bacterial culture, the various organisms were not aetiological agents but merely opportunistic invaders of injured tissues.?5 Opie thought that the disease was due to reflux of bile into the pancreatic duct, writing that 'the peculiar necrosis which affects the pancreatic parenchyma is doubtless referable to trypsin which is contained in the pancreatic cells'.His common channel theory has now been discarded, but four other of his assumptions, which all derived from those same seven patients, have seldom been questioned and have become, of course, accepted truths.6Opie's four postulates were, first, that acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis (HP) results from autodigestion by pancreatic proteolytic enzymes (to which may be added the question of how and where the enzymes are activated); second, bacterial infection plays no part in the pathogenesis of such pancreatitis; third, acute interstitial pancreatitis (IP) is a mild, and sometimes early, form of haemorrhagic pancreatitis and not an entity in itself; and, fourth, acute pancreatitis (AP) is caused by obstruction to the outflow from the pancreatic duct system, rather than by reflux into it.These assumptions are now examined, but, in doing so, multifactorial and other aetiological aspects of AP will hardly be mentioned.The chief emphasis will be on those patients with HP, rather than on the great majority who have a self-limiting disease and soon get well.As Williamson has put it: 'Of any four patients with acute pancreatitis, three will rapidly improve with simple supportive therapy, while the fourth develops one or more serious complications of the disease and stands about a one-in-three chance of dying.'7Necrosis of haemorrhagic pancreatitis is not caused by proteolytic autodigestion Autodigestion by pancreatic proteolytic enzymes has been assumed to explain the necrosis of HP, despite the paucity of evidence.Over 80 years, most work on AP has concentrated on trypsin and the activation of trypsinogen: far less attention has been devoted to the other pancreatic proteases, chymotrypsin, elastase and carboxypeptidase, and their pre- cursors normally activated in the small intestine by enterokinase and 1413
Familial occurrence of crusted (Norwegian) scabies with adult T-cell leukaemia
Authors: K. EGAWA, M. JOHNO, T. HAYASHIBARA, T. ONO
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (1992)

We report the occurrence of crusted (Norewegian) scabies in two members of a family, both of whom were suffering from adult T‐cell leukaemia (ATL).
Allergy and Sensitization during Childhood Associated with Prenatal and Lactational Exposure to Marine Pollutants
Authors: Philippe Grandjean, Lars K. Poulsen, Carsten Heilmann, Ulrike Steuerwald, Pál Weihe
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives (2010)

Breast-feeding may affect the risk of developing allergy during childhood and may also cause exposure to immunotoxicants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are of concern as marine pollutants in the Faroe Islands and the Arctic region.The objective was to assess whether sensitization and development of allergic disease is associated with duration of breast-feeding and prenatal or postnatal exposures to PCBs and methylmercury.A cohort of 656 singleton births was formed in the Faroe Islands during 1999-2001. Duration of breast-feeding and history of asthma and atopic dermatitis were recorded at clinical examinations at 5 and 7 years of age. PCB and mercury concentrations were determined in blood samples obtained at parturition and at follow-up. Serum from 464 children (71%) at 7 years of age was analyzed for total immunoglobulin E (IgE) and grass-specific IgE.The total IgE concentration in serum at 7 years of age was positively associated both with the concomitant serum PCB concentration and with the duration of breast-feeding. However, the effect only of the latter was substantially attenuated in a multivariate analysis. A raised grass-specific IgE concentration compatible with sensitization was positively associated with the duration of breast-feeding and inversely associated with prenatal methylmercury exposure. However, a history of asthma or atopic dermatitis was not associated with the duration of breast-feeding, although children with atopic dermatitis had lower prenatal PCB exposures than did nonallergic children.These findings suggest that developmental exposure to immunotoxicants may both increase and decrease the risk of allergic disease and that associations between breast-feeding and subsequent allergic disease in children may, at least in part, reflect lactational exposure to immunotoxic food contaminants.