tbuckley/cabot-search huggingface dataset:
Lungs in thalassaemia major patients receiving regular transfusion
Authors: D Y Tai, Y T Wang, J Lou, W Y Wang, K H Mak, H K Cheng
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (1996)

Progressive tissue iron deposition from multiple blood transfusions is common in beta-thalassaemia and pulmonary iron deposition may result in parenchymal damage. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the predominant pulmonary dysfunction in patients with thalassaemia major; and 2) demonstrate that parenchymal disease, if present, is at the level of the alveolocapillary membrane. Fourteen thalassaemia major patients (13 nonsmokers) receiving regular blood transfusion and without any history of chronic respiratory disease were recruited. Pulmonary function tests and echocardiography were performed before the scheduled transfusions. Three patients with the most restricted lung function were selected for high resolution computerized tomography (CT) of the lungs. One patient had an obstructive pattern with a forced expiratory volume in one second as percentage of forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) of 71%. Four patients demonstrated a restrictive pattern, as defined by total lung capacity (TLC) less than 80% predicted with normal FEV1/FVC%. Twelve patients had pulmonary transfer factors for carbon monoxide (TL,CO) below 80% pred, even after correction for the anaemia, indicating parenchymal disease. Eight of these 12 patients had alveolocapillary membrane defect, as demonstrated by a gas transfer factor of the pulmonary membrane (Tm) less than 80% pred. Mean resting arterial oxygen saturation was 95 +/- 2 (range 92-98) %. Eleven patients had oxygen desaturation of 5% or more during exercise on a bicycle ergometer, consistent with interstitial lung disease. There was no clinical or echocardiographic evidence of heart failure. Percentage predicted TLC was inversely correlated with age (r = -0.547; p = 0.043). Both percentage predicted TLC and TL,CO were not correlated with iron burden or desferoxamine ratio. High resolution CT in the three selected patients showed no evidence of pulmonary fibrosis. We conclude that thalassaemia major patients have a predominant restrictive lung dysfunction with pulmonary parenchymal disease and alveolocapillary membrane block. The restrictive and interstitial lung disease could not be accounted for by iron loading or pulmonary fibrosis in our patients.
Functional impact of pulmonary hypertension due to hypoventilation and changes under noninvasive ventilation
Authors: M. Held, J. Walthelm, S. Baron, C. Roth, B. Jany
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (2013)

We aimed to characterise the association of pulmonary hypertension due to hypoventilation and exercise capacity, and the haemodynamic and functional changes under noninvasive ventilation. A retrospective analysis was carried out to assess haemodynamics and functional capacity in 18 patients with daytime pulmonary hypertension, due to hypoventilation, at baseline and after 3 months of noninvasive ventilation. Patients presented with a mean±SD pulmonary artery pressure of 49±13 mmHg, preserved cardiac index (3.2±0.66 L·min(-1)·m(-2)), 6-min walking distance of 303±134 m and severely elevated N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels. Mean pulmonary artery pressure correlated negatively with maximum work rate (R= -0.72; p=0.03) and 6-min walking distance (R= -0.62; p=0.01). Following noninvasive ventilation we found a significant reduction of mean pulmonary artery pressure (-18 mmHg; p<0.001) and NT-proBNP levels (-2110 pg·mL(-1); p=0.001), and improvement in the 6-min walking distance (+66 m; p=0.008) and maximum work rate (+18 W; p=0.028). Changes in work rate correlated inversely with pulmonary artery pressure (R= -0.75; p=0.031). In this specific cohort with hypoventilation and severe pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary hypertension was associated with reduced exercise capacity. Following noninvasive ventilation, haemodynamics and exercise capacity improved significantly.
MSF: how a humanitarian charity found itself leading the world's response to Ebola
Authors: S. Arie
Journal: BMJ (2014)

Médecins Sans Frontières was there at the start of the current Ebola outbreak in west Africa and has played a pivotal role in the global response—building health centres, training care staff, and even advising the United Nations, writes <b>Sophie Arie</b>. The charity has decades of experience in bringing volunteer doctors to where they are needed in emergency situations and for longer term humanitarian projects. This is why <i>The BMJ</i> has chosen MSF for its winter charity appeal this year. Please give generously
Reference values for alveolar membrane diffusion capacity and pulmonary capillary blood volume
Authors: P. Zanen, I. van der Lee, T. van der Mark, J.M.M. van den Bosch
Journal: European Respiratory Journal (2001)

The reference values for diffusion capacity of the alveolar capillary membrane (Tm,CO) and pulmonary capillary volume (Qc) are scarce, while the standard deviations of the equations are large. New equations and residual standard deviations (RSDs) were determined in a sample of healthy subjects. Tm,CO and Qc values were measured in 117 (72 females, 45 males) nonsmoking healthy subjects. The carbon monoxide transfer factor (TL,CO) was determined when the volunteer was breathing room air and subsequently, when the volunteer was breathing 100% oxygen. From these data, Tm,CO and Qc values were calculated. The females' TL,CO was 3.15 mmol x min(-1) x kPa(-1) lower than the males', apparently caused by lower female lung volume. Tm,CO and Qc were lower in females, but correction for lung volume eliminated this difference. Qc(-1) reference equations for females and males, respectively, are 4.375 x 10(-2) - 1.085 x l0(-2) x height and 4.455 x 10(-2) -1.085 x 10(-2) x height (RSD for both sexes: 2.544 x 10(-3)). Tm,CO(-1) reference equations for females and males, respectively, are 0.111+3.304 x 10(-4) x age-4.753 x 10(-2) x height and 0.127+3.304 x 10(-4) x age-4.753 x 10(-2) x height (RSD for both sexes: 1.085 x 10(-2)). The general character of these equations complies with earlier publications, the only difference being that the RSDs are 1.18-2.76 times lower. New reference equations for diffusion capacity of the alveolar capillary membrane and pulmonary capillary volume are available with considerably smaller residual standard deviations.
P28 Inflammatory profiling of adventitial fibroblasts in pulmonary hypertension
Authors: A. Church, A. Melendez, R. Wadsworth, A. Peacock, D. Welsh
Journal: Thorax (2010)

The concept that inflammation is important in the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is gaining credence. Studies have suggested that Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and -1 are involved in the development of PH and that IL-6 can stimulate smooth muscle cell proliferation. The adventitial fibroblast has been suggested as a potential source of mitogens and inflammatory mediators which contribute to the development of PH. <h3>Methods</h3> Rat pulmonary artery fibroblasts (RPAF) were isolated from normal Sprague–Dawley rats, rats exposed to 2 weeks of hypobaric hypoxia. Cells were cultured by explant technique. Normal RPAF were quiesced for 24 h in serum free media (SFM) and then exposed to periods of prolonged acute hypoxia or maintained in normoxia. The conditioned media was collected and stored at −70<sup>o</sup>C. RPAF from the chronic hypoxic and monocrotaline models were exposed to 1% serum or maintained in SFM and conditioned media collected. The effect of p38 MAPK blockade using SB203580 (an alpha-isoform specific inhibitor) was examined. The conditioned media was analysed using cytokine array technology and ELISA. <h3>Results</h3> In normoxic conditions after 48 h, conditioned media from normal fibroblasts showed release of TIMP-1 and low levels of VEGF-A. The expression profile changed with 48 h exposure to hypoxia showing increased levels of VEGF-A and immunomodulators such as IL-6 (see Abstract P28 Figure 1), MIP-3α (CXCL20), LIX, CINC-1, sICAM-1. The secretion of these mediators were blocked by the addition of SB203580 suggesting an important role for p38MAPK in the control of these proteins. TNF-α was not released from these cells under the conditions studied. With the chronic hypoxic RPAF after 48 h of 1% serum stimulation in normoxia, the cytokine profile mirrored that of normal RPAF in acute hypoxia. Again this was blocked using SB203580. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Pulmonary artery fibroblasts release mediators in response to hypoxia, which have been implicated in both recruitment of inflammatory cells and the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. We have demonstrated that inhibition of the p38MAPK-alpha isoform can block the secretion of these mediators. This may have therapeutic implications for the treatment of hypoxia related pulmonary hypertension.
TAP deficiency is also a cause of bronchiectasis
Authors: Jacques Zimmer, Marwan Sleiman, Aurélie Poli, Tatiana Michel, François Hentges
Journal: Thorax (2013)

We read with interest the recent bronchiectasis review by Whitters and Stockley.1

The authors provide a comprehensive overview of the changes in the immune response that might favour bacterial colonisation of the lower airways and in a second step initiate the vicious cycle leading to chronic inflammation and recurrent infections. Their description of the innate immune system in the lung includes antibacterial peptides, neutrophils and toll-like receptors. Although this is correct, Natural Killer (NK) cells might also be mentioned, as their role in the immune response to bacteria (besides their antiviral and antitumor …
Comparative analysis reveals signatures of differentiation amid genomic polymorphism in Lake Malawi cichlids
Authors: Yong-Hwee E Loh, Lee S Katz, Meryl C Mims, Thomas D Kocher, Soojin V Yi, J Todd Streelman
Journal: Genome biology (2008)

Abstract Background Cichlid fish from East Africa are remarkable for phenotypic and behavioral diversity on a backdrop of genomic similarity. In 2006, the Joint Genome Institute completed low coverage survey sequencing of the genomes of five phenotypically and ecologically diverse Lake Malawi species. We report a computational and comparative analysis of these data that provides insight into the mechanisms that make closely related species different from one another. Results We produced assemblies for the five species ranging in aggregate length from 68 to 79 megabase pairs, identified putative orthologs for more than 12,000 human genes, and predicted more than 32,000 cross-species single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Nucleotide diversity was lower than that found among laboratory strains of the zebrafish. We collected around 36,000 genotypes to validate a subset of SNPs within and among populations and across multiple individuals of about 75 Lake Malawi species. Notably, there were no fixed differences observed between focal species nor between major lineages. Roughly 3% to 5% of loci surveyed are statistical outliers for genetic differentiation (F ST ) within species, between species, and between major lineages. Outliers for F ST are candidate genes that may have experienced a history of natural selection in the Malawi lineage. Conclusion We present a novel genome sequencing strategy, which is useful when evolutionary diversity is the question of interest. Lake Malawi cichlids are phenotypically and behaviorally diverse, but they appear genetically like a subdivided population. The unique structure of Lake Malawl cichlid genomes should facilitate conceptually new experiments, employing SNPs to identity genotype-phenotype association, using the entire species flock as a mapping panel.
Paget's Disease of Bone
Authors: P Thomas, D Howarth
Journal: New England Journal of Medicine (1996)

Figure 1. A 67-year-old woman had a 20-year history of Paget's disease of bone, resulting in conductive hearing loss, bone and joint pains, pathologic fractures, limb deformities, and difficulty walking. Treatment with calcitonin and etidronate had been unsuccessful. Panel A shows anterior and posterior images from a bone scan obtained after the administration of technetium-99m–labeled methylene diphosphonate. The markedly increased accumulation of radionuclide in almost the entire skeleton, sparing only the distal extremities, reflects the increased bone turnover in Paget's disease. The bowing deformity of the long bones is typical of the disease. Panel B shows a normal bone scan . . .
The Quality of Perinatal Care in Small Rural Hospitals
Authors: Herman A. Hein
Journal: JAMA (1978)

Iowa birth and mortality statistics were reviewed to ascertain the outcome of perinatal care provided in hospitals with different-sized obstetric services. Although the data do not resolve the issue of the minimum number of deliveries necessary to ensure quality perinatal services, they do suggest that hospitals with small maternity services (fewer than 500 deliveries per year) can achieve acceptable perinatal outcomes when appropriate high-risk screening and prenatal referral occur. (<i>JAMA</i>240:2070-2072, 1978)
Asthma: improved understanding and insights into the challenges of achieving asthma control
Authors: G. I. Town, J. M. Fitzgerald
Journal: Thorax (2010)

Asthma articles were among the most frequently cited and downloaded items from the Thorax website. The BTS-Sign Asthma Guidelines topped the list, indicating the important role Thorax has played in supporting the respiratory community and the British Thoracic Society in particular.

One of the more important articles covering asthma epidemiology summarised the findings of Phase III of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC).1 This study, undertaken in some 106 centres in 56 countries, compared the prevalence of asthma symptoms 5–10 years after the original surveys. In 6- to 7-year olds, asthma prevalence (wheeze in the last 12 months) was 11.6% and in the 13- to 14-year-old children 13.7%. Comparing trends over time, prevalence had fallen in many western countries but had increased in some other countries including Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. These important ecological data triggered much discussion about the likely causes of the observed trends but failed to generate a unifying hypothesis that could be tested. Thorax also carried a number of other papers generated by the ISAAC study, among the more interesting of which examined the effect of diet on asthma and allergic sensitisation.2 This report, based on ISAAC Phase II data, examining >50 000 children demonstrated that fruit intake was associated with a lower prevalence of current wheeze and conferred a lifetime protective effect, as did consumption of vegetables and …
Amphotericin B but not itraconazole is able to prevent grain formation in experimental<i>Madurella mycetomatis</i>mycetoma in mice
Authors: W.W.J. van de Sande, W. van Vianen, M. ten Kate, A. Fahal, I. Bakker-Woudenberg
Journal: British Journal of Dermatology (2015)

Journal Article Amphotericin B but not itraconazole is able to prevent grain formation in experimental Madurella mycetomatis mycetoma in mice Get access W.W.J. van de Sande, W.W.J. van de Sande Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Erasmus University Medical Centre Wytemaweg 80 3015 CN Rotterdam the Netherlands Correspondence: Wendy W. J. van de Sande, Email: w.vandesande@erasmusmc.nl Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar W. van Vianen, W. van Vianen Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Erasmus University Medical Centre Wytemaweg 80 3015 CN Rotterdam the Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar M. ten Kate, M. ten Kate Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Erasmus University Medical Centre Wytemaweg 80 3015 CN Rotterdam the Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar A. Fahal, A. Fahal Mycetoma Research Centre Khartoum Sudan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar I. Bakker‐Woudenberg I. Bakker‐Woudenberg Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Erasmus University Medical Centre Wytemaweg 80 3015 CN Rotterdam the Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar British Journal of Dermatology, Volume 173, Issue 6, 1 December 2015, Pages 1561–1562, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.14025 Published: 01 December 2015
Innate Antifungal Immunity: The Key Role of Phagocytes
Authors: Gordon D. Brown
Journal: Annual Review of Immunology (2011)

Fungal diseases have emerged as significant causes of morbidity and mortality, particularly in immune-compromised individuals, prompting greater interest in understanding the mechanisms of host resistance to these pathogens. Consequently, the past few decades have seen a tremendous increase in our knowledge of the innate and adaptive components underlying the protective (and nonprotective) mechanisms of antifungal immunity. What has emerged from these studies is that phagocytic cells are essential for protection and that defects in these cells compromise the host's ability to resist fungal infection. This review covers the functions of phagocytes in innate antifungal immunity, along with selected examples of the strategies that are used by fungal pathogens to subvert these defenses.
Effect of Intensive Compared With Moderate Lipid-Lowering Therapy on Progression of Coronary Atherosclerosis
Authors: Steven E. Nissen, E. Murat Tuzcu, Paul Schoenhagen, B. Greg Brown, Peter Ganz, Robert A. Vogel, Tim Crowe, Gail Howard, Christopher J. Cooper, Bruce Brodie, Cindy L. Grines, Anthony N. DeMaria, None for the REVERSAL Investigators
Journal: JAMA (2004)

2][3][4][5] However, the optimal approach to lipid reduction with statins in patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) remains uncertain.Although the efficacy of the various statins in reducing atherogenic lipoproteins and vascular inflammation varies significantly, 6 the impact of these differences on clinical outcome is unknown.Because the large trials assessing morbidity and mortality were placebo controlled, they provide limited insight into differences between alternative strategies and target levels for lipid reduction.Accordingly, there is little scientific basis for
Usefulness of Inmunoglobulin E Antibody Levels to Recombinant Fel d 1 in Predicting the Cat Specific Bronchial Provocation Test Results
Authors: J.C. Jaramillo, M.J. Sánchez-González, N. Blanca-López, M.A. Jiménez, J. Rodríguez, P. Daroca, C. Fernández
Journal: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2009)
Ranitidine 150 mg at night in the prevention of gastric ulcer relapse.
Authors: R Jorde, P G Burhol, T Hansen
Journal: Gut (1987)

After healing of a gastric ulcer, 53 patients were randomly allocated to either 12 months maintenance treatment with ranitidine 150 mg at night or an identical placebo. Fifty patients completed the trial. The patients were interviewed every third month. If symptoms indicated a relapse, endoscopy was done; and if an ulcer was found the maintenance trial was terminated. All remaining patients were endoscoped after one year. The accumulated relapse rate in the ranitidine group (36%) was significantly lower (p less than 0.01) than in the placebo group (76%), as also was the antacid consumption (p less than 0.01). Four of the six ulcers found at the final one year endoscopy were asymptomatic. In all but two of the 26 patients with relapse of symptoms an ulcer was found at endoscopy. The patients that suffered a recurrence had significantly (p less than 0.05) higher maximal acid output than those without ulcer recurrence. The time needed for healing of the relapse ulcers (four or eight weeks) corresponded to that needed for healing of the preinclusion ulcers. It is concluded that ranitidine 150 mg at night significantly reduces the gastric ulcer recurrence rate, and that relapsing ulcers are similar to the initial ones in healing response.
Mair Lloyd Jenkins
Journal: BMJ (2005)

Concentration camp survivor and psychiatrist who became a high profile campaigner on child abuseThe Dutch psychiatrist and psychotherapy professor Dries van Dantzig once confessed to a colleague that he survived Neuengamme concentration camp "by making myself invisible"-which makes his survival seem all the more remarkable, as later he was rarely out of the public arena as a tireless and hard hitting promoter of mental health care.Imprisonment followed by years in a tuberculosis sanatorium may have sharpened the sense of injustice that reportedly drove Van Dantzig in his later public life.Today he is remembered as a merciless debater, publicist, political lobbyist, and film critic.His refusal to take "no for an answer" ensured that mental health and especially child abuse had a higher place on the political agenda of postwar Holland than it otherwise might have had.Van Dantzig was renowned for glaring from the front row at conference speakers with whom he disagreed.He made countless television appearances, and seemed to know a remarkable number of government ministers personally.The simple theme that underpinned his career was that, compared with somatic illness, psychiatric illness was largely ignored and underfunded.He illustrated this by arguing that every year more children would be killed by abuse than would ever die from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which attracted millions more in funding.He suggested that up to 30% of the population had a neurosis, and that cases of child abuse could result in 50 to 80 deaths a year.Dries van Dantzig was born in 1920 into a progressive and left leaning family in Gouda.His education in Amsterdam was disrupted as the second world war broke out while he was still in his teens.He was eventually arrested for his involvement with the resistance and sent to Neuengamme near Hamburg.Of the 5500 Dutchmen sent there only 600 survived.Van Dantzig was among the few who did because, he later claimed, he was able to blend into the background amid such horrors as collecting dead bodies to take to the ovens or eating the food of those who had died.Yet all the time he was sharpening both his observational skills and his acute sense of injustice.
Zoledronic acid does not reduce MRI erosive progression in PsA but may suppress bone oedema: the Zoledronic Acid in Psoriatic Arthritis (ZAPA) Study
Authors: Fiona McQueen, Richard Lloyd, Anthony Doyle, Elizabeth Robinson, Maria Lobo, Melissa Exeter, William J Taylor, Peter Jones, Ian R Reid, Nicola Dalbeth
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2011)

The effect of zoledronic acid (ZA) on articular bone in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) was investigated using MRI.Patients with erosive PsA were randomised to receive 3-monthly infusions of ZA or placebo for 1 year. An additional 'tests alone' group received no infusions. Clinical assessments and MRI scans were performed at baseline and 1 year.Paired 1.5T MRI scans were available in 22 patients including 6 who received ZA and 16 who did not (non-ZA = 6 placebo + 10 'tests alone' patients). The Disease Activity Score (28 swollen and tender joints, C reactive protein fell over 12 months to a greater degree in patients on ZA than in non-ZA patients (-1.6 vs -0.3, p=0.023). The MRI bone oedema score decreased in the ZA group (15.5 to 8.5) but increased in the non-ZA group (14.0 to 18.0) (p= 0.0056) with regression of bone oedema at 13.5% of sites in ZA patients vs 1.3% in non-ZA patients (p = 0.0073) and progression in 1.3% of sites in ZA patients vs 6.9% in non-ZA patients (p = 0.072). There was no difference between groups in change in MRI erosion score.In this pilot study ZA reduced the progression of MRI bone oedema, indicating probable suppression of osteitis concordant with reduction in clinical measures of disease activity.