Wang, Chenggang; Du, Xuezhu; Mou, Zhonglin
2016-01-01
Mediator is a highly conserved protein complex that functions as a transcriptional coactivator in RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)-mediated transcription. The Arabidopsis Mediator complex has recently been implicated in plant immune responses. Here, we compared salicylic acid (SA)-, methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-, and the ethylene (ET) precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC)-induced defense and/or wound-responsive gene expression in 14 Arabidopsis Mediator subunit mutants. Our results show that MED14, MED15, and MED16 are required for SA-activated expression of the defense marker gene PATHOEGNESIS-RELATED GENE1 , MED25 is required for MeJA-induced expression of the wound-responsive marker gene VEGATATIVE STORAGE PROTEIN1 ( VSP1 ), MED8, MED14, MED15, MED16, MED18, MED20a, MED25, MED31, and MED33A/B (MED33a and MED33B) are required for MeJA-induced expression of the defense maker gene PLANT DEFENSIN1.2 ( PDF1.2 ), and MED8, MED14, MED15, MED16, MED25, and MED33A/B are also required for ACC-triggered expression of PDF1.2 . Furthermore, we investigated the involvement of MED14, MED15, and MED16 in plant defense signaling crosstalk and found that MED14, MED15, and MED16 are required for SA- and ET-mediated suppression of MeJA-induced VSP1 expression. This result suggests that MED14, MED15, and MED16 not only relay defense signaling from the SA and JA/ET defense pathways to the RNAPII transcription machinery, but also fine-tune defense signaling crosstalk. Finally, we show that MED33A/B contributes to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea- induced expression of the defense genes PDF1.2, HEVEIN-LIKE , and BASIC CHITINASE and is required for full-scale basal resistance to B. cinerea , demonstrating a positive role for MED33 in plant immunity against necrotrophic fungal pathogens.
Characterization of the influence of mediator complex in HIV-1 transcription.
Ruiz, Alba; Pauls, Eduardo; Badia, Roger; Riveira-Muñoz, Eva; Clotet, Bonaventura; Ballana, Ester; Esté, José A
2014-10-03
HIV-1 exploits multiple host proteins during infection. siRNA-based screenings have identified new proteins implicated in different pathways of the viral cycle that participate in a broad range of cellular functions. The human Mediator complex (MED) is composed of 28 elements and represents a fundamental component of the transcription machinery, interacting with the RNA polymerase II enzyme and regulating its ability to express genes. Here, we provide an evaluation of the MED activity on HIV replication. Knockdown of 9 out of 28 human MED proteins significantly impaired viral replication without affecting cell viability, including MED6, MED7, MED11, MED14, MED21, MED26, MED27, MED28, and MED30. Impairment of viral replication by MED subunits was at a post-integration step. Inhibition of early HIV transcripts was observed by siRNA-mediated knockdown of MED6, MED7, MED11, MED14, and MED28, specifically affecting the transcription of the nascent viral mRNA transactivation-responsive element. In addition, MED14 and MED30 were shown to have special relevance during the formation of unspliced viral transcripts (p < 0.0005). Knockdown of the selected MED factors compromised HIV transcription induced by Tat, with the strongest inhibitory effect shown by siMED6 and siMED14 cells. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments suggested physical interaction between MED14 and HIV-1 Tat protein. A better understanding of the mechanisms and factors controlling HIV-1 transcription is key to addressing the development of new strategies required to inhibit HIV replication or reactivate HIV-1 from the latent reservoirs. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Kuuluvainen, Emilia; Domènech-Moreno, Eva; Niemelä, Elina H; Mäkelä, Tomi P
2018-06-01
In cancer, oncogene activation is partly mediated by acquired superenhancers, which therefore represent potential targets for inhibition. Superenhancers are enriched for BRD4 and Mediator, and both BRD4 and the Mediator MED12 subunit are disproportionally required for expression of superenhancer-associated genes in stem cells. Here we show that depletion of Mediator kinase module subunit MED12 or MED13 together with MED13L can be used to reduce expression of cancer-acquired superenhancer genes, such as the MYC gene, in colon cancer cells, with a concomitant decrease in proliferation. Whereas depletion of MED12 or MED13/MED13L caused a disproportional decrease of superenhancer gene expression, this was not seen with depletion of the kinases cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK8) and CDK19. MED12-MED13/MED13L-dependent superenhancer genes were coregulated by β-catenin, which has previously been shown to associate with MED12. Importantly, β-catenin depletion caused reduced binding of MED12 at the MYC superenhancer. The effect of MED12 or MED13/MED13L depletion on cancer-acquired superenhancer gene expression was more specific than and partially distinct from that of BRD4 depletion, with the most efficient inhibition seen with combined targeting. These results identify a requirement of MED12 and MED13/MED13L for expression of acquired superenhancer genes in colon cancer, implicating these Mediator subunits as potential therapeutic targets for colon cancer, alone or together with BRD4. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.
Kuuluvainen, Emilia; Hakala, Heini; Havula, Essi; Sahal Estimé, Michelle; Rämet, Mika; Hietakangas, Ville; Mäkelä, Tomi P
2014-06-06
The Cdk8 (cyclin-dependent kinase 8) module of Mediator integrates regulatory cues from transcription factors to RNA polymerase II. It consists of four subunits where Med12 and Med13 link Cdk8 and cyclin C (CycC) to core Mediator. Here we have investigated the contributions of the Cdk8 module subunits to transcriptional regulation using RNA interference in Drosophila cells. Genome-wide expression profiling demonstrated separation of Cdk8-CycC and Med12-Med13 profiles. However, transcriptional regulation by Cdk8-CycC was dependent on Med12-Med13. This observation also revealed that Cdk8-CycC and Med12-Med13 often have opposite transcriptional effects. Interestingly, Med12 and Med13 profiles overlapped significantly with that of the GATA factor Serpent. Accordingly, mutational analyses indicated that GATA sites are required for Med12-Med13 regulation of Serpent-dependent genes. Med12 and Med13 were also found to be required for Serpent-activated innate immunity genes in defense to bacterial infection. The results reveal a novel role for the Cdk8 module in Serpent-dependent transcription and innate immunity. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Shvetsov, Yurii B; Harmon, Brook E; Ettienne, Reynolette; Wilkens, Lynne R; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N; Boushey, Carol J
2016-11-01
The alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED) score is an adaptation of the original Mediterranean diet score. Raw (aMED) and energy-standardised (aMED-e) versions have been used. How the diet scores and their association with health outcomes differ between the two versions is unclear. We examined differences in participants' total and component scores and compared the association of aMED and aMED-e with all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality. As part of the Multiethnic Cohort, 193 527 men and women aged 45-75 years from Hawaii and Los Angeles completed a baseline FFQ and were followed up for 13-18 years. The association of aMED and aMED-e with mortality was examined using Cox's regression, with adjustment for total energy intake. The correlation between aMED and aMED-e total scores was lower among people with higher BMI. Participants who were older, leaner, more educated and consumed less energy scored higher on aMED-e components compared with aMED, except for the red and processed meat and alcohol components. Men reporting more physical activity scored lower on most aMED-e components compared with aMED, whereas the opposite was observed for the meat component. Higher scores of both aMED and aMED-e were associated with lower risk of all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality. Although individuals may score differently with aMED and aMED-e, both scores show similar reductions in mortality risk for persons scoring high on the index scale. Either version can be used in studies of diet and mortality. Comparisons can be performed across studies using different versions of the score.
PubMed-EX: a web browser extension to enhance PubMed search with text mining features.
Tsai, Richard Tzong-Han; Dai, Hong-Jie; Lai, Po-Ting; Huang, Chi-Hsin
2009-11-15
PubMed-EX is a browser extension that marks up PubMed search results with additional text-mining information. PubMed-EX's page mark-up, which includes section categorization and gene/disease and relation mark-up, can help researchers to quickly focus on key terms and provide additional information on them. All text processing is performed server-side, freeing up user resources. PubMed-EX is freely available at http://bws.iis.sinica.edu.tw/PubMed-EX and http://iisr.cse.yzu.edu.tw:8000/PubMed-EX/.
Watkinson, A J; Murby, E J; Costanzo, S D
2007-10-01
Removal of 28 human and veterinary antibiotics was assessed in a conventional (activated sludge) and advanced (microfiltration/reverse osmosis) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Brisbane, Australia. The dominant antibiotics detected in wastewater influents were cephalexin (med. 4.6 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), ciprofloxacin (med. 3.8 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), cefaclor (med. 0.5 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), sulphamethoxazole (med. 0.36 microg L(-1), freq. 100%) and trimethoprim (med. 0.34 microg L(-1), freq. 100%). Results indicated that both treatment plants significantly reduced antibiotic concentrations with an average removal rate from the liquid phase of 92%. However, antibiotics were still detected in both effluents from the low-to-mid ng L(-1) range. Antibiotics detected in effluent from the activated sludge WWTP included ciprofloxacin (med. 0.6 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), sulphamethoxazole (med. 0.27 microg L(-1), freq. 100%) lincomycin (med. 0.05 microg L(-1), freq. 100%) and trimethoprim (med. 0.05 microg L(-1), freq. 100%). Antibiotics identified in microfiltration/reverse osmosis product water included naladixic acid (med. 0.045 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), enrofloxacin (med. 0.01 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), roxithromycin (med. 0.01 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), norfloxacin (med. 0.005 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), oleandomycin (med. 0.005 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), trimethoprim (med. 0.005 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), tylosin (med. 0.001 microg L(-1), freq. 100%), and lincomycin (med. 0.001 microg L(-1), freq. 66%). Certain traditional parameters, including nitrate concentration, conductivity and turbidity of the effluent were assessed as predictors of total antibiotic concentration, however only conductivity demonstrated any correlation with total antibiotic concentration (p=0.018, r=0.7). There is currently a lack of information concerning the effects of these chemicals to critically assess potential risks for environmental discharge and water recycling.
Wu, Juan; Zou, Yang; Luo, Yong; Guo, Jiu-Bai; Liu, Fa-Ying; Zhou, Jiang-Yan; Zhang, Zi-Yu; Wan, Lei; Huang, Ou-Ping
2017-07-01
Uterine leiomyomas (ULs) are the most common gynecological benign tumors originating from the myometrium. Prevalent mutations in the mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) gene have been identified in ULs, and functional evidence has revealed that these mutations may promote the development of ULs. However, whether MED12 mutations are associated with certain clinical characteristics in ULs remains largely unknown. In the present study, the potential mutations of MED12 and its paralogous gene, mediator complex subunit 12-like (MED12L), were screened in 362 UL tumors from Han Chinese patients. A total of 158 out of 362 UL tumors (43.6%) were identified as harboring MED12 somatic mutations, and the majority of these mutations were restricted to the 44th residue. MED12 mutations were also observed in 2 out of 145 (1.4%) adjacent control myometrium. Furthermore, the mutation spectrum of MED12 in the concurrent leiomyomas was noticeably different. Correlation analysis of MED12 mutations with the available clinical features indicated that patients with mutated MED12 tended to have smaller cervical diameters. By contrast, no MED12L mutation was identified in the present samples. In summary, the present study demonstrated the presence of prevalent MED12 somatic mutations in UL samples, and the MED12 mutation was associated with smaller cervical diameters. The low mutation frequency of MED12 in adjacent control myometrium indicated that MED12 mutation may be an early event in the pathogenesis of ULs. Furthermore, MED12 mutation status in concurrent tumors from multiple leiomyomas supported several prior observations that the majority of these tumors arose independently.
PubMedReco: A Real-Time Recommender System for PubMed Citations.
Samuel, Hamman W; Zaïane, Osmar R
2017-01-01
We present a recommender system, PubMedReco, for real-time suggestions of medical articles from PubMed, a database of over 23 million medical citations. PubMedReco can recommend medical article citations while users are conversing in a synchronous communication environment such as a chat room. Normally, users would have to leave their chat interface to open a new web browser window, and formulate an appropriate search query to retrieve relevant results. PubMedReco automatically generates the search query and shows relevant citations within the same integrated user interface. PubMedReco analyzes relevant keywords associated with the conversation and uses them to search for relevant citations using the PubMed E-utilities programming interface. Our contributions include improvements to the user experience for searching PubMed from within health forums and chat rooms, and a machine learning model for identifying relevant keywords. We demonstrate the feasibility of PubMedReco using BMJ's Doc2Doc forum discussions.
Spitler, Kathryn M.; Ponce, Jessica M.; Oudit, Gavin Y.; Hall, Duane D.
2017-01-01
The mediator complex, a multisubunit nuclear complex, plays an integral role in regulating gene expression by acting as a bridge between transcription factors and RNA polymerase II. Genetic deletion of mediator subunit 1 (Med1) results in embryonic lethality, due in large part to impaired cardiac development. We first established that Med1 is dynamically expressed in cardiac development and disease, with marked upregulation of Med1 in both human and murine failing hearts. To determine if Med1 deficiency protects against cardiac stress, we generated two cardiac-specific Med1 knockout mouse models in which Med1 is conditionally deleted (Med1cKO mice) or inducibly deleted in adult mice (Med1cKO-MCM mice). In both models, cardiac deletion of Med1 resulted in early lethality accompanied by pronounced changes in cardiac function, including left ventricular dilation, decreased ejection fraction, and pathological structural remodeling. We next defined how Med1 deficiency alters the cardiac transcriptional profile using RNA-sequencing analysis. Med1cKO mice demonstrated significant dysregulation of genes related to cardiac metabolism, in particular genes that are coordinated by the transcription factors Pgc1α, Pparα, and Errα. Consistent with the roles of these transcription factors in regulation of mitochondrial genes, we observed significant alterations in mitochondrial size, mitochondrial gene expression, complex activity, and electron transport chain expression under Med1 deficiency. Taken together, these data identify Med1 as an important regulator of vital cardiac gene expression and maintenance of normal heart function. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Disruption of transcriptional gene expression is a hallmark of dilated cardiomyopathy; however, its etiology is not well understood. Cardiac-specific deletion of the transcriptional coactivator mediator subunit 1 (Med1) results in dilated cardiomyopathy, decreased cardiac function, and lethality. Med1 deletion disrupted cardiac mitochondrial and metabolic gene expression patterns. PMID:28159809
Park, Min Ju; Shen, Hailian; Spaeth, Jason M; Tolvanen, Jaana H; Failor, Courtney; Knudtson, Jennifer F; McLaughlin, Jessica; Halder, Sunil K; Yang, Qiwei; Bulun, Serdar E; Al-Hendy, Ayman; Schenken, Robert S; Aaltonen, Lauri A; Boyer, Thomas G
2018-03-30
Somatic mutations in exon 2 of the RNA polymerase II transcriptional Mediator subunit MED12 occur at high frequency in uterine fibroids (UFs) and breast fibroepithelial tumors as well as recurrently, albeit less frequently, in malignant uterine leimyosarcomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemias, and colorectal cancers. Previously, we reported that UF-linked mutations in MED12 disrupt its ability to activate cyclin C (CycC)-dependent kinase 8 (CDK8) in Mediator, implicating impaired Mediator-associated CDK8 activity in the molecular pathogenesis of these clinically significant lesions. Notably, the CDK8 paralog CDK19 is also expressed in myometrium, and both CDK8 and CDK19 assemble into Mediator in a mutually exclusive manner, suggesting that CDK19 activity may also be germane to the pathogenesis of MED12 mutation-induced UFs. However, whether and how UF-linked mutations in MED12 affect CDK19 activation is unknown. Herein, we show that MED12 allosterically activates CDK19 and that UF-linked exon 2 mutations in MED12 disrupt its CDK19 stimulatory activity. Furthermore, we find that within the Mediator kinase module, MED13 directly binds to the MED12 C terminus, thereby suppressing an apparent UF mutation-induced conformational change in MED12 that otherwise disrupts its association with CycC-CDK8/19. Thus, in the presence of MED13, mutant MED12 can bind, but cannot activate, CycC-CDK8/19. These findings indicate that MED12 binding is necessary but not sufficient for CycC-CDK8/19 activation and reveal an additional step in the MED12-dependent activation process, one critically dependent on MED12 residues altered by UF-linked exon 2 mutations. These findings confirm that UF-linked mutations in MED12 disrupt composite Mediator-associated kinase activity and identify CDK8/19 as prospective therapeutic targets in UFs. © 2018 Park et al.
PubMedAlertMe - Standalone Windows-based PubMed SDI Software Application
Ma’ayan, Avi
2008-01-01
PubMedAlertMe is a Windows-based software system for automatically receiving e-mail alert messages about recent publications listed on PubMed. The e-mail messages contain links to newly available abstracts listed on PubMed describing publications that were selectively returned from a specified list of queries. Links are also provided to directly export citations to EndNote, and links are provided to directly forward articles to colleagues. The program is standalone. Thus, it does not require a remote mail server or user registration. PubMedAlertMe is free software, and can be downloaded from: http://amp.pharm.mssm.edu/PubMedAlertMe/PubMedAlertMe_setup.zip PMID:18402930
Further confirmation of the MED13L haploinsufficiency syndrome.
van Haelst, Mieke M; Monroe, Glen R; Duran, Karen; van Binsbergen, Ellen; Breur, Johannes M; Giltay, Jacques C; van Haaften, Gijs
2015-01-01
MED13L haploinsufficiency syndrome has been described in two patients and is characterized by moderate intellectual disability (ID), conotruncal heart defects, facial abnormalities and hypotonia. Missense mutations in MED13L are linked to transposition of the great arteries and non-syndromal intellectual disability. Here we describe two novel patients with de novo MED13L aberrations. The first patient has a de novo mutation in the splice acceptor site of exon 5 of MED13L. cDNA analysis showed this mutation results in an in-frame deletion, removing 15 amino acids in middle of the conserved MED13L N-terminal domain. The second patient carries a de novo deletion of exons 6-20 of MED13L. Both patients show features of the MED13L haploinsufficiency syndrome, except for the heart defects, thus further confirming the existence of the MED13L haploinsufficiency syndrome.
CCAR1/CoCoA pair-mediated recruitment of the Mediator defines a novel pathway for GATA1 function.
Mizuta, Shumpei; Minami, Tomoya; Fujita, Haruka; Kaminaga, Chihiro; Matsui, Keiji; Ishino, Ruri; Fujita, Azusa; Oda, Kasumi; Kawai, Asami; Hasegawa, Natsumi; Urahama, Norinaga; Roeder, Robert G; Ito, Mitsuhiro
2014-01-01
The MED1 subunit of the Mediator transcriptional coregulator complex coactivates GATA1 and induces erythropoiesis. Here, we show the dual mechanism of GATA1- and MED1-mediated transcription. MED1 expression levels in K562 erythroleukemia cells paralleled the levels of GATA1-targeted gene transcription and erythroid differentiation. An N-terminal fragment of MED1, MED1(1-602), which is incapable of interacting with GATA1, enhanced GATA1-targeted gene transcription and erythroid differentiation, and introduction of MED1(1-602) into Med1(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) partially rescued GATA1-mediated transcription. The C-terminal zinc-finger domain of GATA1 interacts with the MED1(1-602)-interacting coactivator CCAR1, CoCoA and MED1(681-715). CCAR1 and CoCoA synergistically enhanced GATA1-mediated transcription from the γ-globin promoter in MEFs. Recombinant GATA1, CCAR1, CoCoA and MED1(1-602) formed a complex in vitro, and GATA1, CCAR1, CoCoA and MED1 were recruited to the γ-globin promoter in K562 cells during erythroid differentiation. Therefore, in addition to the direct interaction between GATA1 and MED1, CoCoA and CCAR1 appear to relay the GATA1 signal to MED1, and multiple modes of the GATA1-MED1 axis may help to fine-tune GATA1 function during GATA1-mediated homeostasis events. © 2013 The Authors Genes to Cells © 2013 by the Molecular Biology Society of Japan and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
PubMed had a higher sensitivity than Ovid-MEDLINE in the search for systematic reviews.
Katchamart, Wanruchada; Faulkner, Amy; Feldman, Brian; Tomlinson, George; Bombardier, Claire
2011-07-01
To compare the performance of Ovid-MEDLINE vs. PubMed for identifying randomized controlled trials of methotrexate (MTX) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We created search strategies for Ovid-MEDLINE and PubMed for a systematic review of MTX in RA. Their performance was evaluated using sensitivity, precision, and number needed to read (NNR). Comparing searches in Ovid-MEDLINE vs. PubMed, PubMed retrieved more citations overall than Ovid-MEDLINE; however, of the 20 citations that met eligibility criteria for the review, Ovid-MEDLINE retrieved 17 and PubMed 18. The sensitivity was 85% for Ovid-MEDLINE vs. 90% for PubMed, whereas the precision and NNR were comparable (precision: 0.881% for Ovid-MEDLINE vs. 0.884% for PubMed and NNR: 114 for Ovid-MEDLINE vs. 113 for PubMed). In systematic reviews of RA, PubMed has higher sensitivity than Ovid-MEDLINE with comparable precision and NNR. This study highlights the importance of well-designed database-specific search strategies. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Matsui, Keiji; Oda, Kasumi; Mizuta, Shumpei
2013-10-11
Highlights: •MED1 is a bona fide T3-dependent coactivator on TSHB promoter. •Mice with LxxLL-mutant MED1 have attenuated TSHβ mRNA and thyroid hormone levels. •MED1 activates TSHB promoter T3-dependently in cultured cells. •T3-dependent MED1 action is enhanced when SRC1/SRC2 or HDAC2 is downregulated. •MED1 is also a T3-independent GATA2/Pit1 coactivator on TSHB promoter. -- Abstract: The MED1 subunit of the Mediator transcriptional coregulator complex is a nuclear receptor-specific coactivator. A negative feedback mechanism of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH, or thyrotropin) expression in the thyrotroph in the presence of triiodothyronine (T3) is employed by liganded thyroid hormone receptor β (TRβ) on the TSHβmore » gene promoter, where conventional histone-modifying coactivators act as corepressors. We now provide evidence that MED1 is a ligand-dependent positive cofactor on this promoter. TSHβ gene transcription was attenuated in MED1 mutant mice in which the nuclear receptor-binding ability of MED1 was specifically disrupted. MED1 stimulated GATA2- and Pit1-mediated TSHβ gene promoter activity in a ligand-independent manner in cultured cells. MED1 also stimulated transcription from the TSHβ gene promoter in a T3-dependent manner. The transcription was further enhanced when the T3-dependent corepressors SRC1, SRC2, and HDAC2 were downregulated. Hence, MED1 is a T3-dependent and -independent coactivator on the TSHβ gene promoter.« less
Halladay, Christopher W; Trikalinos, Thomas A; Schmid, Ian T; Schmid, Christopher H; Dahabreh, Issa J
2015-09-01
Searching multiple sources when conducting systematic reviews is considered good practice. We aimed to investigate the impact of using sources beyond PubMed in systematic reviews of therapeutic interventions. We randomly selected 50 Cochrane reviews that searched the PubMed (or MEDLINE) and EMBASE databases and included a meta-analysis of ≥10 studies. We checked whether each eligible record in each review (n = 2,700) was retrievable in PubMed and EMBASE. For the first-listed meta-analysis of ≥10 studies in each review, we examined whether excluding studies not found in PubMed affected results. A median of one record per review was indexed in EMBASE but not in PubMed; a median of four records per review was not indexed in PubMed or EMBASE. Meta-analyses included a median of 13.5 studies; a median of zero studies per meta-analysis was indexed in EMBASE but not in PubMed; a median of one study per meta-analysis was not indexed in PubMed or EMBASE. Meta-analysis using only PubMed-indexed vs. all available studies led to a different conclusion in a single case (on the basis of conventional criteria for statistical significance). In meta-regression analyses, effects in PubMed- vs. non-PubMed-indexed studies were statistically significantly different in a single data set. For systematic reviews of the effects of therapeutic interventions, gains from searching sources beyond PubMed, and from searching EMBASE in particular are modest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Mediator MED23 cooperates with RUNX2 to drive osteoblast differentiation and bone development.
Liu, Zhen; Yao, Xiao; Yan, Guang; Xu, YiChi; Yan, Jun; Zou, Weiguo; Wang, Gang
2016-04-01
How lineage specifiers are regulated during development is an outstanding question, and the molecular regulation of osteogenic factor RUNX2 remains to be fully understood. Here we report that the Mediator subunit MED23 cooperates with RUNX2 to regulate osteoblast differentiation and bone development. Med23 deletion in mesenchymal stem cells or osteoblast precursors results in multiple bone defects similar to those observed in Runx2(+/-) mice. In vitro, Med23-deficient progenitor cells are refractory to osteoblast differentiation, and Med23 deficiency reduces Runx2-target gene activity without changing Runx2 expression. Mechanistically, MED23 binds to RUNX2 and modulates its transcriptional activity. Moreover, Med23 deficiency in osteoprogenitor cells exacerbates the skeletal abnormalities observed in Runx2(+/-) mice. Collectively, our results establish a genetic and physical interaction between RUNX2 and MED23, suggesting that MED23 constitutes a molecular node in the regulatory network of anabolic bone formation and related diseases.
Shaikhali, Jehad; Davoine, Céline; Björklund, Stefan; Wingsle, Gunnar
2016-05-01
Mediator is a conserved multi-protein complex that acts as a bridge between promoter-bound transcriptional regulators and RNA polymerase II. While redox signaling is important in adjusting plant metabolism and development, the involvement of Mediator in redox homeostasis and regulation only recently started to emerge. Our previous results show that the MED10a, MED28, and MED32 Mediator subunits form various types of covalent oligomers linked by intermolecular disulfide bonds in vitro. To link that with biological significance we have characterized Arabidopsis med32 and med28 mutants and found that they are affected in root development and senescence, phenotypes possibly associated to redox changes.
Caro-Llopis, Alfonso; Rosello, Monica; Orellana, Carmen; Oltra, Silvestre; Monfort, Sandra; Mayo, Sonia; Martinez, Francisco
2016-12-01
Mutations in the X-linked gene MED12 cause at least three different, but closely related, entities of syndromic intellectual disability. Recently, a new syndrome caused by MED13L deleterious variants has been described, which shows similar clinical manifestations including intellectual disability, hypotonia, and other congenital anomalies. Genotyping of 1,256 genes related with neurodevelopment was performed by next-generation sequencing in three unrelated patients and their healthy parents. Clinically relevant findings were confirmed by conventional sequencing. Each patient showed one de novo variant not previously reported in the literature or databases. Two different missense variants were found in the MED12 or MED13L genes and one nonsense mutation was found in the MED13L gene. The phenotypic consequences of these mutations are closely related and/or have been previously reported in one or other gene. Additionally, MED12 and MED13L code for two closely related partners of the mediator kinase module. Consequently, we propose the concept of a common MED12/MED13L clinical spectrum, encompassing Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome, Lujan-Fryns syndrome, Ohdo syndrome, MED13L haploinsufficiency syndrome, and others.
2015-01-01
Background PubMed is the largest biomedical bibliographic information source on the Internet. PubMed has been considered one of the most important and reliable sources of up-to-date health care evidence. Previous studies examined the effects of domain expertise/knowledge on search performance using PubMed. However, very little is known about PubMed users’ knowledge of information retrieval (IR) functions and their usage in query formulation. Objective The purpose of this study was to shed light on how experienced/nonexperienced PubMed users perform their search queries by analyzing a full-day query log. Our hypotheses were that (1) experienced PubMed users who use system functions quickly retrieve relevant documents and (2) nonexperienced PubMed users who do not use them have longer search sessions than experienced users. Methods To test these hypotheses, we analyzed PubMed query log data containing nearly 3 million queries. User sessions were divided into two categories: experienced and nonexperienced. We compared experienced and nonexperienced users per number of sessions, and experienced and nonexperienced user sessions per session length, with a focus on how fast they completed their sessions. Results To test our hypotheses, we measured how successful information retrieval was (at retrieving relevant documents), represented as the decrease rates of experienced and nonexperienced users from a session length of 1 to 2, 3, 4, and 5. The decrease rate (from a session length of 1 to 2) of the experienced users was significantly larger than that of the nonexperienced groups. Conclusions Experienced PubMed users retrieve relevant documents more quickly than nonexperienced PubMed users in terms of session length. PMID:26139516
Alteration of skin wound healing in keratinocyte-specific mediator complex subunit 1 null mice.
Noguchi, Fumihito; Nakajima, Takeshi; Inui, Shigeki; Reddy, Janardan K; Itami, Satoshi
2014-01-01
MED1 (Mediator complex subunit 1) is a co-activator of various transcription factors that function in multiple transcriptional pathways. We have already established keratinocyte-specific MED1 null mice (Med1(epi-/-)) that develop epidermal hyperplasia. Herein, to investigate the function(s) of MED1 in skin wound healing, full-thickness skin wounds were generated in Med1(epi-/-) and age-matched wild-type mice and the healing process was analyzed. Macroscopic wound closure and the re-epithelialization rate were accelerated in 8-week-old Med1(epi-/-) mice compared with age-matched wild-type mice. Increased lengths of migrating epithelial tongues and numbers of Ki67-positive cells at the wounded epidermis were observed in 8-week-old Med1(epi-/-) mice, whereas wound contraction and the area of α-SMA-positive myofibroblasts in the granulation tissue were unaffected. Migration was enhanced in Med1(epi-/-) keratinocytes compared with wild-type keratinocytes in vitro. Immunoblotting revealed that the expression of follistatin was significantly decreased in Med1(epi-/-) keratinocytes. Moreover, the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway was enhanced before and after treatment of Med1(epi-/-) keratinocytes with activin A in vitro. Cell-cycle analysis showed an increased ratio of S phase cells after activin A treatment of Med1(epi-/-) keratinocytes compared with wild-type keratinocytes. These findings indicate that the activin-follistatin system is involved in this acceleration of skin wound healing in 8-week-old Med1(epi-/-) mice. On the other hand, skin wound healing in 6-month-old Med1(epi-/-) mice was significantly delayed with decreased numbers of Ki67-positive cells at the wounded epidermis as well as BrdU-positive label retaining cells in hair follicles compared with age-matched wild-type mice. These results agree with our previous observation that hair follicle bulge stem cells are reduced in older Med1(epi-/-) mice, indicating a decreased contribution of hair follicle stem cells to epidermal regeneration after wounding in 6-month-old Med1(epi-/-) mice. This study sheds light on the novel function of MED1 in keratinocytes and suggests a possible new therapeutic approach for skin wound healing and aging.
Damarell, Raechel A; Tieman, Jennifer J; Sladek, Ruth M
2013-07-02
PubMed translations of OvidSP Medline search filters offer searchers improved ease of access. They may also facilitate access to PubMed's unique content, including citations for the most recently published biomedical evidence. Retrieving this content requires a search strategy comprising natural language terms ('textwords'), rather than Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). We describe a reproducible methodology that uses a validated PubMed search filter translation to create a textword-only strategy to extend retrieval to PubMed's unique heart failure literature. We translated an OvidSP Medline heart failure search filter for PubMed and established version equivalence in terms of indexed literature retrieval. The PubMed version was then run within PubMed to identify citations retrieved by the filter's MeSH terms (Heart failure, Left ventricular dysfunction, and Cardiomyopathy). It was then rerun with the same MeSH terms restricted to searching on title and abstract fields (i.e. as 'textwords'). Citations retrieved by the MeSH search but not the textword search were isolated. Frequency analysis of their titles/abstracts identified natural language alternatives for those MeSH terms that performed less effectively as textwords. These terms were tested in combination to determine the best performing search string for reclaiming this 'lost set'. This string, restricted to searching on PubMed's unique content, was then combined with the validated PubMed translation to extend the filter's performance in this database. The PubMed heart failure filter retrieved 6829 citations. Of these, 834 (12%) failed to be retrieved when MeSH terms were converted to textwords. Frequency analysis of the 834 citations identified five high frequency natural language alternatives that could improve retrieval of this set (cardiac failure, cardiac resynchronization, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, and LV dysfunction). Together these terms reclaimed 157/834 (18.8%) of lost citations. MeSH terms facilitate precise searching in PubMed's indexed subset. They may, however, work less effectively as search terms prior to subject indexing. A validated PubMed search filter can be used to develop a supplementary textword-only search strategy to extend retrieval to PubMed's unique content. A PubMed heart failure search filter is available on the CareSearch website (http://www.caresearch.com.au) providing access to both indexed and non-indexed heart failure evidence.
PubMed Informer: Monitoring MEDLINE/PubMed through E-mail Alerts, SMS, PDA downloads and RSS feeds
Muin, Michael; Fontelo, Paul; Ackerman, Michael
2005-01-01
Summary PubMed Informer is a Web-based monitoring tool for topics of interest from MEDLINE/PubMed primarily designed for healthcare professionals. Five tracking methods are available: Web access, e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), PDA downloads and RSS feeds. PubMed Informer delivers focused search updates and specific information to users with varying information-seeking practices. PMID:16779344
Pub-Med-dot-com, here we come!
Pulst, Stefan M
2016-08-01
As of April 8, 2016, articles in Neurology® Genetics can be searched using PubMed. Launched in 1996, PubMed is a search engine that accesses citations and abstracts of more than 26 million articles. Its primary sources include the MEDLINE database, which was started in the 1960s, and biomedical and life sciences journal articles that date back to 1946. In addition, PubMed accesses other sources, for example, citations to those life sciences journals that submit full-text articles to PubMed Central (PMC). PubMed Central was launched in 2000 as a free archive of biomedical and life science journals.
Retrieving clinical evidence: a comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar for quick clinical searches.
Shariff, Salimah Z; Bejaimal, Shayna Ad; Sontrop, Jessica M; Iansavichus, Arthur V; Haynes, R Brian; Weir, Matthew A; Garg, Amit X
2013-08-15
Physicians frequently search PubMed for information to guide patient care. More recently, Google Scholar has gained popularity as another freely accessible bibliographic database. To compare the performance of searches in PubMed and Google Scholar. We surveyed nephrologists (kidney specialists) and provided each with a unique clinical question derived from 100 renal therapy systematic reviews. Each physician provided the search terms they would type into a bibliographic database to locate evidence to answer the clinical question. We executed each of these searches in PubMed and Google Scholar and compared results for the first 40 records retrieved (equivalent to 2 default search pages in PubMed). We evaluated the recall (proportion of relevant articles found) and precision (ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles) of the searches performed in PubMed and Google Scholar. Primary studies included in the systematic reviews served as the reference standard for relevant articles. We further documented whether relevant articles were available as free full-texts. Compared with PubMed, the average search in Google Scholar retrieved twice as many relevant articles (PubMed: 11%; Google Scholar: 22%; P<.001). Precision was similar in both databases (PubMed: 6%; Google Scholar: 8%; P=.07). Google Scholar provided significantly greater access to free full-text publications (PubMed: 5%; Google Scholar: 14%; P<.001). For quick clinical searches, Google Scholar returns twice as many relevant articles as PubMed and provides greater access to free full-text articles.
Seconda, Louise; Baudry, Julia; Allès, Benjamin; Hamza, Oualid; Boizot-Szantai, Christine; Soler, Louis-Georges; Galan, Pilar; Hercberg, Serge; Lairon, Denis; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle
2017-01-12
Mediterranean diets are promising sustainable food models and the organic food system may provide health and environmental benefits. Combining the two models could therefore be a favourable approach for food sustainability. The aim of this study was to draw up a comparative description of four diets differing in the level of organic foods consumption and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet, using multidisciplinary indicators to assess the sustainability of these diets. Four groups of participants were defined and compared, combining the proportion of organic food in their diet (Org versus Conv) and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet (Med versus NoMed). Conv-NoMed: Conventional consumers and non-Mediterranean diet followers; Conv-Med: Conventional consumers and Mediterranean diet followers; Org-NoMed: Organic consumers and non-Mediterranean diet followers; Org-Med: Organic consumers and Mediterranean diet followers. The adherence to nutritional recommendations was higher among the Org-Med and Conv-Med groups compared to the Conv-NoMed group (using the mPNNS-GS (modified-Programme National nutrition santé guidelines score/13.5 points): 9.29 (95% confidence intervals (CI) = 9.23-9.36) and 9.30 (95% CI = 9.24-9.35) versus 8.19 (95% CI = 8.17-8.22)) respectively. The mean plant/animal protein intake ratio was 1.38 (95% CI = 1.01-1.74) for the Org-Med group versus 0.44 (95% CI = 0.28-0.60) for the Conv-NoMed group. The average cost of the diet of Org-Med participants was the highest: 11.43 €/day (95% CI = 11.34-11.52). This study highlighted the importance of promoting the Mediterranean diet combined with organic food consumption for individual health and environmental aspects but challenges with regard to the cost remain.
Correa-Bautista, Jorge Enrique; Ojeda-Pardo, Mónica Liliana; Sandoval-Cuellar, Carolina; González-Ruíz, Katherine; Prieto-Benavides, Daniel Humberto; Tordecilla-Sanders, Alejandra; Martinkėnas, Arvydas
2018-01-01
The aim of the study was to investigate the combined association of adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and muscular fitness (MF) with cardiometabolic health in collegiate students. The present cross-sectional analysis consisted of 1248 (714 females) healthy collegiate students (20.1 ± 2.7 years old). Adherence to a MedDiet was assessed by a KIDMED (Mediterranean Diet Quality Index) questionnaire. Standing broad jump, standing vertical jump, and isometric handgrip dynamometry were used as indicators of MF. The cardiometabolic profile was assessed using the following components: triglycerides, blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, glucose, and waist circumference. Analysis of covariance shows a significant difference in the cardiometabolic profile of both genders between the high MF/low MedDiet and high MF/optimal MedDiet groups, and the low MF/low MedDiet and low MF/optimal MedDiet groups (p < 0.001). No difference was found on cardiometabolic profile between high MF/optimal MedDiet and high MF/low MedDiet, both in males and females. Additionally, logistic regression shows that both female (odds ratio (OR) = 2.01; 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.8–3.7); p = 0.02) and male (OR = 3.38; 95% CI: (1.9–5.8); p < 0.001) participants in the optimal MedDiet/high MF group had the highest odds of expressing a healthier cardiometabolic profile as compared to those in the low MF/low MedDiet group. In conclusion, a combination of high MF levels and optimal adherence to a MedDiet is associated with a healthier cardiometabolic profile; however, high MF levels seem to circumvent the deleterious effects of having a low adherence to a MedDiet. PMID:29677099
Ramírez-Vélez, Robinson; Correa-Bautista, Jorge Enrique; Ojeda-Pardo, Mónica Liliana; Sandoval-Cuellar, Carolina; García-Hermoso, Antonio; Carrillo, Hugo Alejandro; González-Ruíz, Katherine; Prieto-Benavides, Daniel Humberto; Tordecilla-Sanders, Alejandra; Martinkėnas, Arvydas; Agostinis-Sobrinho, César
2018-04-20
The aim of the study was to investigate the combined association of adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and muscular fitness (MF) with cardiometabolic health in collegiate students. The present cross-sectional analysis consisted of 1248 (714 females) healthy collegiate students (20.1 ± 2.7 years old). Adherence to a MedDiet was assessed by a KIDMED (Mediterranean Diet Quality Index) questionnaire. Standing broad jump, standing vertical jump, and isometric handgrip dynamometry were used as indicators of MF. The cardiometabolic profile was assessed using the following components: triglycerides, blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, glucose, and waist circumference. Analysis of covariance shows a significant difference in the cardiometabolic profile of both genders between the high MF/low MedDiet and high MF/optimal MedDiet groups, and the low MF/low MedDiet and low MF/optimal MedDiet groups ( p < 0.001). No difference was found on cardiometabolic profile between high MF/optimal MedDiet and high MF/low MedDiet, both in males and females. Additionally, logistic regression shows that both female (odds ratio (OR) = 2.01; 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.8⁻3.7); p = 0.02) and male (OR = 3.38; 95% CI: (1.9⁻5.8); p < 0.001) participants in the optimal MedDiet/high MF group had the highest odds of expressing a healthier cardiometabolic profile as compared to those in the low MF/low MedDiet group. In conclusion, a combination of high MF levels and optimal adherence to a MedDiet is associated with a healthier cardiometabolic profile; however, high MF levels seem to circumvent the deleterious effects of having a low adherence to a MedDiet.
Mars 2020 Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI2)
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bose, Deepak; Wright, Henry; White, Todd; Schoenenberger, Mark; Santos, Jose; Karlgaard, Chris; Kuhl, Chris; Oishi, TOmo; Trombetta, Dominic
2016-01-01
This paper will introduce Mars Entry Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI2) on NASA's Mars2020 mission. Mars2020 is a flagship NASA mission with science and technology objectives to help answer questions about possibility of life on Mars as well as to demonstrate technologies for future human expedition. Mars2020 is scheduled for launch in 2020. MEDLI2 is a suite of instruments embedded in the heatshield and backshell thermal protection systems of Mars2020 entry vehicle. The objectives of MEDLI2 are to gather critical aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics and TPS performance data during EDL phase of the mission. MEDLI2 builds up the success of MEDLI flight instrumentation on Mars Science Laboratory mission in 2012. MEDLI instrumentation suite measured surface pressure and TPS temperature on the heatshield during MSL entry into Mars. MEDLI data has since been used for unprecedented reconstruction of aerodynamic drag, vehicle attitude, in-situ atmospheric density, aerothermal heating, transition to turbulence, in-depth TPS performance and TPS ablation. [1,2] In addition to validating predictive models, MEDLI data has highlighted extra margin available in the MSL forebody TPS, which can potentially be used to reduce vehicle parasitic mass. MEDLI2 expands the scope of instrumentation by focusing on quantities of interest not addressed in MEDLI suite. The type the sensors are expanded and their layout on the TPS modified to meet these new objectives. The paper will provide key motivation and governing requirements that drive the choice and the implementation of the new sensor suite. The implementation considerations of sensor selection, qualification, and demonstration of minimal risk to the host mission will be described. The additional challenges associated with mechanical accommodation, electrical impact, data storage and retrieval for MEDLI2 system, which extends sensors to backshell will also be described.
A search engine to access PubMed monolingual subsets: proof of concept and evaluation in French.
Griffon, Nicolas; Schuers, Matthieu; Soualmia, Lina Fatima; Grosjean, Julien; Kerdelhué, Gaétan; Kergourlay, Ivan; Dahamna, Badisse; Darmoni, Stéfan Jacques
2014-12-01
PubMed contains numerous articles in languages other than English. However, existing solutions to access these articles in the language in which they were written remain unconvincing. The aim of this study was to propose a practical search engine, called Multilingual PubMed, which will permit access to a PubMed subset in 1 language and to evaluate the precision and coverage for the French version (Multilingual PubMed-French). To create this tool, translations of MeSH were enriched (eg, adding synonyms and translations in French) and integrated into a terminology portal. PubMed subsets in several European languages were also added to our database using a dedicated parser. The response time for the generic semantic search engine was evaluated for simple queries. BabelMeSH, Multilingual PubMed-French, and 3 different PubMed strategies were compared by searching for literature in French. Precision and coverage were measured for 20 randomly selected queries. The results were evaluated as relevant to title and abstract, the evaluator being blind to search strategy. More than 650,000 PubMed citations in French were integrated into the Multilingual PubMed-French information system. The response times were all below the threshold defined for usability (2 seconds). Two search strategies (Multilingual PubMed-French and 1 PubMed strategy) showed high precision (0.93 and 0.97, respectively), but coverage was 4 times higher for Multilingual PubMed-French. It is now possible to freely access biomedical literature using a practical search tool in French. This tool will be of particular interest for health professionals and other end users who do not read or query sufficiently in English. The information system is theoretically well suited to expand the approach to other European languages, such as German, Spanish, Norwegian, and Portuguese.
A Search Engine to Access PubMed Monolingual Subsets: Proof of Concept and Evaluation in French
Schuers, Matthieu; Soualmia, Lina Fatima; Grosjean, Julien; Kerdelhué, Gaétan; Kergourlay, Ivan; Dahamna, Badisse; Darmoni, Stéfan Jacques
2014-01-01
Background PubMed contains numerous articles in languages other than English. However, existing solutions to access these articles in the language in which they were written remain unconvincing. Objective The aim of this study was to propose a practical search engine, called Multilingual PubMed, which will permit access to a PubMed subset in 1 language and to evaluate the precision and coverage for the French version (Multilingual PubMed-French). Methods To create this tool, translations of MeSH were enriched (eg, adding synonyms and translations in French) and integrated into a terminology portal. PubMed subsets in several European languages were also added to our database using a dedicated parser. The response time for the generic semantic search engine was evaluated for simple queries. BabelMeSH, Multilingual PubMed-French, and 3 different PubMed strategies were compared by searching for literature in French. Precision and coverage were measured for 20 randomly selected queries. The results were evaluated as relevant to title and abstract, the evaluator being blind to search strategy. Results More than 650,000 PubMed citations in French were integrated into the Multilingual PubMed-French information system. The response times were all below the threshold defined for usability (2 seconds). Two search strategies (Multilingual PubMed-French and 1 PubMed strategy) showed high precision (0.93 and 0.97, respectively), but coverage was 4 times higher for Multilingual PubMed-French. Conclusions It is now possible to freely access biomedical literature using a practical search tool in French. This tool will be of particular interest for health professionals and other end users who do not read or query sufficiently in English. The information system is theoretically well suited to expand the approach to other European languages, such as German, Spanish, Norwegian, and Portuguese. PMID:25448528
The inclusion of an online journal in PubMed central - a difficult path.
Grech, Victor
2016-01-01
The indexing of a journal in a prominent database (such as PubMed) is an important imprimatur. Journals accepted for inclusion in PubMed Central (PMC) are automatically indexed in PubMed but must provide the entire contents of their publications as XML-tagged (Extensible Markup Language) data files compliant with PubMed's document type definition (DTD). This paper describes the various attempts that the journal Images in Paediatric Cardiology made in its efforts to convert the journal contents (including all of the extant backlog) to PMC-compliant XML for archiving and indexing in PubMed after the journal was accepted for inclusion by the database.
Zhu, Wanqu; Yao, Xiao; Liang, Yan; Liang, Dan; Song, Lu; Jing, Naihe; Li, Jinsong; Wang, Gang
2015-02-01
Unraveling the mechanisms underlying early neural differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is crucial to developing cell-based therapies of neurodegenerative diseases. Neural fate acquisition is proposed to be controlled by a 'default' mechanism, for which the molecular regulation is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the functional roles of Mediator Med23 in pluripotency and lineage commitment of murine ESCs. Unexpectedly, we found that, despite the largely unchanged pluripotency and self-renewal of ESCs, Med23 depletion rendered the cells prone to neural differentiation in different differentiation assays. Knockdown of two other Mediator subunits, Med1 and Med15, did not alter the neural differentiation of ESCs. Med15 knockdown selectively inhibited endoderm differentiation, suggesting the specificity of cell fate control by distinctive Mediator subunits. Gene profiling revealed that Med23 depletion attenuated BMP signaling in ESCs. Mechanistically, MED23 modulated Bmp4 expression by controlling the activity of ETS1, which is involved in Bmp4 promoter-enhancer communication. Interestingly, med23 knockdown in zebrafish embryos also enhanced neural development at early embryogenesis, which could be reversed by co-injection of bmp4 mRNA. Taken together, our study reveals an intrinsic, restrictive role of MED23 in early neural development, thus providing new molecular insights for neural fate determination. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
Retrieving Clinical Evidence: A Comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar for Quick Clinical Searches
Bejaimal, Shayna AD; Sontrop, Jessica M; Iansavichus, Arthur V; Haynes, R Brian; Weir, Matthew A; Garg, Amit X
2013-01-01
Background Physicians frequently search PubMed for information to guide patient care. More recently, Google Scholar has gained popularity as another freely accessible bibliographic database. Objective To compare the performance of searches in PubMed and Google Scholar. Methods We surveyed nephrologists (kidney specialists) and provided each with a unique clinical question derived from 100 renal therapy systematic reviews. Each physician provided the search terms they would type into a bibliographic database to locate evidence to answer the clinical question. We executed each of these searches in PubMed and Google Scholar and compared results for the first 40 records retrieved (equivalent to 2 default search pages in PubMed). We evaluated the recall (proportion of relevant articles found) and precision (ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles) of the searches performed in PubMed and Google Scholar. Primary studies included in the systematic reviews served as the reference standard for relevant articles. We further documented whether relevant articles were available as free full-texts. Results Compared with PubMed, the average search in Google Scholar retrieved twice as many relevant articles (PubMed: 11%; Google Scholar: 22%; P<.001). Precision was similar in both databases (PubMed: 6%; Google Scholar: 8%; P=.07). Google Scholar provided significantly greater access to free full-text publications (PubMed: 5%; Google Scholar: 14%; P<.001). Conclusions For quick clinical searches, Google Scholar returns twice as many relevant articles as PubMed and provides greater access to free full-text articles. PMID:23948488
Rong, Zhihui; Xu, Yanjiao; Zhang, Chengliang; Xiang, Daochun; Li, Xiping; Liu, Dong
2013-02-27
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of efflux transporters on the intestinal absorption of amtolmetin guacyl (MED-15). The effects of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multiple resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2), and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) inhibitors on intestinal absorption amount of MED-5 (tolmetin-glycine amide derivative), the metabolite formed from MED-15 in the intestinal epithelial cells were studied in the in vitro everted gut sac experiments. Moreover, the in situ single-pass intestine perfusion was adopted to clarify the role of efflux transporters in excreting MED-5 in knockout mice. The plasma concentration of MED-5 and tolmetin, the metabolite formed from MED-5 was determined in Bcrp1 knockout mice and wild-type mice. BCRP inhibitor Ko143 (50 μM and 100 μM) significantly increased the intestinal absorption amount in jejunum, ileum and colon (p<0.05). However, no effect was observed in the presence of P-gp inhibitor verapamil and MRP2 inhibitor MK571 in each intestinal segment. Furthermore, the plasma concentration MED-5 and tolmetin, metabolites of MED-15, increased 2-fold and 4-fold, respectively, in Bcrp1 knockout mice compared with wild-type mice after the single-pass perfusion of small intestine with MED-15. It may be concluded that BCRP plays an important role in the intestinal efflux of MED-5 and limits the bioavailability after oral administration of MED-15. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Genetics Home Reference: ichthyosis with confetti
... from the University of Kansas Medical Center: Ichthyosis Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ... 1;330(6000):94-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1192280. Epub 2010 Aug 26. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Krunic AL, Palcesky D, Busbey S, ...
Merrill, Gary H
2008-11-06
MedDRA (the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities Terminology) is a controlled vocabulary widely used as a medical coding scheme. However, MedDRA's characterization of its structural hierarchy exhibits some confusing and paradoxical features. The goal of this paper is to examine these features, determine whether there is a coherent view of the MedDRA hierarchy that emerges, and explore what lessons are to be learned from this for using MedDRA and similar terminologies in a broad medical informatics context that includes relations among multiple disparate terminologies, thesauri, and ontologies.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Cheatwood, F. McNeil; Bose, Deepak; Karlgaard, Christopher D.; Kuhl, Christopher A.; Santos, Jose A.; Wright, Michael J.
2014-01-01
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry vehicle (EV) successfully entered the Mars atmosphere and landed the Curiosity rover safely on the surface of the planet in Gale crater on August 6, 2012. MSL carried the MSL Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) Instrumentation (MEDLI). MEDLI delivered the first in-depth understanding of the Mars entry environments and the response of the entry vehicle to those environments. MEDLI was comprised of three major subsystems: the Mars Entry Atmospheric Data System (MEADS), the MEDLI Integrated Sensor Plugs (MISP), and the Sensor Support Electronics (SSE). Ultimately, the entire MEDLI sensor suite consisting of both MEADS and MISP provided measurements that were used for trajectory reconstruction and engineering validation of aerodynamic, atmospheric, and thermal protection system (TPS) models in addition to Earth-based systems testing procedures. This report contains in-depth hardware descriptions, performance evaluation, and data information of the three MEDLI subsystems.
The Contrasting Role of the Mediator Subunit MED30 in the Progression of Bladder Cancer.
Syring, Isabella; Weiten, Richard; Müller, Tim; Schmidt, Doris; Steiner, Susanne; Kristiansen, Glen; Müller, Stefan C; Ellinger, Jörg
2017-12-01
The Mediator complex is a key regulator of gene transcription, and several studies have demonstrated altered expression of particular subunits in diverse human diseases, especially cancer. To date, nothing is known about the role of MED30 in bladder cancer. We, therefore, performed an RNA expression and survival analysis of the subunit MED30 in 537 samples of bladder cancer by using the database cBioPortal. To validate these data on the protein level, we practiced immunohistochemical staining against MED30 on a tissue microarray containing 210 samples of all tumour stages and performed survival analyses. For functional analysis, the siRNA-mediated knockdown of MED30 was performed in the cell lines T24 and TCCSUP followed by proliferation, migration, and invasion assays. On the mRNA and protein levels, higher expression of MED30 is associated with better patient survival. In accordance with this, advanced T- and N-stages showed lower expression of MED30. In contrast, knockdown of MED30 led to reduction of the tumour parameters proliferation, migration, and invasion in the BCa cell lines. MED30 appears to be integrated in the progression of the urothelial tumour in the bladder. Copyright© 2017, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.
Mediator MED23 regulates basal transcription in vivo via an interaction with P-TEFb.
Wang, Wei; Yao, Xiao; Huang, Yan; Hu, Xiangming; Liu, Runzhong; Hou, Dongming; Chen, Ruichuan; Wang, Gang
2013-01-01
The Mediator is a multi-subunit complex that transduces regulatory information from transcription regulators to the RNA polymerase II apparatus. Growing evidence suggests that Mediator plays roles in multiple stages of eukaryotic transcription, including elongation. However, the detailed mechanism by which Mediator regulates elongation remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that Mediator MED23 subunit controls a basal level of transcription by recruiting elongation factor P-TEFb, via an interaction with its CDK9 subunit. The mRNA level of Egr1, a MED23-controlled model gene, is reduced 4-5 fold in Med23 (-/-) ES cells under an unstimulated condition, but Med23-deficiency does not alter the occupancies of RNAP II, GTFs, Mediator complex, or activator ELK1 at the Egr1 promoter. Instead, Med23 depletion results in a significant decrease in P-TEFb and RNAP II (Ser2P) binding at the coding region, but no changes for several other elongation regulators, such as DSIF and NELF. ChIP-seq revealed that Med23-deficiency partially reduced the P-TEFb occupancy at a set of MED23-regulated gene promoters. Further, we demonstrate that MED23 interacts with CDK9 in vivo and in vitro. Collectively, these results provide the mechanistic insight into how Mediator promotes RNAP II into transcription elongation.
Stieg, David C.; Willis, Stephen D.; Ganesan, Vidyaramanan; Ong, Kai Li; Scuorzo, Joseph; Song, Mia; Grose, Julianne; Strich, Randy; Cooper, Katrina F.
2018-01-01
In response to oxidative stress, cells decide whether to mount a survival or cell death response. The conserved cyclin C and its kinase partner Cdk8 play a key role in this decision. Both are members of the Cdk8 kinase module, which, with Med12 and Med13, associate with the core mediator complex of RNA polymerase II. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, oxidative stress triggers Med13 destruction, which thereafter releases cyclin C into the cytoplasm. Cytoplasmic cyclin C associates with mitochondria, where it induces hyperfragmentation and regulated cell death. In this report, we show that residues 742–844 of Med13’s 600–amino acid intrinsic disordered region (IDR) both directs cyclin C-Cdk8 association and serves as the degron that mediates ubiquitin ligase SCFGrr1-dependent destruction of Med13 following oxidative stress. Here, cyclin C-Cdk8 phosphorylation of Med13 most likely primes the phosphodegron for destruction. Next, pro-oxidant stimulation of the cell wall integrity pathway MAP kinase Slt2 initially phosphorylates cyclin C to trigger its release from Med13. Thereafter, Med13 itself is modified by Slt2 to stimulate SCFGrr1-mediated destruction. Taken together, these results support a model in which this IDR of Med13 plays a key role in controlling a molecular switch that dictates cell fate following exposure to adverse environments. PMID:29212878
Andrade, Rafael S; Podgaetz, Eitan; Rueth, Natasha M; Majumder, Kaustav; Hall, Eric; Saric, Crystal; Thelen, Lynn
2014-09-01
Mediastinoscopy (MED) and endobronchial ultrasonography with transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) have similar accuracy for mediastinal lymph node sampling (MLNS). The threatened financial and environmental sustainability of our health care system mandate that surgeons consider cost and environmental impact in clinical decision making of similarly effective procedures. We performed a cost and waste comparison of MED versus EBUS-TBNA for MLNS to raise awareness of the financial and environmental implications of our practices. We conducted a retrospective review of outpatients who underwent MLNS under general anesthesia in the OR with MED or EBUS-TBNA (September 2007 to December 2009). We analyzed direct costs based on hospital charges, calculated expected payment using a decision support model, and profit margins (modeled expected payment-direct costs). Our waste comparison was measured in kilograms of solid waste per case. We performed MLNS in 148 patients (89 EBUS-TBNA, 39 MED, 20 EBUS + MED). Direct costs were lower for MED ($2,356) compared with EBUS-TBNA ($2,503), whereas expected payment was greater (MED, $3,449; EBUS-TBNA, $3,249), resulting in a profit margin that was $347 greater for MED. The amount of solid waste for each MED was 1.8 kg versus 0.5 kg for EBUS-TBNA. MED costs less than EBUS-TBNA in the OR setting but generates 3.6 times the amount of EBUS-TBNA waste. The cost of EBUS-TBNA may improve by performance in the endoscopy suite, and surgical pack revision could reduce the amount of MED solid waste. This comparison sets the stage for sophistication of our clinical decision making, taking into consideration the major threats to our health care system. Copyright © 2014 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Enabling multi-level relevance feedback on PubMed by integrating rank learning into DBMS.
Yu, Hwanjo; Kim, Taehoon; Oh, Jinoh; Ko, Ilhwan; Kim, Sungchul; Han, Wook-Shin
2010-04-16
Finding relevant articles from PubMed is challenging because it is hard to express the user's specific intention in the given query interface, and a keyword query typically retrieves a large number of results. Researchers have applied machine learning techniques to find relevant articles by ranking the articles according to the learned relevance function. However, the process of learning and ranking is usually done offline without integrated with the keyword queries, and the users have to provide a large amount of training documents to get a reasonable learning accuracy. This paper proposes a novel multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, called RefMed, which supports both ad-hoc keyword queries and a multi-level relevance feedback in real time on PubMed. RefMed supports a multi-level relevance feedback by using the RankSVM as the learning method, and thus it achieves higher accuracy with less feedback. RefMed "tightly" integrates the RankSVM into RDBMS to support both keyword queries and the multi-level relevance feedback in real time; the tight coupling of the RankSVM and DBMS substantially improves the processing time. An efficient parameter selection method for the RankSVM is also proposed, which tunes the RankSVM parameter without performing validation. Thereby, RefMed achieves a high learning accuracy in real time without performing a validation process. RefMed is accessible at http://dm.postech.ac.kr/refmed. RefMed is the first multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, which achieves a high accuracy with less feedback. It effectively learns an accurate relevance function from the user's feedback and efficiently processes the function to return relevant articles in real time.
Enabling multi-level relevance feedback on PubMed by integrating rank learning into DBMS
2010-01-01
Background Finding relevant articles from PubMed is challenging because it is hard to express the user's specific intention in the given query interface, and a keyword query typically retrieves a large number of results. Researchers have applied machine learning techniques to find relevant articles by ranking the articles according to the learned relevance function. However, the process of learning and ranking is usually done offline without integrated with the keyword queries, and the users have to provide a large amount of training documents to get a reasonable learning accuracy. This paper proposes a novel multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, called RefMed, which supports both ad-hoc keyword queries and a multi-level relevance feedback in real time on PubMed. Results RefMed supports a multi-level relevance feedback by using the RankSVM as the learning method, and thus it achieves higher accuracy with less feedback. RefMed "tightly" integrates the RankSVM into RDBMS to support both keyword queries and the multi-level relevance feedback in real time; the tight coupling of the RankSVM and DBMS substantially improves the processing time. An efficient parameter selection method for the RankSVM is also proposed, which tunes the RankSVM parameter without performing validation. Thereby, RefMed achieves a high learning accuracy in real time without performing a validation process. RefMed is accessible at http://dm.postech.ac.kr/refmed. Conclusions RefMed is the first multi-level relevance feedback system for PubMed, which achieves a high accuracy with less feedback. It effectively learns an accurate relevance function from the user’s feedback and efficiently processes the function to return relevant articles in real time. PMID:20406504
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bose, Deepak; White, Todd; Schoenenberger, Mark; Karlgaard, Chris; Wright, Henry
2015-01-01
NASAs exploration and technology roadmaps call for capability advancements in Mars entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems to enable increased landed mass, a higher landing precision, and a wider planetary access. It is also recognized that these ambitious EDL performance goals must be met while maintaining a low mission risk in order to pave the way for future human missions. As NASA is engaged in developing new EDL systems and technologies via testing at Earth, instrumentation of existing Mars missions is providing valuable engineering data for performance improvement, risk reduction, and an improved definition of entry loads and environment. The most notable recent example is the Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) suite hosted by Mars Science Laboratory for its entry in Aug 2012. The MEDLI suite provided a comprehensive dataset for Mars entry aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics and thermal protection system (TPS) performance. MEDLI data has since been used for unprecedented reconstruction of aerodynamic drag, vehicle attitude, in-situ atmospheric density, aerothermal heating, and transition to turbulence, in-depth TPS performance and TPS ablation. [1,2] In addition to validating predictive models, MEDLI data has demonstrated extra margin available in the MSL forebody TPS, which can potentially be used to reduce vehicle parasitic mass. The presentation will introduce a follow-on MEDLI instrumentation suite (called MEDLI2) that is being developed for Mars-2020 mission. MEDLI2 has an enhanced scope that includes backshell instrumentation, a wider forebody coverage, and instruments that specifically target supersonic aerodynamics. Similar to MEDLI, MEDLI2 uses thermal plugs with embedded thermocouples and ports through the TPS to measure surface pressure. MEDLI2, however, also includes heat flux sensors in the backshell and a low range pressure transducer to measure afterbody pressure.
Kim, Mi Jung; Jang, In-Cheol; Chua, Nam-Hai
2016-07-01
The Mediator complex is known to be a master coordinator of transcription by RNA polymerase II, and this complex is recruited by transcription factors (TFs) to target promoters for gene activation or repression. The plant-specific TF WRINKLED1 (WRI1) activates glycolysis-related and fatty acid biosynthetic genes during embryogenesis. However, no Mediator subunit has yet been identified that mediates WRI1 transcriptional activity. Promoter-β-glucuronidase fusion experiments showed that MEDIATOR15 (MED15) is expressed in the same cells in the embryo as WRI1. We found that the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) MED15 subunit of the Mediator complex interacts directly with WRI1 in the nucleus. Overexpression of MED15 or WRI1 increased transcript levels of WRI1 target genes involved in glycolysis and fatty acid biosynthesis; these genes were down-regulated in wild-type or WRI1-overexpressing plants by silencing of MED15 However, overexpression of MED15 in the wri1 mutant also increased transcript levels of WRI1 target genes, suggesting that MED15 also may act with other TFs to activate downstream lipid-related genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays confirmed the association of MED15 with six WRI1 target gene promoters. Additionally, silencing of MED15 resulted in reduced fatty acid content in seedlings and mature seeds, whereas MED15 overexpression increased fatty acid content in both developmental stages. Similar results were found in wri1 mutant and WRI1 overexpression lines. Together, our results indicate that the WRI1/MED15 complex transcriptionally regulates glycolysis-related and fatty acid biosynthetic genes during embryogenesis. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.
Seconda, Louise; Baudry, Julia; Allès, Benjamin; Hamza, Oualid; Boizot-Szantai, Christine; Soler, Louis-Georges; Galan, Pilar; Hercberg, Serge; Lairon, Denis; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle
2017-01-01
Mediterranean diets are promising sustainable food models and the organic food system may provide health and environmental benefits. Combining the two models could therefore be a favourable approach for food sustainability. The aim of this study was to draw up a comparative description of four diets differing in the level of organic foods consumption and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet, using multidisciplinary indicators to assess the sustainability of these diets. Four groups of participants were defined and compared, combining the proportion of organic food in their diet (Org versus Conv) and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet (Med versus NoMed). Conv–NoMed: Conventional consumers and non-Mediterranean diet followers; Conv–Med: Conventional consumers and Mediterranean diet followers; Org–NoMed: Organic consumers and non-Mediterranean diet followers; Org–Med: Organic consumers and Mediterranean diet followers. The adherence to nutritional recommendations was higher among the Org–Med and Conv–Med groups compared to the Conv–NoMed group (using the mPNNS-GS (modified-Programme National nutrition santé guidelines score/13.5 points): 9.29 (95% confidence intervals (CI) = 9.23–9.36) and 9.30 (95% CI = 9.24–9.35) versus 8.19 (95% CI = 8.17–8.22)) respectively. The mean plant/animal protein intake ratio was 1.38 (95% CI = 1.01–1.74) for the Org–Med group versus 0.44 (95% CI = 0.28–0.60) for the Conv–NoMed group. The average cost of the diet of Org–Med participants was the highest: 11.43 €/day (95% CI = 11.34–11.52). This study highlighted the importance of promoting the Mediterranean diet combined with organic food consumption for individual health and environmental aspects but challenges with regard to the cost remain. PMID:28085096
Mitjavila, Maria Teresa; Fandos, Marta; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Covas, María-Isabel; Borrego, Silvia; Estruch, Ramón; Lamuela-Raventós, Rosa; Corella, Dolores; Martínez-Gonzalez, Miguel Ángel; Sánchez, Julia M; Bulló, Mónica; Fitó, Montserrat; Tormos, Carmen; Cerdá, Concha; Casillas, Rosario; Moreno, Juan José; Iradi, Antonio; Zaragoza, Cristóbal; Chaves, Javier; Sáez, Guillermo T
2013-04-01
Metabolic syndrome (MetS), in which a non-classic feature is an increase in systemic oxidative biomarkers, presents a high risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) is associated with a reduced risk of MetS. However, the effect of the MedDiet on biomarkers for oxidative damage has not been assessed in MetS individuals. We have investigated the effect of the MedDiet on systemic oxidative biomarkers in MetS individuals. Randomized, controlled, parallel clinical trial in which 110 female with MetS, aged 55-80, were recruited into a large trial (PREDIMED Study) to test the efficacy of the traditional MedDiet on the primary prevention of CVD. Participants were assigned to a low-fat diet or two traditional MedDiets (MedDiet + virgin olive oil or MedDiet + nuts). Both MedDiet group participants received nutritional education and either free extra virgin olive oil for all the family (1 L/week), or free nuts (30 g/day). Diets were ad libitum. Changes in urine levels of F2-Isoprostane (F2-IP) and the DNA damage base 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) were evaluated at 1-year trial. After 1-year urinary F2-IP decreased in all groups, the decrease in MedDiet groups reaching a borderline significance versus that of the Control group. Urinary 8-oxo-dG was also reduced in all groups, with a higher decrease in both MedDiet groups versus the Control one (P < 0.001). MedDiet reduces oxidative damage to lipids and DNA in MetS individuals. Data from this study provide evidence to recommend the traditional MedDiet as a useful tool in the MetS management. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.
Englert, Neal A; Luo, George; Goldstein, Joyce A; Surapureddi, Sailesh
2015-01-23
The Mediator complex is vital for the transcriptional regulation of eukaryotic genes. Mediator binds to nuclear receptors at target response elements and recruits chromatin-modifying enzymes and RNA polymerase II. Here, we examine the involvement of Mediator subunit MED25 in the epigenetic regulation of human cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9). MED25 is recruited to the CYP2C9 promoter through association with liver-enriched HNF4α, and we show that MED25 influences the H3K27 status of the HNF4α binding region. This region was enriched for the activating marker H3K27ac and histone acetyltransferase CREBBP after MED25 overexpression but was trimethylated when MED25 expression was silenced. The epigenetic regulator Polycomb repressive complex (PRC2), which represses expression by methylating H3K27, plays an important role in target gene regulation. Silencing MED25 correlated with increased association of PRC2 not only with the promoter region chromatin but with HNF4α itself. We confirmed the involvement of MED25 for fully functional preinitiation complex recruitment and transcriptional output in vitro. Formaldehyde-assisted isolation of regulatory elements (FAIRE) revealed chromatin conformation changes that were reliant on MED25, indicating that MED25 induced a permissive chromatin state that reflected increases in CYP2C9 mRNA. For the first time, we showed evidence that a functionally relevant human gene is transcriptionally regulated by HNF4α via MED25 and PRC2. CYP2C9 is important for the metabolism of many exogenous chemicals including pharmaceutical drugs as well as endogenous substrates. Thus, MED25 is important for regulating the epigenetic landscape resulting in transcriptional activation of a highly inducible gene, CYP2C9. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Zhang, Xu; Yang, Yuting; Zou, Jiake; Chen, Yun; Wu, Qibin; Guo, Jinlong; Que, Youxiong; Xu, Liping
2017-12-01
The Mediator complex, is an essential component of the RNA polymerase II general transcriptional machinery in eukaryotes. Mediator subunit 7 (MED7), a key subunit in the central module of this complex, plays an important role in gene transcriptional regulation. The present study isolated the full-length cDNA of the MED7 gene of sugarcane, hereby designated as ScMED7, which was characterized to harbor a 525-bp open reading frame that is predicted to encode a 174-amino acid protein with a molecular mass of 19.9 kDa and was localized to the nucleus and cytoplasm. ScMED7 contains one typical conserved domain of MED7 proteins and shares 98% homology with that from Sorghum bicolor (XP_002447862.1). ScMED7 was constitutively expressed, yet significantly higher in bud tissues. ScMED7 transcription was obviously induced by heavy metal (CdCl 2 ), low temperature (4 °C), and hormone (SA and MeJA) treatments, while inhibited by osmotic stresses of NaCl and PEG. The role of ScMED7 in plant immunity was demonstrated by transient overexpression in tobacco, which in turn induces the expression of six out of nine defense-related marker genes, including all the three hypersensitive response genes. The responses of defense-related marker genes in the mock and in the ScMED7 transiently overexpressed leaves challenged by pathogenic Pseudomonas solanacearum and Fusarium solani var. coeruleum suggest that ScMED7 acts as a negative regulator during pathogen infections, whereas only fungal infection was clearly phenotypically expressed. In sum, ScMED7 plays an important role in modulating sugarcane responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and may have dual roles in hypersensitive responses and basal defense against pathogens.
Journot, Valérie; Tabuteau, Sophie; Collin, Fidéline; Molina, Jean-Michel; Chene, Geneviève; Rancinan, Corinne
2008-03-01
Since 2003, the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is the regulatory standard for safety report in clinical trials in the European Community. Yet, we found no published example of a practical experience for a scientifically oriented statistical analysis of events coded with MedDRA. We took advantage of a randomized trial in HIV-infected patients with MedDRA-coded events to explain the difficulties encountered during the events analysis and the strategy developed to report events consistently with trial-specific objectives. MedDRA has a rich hierarchical structure, which allows the grouping of coded terms into 5 levels, the highest being "System Organ Class" (SOC). Each coded term may be related to several SOCs, among which one primary SOC is defined. We developed a new general 5-step strategy to select a SOC as trial primary SOC, consistently with trial-specific objectives for this analysis. We applied it to the ANRS 099 ALIZE trial, where all events were coded with MedDRA version 3.0. We compared the MedDRA and the ALIZE primary SOCs. In the ANRS 099 ALIZE trial, 355 patients were recruited, and 3,722 events were reported and documented, among which 35% had multiple SOCs (2 to 4). We applied the proposed 5-step strategy. Altogether, 23% of MedDRA primary SOCs were modified, mainly from MedDRA primary SOCs "Investigations" (69%) and "Ear and labyrinth disorders" (6%), for the ALIZE primary SOCs "Hepatobiliary disorders" (35%), "Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders" (21%), and "Gastrointestinal disorders" (15%). MedDRA largely enhanced in size and complexity with versioning and the development of Standardized MedDRA Queries. Yet, statisticians should not systematically rely on primary SOCs proposed by MedDRA to report events. A simple general 5-step strategy to re-classify events consistently with the trial-specific objectives might be useful in HIV trials as well as in other fields.
Maggio, Lauren A; Willinsky, John M; Steinberg, Ryan M; Mietchen, Daniel; Wass, Joseph L; Dong, Ting
2017-01-01
Wikipedia is a gateway to knowledge. However, the extent to which this gateway ends at Wikipedia or continues via supporting citations is unknown. Wikipedia's gateway functionality has implications for information design and education, notably in medicine. This study aims to establish benchmarks for the relative distribution and referral (click) rate of citations-as indicated by presence of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)-from Wikipedia, with a focus on medical citations. DOIs referred from the English Wikipedia in August 2016 were obtained from Crossref.org. Next, based on a DOI's presence on a WikiProject Medicine page, all DOIs in Wikipedia were categorized as medical (WP:MED) or non-medical (non-WP:MED). Using this categorization, referred DOIs were classified as WP:MED, non-WP:MED, or BOTH, meaning the DOI may have been referred from either category. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Out of 5.2 million Wikipedia pages, 4.42% (n = 229,857) included at least one DOI. 68,870 were identified as WP:MED, with 22.14% (n = 15,250) featuring one or more DOIs. WP:MED pages featured on average 8.88 DOI citations per page, whereas non-WP:MED pages had on average 4.28 DOI citations. For DOIs only on WP:MED pages, a DOI was referred every 2,283 pageviews and for non-WP:MED pages every 2,467 pageviews. DOIs from BOTH pages accounted for 12% (n = 58,475). The referral of DOI citations found in BOTH could not be assigned to WP:MED or non-WP:MED, as the page from which the referral was made was not provided with the data. While these results cannot provide evidence of greater citation referral from WP:MED than non-WP:MED, they do provide benchmarks to assess strategies for changing referral patterns. These changes might include editors adopting new methods for designing and presenting citations or the introduction of teaching strategies that address the value of consulting citations as a tool for extending learning.
Differential expression of Mediator complex subunit MED15 in testicular germ cell tumors.
Klümper, Niklas; Syring, Isabella; Offermann, Anne; Shaikhibrahim, Zaki; Vogel, Wenzel; Müller, Stefan C; Ellinger, Jörg; Strauß, Arne; Radzun, Heinz Joachim; Ströbel, Philipp; Brägelmann, Johannes; Perner, Sven; Bremmer, Felix
2015-09-17
Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) are the most common cancer entities in young men with increasing incidence observed in the last decades. For therapeutic management it is important, that TGCT are divided into several histological subtypes. MED15 is part of the multiprotein Mediator complex which presents an integrative hub for transcriptional regulation and is known to be deregulated in several malignancies, such as prostate cancer and bladder cancer role, whereas the role of the Mediator complex in TGCT has not been investigated so far. Aim of the study was to investigate the implication of MED15 in TGCT development and its stratification into histological subtypes. Immunohistochemical staining (IHC) against Mediator complex subunit MED15 was conducted on a TGCT cohort containing tumor-free testis (n = 35), intratubular germ cell neoplasia unclassified (IGCNU, n = 14), seminomas (SEM, n = 107) and non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT, n = 42), further subdivided into embryonic carcinomas (EC, n = 30), yolk sac tumors (YST, n = 5), chorionic carcinomas (CC, n = 5) and teratomas (TER, n = 2). Quantification of MED15 protein expression was performed through IHC followed by semi-quantitative image analysis using the Definiens software. In tumor-free seminiferous tubules, MED15 protein expression was absent or only low expressed in spermatogonia. Interestingly, the precursor lesions IGCNU exhibited heterogeneous but partly very strong MED15 expression. SEM weakly express the Mediator complex subunit MED15, whereas NSGCT and especially EC show significantly enhanced expression compared to tumor-free testis. In conclusion, MED15 is differentially expressed in tumor-free testis and TGCT. While MED15 is absent or low in tumor-free testis and SEM, NSGCT highly express MED15, hinting at the diagnostic potential of this marker to distinguish between SEM and NSGCT. Further, the precursor lesion IGCNU showed increased nuclear MED15 expression in the preinvasive precursor cells, which may provide diagnostic value to distinguish between benign and pre-malignant testicular specimen, and may indicate a role for MED15 in carcinogenesis in TGCT.
Jia, Yuzhi; Chang, Hsiang-Chun; Schipma, Matthew J; Liu, Jing; Shete, Varsha; Liu, Ning; Sato, Tatsuya; Thorp, Edward B; Barger, Philip M; Zhu, Yi-Jun; Viswakarma, Navin; Kanwar, Yashpal S; Ardehali, Hossein; Thimmapaya, Bayar; Reddy, Janardan K
2016-01-01
Mediator, an evolutionarily conserved multi-protein complex consisting of about 30 subunits, is a key component of the polymerase II mediated gene transcription. Germline deletion of the Mediator subunit 1 (Med1) of the Mediator in mice results in mid-gestational embryonic lethality with developmental impairment of multiple organs including heart. Here we show that cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Med1 in mice (csMed1-/-) during late gestational and early postnatal development by intercrossing Med1fl/fl mice to α-MyHC-Cre transgenic mice results in lethality within 10 days after weaning due to dilated cardiomyopathy-related ventricular dilation and heart failure. The csMed1-/- mouse heart manifests mitochondrial damage, increased apoptosis and interstitial fibrosis. Global gene expression analysis revealed that loss of Med1 in heart down-regulates more than 200 genes including Acadm, Cacna1s, Atp2a2, Ryr2, Pde1c, Pln, PGC1α, and PGC1β that are critical for calcium signaling, cardiac muscle contraction, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor regulated energy metabolism. Many genes essential for oxidative phosphorylation and proper mitochondrial function such as genes coding for the succinate dehydrogenase subunits of the mitochondrial complex II are also down-regulated in csMed1-/- heart contributing to myocardial injury. Data also showed up-regulation of about 180 genes including Tgfb2, Ace, Atf3, Ctgf, Angpt14, Col9a2, Wisp2, Nppa, Nppb, and Actn1 that are linked to cardiac muscle contraction, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis and myocardial injury. Furthermore, we demonstrate that cardiac specific deletion of Med1 in adult mice using tamoxifen-inducible Cre approach (TmcsMed1-/-), results in rapid development of cardiomyopathy and death within 4 weeks. We found that the key findings of the csMed1-/- studies described above are highly reproducible in TmcsMed1-/- mouse heart. Collectively, these observations suggest that Med1 plays a critical role in the maintenance of heart function impacting on multiple metabolic, compensatory and reparative pathways with a likely therapeutic potential in the management of heart failure.
Willinsky, John M.; Steinberg, Ryan M.; Mietchen, Daniel; Wass, Joseph L.; Dong, Ting
2017-01-01
Wikipedia is a gateway to knowledge. However, the extent to which this gateway ends at Wikipedia or continues via supporting citations is unknown. Wikipedia’s gateway functionality has implications for information design and education, notably in medicine. This study aims to establish benchmarks for the relative distribution and referral (click) rate of citations—as indicated by presence of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)—from Wikipedia, with a focus on medical citations. DOIs referred from the English Wikipedia in August 2016 were obtained from Crossref.org. Next, based on a DOI’s presence on a WikiProject Medicine page, all DOIs in Wikipedia were categorized as medical (WP:MED) or non-medical (non-WP:MED). Using this categorization, referred DOIs were classified as WP:MED, non-WP:MED, or BOTH, meaning the DOI may have been referred from either category. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Out of 5.2 million Wikipedia pages, 4.42% (n = 229,857) included at least one DOI. 68,870 were identified as WP:MED, with 22.14% (n = 15,250) featuring one or more DOIs. WP:MED pages featured on average 8.88 DOI citations per page, whereas non-WP:MED pages had on average 4.28 DOI citations. For DOIs only on WP:MED pages, a DOI was referred every 2,283 pageviews and for non-WP:MED pages every 2,467 pageviews. DOIs from BOTH pages accounted for 12% (n = 58,475). The referral of DOI citations found in BOTH could not be assigned to WP:MED or non-WP:MED, as the page from which the referral was made was not provided with the data. While these results cannot provide evidence of greater citation referral from WP:MED than non-WP:MED, they do provide benchmarks to assess strategies for changing referral patterns. These changes might include editors adopting new methods for designing and presenting citations or the introduction of teaching strategies that address the value of consulting citations as a tool for extending learning. PMID:29267345
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2010-12-07
... (MedSun). FDA is continuing to conduct a pilot of the MedSun system before the Agency issues regulation... products from the user facilities participating in MedSun, to obtain a demographic profile of the... addition to collecting data on the electronic adverse event report form, MedSun is proposing to collect...
Knockdown of Mediator Complex Subunit 19 Suppresses the Growth and Invasion of Prostate Cancer Cells
Zhao, Hongwei; Lv, Wei; Chen, Jian; Wan, Fengchun; Liu, Dongfu; Gao, Zhenli; Wu, Jitao
2017-01-01
Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in elderly men. Mediator Complex Subunit 19 (Med19) is overexpressed and plays promotional roles in many cancers. However, the roles of Med19 in PCa are still obscure. In this study, by using immunohistochemical staining, we found higher expression level of Med19 in PCa tissues than in adjacent benign prostate tissues. We then knocked down the Med19 expression in PCa cell lines LNCaP and PC3 by using lentivirus siRNA. Cell proliferation, anchor-independent growth, migration, and invasion were suppressed in Med19 knockdown PCa cells. In nude mice xenograft model, we found that Med19 knockdown PCa cells formed smaller tumors with lower proliferation index than did control cells. In the mechanism study, we found that Med19 could regulate genes involved in cell proliferation, cell cycle, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, including P27, pAKT, pPI3K, IGF1R, E-Cadherin, N-Cadherin, Vimentin, ZEB2, Snail-1 and Snail-2. Targeting Med19 in PCa cells could inhibit the PCa growth and metastasis, and might be a therapeutic option for PCa in the future. PMID:28125713
Nathanson, Amy I; Beyens, Ine
2018-01-01
This study investigated the relation between preschoolers' mobile electronic device (MED) use and sleep disturbances. A national sample of 402 predominantly college-educated and Caucasian mothers of 3-5-year-olds completed a survey assessing their preschoolers' MED use, bedtime resistance, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness. Heavier evening and daily tablet use (and to some extent, smartphone use) were related to sleep disturbances. Other forms of MED use were not consistently related to sleep disturbances. In addition, playing games on MEDs at bedtime was related to compromised sleep duration, although other forms of MED use at bedtime were not related to sleep outcomes. Although the relations between MED use and sleep disturbances were small in size, they were larger than the relations between sleep and other predictors in the models. Continued work should investigate how MED exposure is related to children's cognitive, psychological, emotional, and physiological development, particularly given the popularity and widespread use of these devices.
The mediator subunit Med23 contributes to controlling T-cell activation and prevents autoimmunity.
Sun, Yang; Zhu, Xiaoyan; Chen, Xufeng; Liu, Haifeng; Xu, Yu; Chu, Yajing; Wang, Gang; Liu, Xiaolong
2014-10-10
T-cell activation is critical for successful immune responses and is controlled at multiple levels. Although many changes of T-cell receptor-associated signalling molecules affect T-cell activation, the transcriptional mechanisms that control this process remain largely unknown. Here we find that T cell-specific deletion of the mediator subunit Med23 leads to hyperactivation of T cells and aged Med23-deficient mice exhibit an autoimmune syndrome. Med23 specifically and consistently promotes the transcription of multiple negative regulators of T-cell activation. In the absence of Med23, the T-cell activation threshold is lower, which results in enhanced antitumour T-cell function. Cumulatively, our data suggest that Med23 contributes to controlling T-cell activation at the transcriptional level and prevents the development of autoimmunity.
DynaMed Plus®: An Evidence-Based Clinical Reference Resource.
Charbonneau, Deborah H; James, LaTeesa N
2018-01-01
DynaMed Plus ® from EBSCO Health is an evidence-based tool that health professionals can use to inform clinical care. DynaMed Plus content undergoes a review process, and the evidence is synthesized in detailed topic overviews. A unique three-level rating scale is used to assess the quality of available evidence. Topic overviews summarize current evidence and provide recommendations to support health providers at the point-of-care. Additionally, DynaMed Plus content can be accessed via a desktop computer or mobile platforms. Given this, DynaMed Plus can be a time-saving resource for health providers. Overall, DynaMed Plus provides evidence summaries using an easy-to-read bullet format, and the resource incorporates images, clinical calculators, patient handouts, and practice guidelines in one place.
GO2PUB: Querying PubMed with semantic expansion of gene ontology terms
2012-01-01
Background With the development of high throughput methods of gene analyses, there is a growing need for mining tools to retrieve relevant articles in PubMed. As PubMed grows, literature searches become more complex and time-consuming. Automated search tools with good precision and recall are necessary. We developed GO2PUB to automatically enrich PubMed queries with gene names, symbols and synonyms annotated by a GO term of interest or one of its descendants. Results GO2PUB enriches PubMed queries based on selected GO terms and keywords. It processes the result and displays the PMID, title, authors, abstract and bibliographic references of the articles. Gene names, symbols and synonyms that have been generated as extra keywords from the GO terms are also highlighted. GO2PUB is based on a semantic expansion of PubMed queries using the semantic inheritance between terms through the GO graph. Two experts manually assessed the relevance of GO2PUB, GoPubMed and PubMed on three queries about lipid metabolism. Experts’ agreement was high (kappa = 0.88). GO2PUB returned 69% of the relevant articles, GoPubMed: 40% and PubMed: 29%. GO2PUB and GoPubMed have 17% of their results in common, corresponding to 24% of the total number of relevant results. 70% of the articles returned by more than one tool were relevant. 36% of the relevant articles were returned only by GO2PUB, 17% only by GoPubMed and 14% only by PubMed. For determining whether these results can be generalized, we generated twenty queries based on random GO terms with a granularity similar to those of the first three queries and compared the proportions of GO2PUB and GoPubMed results. These were respectively of 77% and 40% for the first queries, and of 70% and 38% for the random queries. The two experts also assessed the relevance of seven of the twenty queries (the three related to lipid metabolism and four related to other domains). Expert agreement was high (0.93 and 0.8). GO2PUB and GoPubMed performances were similar to those of the first queries. Conclusions We demonstrated that the use of genes annotated by either GO terms of interest or a descendant of these GO terms yields some relevant articles ignored by other tools. The comparison of GO2PUB, based on semantic expansion, with GoPubMed, based on text mining techniques, showed that both tools are complementary. The analysis of the randomly-generated queries suggests that the results obtained about lipid metabolism can be generalized to other biological processes. GO2PUB is available at http://go2pub.genouest.org. PMID:22958570
Macdonald, Stephen P J; Arendts, Glenn; Fatovich, Daniel M; Brown, Simon G A
2014-11-01
The Predisposition Insult Response and Organ failure (PIRO) scoring system has been developed for use in the emergency department (ED) to risk stratify sepsis cases, but has not been well studied among high-risk patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. The PIRO score was compared with the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Mortality in ED Sepsis (MEDS) scores to predict mortality in ED patients with features suggesting severe sepsis or septic shock in the ED. This was an analysis of sepsis patients enrolled in a prospective observational ED study of patients presenting with evidence of shock, hypoxemia, or other organ failure. PIRO, MEDS, and SOFA scores were calculated from ED data. Analysis compared areas under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves for 30-day mortality. Of 240 enrolled patients, final diagnoses were septic shock in 128 (53%), severe sepsis without shock in 70 (29%), and infection with no organ dysfunction in 42 (18%). Forty-eight (20%) patients died within 30 days of presentation. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) for mortality was 0.86 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.80 to 0.92) for PIRO, 0.81 (95% CI = 0.74 to 0.88) for MEDS, and 0.78 (95% CI = 0.71 to 0.87) for SOFA scores. Pairwise comparisons of the AUC were as follows: PIRO versus SOFA, p = 0.01; PIRO versus MEDS, p = 0.064; and MEDS versus SOFA; p = 0.37. Mortality increased with increasing PIRO scores: PIRO < 5, 0%; PIRO 5 to 9, 5%; PIRO 10 to 14, 5%; PIRO 15 to 19, 37%; and PIRO ≥ 20, 80% (p < 0.001). The MEDS score also showed increasing mortality with higher scores: MEDS < 5, 0%; MEDS 5 to 7, 12%; MEDS 8 to 11, 15%; MEDS 12 to 14, 48%; and MEDS > 15, 65% (p < 0.001). The PIRO model, taking into account comorbidities and septic source as well as physiologic status, performed better than the SOFA score and similarly to the MEDS score for predicting mortality in ED patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. These findings have implications for identifying and managing high-risk patients and for the design of clinical trials in sepsis. © 2014 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
Protective Effects of the Mediterranean Diet on Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome123
Lee, Chih-Hao; Estruch, Ramón
2016-01-01
Several studies provide evidence supporting a beneficial effect from the traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and metabolic syndrome (MetS). This review summarizes the current scientific evidence from epidemiologic studies and clinical trials on the relation between the MedDiet and T2DM and MetS and the possible mechanisms underlying the reported associations. A recent meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies showed that greater adherence to the MedDiet was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of diabetes. The MedDiet has also been found to be beneficial in the prevention of gestational diabetes. Four large prospective studies have observed inverse associations between the MedDiet and MetS or its components. Few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have evaluated the effect of the MedDiet on T2DM and MetS. Results from the landmark PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) nutrition intervention trial showed that participants assigned to the MedDiet had a significant 30% reduction in the risk of T2DM and that it also promoted the reversion of MetS and its components, hyperglycemia and central obesity. In addition, 5 RCTs showed the beneficial effects of the MedDiet compared with other dietary patterns on glycemic control in patients with T2DM. A recent meta-analysis of RCTs revealed that, compared with a variety of control diets, the MedDiet was associated with beneficial effects on all MetS components. Bioactive components of the MedDiet synergize to affect various metabolic pathways, leading to a reduced cardiometabolic disease risk. The abundance of healthy, nutrient-dense foods that make up the plant-based MedDiet predicts its bioactivity and potential to beneficially influence metabolic pathways that lead to MetS and T2DM, as well as other chronic conditions. Abundant epidemiologic and clinical trial evidence supports the role of the MedDiet on the prevention and management of T2DM and MetS. PMID:26962178
Protective Effects of the Mediterranean Diet on Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome.
Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Guasch-Ferré, Marta; Lee, Chih-Hao; Estruch, Ramón; Clish, Clary B; Ros, Emilio
2016-03-09
Several studies provide evidence supporting a beneficial effect from the traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and metabolic syndrome (MetS). This review summarizes the current scientific evidence from epidemiologic studies and clinical trials on the relation between the MedDiet and T2DM and MetS and the possible mechanisms underlying the reported associations. A recent meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies showed that greater adherence to the MedDiet was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of diabetes. The MedDiet has also been found to be beneficial in the prevention of gestational diabetes. Four large prospective studies have observed inverse associations between the MedDiet and MetS or its components. Few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have evaluated the effect of the MedDiet on T2DM and MetS. Results from the landmark PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) nutrition intervention trial showed that participants assigned to the MedDiet had a significant 30% reduction in the risk of T2DM and that it also promoted the reversion of MetS and its components, hyperglycemia and central obesity. In addition, 5 RCTs showed the beneficial effects of the MedDiet compared with other dietary patterns on glycemic control in patients with T2DM. A recent meta-analysis of RCTs revealed that, compared with a variety of control diets, the MedDiet was associated with beneficial effects on all MetS components. Bioactive components of the MedDiet synergize to affect various metabolic pathways, leading to a reduced cardiometabolic disease risk. The abundance of healthy, nutrient-dense foods that make up the plant-based MedDiet predicts its bioactivity and potential to beneficially influence metabolic pathways that lead to MetS and T2DM, as well as other chronic conditions. Abundant epidemiologic and clinical trial evidence supports the role of the MedDiet on the prevention and management of T2DM and MetS. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
LactMed: Drugs and Lactation Database
... App LactMed Record Format Database Creation & Peer Review Process Help Fact Sheet Sample Record TOXNET FAQ Glossary Selected References About Dietary Supplements Breastfeeding Links Get LactMed Widget Contact Us Email: tehip@ ...
Di Pasquale, Giuseppe; Mathieu, Giovanni; Maggioni, Aldo Pietro; Fabbri, Gianna; Lucci, Donata; Vescovo, Giorgio; Pirelli, Salvatore; Chiarella, Francesco; Scherillo, Marino; Gulizia, Michele Massimo; Gussoni, Gualberto; Colombo, Fabrizio; Panuccio, Domenico; Nozzoli, Carlo; Berisso, Massimo Zoni
2013-09-10
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a high risk of stroke and mortality. To describe the difference in AF management of patients (pts) referred to Cardiology (CARD) or Internal Medicine (MED) units in Italy. From May to July 2010, 360 centers enrolled 7148 pts (54% in CARD and 46% in MED). Median age was 77 years (IQR 70-83). Hypertension was the most prevalent associated condition, followed by hypercholesterolemia (28.9%), heart failure (27.7%) and diabetes (24.3%). MED pts were older, more frequently females and more often with comorbidities than CARD pts. In the 4845 pts with nonvalvular AF, a CHADS2 score ≥ 2 was present in 53.0% of CARD vs 75.3% of MED pts (p<.0001). Oral anticoagulants (OAC) were prescribed in 64.2% of CARD vs 46.3% of MED pts (p<.0001); OAC prescription rate was 49.6% in CHADS2 0 and 56.2% in CHADS2 score ≥ 2 pts. At the adjusted analysis patients managed in MED had a significantly lower probability to be treated with OAC. Rate control strategy was pursued in 51.4% of the pts (60.5% in MED and 43.6% in CARD) while rhythm control was the choice in 39.8% of CARD vs 12.9% of MED pts (p<.0001). Cardiologists and internists seem to manage pts with large epidemiological differences. Both CARD and MED specialists currently fail to prescribe OAC in accordance with stroke risk. Patients managed by MED specialists have a lower probability to receive an OAC treatment, irrespective of the severity of clinical conditions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Çevik, Volkan; Kidd, Brendan N.; Zhang, Peijun; Hill, Claire; Kiddle, Steve; Denby, Katherine J.; Holub, Eric B.; Cahill, David M.; Manners, John M.; Schenk, Peer M.; Beynon, Jim; Kazan, Kemal
2012-01-01
The PHYTOCHROME AND FLOWERING TIME1 gene encoding the MEDIATOR25 (MED25) subunit of the eukaryotic Mediator complex is a positive regulator of jasmonate (JA)-responsive gene expression in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Based on the function of the Mediator complex as a bridge between DNA-bound transcriptional activators and the RNA polymerase II complex, MED25 has been hypothesized to function in association with transcriptional regulators of the JA pathway. However, it is currently not known mechanistically how MED25 functions to regulate JA-responsive gene expression. In this study, we show that MED25 physically interacts with several key transcriptional regulators of the JA signaling pathway, including the APETALA2 (AP2)/ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR (ERF) transcription factors OCTADECANOID-RESPONSIVE ARABIDOPSIS AP2/ERF59 and ERF1 as well as the master regulator MYC2. Physical interaction detected between MED25 and four group IX AP2/ERF transcription factors was shown to require the activator interaction domain of MED25 as well as the recently discovered Conserved Motif IX-1/EDLL transcription activation motif of MED25-interacting AP2/ERFs. Using transcriptional activation experiments, we also show that OCTADECANOID-RESPONSIVE ARABIDOPSIS AP2/ERF59- and ERF1-dependent activation of PLANT DEFENSIN1.2 as well as MYC2-dependent activation of VEGETATIVE STORAGE PROTEIN1 requires a functional MED25. In addition, MED25 is required for MYC2-dependent repression of pathogen defense genes. These results suggest an important role for MED25 as an integrative hub within the Mediator complex during the regulation of JA-associated gene expression. PMID:22822211
The invasive MED/Q Bemisia tabaci genome: a tale of gene loss and gene gain.
Xie, Wen; Yang, Xin; Chen, Chunhai; Yang, Zezhong; Guo, Litao; Wang, Dan; Huang, Jinqun; Zhang, Hailin; Wen, Yanan; Zhao, Jinyang; Wu, Qingjun; Wang, Shaoli; Coates, Brad S; Zhou, Xuguo; Zhang, Youjun
2018-01-22
Sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci MED/Q and MEAM1/B, are two economically important invasive species that cause considerable damages to agriculture crops through direct feeding and indirect vectoring of plant pathogens. Recently, a draft genome of B. tabaci MED/Q has been assembled. In this study, we focus on the genomic comparison between MED/Q and MEAM1/B, with a special interest in MED/Q's genomic signatures that may contribute to the highly invasive nature of this emerging insect pest. The genomes of both species share similarity in syntenic blocks, but have significant divergence in the gene coding sequence. Expansion of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and UDP glycosyltransferases in MED/Q and MEAM1/B genome is functionally validated for mediating insecticide resistance in MED/Q using in vivo RNAi. The amino acid biosynthesis pathways in MED/Q genome are partitioned among the host and endosymbiont genomes in a manner distinct from other hemipterans. Evidence of horizontal gene transfer to the host genome may explain their obligate relationship. Putative loss-of-function in the immune deficiency-signaling pathway due to the gene loss is a shared ancestral trait among hemipteran insects. The expansion of detoxification genes families, such as P450s, may contribute to the development of insecticide resistance traits and a broad host range in MED/Q and MEAM1/B, and facilitate species' invasions into intensively managed cropping systems. Numerical and compositional changes in multiple gene families (gene loss and gene gain) in the MED/Q genome sets a foundation for future hypothesis testing that will advance our understanding of adaptation, viral transmission, symbiosis, and plant-insect-pathogen tritrophic interactions.
Fiorini, Nicolas; Lipman, David J; Lu, Zhiyong
2017-10-30
Staff from the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the US describe recent improvements to the PubMed search engine and outline plans for the future, including a new experimental site called PubMed Labs.
Redefining the MED13L syndrome
Adegbola, Abidemi; Musante, Luciana; Callewaert, Bert; Maciel, Patricia; Hu, Hao; Isidor, Bertrand; Picker-Minh, Sylvie; Le Caignec, Cedric; Delle Chiaie, Barbara; Vanakker, Olivier; Menten, Björn; Dheedene, Annelies; Bockaert, Nele; Roelens, Filip; Decaestecker, Karin; Silva, João; Soares, Gabriela; Lopes, Fátima; Najmabadi, Hossein; Kahrizi, Kimia; Cox, Gerald F; Angus, Steven P; Staropoli, John F; Fischer, Ute; Suckow, Vanessa; Bartsch, Oliver; Chess, Andrew; Ropers, Hans-Hilger; Wienker, Thomas F; Hübner, Christoph; Kaindl, Angela M; Kalscheuer, Vera M
2015-01-01
Congenital cardiac and neurodevelopmental deficits have been recently linked to the mediator complex subunit 13-like protein MED13L, a subunit of the CDK8-associated mediator complex that functions in transcriptional regulation through DNA-binding transcription factors and RNA polymerase II. Heterozygous MED13L variants cause transposition of the great arteries and intellectual disability (ID). Here, we report eight patients with predominantly novel MED13L variants who lack such complex congenital heart malformations. Rather, they depict a syndromic form of ID characterized by facial dysmorphism, ID, speech impairment, motor developmental delay with muscular hypotonia and behavioral difficulties. We thereby define a novel syndrome and significantly broaden the clinical spectrum associated with MED13L variants. A prominent feature of the MED13L neurocognitive presentation is profound language impairment, often in combination with articulatory deficits. PMID:25758992
Redefining the MED13L syndrome.
Adegbola, Abidemi; Musante, Luciana; Callewaert, Bert; Maciel, Patricia; Hu, Hao; Isidor, Bertrand; Picker-Minh, Sylvie; Le Caignec, Cedric; Delle Chiaie, Barbara; Vanakker, Olivier; Menten, Björn; Dheedene, Annelies; Bockaert, Nele; Roelens, Filip; Decaestecker, Karin; Silva, João; Soares, Gabriela; Lopes, Fátima; Najmabadi, Hossein; Kahrizi, Kimia; Cox, Gerald F; Angus, Steven P; Staropoli, John F; Fischer, Ute; Suckow, Vanessa; Bartsch, Oliver; Chess, Andrew; Ropers, Hans-Hilger; Wienker, Thomas F; Hübner, Christoph; Kaindl, Angela M; Kalscheuer, Vera M
2015-10-01
Congenital cardiac and neurodevelopmental deficits have been recently linked to the mediator complex subunit 13-like protein MED13L, a subunit of the CDK8-associated mediator complex that functions in transcriptional regulation through DNA-binding transcription factors and RNA polymerase II. Heterozygous MED13L variants cause transposition of the great arteries and intellectual disability (ID). Here, we report eight patients with predominantly novel MED13L variants who lack such complex congenital heart malformations. Rather, they depict a syndromic form of ID characterized by facial dysmorphism, ID, speech impairment, motor developmental delay with muscular hypotonia and behavioral difficulties. We thereby define a novel syndrome and significantly broaden the clinical spectrum associated with MED13L variants. A prominent feature of the MED13L neurocognitive presentation is profound language impairment, often in combination with articulatory deficits.
Mu, Xiaoping; Wei, Jianxun; Li, Peifeng
2015-01-01
The purpose of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of micro-endoscopic discectomy (MED) and open discectomy (OD) for lubmar disc herniation (LDH). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing MED with OD for LDH were searched comprehensively in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library. Relevant studies retrieved, data extracted and the quality of included studies were independently performed by two authors. RevMan software (Version 5.2.0) was used to analyse and synthesis relevant data of the included studies. Nine RCTs involving 774 patients were obtained and reported the relevant outcome measures. Compared with OD group, there were significant difference in the general operation indicators including operation time, blood loss, site of incision, hospital stay and time of return to work, biochemical indexes including C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in MED group. Meanwhile, there were no difference in effective rate, complication including total complications, dural leaks occurred and recurrence of the disc herniation, compared MED group with OD group. MED had slighter trauma, milder blood loss and shorter healing time than OD. The results demonstrated MED has great efficacy and safety comparable to OD. So we think that MED can be used routinely for LDH patients, especially the patients of old and intolerable major surgery. Meanwhile, it is necessary for surgeon to master indication and contraindication of MED and improve the operative technique. PMID:26770340
Papadaki, Angeliki; Thanasoulias, Andreas; Pound, Rachael; Sebire, Simon J; Jago, Russell
Explore employees' perceptions of ability to follow the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), preferences for setting goals if asked to follow the MedDiet, and expectations of an Internet-based, workplace MedDiet intervention. Seven focus groups to guide intervention development. Four workplaces (business/professional services, government branches) in Southwest England. Employees (n = 29, 51.7% women), ages 24-58 years. Ability to follow the MedDiet; preferences for goal-setting if asked to follow the MedDiet; intervention content. Data were analyzed with the use of thematic analysis. Participants perceived that adhering to some MedDiet recommendations would be challenging and highlighted cost, taste, and cooking skills as adherence barriers. Behavior change preferences included a tailored approach to goal-setting, reviewing goal progress via a website/smartphone app, and receiving expert feedback via an app/website/text/face-to-face session. Desirable features of an Internet-based MedDiet application included recipes, interactivity, nutritional information, shopping tips, cost-saving information, and a companion smartphone app. Engaging in social support was deemed important to facilitate adherence. An Internet-based, workplace MedDiet intervention should address adherence barriers, utilize a tailored approach to setting and reviewing goals, and activate social support to facilitate adherence. These findings provide insights to planning to promote the MedDiet in non-Mediterranean regions. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
[Limiting a Medline/PubMed query to the "best" articles using the JCR relative impact factor].
Avillach, P; Kerdelhué, G; Devos, P; Maisonneuve, H; Darmoni, S J
2014-12-01
Medline/PubMed is the most frequently used medical bibliographic research database. The aim of this study was to propose a new generic method to limit any Medline/PubMed query based on the relative impact factor and the A & B categories of the SIGAPS score. The entire PubMed corpus was used for the feasibility study, then ten frequent diseases in terms of PubMed indexing and the citations of four Nobel prize winners. The relative impact factor (RIF) was calculated by medical specialty defined in Journal Citation Reports. The two queries, which included all the journals in category A (or A OR B), were added to any Medline/PubMed query as a central point of the feasibility study. Limitation using the SIGAPS category A was larger than the when using the Core Clinical Journals (CCJ): 15.65% of PubMed corpus vs 8.64% for CCJ. The response time of this limit applied to the entire PubMed corpus was less than two seconds. For five diseases out of ten, limiting the citations with the RIF was more effective than with the CCJ. For the four Nobel prize winners, limiting the citations with the RIF was more effective than the CCJ. The feasibility study to apply a new filter based on the relative impact factor on any Medline/PubMed query was positive. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
JTF CapMed Warrior Transition Division
2011-01-25
The Quadruple Aim: Working Together, Achieving Success 2011 Military Health System Conference JTF CapMed Warrior Transition Division 25 January 2011...Colonel Julia Adams 1 Military Health System Conference Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical (JTF CapMed ) Report Documentation Page Form...DATES COVERED 00-00-2011 to 00-00-2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE JTF CapMed Warrior Transition Division 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c
Hemsley, Piers A; Hurst, Charlotte H; Kaliyadasa, Ewon; Lamb, Rebecca; Knight, Marc R; De Cothi, Elizabeth A; Steele, John F; Knight, Heather
2014-01-01
The Mediator16 (MED16; formerly termed SENSITIVE TO FREEZING6 [SFR6]) subunit of the plant Mediator transcriptional coactivator complex regulates cold-responsive gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana, acting downstream of the C-repeat binding factor (CBF) transcription factors to recruit the core Mediator complex to cold-regulated genes. Here, we use loss-of-function mutants to show that RNA polymerase II recruitment to CBF-responsive cold-regulated genes requires MED16, MED2, and MED14 subunits. Transcription of genes known to be regulated via CBFs binding to the C-repeat motif/drought-responsive element promoter motif requires all three Mediator subunits, as does cold acclimation-induced freezing tolerance. In addition, these three subunits are required for low temperature-induced expression of some other, but not all, cold-responsive genes, including genes that are not known targets of CBFs. Genes inducible by darkness also required MED16 but required a different combination of Mediator subunits for their expression than the genes induced by cold. Together, our data illustrate that plants control transcription of specific genes through the action of subsets of Mediator subunits; the specific combination defined by the nature of the stimulus but also by the identity of the gene induced.
Syring, Isabella; Klümper, Niklas; Offermann, Anne; Braun, Martin; Deng, Mario; Boehm, Diana; Queisser, Angela; von Mässenhausen, Anne; Brägelmann, Johannes; Vogel, Wenzel; Schmidt, Doris; Majores, Michael; Schindler, Anne; Kristiansen, Glen; Müller, Stefan C; Ellinger, Jörg; Shaikhibrahim, Zaki; Perner, Sven
2016-04-26
The Mediator complex is a key regulator of gene transcription and several studies demonstrated altered expressions of particular subunits in diverse human diseases, especially cancer. However a systematic study deciphering the transcriptional expression of the Mediator across different cancer entities is still lacking.We therefore performed a comprehensive in silico cancer vs. benign analysis of the Mediator complex subunits (MEDs) for 20 tumor entities using Oncomine datasets. The transcriptional expression profiles across almost all cancer entities showed differentially expressed MEDs as compared to benign tissue. Differential expression of MED8 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and MED12 in lung cancer (LCa) were validated and further investigated by immunohistochemical staining on tissue microarrays containing large numbers of specimen. MED8 in clear cell RCC (ccRCC) associated with shorter survival and advanced TNM stage and showed higher expression in metastatic than primary tumors. In vitro, siRNA mediated MED8 knockdown significantly impaired proliferation and motility in ccRCC cell lines, hinting at a role for MED8 to serve as a novel therapeutic target in ccRCC. Taken together, our Mediator complex transcriptome proved to be a valid tool for identifying cancer-related shifts in Mediator complex composition, revealing that MEDs do exhibit cancer specific transcriptional expression profiles.
Genetics Home Reference: lymphedema-distichiasis syndrome
... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Erickson RP, Dagenais SL, Caulder MS, Downs CA, Herman ... article on PubMed Central Fang J, Dagenais SL, Erickson RP, Arlt MF, Glynn MW, Gorski JL, Seaver ...
Genetics Home Reference: VACTERL association
... PubMed Raam MS, Pineda-Alvarez DE, Hadley DW, Solomon BD. Long-term outcomes of adults with features ... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Solomon BD, Pineda-Alvarez DE, Raam MS, Bous SM, ...
Fiorini, Nicolas; Lipman, David J; Lu, Zhiyong
2017-01-01
Staff from the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the US describe recent improvements to the PubMed search engine and outline plans for the future, including a new experimental site called PubMed Labs. PMID:29083299
Genetics Home Reference: congenital myasthenic syndrome
... 1196/annals.1405.049. Citation on PubMed Engel AG, Shen XM, Selcen D, Sine SM. What have ... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Engel AG. Current status of the congenital myasthenic syndromes. Neuromuscul ...
Genetics Home Reference: Robinow syndrome
... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central White JJ, Mazzeu JF, Coban-Akdemir Z, Bayram Y, Bahrambeigi ... Epub ahead of print] Citation on PubMed White JJ, Mazzeu JF, Hoischen A, Bayram Y, Withers M, ...
Lee, Ming-Fen; Pan, Min-Hsiung; Chiou, Yi-Siou; Cheng, An-Chin; Huang, Han
2011-11-09
Resveratrol and pterostilbene exhibit diverse biological activities. MED28, a subunit of the mammalian Mediator complex for transcription, was also identified as magicin, an actin cytoskeleton Grb2-associated protein, and as endothelial-derived gene (EG-1). Several tumors exhibit aberrant MED28 expression, whereas the underlying mechanism is unclear. Triple-negative breast cancers, often expressing epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR), are associated with metastasis and poor survival. The objective of this study is to compare the effect of resveratrol and pterostilbene and to investigate the role of MED28 in EGFR-overexpressing MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Pretreatment of resveratrol, but not pterostlbene, suppressed EGF-mediated migration and expression of MED28 and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 in MDA-MB-231 cells. Moreover, overexpression of MED28 increased migration, and the addition of EGF further enhanced migration. Our data indicate that resveratrol modulates the effect of MED28 on cellular migration, presumably through the EGFR/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway, in breast cancer cells.
Duffy, Steven; de Kock, Shelley; Misso, Kate; Noake, Caro; Ross, Janine; Stirk, Lisa
2016-10-01
The research investigated whether conducting a supplementary search of PubMed in addition to the main MEDLINE (Ovid) search for a systematic review is worthwhile and to ascertain whether this PubMed search can be conducted quickly and if it retrieves unique, recently published, and ahead-of-print studies that are subsequently considered for inclusion in the final systematic review. Searches of PubMed were conducted after MEDLINE (Ovid) and MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid) searches had been completed for seven recent reviews. The searches were limited to records not in MEDLINE or MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid). Additional unique records were identified for all of the investigated reviews. Search strategies were adapted quickly to run in PubMed, and reviewer screening of the results was not time consuming. For each of the investigated reviews, studies were ordered for full screening; in six cases, studies retrieved from the supplementary PubMed searches were included in the final systematic review. Supplementary searching of PubMed for studies unavailable elsewhere is worthwhile and improves the currency of the systematic reviews.
Duffy, Steven; de Kock, Shelley; Misso, Kate; Noake, Caro; Ross, Janine; Stirk, Lisa
2016-01-01
Objective The research investigated whether conducting a supplementary search of PubMed in addition to the main MEDLINE (Ovid) search for a systematic review is worthwhile and to ascertain whether this PubMed search can be conducted quickly and if it retrieves unique, recently published, and ahead-of-print studies that are subsequently considered for inclusion in the final systematic review. Methods Searches of PubMed were conducted after MEDLINE (Ovid) and MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid) searches had been completed for seven recent reviews. The searches were limited to records not in MEDLINE or MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid). Results Additional unique records were identified for all of the investigated reviews. Search strategies were adapted quickly to run in PubMed, and reviewer screening of the results was not time consuming. For each of the investigated reviews, studies were ordered for full screening; in six cases, studies retrieved from the supplementary PubMed searches were included in the final systematic review. Conclusion Supplementary searching of PubMed for studies unavailable elsewhere is worthwhile and improves the currency of the systematic reviews. PMID:27822154
GOClonto: an ontological clustering approach for conceptualizing PubMed abstracts.
Zheng, Hai-Tao; Borchert, Charles; Kim, Hong-Gee
2010-02-01
Concurrent with progress in biomedical sciences, an overwhelming of textual knowledge is accumulating in the biomedical literature. PubMed is the most comprehensive database collecting and managing biomedical literature. To help researchers easily understand collections of PubMed abstracts, numerous clustering methods have been proposed to group similar abstracts based on their shared features. However, most of these methods do not explore the semantic relationships among groupings of documents, which could help better illuminate the groupings of PubMed abstracts. To address this issue, we proposed an ontological clustering method called GOClonto for conceptualizing PubMed abstracts. GOClonto uses latent semantic analysis (LSA) and gene ontology (GO) to identify key gene-related concepts and their relationships as well as allocate PubMed abstracts based on these key gene-related concepts. Based on two PubMed abstract collections, the experimental results show that GOClonto is able to identify key gene-related concepts and outperforms the STC (suffix tree clustering) algorithm, the Lingo algorithm, the Fuzzy Ants algorithm, and the clustering based TRS (tolerance rough set) algorithm. Moreover, the two ontologies generated by GOClonto show significant informative conceptual structures.
PubMed searches: overview and strategies for clinicians.
Lindsey, Wesley T; Olin, Bernie R
2013-04-01
PubMed is a biomedical and life sciences database maintained by a division of the National Library of Medicine known as the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). It is a large resource with more than 5600 journals indexed and greater than 22 million total citations. Searches conducted in PubMed provide references that are more specific for the intended topic compared with other popular search engines. Effective PubMed searches allow the clinician to remain current on the latest clinical trials, systematic reviews, and practice guidelines. PubMed continues to evolve by allowing users to create a customized experience through the My NCBI portal, new arrangements and options in search filters, and supporting scholarly projects through exportation of citations to reference managing software. Prepackaged search options available in the Clinical Queries feature also allow users to efficiently search for clinical literature. PubMed also provides information regarding the source journals themselves through the Journals in NCBI Databases link. This article provides an overview of the PubMed database's structure and features as well as strategies for conducting an effective search.
Aranda-Orgilles, Beatriz; Saldaña-Meyer, Ricardo; Wang, Eric; Trompouki, Eirini; Fassl, Anne; Lau, Stephanie; Mullenders, Jasper; Rocha, Pedro P; Raviram, Ramya; Guillamot, María; Sánchez-Díaz, María; Wang, Kun; Kayembe, Clarisse; Zhang, Nan; Amoasii, Leonela; Choudhuri, Avik; Skok, Jane A; Schober, Markus; Reinberg, Danny; Sicinski, Piotr; Schrewe, Heinrich; Tsirigos, Aristotelis; Zon, Leonard I; Aifantis, Iannis
2016-12-01
Hematopoietic-specific transcription factors require coactivators to communicate with the general transcription machinery and establish transcriptional programs that maintain hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal, promote differentiation, and prevent malignant transformation. Mediator is a large coactivator complex that bridges enhancer-localized transcription factors with promoters, but little is known about Mediator function in adult stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. We show that MED12, a member of the Mediator kinase module, is an essential regulator of HSC homeostasis, as in vivo deletion of Med12 causes rapid bone marrow aplasia leading to acute lethality. Deleting other members of the Mediator kinase module does not affect HSC function, suggesting kinase-independent roles of MED12. MED12 deletion destabilizes P300 binding at lineage-specific enhancers, resulting in H3K27Ac depletion, enhancer de-activation, and consequent loss of HSC stemness signatures. As MED12 mutations have been described recently in blood malignancies, alterations in MED12-dependent enhancer regulation may control both physiological and malignant hematopoiesis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The MED-SUV Multidisciplinary Interoperability Infrastructure
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mazzetti, Paolo; D'Auria, Luca; Reitano, Danilo; Papeschi, Fabrizio; Roncella, Roberto; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Nativi, Stefano
2016-04-01
In accordance with the international Supersite initiative concept, the MED-SUV (MEDiterranean SUpersite Volcanoes) European project (http://med-suv.eu/) aims to enable long-term monitoring experiment in two relevant geologically active regions of Europe prone to natural hazards: Mt. Vesuvio/Campi Flegrei and Mt. Etna. This objective requires the integration of existing components, such as monitoring systems and data bases and novel sensors for the measurements of volcanic parameters. Moreover, MED-SUV is also a direct contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) as one the volcano Supersites recognized by the Group on Earth Observation (GEO). To achieve its goal, MED-SUV set up an advanced e-infrastructure allowing the discovery of and access to heterogeneous data for multidisciplinary applications, and the integration with external systems like GEOSS. The MED-SUV overall infrastructure is conceived as a three layer architecture with the lower layer (Data level) including the identified relevant data sources, the mid-tier (Supersite level) including components for mediation and harmonization , and the upper tier (Global level) composed of the systems that MED-SUV must serve, such as GEOSS and possibly other global/community systems. The Data level is mostly composed of existing data sources, such as space agencies satellite data archives, the UNAVCO system, the INGV-Rome data service. They share data according to different specifications for metadata, data and service interfaces, and cannot be changed. Thus, the only relevant MED-SUV activity at this level was the creation of a MED-SUV local repository based on Web Accessible Folder (WAF) technology, deployed in the INGV site in Catania, and hosting in-situ data and products collected and generated during the project. The Supersite level is at the core of the MED-SUV architecture, since it must mediate between the disparate data sources in the layer below, and provide a harmonized view to the layer above. In order to address data and service heteogeneity, the MED-SUV infrastructure is based on the brokered architecture approach, implemented using the GI-suite Brokering Framework for discovery and access. The GI-Suite Brokering Framework has been extended and configured to broker all the identified relevant data sources. It is also able to publish data according to several de-iure and de-facto standards including OGC CSW and OpenSearch, facilitating the interconnection with external systems. At the Global level, MED-SUV identified the interconnection with GEOSS as the main requirement. Since MED-SUV Supersite level is implemented based on the same technology adopted in the current GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI) by the GEO Discovery and Access Broker (GEO DAB), no major interoperability problem is foreseen. The MED-SUV Multidisciplinary Interoperability Infrastructure is complemented by a user portal providing human-to-machine interaction, and enabling data discovery and access. The GI-Suite Brokering Framework APIs and javascript library support machine-to-machine interaction, enabling the creation of mobile and Web applications using information available through the MED-SUV Supersite.
LactMed: New NLM Database on Drugs and Lactation
... Issues Research News From NIH LactMed: New NLM Database on Drugs and Lactation Past Issues / Summer 2006 ... Javascript on. Photo: Comstock LactMed, a free online database with information on drugs and lactation, is one ...
Genetics Home Reference: nonsyndromic holoprosencephaly
... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Solomon BD, Gropman A, Muenke M. Holoprosencephaly Overview. 2000 ... nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1530/ Citation on PubMed Solomon BD, Mercier S, Vélez JI, Pineda-Alvarez DE, Wyllie ...
Genetics Home Reference: giant axonal neuropathy
... 002. Epub 2014 Dec 19. Citation on PubMed Johnson-Kerner BL, Garcia Diaz A, Ekins S, Wichterle H. ... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Johnson-Kerner BL, Roth L, Greene JP, Wichterle H, ...
Genetics Home Reference: dentinogenesis imperfecta
... Epub 2004 Feb 3. Citation on PubMed McKnight DA, Simmer JP, Hart PS, Hart TC, Fisher LW. ... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central McKnight DA, Suzanne Hart P, Hart TC, Hartsfield JK, Wilson ...
Igeta, Yuka; Vernet, Paul; Facca, Sybille; Naroura, Ismaël; Hidalgo Diaz, Juan José; Liverneaux, Philippe A
2018-03-03
With regards to Juan José Hidalgo Diaz, fifth author. The author's name is incorrectly listed on Pub-Med. The first and last name has been mixed up.Correct first name is: JJ (on PubMed: JJH.).Correct last name is: Hidalgo Diaz (on PubMed: Diaz).On SpringerLink the name is listed correctly, but on PubMed he is listed as Diaz JJH.
JTF CapMed Initial Outfitting and Transition (IO&T) - History, Process, Benefits
2011-01-26
Sharing Knowledge: Achieving Breakthrough Performance 2010 Military Health System Conference JTF CapMed 26 January, 2011 CAPT Russell Pendergrass...The Quadruple Aim: Working Together, Achieving Success 2011 Military Health System Confer nce JTF CapMed Initial Outfitting and Transition (IO&T...number. 1. REPORT DATE 26 JAN 2011 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2011 to 00-00-2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE JTF CapMed Initial Outfitting
Ablation of Coactivator Med1 Switches the Cell Fate of Dental Epithelia to That Generating Hair
Nguyen, Thai; Sakai, Kiyoshi; He, Bing; Fong, Chak; Oda, Yuko
2014-01-01
Cell fates are determined by specific transcriptional programs. Here we provide evidence that the transcriptional coactivator, Mediator 1 (Med1), is essential for the cell fate determination of ectodermal epithelia. Conditional deletion of Med1 in vivo converted dental epithelia into epidermal epithelia, causing defects in enamel organ development while promoting hair formation in the incisors. We identified multiple processes by which hairs are generated in Med1 deficient incisors: 1) dental epithelial stem cells lacking Med 1 fail to commit to the dental lineage, 2) Sox2-expressing stem cells extend into the differentiation zone and remain multi-potent due to reduced Notch1 signaling, and 3) epidermal fate is induced by calcium as demonstrated in dental epithelial cell cultures. These results demonstrate that Med1 is a master regulator in adult stem cells to govern epithelial cell fate. PMID:24949995
Mars2020 Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) Do No Harm Test Series
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Swanson, Gregory; Santos, Jose; White, Todd; Bruce, Walt; Kuhl, Chris; Wright, Henry
2017-01-01
A total of seventeen instrumented thermal sensor plugs, eight pressure transducers, two heat flux sensors, and one radiometer are planned to be utilized on the Mars 2020 missions thermal protection system (TPS) as part of the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation II (MEDLI2) project. Of the MEDLI2 instrumentation, eleven instrumented thermal plugs and seven pressure transducers will be installed on the heatshield of the Mars 2020 vehicle while the rest will be installed on the backshell. The goal of the MEDLI2 instrumentation is to directly inform the large performance uncertainties that contribute to the design and validation of a Mars entry system. A better understanding of the entry environment and TPS performance could lead to reduced design margins enabling a greater payload mass-fraction and smaller landing ellipses. To prove that the MEDLI2 system will not degrade the performance of the Mars 2020 TPS, an Aerothermal Do No Harm (DNH) test series was designed and conducted. Like Mars 2020s predecessor, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the heatshield material will be Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA); the Mars 2020 entry conditions are enveloped by the MSL design environments, therefore the development and qualification testing performed during MEDLI is sufficient to show that the similar MEDLI2 heatshield instrumentation will not degrade PICA performance. However, given that MEDLI did not include any backshell instrumentation, the MEDLI2 team was required to design and execute a DNH test series utilizing the backshell TPS material (SLA-561V) with the intended flight sensor suite. To meet the requirements handed down from Mars 2020, the MEDLI2 DNH test series emphasized the interaction between the MEDLI2 sensors and sensing locations with the surrounding backshell TPS and substrucutre. These interactions were characterized by performing environmental testing of four 12 by 12 test panels, which mimicked the construction of the backshell TPS and the integration of the MEDLI2 sensors as seen in Figure 1. The testing included thermal vacuumcycling, random vibration, shock, and arc jet testing. The test panels were fabricated by Lockheed Martin, establishing techniques that will be utilized during the Mars 2020 vehicle installation. Each test panel included one thermal sensor plug (two embedded thermocouples), one heat flux sensor, and multiple pressure port holes for evaluation.This presentation will discuss the planning and execution of the MEDLI2 DNH test series. Selected highlights and results of each environmental test will be presented, and lessons learned will be addressed that will feed forward into the planning for the MEDLI2 flight system certification testing.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Swanson, G. T.; Santos, J. A.; White, T. R.; Bruce, W. E.; Kuhl, C. A.; Wright, H. S.
2017-01-01
Mars 2020 will fly the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation II (MEDLI2) sensor suite consisting of a total of seventeen instrumented thermal sensor plugs, eight pressure transducers, two heat flux sensors, and one radiometer embedded in the thermal protection system (TPS). Of the MEDLI2 instrumentation, eleven instrumented thermal plugs and seven pressure transducers will be installed on the heatshield of the Mars 2020 vehicle while the rest will be installed on the backshell. The goal of the MEDLI2 instrumentation is to directly inform the large performance uncertainties that contribute to the design and validation of a Mars entry system. A better understanding of the entry environment and TPS performance could lead to reduced design margins enabling a greater payload mass-fraction and smaller landing ellipses. To prove that the MEDLI2 system will not degrade the performance of the Mars 2020 TPS, an Aerothermal Do No Harm (DNH) test series was designed and conducted. Like Mars 2020's predecessor, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the heatshield material will be Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA); the Mars 2020 entry conditions are enveloped by the MSL design environments, therefore the development and qualification testing performed during MEDLI is sufficient to show that the similar MEDLI2 heatshield instrumentation will not degrade PICA performance. However, given that MEDLI did not include any backshell instrumentation, the MEDLI2 team was required to design and execute a DNH test series utilizing the backshell TPS material (SLA-561V) with the intended flight sensor suite. To meet the requirements handed down from Mars 2020, the MEDLI2 DNH test series emphasized the interaction between the MEDLI2 sensors and sensing locations with the surrounding backshell TPS and substrucutre. These interactions were characterized by performing environmental testing of four 12" by 12" test panels, which mimicked the construction of the backshell TPS and the integration of the MEDLI2 sensors as seen in Figure 1. The testing included thermal vacuum/ cycling, random vibration, shock, and arc jet testing. The test panels were fabricated by Lockheed Martin, establishing techniques that will be utilized during the Mars 2020 vehicle installation. Each test panel included one thermal sensor plug (two embedded thermocouples), one heat flux sensor, and multiple pressure port holes for evaluation. This presentation will discuss the planning and execution of the MEDLI2 DNH test series. Selected highlights and results of each environmental test will be presented, and lessons learned will be addressed that will feed forward into the planning for the MEDLI2 flight system certification testing.
Use of scientific social networking to improve the research strategies of PubMed readers.
Evdokimov, Pavel; Kudryavtsev, Alexey; Ilgisonis, Ekaterina; Ponomarenko, Elena; Lisitsa, Andrey
2016-02-18
Keeping up with journal articles on a daily basis is an important activity of scientists engaged in biomedical research. Usually, journal articles and papers in the field of biomedicine are accessed through the Medline/PubMed electronic library. In the process of navigating PubMed, researchers unknowingly generate user-specific reading profiles that can be shared within a social networking environment. This paper examines the structure of the social networking environment generated by PubMed users. A web browser plugin was developed to map [in Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms] the reading patterns of individual PubMed users. We developed a scientific social network based on the personal research profiles of readers of biomedical articles. A browser plugin is used to record the digital object identifier or PubMed ID of web pages. Recorded items are posted on the activity feed and automatically mapped to PubMed abstract. Within the activity feed a user can trace back previously browsed articles and insert comments. By calculating the frequency with which specific MeSH occur, the research interests of PubMed users can be visually represented with a tag cloud. Finally, research profiles can be searched for matches between network users. A social networking environment was created using MeSH terms to map articles accessed through the Medline/PubMed online library system. In-network social communication is supported by the recommendation of articles and by matching users with similar scientific interests. The system is available at http://bioknol.org/en/.
He, C; Xie, W; Yang, X; Wang, S-L; Wu, Q-J; Zhang, Y-J
2018-02-01
The Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera:Aleyrodidae) species complex includes invasive and destructive pests of field crops, and the sibling species MEAM1 and MED are its two most damaging members. Previous research indicated that the replacement of Middle East-Minor Asia 1 (MEAM1) by Mediterranean (MED) as the dominant B. tabaci species in China can be mainly attributed to MED's greater tolerance to insecticides. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play important roles in the detoxification of hydrophobic toxic compounds. To increase our understanding of differences in insecticide resistance between B. tabaci MEAM1 and MED, we searched the genomic and transcriptomic databases and identified 23 putative GSTs in both B. tabaci MEAM1 and MED. Through measuring mRNA levels of 18 of the GSTs after B. tabaci MEAM1 and MED adults were exposed to the insecticide imidacloprid, we found that the expression levels were increased more in B. tabaci MED than in MEAM1 (in particular, the expression level of GST-d7 was increased by 4.39-fold relative to the control). Knockdown of GST-d7 in B. tabaci MED but not in B. tabaci MEAM1 resulted in a substantial increase in the mortality of imidacloprid-treated adults. These results indicate that differences in GST-d7 may help explain why insecticide tolerance is greater in B. tabaci MED than in B. tabaci MEAM1. © 2017 The Royal Entomological Society.
Mediterranean diet and risk of heart failure: results from the PREDIMED randomized controlled trial.
Papadaki, Angeliki; Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel; Alonso-Gómez, Angel; Rekondo, Javier; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Corella, Dolores; Ros, Emilio; Fitó, Montse; Estruch, Ramon; Lapetra, José; García-Rodriguez, Antonio; Fiol, Miquel; Serra-Majem, Lluís; Pintó, Xavier; Ruiz-Canela, Miguel; Bulló, Monica; Serra-Mir, Mercè; Sorlí, Jose V; Arós, Fernando
2017-09-01
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on the incidence of heart failure (HF), a pre-specified secondary outcome in the PREDIMED (PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea) primary nutrition-intervention prevention trial. Participants at high risk of cardiovascular disease were randomly assigned to one of three diets: MedDiet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), MedDiet supplemented with nuts, or a low-fat control diet. Incident HF was ascertained by a Committee for Adjudication of events blinded to group allocation. Among 7403 participants without prevalent HF followed for a median of 4.8 years, we observed 29 new HF cases in the MedDiet with EVOO group, 33 in the MedDiet with nuts group, and 32 in the control group. No significant association with HF incidence was found for the MedDiet with EVOO and MedDiet with nuts, compared with the control group [hazard ratio (HR) 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.41-1.13, and HR 0.92; 95% CI 0.56-1.49, respectively]. In this sample of adults at high cardiovascular risk, the MedDiet did not result in lower HF incidence. However, this pre-specified secondary analysis may have been underpowered to provide valid conclusions. Further randomized controlled trials with HF as a primary outcome are needed to better assess the effect of the MedDiet on HF risk. ISRCTN35739639. © 2017 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure © 2017 European Society of Cardiology.
PubMedPortable: A Framework for Supporting the Development of Text Mining Applications.
Döring, Kersten; Grüning, Björn A; Telukunta, Kiran K; Thomas, Philippe; Günther, Stefan
2016-01-01
Information extraction from biomedical literature is continuously growing in scope and importance. Many tools exist that perform named entity recognition, e.g. of proteins, chemical compounds, and diseases. Furthermore, several approaches deal with the extraction of relations between identified entities. The BioCreative community supports these developments with yearly open challenges, which led to a standardised XML text annotation format called BioC. PubMed provides access to the largest open biomedical literature repository, but there is no unified way of connecting its data to natural language processing tools. Therefore, an appropriate data environment is needed as a basis to combine different software solutions and to develop customised text mining applications. PubMedPortable builds a relational database and a full text index on PubMed citations. It can be applied either to the complete PubMed data set or an arbitrary subset of downloaded PubMed XML files. The software provides the infrastructure to combine stand-alone applications by exporting different data formats, e.g. BioC. The presented workflows show how to use PubMedPortable to retrieve, store, and analyse a disease-specific data set. The provided use cases are well documented in the PubMedPortable wiki. The open-source software library is small, easy to use, and scalable to the user's system requirements. It is freely available for Linux on the web at https://github.com/KerstenDoering/PubMedPortable and for other operating systems as a virtual container. The approach was tested extensively and applied successfully in several projects.
Ortega, E; Franch, J; Castell, C; Goday, A; Ribas-Barba, L; Soriguer, F; Vendrell, J; Casamitjana, R; Bosch-Comas, A; Bordiú, E; Calle-Pascual, A; Carmena, R; Castaño, L; Catalá, M; Delgado, E; Gaztambide, S; Girbés, J; López-Alba, A; Martínez-Larrad, M T; Menéndez, E; Mora-Peces, I; Pascual-Manich, G; Rojo-Martínez, G; Serrano-Rios, M; Urrutía, I; Valdés, S; Vázquez, J A; Gomis, R
2013-01-01
Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is causally related to diabetes and is a dietary pattern recommended to individuals with diabetes. We investigated MedDiet adherence in individuals with prediabetes and unknown (PREDM/UKDM) or known diabetes (KDM) compared to those with normal glucose metabolism (NORMAL). This was a national, population-based, cross-sectional, cluster-sampling study. MedDiet adherence was scored (MedScore, mean ± SD 24 ± 5) using a qualitative food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between MedScore and PREDM/UKDM or KDM versus control subjects. We evaluated 5,076 individuals. Mean age was 50 years, 57% were female, 826 (582/244) were PREDM/UKDM, 478 were KDM and 3,772 were NORMAL. Mean age increased across MedScore tertiles (46, 51 and 56 years, p < 0.0001). Higher age-adjusted adherence to MedDiet (5-unit increment in the MedScore) was associated with lower and nondifferent odds (OR, 95% CI) of prevalent PREDM/UKDM (0.88, 0.81-0.96, p = 0.001) and KDM (0.97, 0.87-1.07, p = 0.279), respectively, compared to individuals in the NORMAL group. In a representative sample of the whole Spanish population, MedDiet adherence is independently associated with PREDM/UKDM. Therapeutic intervention may be, in part, responsible for the lack of differences in adherence observed between the KDM and NORMAL groups. However, reverse causation bias cannot be ruled out in cross-sectional studies. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.
PubMedPortable: A Framework for Supporting the Development of Text Mining Applications
Döring, Kersten; Grüning, Björn A.; Telukunta, Kiran K.; Thomas, Philippe; Günther, Stefan
2016-01-01
Information extraction from biomedical literature is continuously growing in scope and importance. Many tools exist that perform named entity recognition, e.g. of proteins, chemical compounds, and diseases. Furthermore, several approaches deal with the extraction of relations between identified entities. The BioCreative community supports these developments with yearly open challenges, which led to a standardised XML text annotation format called BioC. PubMed provides access to the largest open biomedical literature repository, but there is no unified way of connecting its data to natural language processing tools. Therefore, an appropriate data environment is needed as a basis to combine different software solutions and to develop customised text mining applications. PubMedPortable builds a relational database and a full text index on PubMed citations. It can be applied either to the complete PubMed data set or an arbitrary subset of downloaded PubMed XML files. The software provides the infrastructure to combine stand-alone applications by exporting different data formats, e.g. BioC. The presented workflows show how to use PubMedPortable to retrieve, store, and analyse a disease-specific data set. The provided use cases are well documented in the PubMedPortable wiki. The open-source software library is small, easy to use, and scalable to the user’s system requirements. It is freely available for Linux on the web at https://github.com/KerstenDoering/PubMedPortable and for other operating systems as a virtual container. The approach was tested extensively and applied successfully in several projects. PMID:27706202
Technical development of PubMed interact: an improved interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches.
Muin, Michael; Fontelo, Paul
2006-11-03
The project aims to create an alternative search interface for MEDLINE/PubMed that may provide assistance to the novice user and added convenience to the advanced user. An earlier version of the project was the 'Slider Interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches' (SLIM) which provided JavaScript slider bars to control search parameters. In this new version, recent developments in Web-based technologies were implemented. These changes may prove to be even more valuable in enhancing user interactivity through client-side manipulation and management of results. PubMed Interact is a Web-based MEDLINE/PubMed search application built with HTML, JavaScript and PHP. It is implemented on a Windows Server 2003 with Apache 2.0.52, PHP 4.4.1 and MySQL 4.1.18. PHP scripts provide the backend engine that connects with E-Utilities and parses XML files. JavaScript manages client-side functionalities and converts Web pages into interactive platforms using dynamic HTML (DHTML), Document Object Model (DOM) tree manipulation and Ajax methods. With PubMed Interact, users can limit searches with JavaScript slider bars, preview result counts, delete citations from the list, display and add related articles and create relevance lists. Many interactive features occur at client-side, which allow instant feedback without reloading or refreshing the page resulting in a more efficient user experience. PubMed Interact is a highly interactive Web-based search application for MEDLINE/PubMed that explores recent trends in Web technologies like DOM tree manipulation and Ajax. It may become a valuable technical development for online medical search applications.
Genetics Home Reference: hand-foot-genital syndrome
... article on PubMed Central Goodman FR, Scambler PJ. Human HOX gene mutations. Clin Genet. 2001 Jan;59(1):1- ... on PubMed Goodman FR. Limb malformations and the human HOX genes. Am J Med Genet. 2002 Oct 15;112( ...
MedlinePlus FAQ: MedlinePlus and MEDLINE/PubMed
... What is the difference between MedlinePlus and MEDLINE/PubMed? To use the sharing features on this page, ... latest health professional articles on your topic. MEDLINE/PubMed: Is a database of professional biomedical literature Is ...
Genetics Home Reference: lactose intolerance
... or Free article on PubMed Central Järvelä IE. Molecular genetics of adult-type hypolactasia. Ann Med. 2005;37( ... Citation on PubMed Robayo-Torres CC, Nichols BL. Molecular differentiation of congenital lactase ... Bulletins Genetics Home Reference Celebrates Its ...
MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program
... Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program Share ... use. [Posted 06/01/2018] More What's New FDA Approved Safety Information DailyMed (National Library of Medicine) ...
Genetics Home Reference: Carpenter syndrome
... doi: 10.1097/SCS.0b013e318184357a. Citation on PubMed Jenkins D, Baynam G, De Catte L, Elcioglu N, ... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Jenkins D, Seelow D, Jehee FS, Perlyn CA, Alonso ...
Livingstone, Katherine M; Celis-Morales, Carlos; Navas-Carretero, Santiago; San-Cristobal, Rodrigo; Macready, Anna L; Fallaize, Rosalind; Forster, Hannah; Woolhead, Clara; O'Donovan, Clare B; Marsaux, Cyril Fm; Kolossa, Silvia; Tsirigoti, Lydia; Lambrinou, Christina P; Moschonis, George; Godlewska, Magdalena; Surwiłło, Agnieszka; Drevon, Christian A; Manios, Yannis; Traczyk, Iwona; Gibney, Eileen R; Brennan, Lorraine; Walsh, Marianne C; Lovegrove, Julie A; Saris, Wim H; Daniel, Hannelore; Gibney, Mike; Martinez, J Alfredo; Mathers, John C
2016-08-01
Little is known about the efficacy of personalized nutrition (PN) interventions for improving consumption of a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet). The objective was to evaluate the effect of a PN intervention on dietary changes associated with the MedDiet. Participants (n = 1607) were recruited into a 6-mo, Internet-based, PN randomized controlled trial (Food4Me) designed to evaluate the effect of PN on dietary change. Participants were randomly assigned to receive conventional dietary advice [control; level 0 (L0)] or PN advice on the basis of current diet [level 1 (L1)], diet and phenotype [level 2 (L2)], or diet, phenotype, and genotype [level 3 (L3)]. Dietary intakes from food-frequency questionnaires at baseline and at 6 mo were converted to a MedDiet score. Linear regression compared participant characteristics between high (>5) and low (≤5) MedDiet scores. Differences in MedDiet scores between treatment arms at month 6 were evaluated by using contrast analyses. At baseline, high MedDiet scorers had a 0.5 lower body mass index (in kg/m(2); P = 0.007) and a 0.03 higher physical activity level (P = 0.003) than did low scorers. MedDiet scores at month 6 were greater in individuals randomly assigned to receive PN (L1, L2, and L3) than in controls (PN compared with controls: 5.20 ± 0.05 and 5.48 ± 0.07, respectively; P = 0.002). There was no significant difference in MedDiet scores at month 6 between PN advice on the basis of L1 compared with L2 and L3. However, differences in MedDiet scores at month 6 were greater in L3 than in L2 (L3 compared with L2: 5.63 ± 0.10 and 5.38 ± 0.10, respectively; P = 0.029). Higher MedDiet scores at baseline were associated with healthier lifestyles and lower adiposity. After the intervention, MedDiet scores were greater in individuals randomly assigned to receive PN than in controls, with the addition of DNA-based dietary advice resulting in the largest differences in MedDiet scores. Although differences were significant, their clinical relevance is modest. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01530139. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
PubMed vs. HighWire Press: a head-to-head comparison of two medical literature search engines.
Vanhecke, Thomas E; Barnes, Michael A; Zimmerman, Janet; Shoichet, Sandor
2007-09-01
PubMed and HighWire Press are both useful medical literature search engines available for free to anyone on the internet. We measured retrieval accuracy, number of results generated, retrieval speed, features and search tools on HighWire Press and PubMed using the quick search features of each. We found that using HighWire Press resulted in a higher likelihood of retrieving the desired article and higher number of search results than the same search on PubMed. PubMed was faster than HighWire Press in delivering search results regardless of search settings. There are considerable differences in search features between these two search engines.
[Use of PubMed to improve evidence-based medicine in routine urological practice].
Rink, M; Kluth, L A; Shariat, S F; Chun, F K; Fisch, M; Dahm, P
2013-03-01
Applying evidence-based medicine in daily clinical practice is the basis of patient-centered medicine and knowledge of accurate literature acquisition skills is necessary for informed clinical decision-making. PubMed is an easy accessible, free bibliographic database comprising over 21 million citations from the medical field, life-science journals and online books. The article summarizes the effective use of PubMed in routine urological clinical practice based on a common case scenario. This article explains the simple use of PubMed to obtain the best search results with the highest evidence. Accurate knowledge about the use of PubMed in routine clinical practice can improve evidence-based medicine and also patient treatment.
Dolan, Whitney L; Dilkes, Brian P; Stout, Jake M; Bonawitz, Nicholas D; Chapple, Clint
2017-12-01
The phenylpropanoid pathway is a major global carbon sink and is important for plant fitness and the engineering of bioenergy feedstocks. In Arabidopsis thaliana , disruption of two subunits of the transcriptional regulatory Mediator complex, MED5a and MED5b, results in an increase in phenylpropanoid accumulation. By contrast, the semidominant MED5b mutation reduced epidermal fluorescence4-3 ( ref4-3 ) results in dwarfism and constitutively repressed phenylpropanoid accumulation. Here, we report the results of a forward genetic screen for suppressors of ref4-3. We identified 13 independent lines that restore growth and/or phenylpropanoid accumulation in the ref4-3 background. Two of the suppressors restore growth without restoring soluble phenylpropanoid accumulation, indicating that the growth and metabolic phenotypes of the ref4-3 mutant can be genetically disentangled. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that all but one of the suppressors carry mutations in MED5b or other Mediator subunits. RNA-seq analysis showed that the ref4-3 mutation causes widespread changes in gene expression, including the upregulation of negative regulators of the phenylpropanoid pathway, and that the suppressors reverse many of these changes. Together, our data highlight the interdependence of individual Mediator subunits and provide greater insight into the transcriptional regulation of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis by the Mediator complex. © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.
Quantity and quality assessment of randomized controlled trials on orthodontic practice in PubMed.
Shimada, Tatsuo; Takayama, Hisako; Nakamura, Yoshiki
2010-07-01
To find current high-quality evidence for orthodontic practice within a reasonable time, we tested the performance of a PubMed search. PubMed was searched using publication type randomized controlled trial and medical subject heading term "orthodontics" for articles published between 2003 and 2007. The PubMed search results were compared with those from a hand search of four orthodontic journals to determine the sensitivity of PubMed search. We evaluated the precision of the PubMed search result and assessed the quality of individual randomized controlled trials using the Jadad scale. Sensitivity and precision were 97.46% and 58.12%, respectively. In PubMed, of the 277 articles retrieved, 161 (58.12%) were randomized controlled trials on orthodontic practice, and 115 of the 161 articles (71.42%) were published in four orthodontic journals: American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, The Angle Orthodontist, the European Journal of Orthodontics, and the Journal of Orthodontics. Assessment by the Jadad scale revealed 60 high-quality randomized controlled trials on orthodontic practice, of which 45 (75%) were published in these four journals. PubMed is a highly desirable search engine for evidence-based orthodontic practice. To stay current and get high-quality evidence, it is reasonable to look through four orthodontic journals: American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, The Angle Orthodontist, the European Journal of Orthodontics, and the Journal of Orthodontics.
Hemsley, Piers A.; Hurst, Charlotte H.; Kaliyadasa, Ewon; Lamb, Rebecca; Knight, Marc R.; De Cothi, Elizabeth A.; Steele, John F.; Knight, Heather
2014-01-01
The Mediator16 (MED16; formerly termed SENSITIVE TO FREEZING6 [SFR6]) subunit of the plant Mediator transcriptional coactivator complex regulates cold-responsive gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana, acting downstream of the C-repeat binding factor (CBF) transcription factors to recruit the core Mediator complex to cold-regulated genes. Here, we use loss-of-function mutants to show that RNA polymerase II recruitment to CBF-responsive cold-regulated genes requires MED16, MED2, and MED14 subunits. Transcription of genes known to be regulated via CBFs binding to the C-repeat motif/drought-responsive element promoter motif requires all three Mediator subunits, as does cold acclimation–induced freezing tolerance. In addition, these three subunits are required for low temperature–induced expression of some other, but not all, cold-responsive genes, including genes that are not known targets of CBFs. Genes inducible by darkness also required MED16 but required a different combination of Mediator subunits for their expression than the genes induced by cold. Together, our data illustrate that plants control transcription of specific genes through the action of subsets of Mediator subunits; the specific combination defined by the nature of the stimulus but also by the identity of the gene induced. PMID:24415770
Wang, Yunshu; Hu, Zongli; Zhang, Jianling; Yu, XiaoHui; Guo, Jun-E; Liang, Honglian; Liao, Changguang; Chen, Guoping
2018-02-19
Mediator complex, a conserved multi-protein, is necessary for controlling RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription in eukaryotes. Given little is known about them in tomato, a tomato Mediator subunit 18 gene was isolated and named SlMED18. To further explore the function of SlMED18, the transgenic tomato plants targeting SlMED18 by RNAi-mediated gene silencing were generated. The SlMED18-RNAi lines exhibited multiple developmental defects, including smaller size and slower growth rate of plant and significantly smaller compound leaves. The contents of endogenous bioactive GA 3 in SlMED18 silenced lines were slightly less than that in wild type. Furthermore, qRT-PCR analysis indicated that expression of gibberellins biosynthesis genes such as SlGACPS and SlGA20x2, auxin transport genes (PIN1, PIN4, LAX1 and LAX2) and several key regulators, KNOX1, KNOX2, PHAN and LANCEOLATE(LA), which involved in the leaf morphogenesis were significantly down-regulated in SlMED18-RNAi lines. These results illustrated that SlMED18 plays an essential role in regulating plant internode elongation and leaf expansion in tomato plants and it acts as a key positive regulator of gibberellins biosynthesis and signal transduction as well as auxin proper transport signalling. These findings are the basis for understanding the function of the individual Mediator subunits in tomato.
Yoshizaki, Keigo; Hu, Lizhi; Nguyen, Thai; Sakai, Kiyoshi; Ishikawa, Masaki; Takahashi, Ichiro; Fukumoto, Satoshi; DenBesten, Pamela K; Bikle, Daniel D; Oda, Yuko; Yamada, Yoshihiko
2017-08-18
Tooth enamel is mineralized through the differentiation of multiple dental epithelia including ameloblasts and the stratum intermedium (SI), and this differentiation is controlled by several signaling pathways. Previously, we demonstrated that the transcriptional coactivator Mediator 1 (MED1) plays a critical role in enamel formation. For instance, conditional ablation of Med1 in dental epithelia causes functional changes in incisor-specific dental epithelial stem cells, resulting in mineralization defects in the adult incisors. However, the molecular mechanism by which Med1 deficiency causes these abnormalities is not clear. Here, we demonstrated that Med1 ablation causes early SI differentiation defects resulting in enamel hypoplasia of the Med1 -deficient molars. Med1 deletion prevented Notch1-mediated differentiation of the SI cells resulting in decreased alkaline phosphatase (ALPL), which is essential for mineralization. However, it does not affect the ability of ameloblasts to produce enamel matrix proteins. Using the dental epithelial SF2 cell line, we demonstrated that MED1 directly activates transcription of the Alpl gene through the stimulation of Notch1 signaling by forming a complex with cleaved Notch1-RBP-Jk on the Alpl promoter. These results suggest that MED1 may be essential for enamel matrix mineralization by serving as a coactivator for Notch1 signaling regulating transcription of the Alpl gene.
Effects of Mediterranean diets on kidney function: a report from the PREDIMED trial.
Díaz-López, Andrés; Bulló, Mònica; Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel; Guasch-Ferré, Marta; Ros, Emilio; Basora, Josep; Covas, María-Isabel; del Carmen López-Sabater, Maria; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi
2012-09-01
Epidemiologic observations have linked healthy dietary patterns to improved kidney function. We assessed the effects of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on kidney function in both a cross-sectional assessment and after a 1-year intervention in a cohort of the PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) Study, a multicenter 3-arm randomized clinical trial to determine the efficacy of the MedDiet on primary cardiovascular prevention. Community-dwelling men aged 55-80 years and women aged 60-80 years at high risk of cardiovascular disease from Reus, Spain. Participants were randomly assigned to 3 ad libitum diets: a MedDiet supplemented with virgin olive oil (MedDiet + olive oil), a MedDiet supplemented with mixed nuts (MedDiet + nuts), or a control low-fat diet. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR). Nutrient intake, adherence to the MedDiet, lifestyle variables, cardiovascular risk factors, serum urea and creatinine concentrations, eGFR, and urinary ACR were evaluated at baseline and after intervention for 1 year. Baseline kidney function markers were similar across quartiles of adherence to the MedDiet in 785 participants (55% women; mean age, 67 years). After a 1-year intervention in 665 participants, the 3 dietary approaches were associated with improved kidney function, with similar average increases in eGFR (4.7 [95% CI, 3.2-6.2], 3.5 [95% CI, 1.9-5.0], and 4.1 [95% CI, 2.8-5.5] mL/min/1.73 m(2) for the MedDiet + olive oil, MedDiet + nuts, and control groups, respectively [P < 0.001 vs baseline for each; P = 0.9 for differences among groups]), but no changes in ACRs after adjustment for various confounders. Generalization of results to other age groups or ethnicities. GFR was not directly measured. The results do not support the notion that the MedDiet has a beneficial effect on kidney function over and above that of advice for a low-fat diet in elderly individuals at high cardiovascular risk. Copyright © 2012 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A study on PubMed search tag usage pattern: association rule mining of a full-day PubMed query log.
Mosa, Abu Saleh Mohammad; Yoo, Illhoi
2013-01-09
The practice of evidence-based medicine requires efficient biomedical literature search such as PubMed/MEDLINE. Retrieval performance relies highly on the efficient use of search field tags. The purpose of this study was to analyze PubMed log data in order to understand the usage pattern of search tags by the end user in PubMed/MEDLINE search. A PubMed query log file was obtained from the National Library of Medicine containing anonymous user identification, timestamp, and query text. Inconsistent records were removed from the dataset and the search tags were extracted from the query texts. A total of 2,917,159 queries were selected for this study issued by a total of 613,061 users. The analysis of frequent co-occurrences and usage patterns of the search tags was conducted using an association mining algorithm. The percentage of search tag usage was low (11.38% of the total queries) and only 2.95% of queries contained two or more tags. Three out of four users used no search tag and about two-third of them issued less than four queries. Among the queries containing at least one tagged search term, the average number of search tags was almost half of the number of total search terms. Navigational search tags are more frequently used than informational search tags. While no strong association was observed between informational and navigational tags, six (out of 19) informational tags and six (out of 29) navigational tags showed strong associations in PubMed searches. The low percentage of search tag usage implies that PubMed/MEDLINE users do not utilize the features of PubMed/MEDLINE widely or they are not aware of such features or solely depend on the high recall focused query translation by the PubMed's Automatic Term Mapping. The users need further education and interactive search application for effective use of the search tags in order to fulfill their biomedical information needs from PubMed/MEDLINE.
Net Improvement of Correct Answers to Therapy Questions After PubMed Searches: Pre/Post Comparison
Keepanasseril, Arun
2013-01-01
Background Clinicians search PubMed for answers to clinical questions although it is time consuming and not always successful. Objective To determine if PubMed used with its Clinical Queries feature to filter results based on study quality would improve search success (more correct answers to clinical questions related to therapy). Methods We invited 528 primary care physicians to participate, 143 (27.1%) consented, and 111 (21.0% of the total and 77.6% of those who consented) completed the study. Participants answered 14 yes/no therapy questions and were given 4 of these (2 originally answered correctly and 2 originally answered incorrectly) to search using either the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries narrow therapy filter via a purpose-built system with identical search screens. Participants also picked 3 of the first 20 retrieved citations that best addressed each question. They were then asked to re-answer the original 14 questions. Results We found no statistically significant differences in the rates of correct or incorrect answers using the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries. The rate of correct answers increased from 50.0% to 61.4% (95% CI 55.0%-67.8%) for the PubMed main screen searches and from 50.0% to 59.1% (95% CI 52.6%-65.6%) for Clinical Queries searches. These net absolute increases of 11.4% and 9.1%, respectively, included previously correct answers changing to incorrect at a rate of 9.5% (95% CI 5.6%-13.4%) for PubMed main screen searches and 9.1% (95% CI 5.3%-12.9%) for Clinical Queries searches, combined with increases in the rate of being correct of 20.5% (95% CI 15.2%-25.8%) for PubMed main screen searches and 17.7% (95% CI 12.7%-22.7%) for Clinical Queries searches. Conclusions PubMed can assist clinicians answering clinical questions with an approximately 10% absolute rate of improvement in correct answers. This small increase includes more correct answers partially offset by a decrease in previously correct answers. PMID:24217329
Kundu, Madan G; Acharyya, Suddhasatta
2017-02-01
PFS is often used as a surrogate endpoint for OS in metastatic breast cancer studies. We have evaluated the association of treatment effect on PFS with significant HR OS (and how this association is affected by other factors) in published prospective metastatic breast cancer studies. A systematic literature search in PubMed identified prospective metastatic breast cancer studies. Treatment effects on PFS were determined using hazard ratio (HR PFS ), increase in median PFS (ΔMED PFS ) and % increase in median PFS (%ΔMED PFS ). Diagnostic accuracy of PFS measures (HR PFS , ΔMED PFS and %ΔMED PFS ) in predicting significant HR OS was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and classification tree approach (CART). Seventy-four cases (i.e., treatment to control comparisons) from 65 individual publications were identified for the analyses. Of these, 16 cases reported significant treatment effect on HR OS at 5% level of significance. Median number of deaths reported in these cases were 153. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) for diagnostic measures as HR PFS , ΔMED PFS and %ΔMED PFS were 0.69, 0.70 and 0.75, respectively. Classification tree results identified %ΔMED PFS and number of deaths as diagnostic measure for significant HR OS . Only 7.9% (3/39) cases with ΔMED PFS shorter than 48.27% reported significant HR OS . There were 7 cases with ΔMED PFS of 48.27% or more and number of deaths reported as 227 or more - of these 5 cases reported significant HR OS . %ΔMED PFS was found to be a better diagnostic measure for predicting significant HR OS . Our analysis results also suggest that consideration of total number of deaths may further improve its diagnostic performance. Based on our study results, the studies with 50% improvement in median PFS are more likely to produce significant HR OS if the total number of OS events at the time of analysis is 227 or more. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Genetics Home Reference: sitosterolemia
... Sitosterolemia ClinicalTrials.gov (1 link) ClinicalTrials.gov Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) SITOSTEROLEMIA Sources for This Page Berge KE. Sitosterolemia: a gateway to new knowledge about cholesterol metabolism. Ann Med. 2003;35(7):502-11. Review. ...
Lens, Zoé; Cantrelle, François-Xavier; Peruzzini, Riccardo; Hanoulle, Xavier; Dewitte, Frédérique; Ferreira, Elisabeth; Baert, Jean-Luc; Monté, Didier; Aumercier, Marc; Villeret, Vincent; Verger, Alexis; Landrieu, Isabelle
2017-10-13
MED26 is a subunit of Mediator, a large complex central to the regulation of gene transcription by RNA Polymerase II. MED26 plays a role in the switch between the initiation and elongation phases of RNA Polymerase II-mediated transcription process. Regulation of these steps requires successive binding of MED26 N-terminal domain (NTD) to TATA-binding protein-associated factor 7 (TAF7) and Eleven-nineteen lysine-rich in leukemia-Associated Factor 1 (EAF1). In order to investigate the mechanism of regulation by MED26, MED26-NTD structure was solved by NMR, revealing a 4-helix bundle. EAF1 (239-268) and TAF7 (205-235) peptide interactions were both mapped to the same groove formed by H3 and H4 helices of MED26-NTD. Both interactions are characterized by dissociation constants in the 10-μM range. Further experiments revealed a folding-upon-binding mechanism that leads to the formation of EAF1 (N247-S260) and TAF7 (L214-S227) helices. Chemical shift perturbations and nuclear Overhauser enhancement contacts support the involvement of residues I222/F223 in anchoring TAF7 helix to a hydrophobic pocket of MED26-NTD, including residues L48, W80 and I84. In addition, Ala mutations of charged residues located in the C-terminal disordered part of TAF7 and EAF1 peptides affected the binding, with a loss of affinity characterized by a 10-time increase of dissociation constants. A structural model of MED26-NTD/TAF7 complex shows bi-partite components, combining ordered and disordered segments, as well as hydrophobic and electrostatic contributions to the binding. This study provides molecular detail that will help to decipher the mechanistic basis for the initiation to elongation switch-function mediated by MED26-NTD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A functional portrait of Med7 and the mediator complex in Candida albicans.
Tebbji, Faiza; Chen, Yaolin; Richard Albert, Julien; Gunsalus, Kearney T W; Kumamoto, Carol A; Nantel, André; Sellam, Adnane; Whiteway, Malcolm
2014-11-01
Mediator is a multi-subunit protein complex that regulates gene expression in eukaryotes by integrating physiological and developmental signals and transmitting them to the general RNA polymerase II machinery. We examined, in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, a set of conditional alleles of genes encoding Mediator subunits of the head, middle, and tail modules that were found to be essential in the related ascomycete Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Intriguingly, while the Med4, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 21 and 22 subunits were essential in both fungi, the structurally highly conserved Med7 subunit was apparently non-essential in C. albicans. While loss of CaMed7 did not lead to loss of viability under normal growth conditions, it dramatically influenced the pathogen's ability to grow in different carbon sources, to form hyphae and biofilms, and to colonize the gastrointestinal tracts of mice. We used epitope tagging and location profiling of the Med7 subunit to examine the distribution of the DNA sites bound by Mediator during growth in either the yeast or the hyphal form, two distinct morphologies characterized by different transcription profiles. We observed a core set of 200 genes bound by Med7 under both conditions; this core set is expanded moderately during yeast growth, but is expanded considerably during hyphal growth, supporting the idea that Mediator binding correlates with changes in transcriptional activity and that this binding is condition specific. Med7 bound not only in the promoter regions of active genes but also within coding regions and at the 3' ends of genes. By combining genome-wide location profiling, expression analyses and phenotyping, we have identified different Med7p-influenced regulons including genes related to glycolysis and the Filamentous Growth Regulator family. In the absence of Med7, the ribosomal regulon is de-repressed, suggesting Med7 is involved in central aspects of growth control.
A Functional Portrait of Med7 and the Mediator Complex in Candida albicans
Tebbji, Faiza; Chen, Yaolin; Richard Albert, Julien; Gunsalus, Kearney T. W.; Kumamoto, Carol A.; Nantel, André; Sellam, Adnane; Whiteway, Malcolm
2014-01-01
Mediator is a multi-subunit protein complex that regulates gene expression in eukaryotes by integrating physiological and developmental signals and transmitting them to the general RNA polymerase II machinery. We examined, in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, a set of conditional alleles of genes encoding Mediator subunits of the head, middle, and tail modules that were found to be essential in the related ascomycete Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Intriguingly, while the Med4, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 21 and 22 subunits were essential in both fungi, the structurally highly conserved Med7 subunit was apparently non-essential in C. albicans. While loss of CaMed7 did not lead to loss of viability under normal growth conditions, it dramatically influenced the pathogen's ability to grow in different carbon sources, to form hyphae and biofilms, and to colonize the gastrointestinal tracts of mice. We used epitope tagging and location profiling of the Med7 subunit to examine the distribution of the DNA sites bound by Mediator during growth in either the yeast or the hyphal form, two distinct morphologies characterized by different transcription profiles. We observed a core set of 200 genes bound by Med7 under both conditions; this core set is expanded moderately during yeast growth, but is expanded considerably during hyphal growth, supporting the idea that Mediator binding correlates with changes in transcriptional activity and that this binding is condition specific. Med7 bound not only in the promoter regions of active genes but also within coding regions and at the 3′ ends of genes. By combining genome-wide location profiling, expression analyses and phenotyping, we have identified different Med7p-influenced regulons including genes related to glycolysis and the Filamentous Growth Regulator family. In the absence of Med7, the ribosomal regulon is de-repressed, suggesting Med7 is involved in central aspects of growth control. PMID:25375174
Fang, Yong; Wang, Jinda; Luo, Chen; Wang, Ran
2018-01-01
Abstract The Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) cryptic species complex includes important crop pests, and among them, the cryptic species Mediterranean (MED) and Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) cause substantial crop losses in China. The second-generation neonicotinoid clothianidin acts as an agonist of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the insect nervous system and has both stomach and contact activity. In this study, the toxicity of clothianidin and five other insecticides to MED and MEAM1 was examined. The sublethal effects of clothianidin on the development and reproduction of MED and MEAM1 were also investigated. Among the six insecticides tested, clothianidin showed toxicities to both MED and MEAM1 adults with LC50 values of 5.23 and 5.18 mg/liter, respectively. The sublethal effects of clothianidin were assessed by treating MED and MEAM1 adults with the LC25 of 1.58 and 1.13 mg/liter, respectively. The LC25 treatments accelerated the development of the F1 generation but reduced survival and fecundity of both species. Our results indicate that clothianidin could be useful for the management of B. tabaci MED and MEAM1. PMID:29718499
Boeker, Martin; Vach, Werner; Motschall, Edith
2013-01-01
To quantitatively describe (1) differences between search results derived at consecutive time points with the PubMed and OvidSP literature search interfaces over a five day interval, and (2) the migration of citations through different subsets to estimate the timeliness of OvidSP. PubMed-Identifiers (PMIDs) of the following subsets were retrieved from PubMed and OvidSP simultaneously (within 8 h) at 11 days in March and April 2010 including 5 consecutive days: as supplied by publisher, in process, PubMed not MEDLINE, and OLDMEDLINE. Search results were compared for difference and intersection sets. The migration of citations on individual level was determined by comparison of corresponding sets over several days. The "in process" set was stable with about 446,000 - 452,000 citations; a small fraction of up to 3 % of the total subsets were in PubMed only and OvidSP only subsets. About 96 % of the ca. 10,500 citations in the OvidSP only subset migrated within 2 days out of the "in process" subset. The database of OvidSP is updated within a period of two days.
Yao, Xiao; Tang, Zhanyun; Fu, Xing; Yin, Jingwen; Liang, Yan; Li, Chonghui; Li, Huayun; Tian, Qing; Roeder, Robert G; Wang, Gang
2015-12-02
The Mediator complex orchestrates multiple transcription factors with the Pol II apparatus for precise transcriptional control. However, its interplay with the surrounding chromatin remains poorly understood. Here, we analyze differential histone modifications between WT and MED23(-/-) (KO) cells and identify H2B mono-ubiquitination at lysine 120 (H2Bub) as a MED23-dependent histone modification. Using tandem affinity purification and mass spectrometry, we find that MED23 associates with the RNF20/40 complex, the enzyme for H2Bub, and show that this association is critical for the recruitment of RNF20/40 to chromatin. In a cell-free system, Mediator directly and substantially increases H2Bub on recombinant chromatin through its cooperation with RNF20/40 and the PAF complex. Integrative genome-wide analyses show that MED23 depletion specifically reduces H2Bub on a subset of MED23-controlled genes. Importantly, MED23-coupled H2Bub levels are oppositely regulated during myogenesis and lung carcinogenesis. In sum, these results establish a mechanistic link between the Mediator complex and a critical chromatin modification in coordinating transcription with cell growth and differentiation. © 2015 The Authors.
Genetics Home Reference: X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy
... Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2012 Aug 13;7:51. doi: 10.1186/1750-1172-7-51. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed ... Clin Pract Neurol. 2007 Mar;3(3):140-51. Review. Citation on PubMed Moser HW, Raymond GV, ...
TwiMed: Twitter and PubMed Comparable Corpus of Drugs, Diseases, Symptoms, and Their Relations
Miyao, Yusuke; Collier, Nigel
2017-01-01
Background Work on pharmacovigilance systems using texts from PubMed and Twitter typically target at different elements and use different annotation guidelines resulting in a scenario where there is no comparable set of documents from both Twitter and PubMed annotated in the same manner. Objective This study aimed to provide a comparable corpus of texts from PubMed and Twitter that can be used to study drug reports from these two sources of information, allowing researchers in the area of pharmacovigilance using natural language processing (NLP) to perform experiments to better understand the similarities and differences between drug reports in Twitter and PubMed. Methods We produced a corpus comprising 1000 tweets and 1000 PubMed sentences selected using the same strategy and annotated at entity level by the same experts (pharmacists) using the same set of guidelines. Results The resulting corpus, annotated by two pharmacists, comprises semantically correct annotations for a set of drugs, diseases, and symptoms. This corpus contains the annotations for 3144 entities, 2749 relations, and 5003 attributes. Conclusions We present a corpus that is unique in its characteristics as this is the first corpus for pharmacovigilance curated from Twitter messages and PubMed sentences using the same data selection and annotation strategies. We believe this corpus will be of particular interest for researchers willing to compare results from pharmacovigilance systems (eg, classifiers and named entity recognition systems) when using data from Twitter and from PubMed. We hope that given the comprehensive set of drug names and the annotated entities and relations, this corpus becomes a standard resource to compare results from different pharmacovigilance studies in the area of NLP. PMID:28468748
The performances of standard and ResMed masks during bag-valve-mask ventilation.
Lee, Hyoung Youn; Jeung, Kyung Woon; Lee, Byung Kook; Lee, Seung Joon; Jung, Yong Hun; Lee, Geo Sung; Min, Yong Il; Heo, Tag
2013-01-01
A tight mask seal is frequently difficult to obtain and maintain during single-rescuer bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation. The ResMed mask (Bella Vista, NSW, Australia) is a continuous-positive-airway-pressure mask (CM) designed for noninvasive ventilation. In this study, we compared the ventilation performances of a standard mask (SM) and a ResMed CM using a simulation manikin in an out-of-hospital single-rescuer BVM ventilation scenario. Thirty emergency medical technicians (EMTs) performed two 2-minute attempts to ventilate a simulation manikin using BVM ventilation, alternatively, with the SM or the ResMed CM in a randomized order. Ventilation parameters including tidal volume and peak airway pressure were measured using computer analysis software connected to the simulation manikin. Successful volume delivery was defined as delivery of 440-540 mL of tidal volume in accord with present cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines. BVM ventilation using the ResMed CM produced higher mean (± standard deviation) tidal volumes (452 ± 50 mL vs. 394 ± 113 mL, p = 0.014) and had a higher proportion of successful volume deliveries (65.3% vs. 26.7%, p < 0.001) than that using the SM. Peak airway pressure was higher in BVM ventilation using the ResMed CM (p = 0.035). Stomach insufflation did not occur during either method. Twenty-nine of the participants (96.7%) preferred BVM ventilation using the ResMed CM. BVM ventilations using ResMed CM resulted in a significantly higher proportion of successful volume deliveries meeting the currently recommended range of tidal volume. Clinical studies are needed to determine the value of the ResMed CM for BVM ventilation.
Using mobile electronic devices to deliver educational resources in developing countries.
Mazal, Jonathan Robert; Ludwig, Rebecca
2015-01-01
Developing countries have far fewer trained radiography professionals than developed countries, which exacerbates the limited access to imaging services. The lack of trained radiographers reflects, in part, limited availability of radiographer-specific educational resources. Historically, organizations that provided such resources in the developing world faced challenges related to the limited stock of current materials as well as expenses associated with shipping and delivery. Four mobile electronic devices (MEDs) were loaded with educational content (e-books, PDFs, and digital applications) spanning major radiography topics. The MEDs were distributed to 4 imaging departments in Ghana, India, Nepal, and Nigeria based on evidence of need for radiography-specific resources, as revealed by survey responses. A cost comparison of postal delivery vs digital delivery of educational content was performed. The effectiveness of delivering additional content via Wi-Fi transmission also was evaluated. Feedback was solicited on users' experience with the MEDs as a delivery tool for educational content. An initial average per e-book expense of $30.05, which included the cost of the device, was calculated for the MED delivery method compared with $15.56 for postal delivery of printed materials. The cost of the MED delivery method was reduced to an average of $10.05 for subsequent e-book deliveries. Additional content was successfully delivered via Wi-Fi transmission to all recipients during the 3-month follow-up period. Overall user feedback on the experience was positive, and ideas for enhancing the MED-based method were identified. Using MEDs to deliver radiography-specific educational content appears to be more cost effective than postal delivery of printed materials on a long-term basis. MEDs are more efficient for providing updates to educational materials. Customization of content to department needs, and using projector devices could enhance the usefulness of MEDs for radiographer training.
TwiMed: Twitter and PubMed Comparable Corpus of Drugs, Diseases, Symptoms, and Their Relations.
Alvaro, Nestor; Miyao, Yusuke; Collier, Nigel
2017-05-03
Work on pharmacovigilance systems using texts from PubMed and Twitter typically target at different elements and use different annotation guidelines resulting in a scenario where there is no comparable set of documents from both Twitter and PubMed annotated in the same manner. This study aimed to provide a comparable corpus of texts from PubMed and Twitter that can be used to study drug reports from these two sources of information, allowing researchers in the area of pharmacovigilance using natural language processing (NLP) to perform experiments to better understand the similarities and differences between drug reports in Twitter and PubMed. We produced a corpus comprising 1000 tweets and 1000 PubMed sentences selected using the same strategy and annotated at entity level by the same experts (pharmacists) using the same set of guidelines. The resulting corpus, annotated by two pharmacists, comprises semantically correct annotations for a set of drugs, diseases, and symptoms. This corpus contains the annotations for 3144 entities, 2749 relations, and 5003 attributes. We present a corpus that is unique in its characteristics as this is the first corpus for pharmacovigilance curated from Twitter messages and PubMed sentences using the same data selection and annotation strategies. We believe this corpus will be of particular interest for researchers willing to compare results from pharmacovigilance systems (eg, classifiers and named entity recognition systems) when using data from Twitter and from PubMed. We hope that given the comprehensive set of drug names and the annotated entities and relations, this corpus becomes a standard resource to compare results from different pharmacovigilance studies in the area of NLP. ©Nestor Alvaro, Yusuke Miyao, Nigel Collier. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 03.05.2017.
Finding the right doctoral thesis - an innovative research fair for medical students.
Steffen, Julius; Grabbert, Markus; Pander, Tanja; Gradel, Maximilian; Köhler, Lisa-Maria; Fischer, Martin R; von der Borch, Philip; Dimitriadis, Konstantinos
2015-01-01
The importance of research, as promoted by the CanMEDS framework, is widely acknowledged. Many medical students in Germany work on a research project as part of their doctoral thesis whilst still going to medical school. However, a significant amount of projects are abandoned unfinished, which leads to substantial wastage of resources. One reason for this is an information deficit concerning undergraduate research projects. To counteract this, we introduced an annual event at LMU Munich called DoktaMed with more than 600 visitors each year. It combines medical convention and research fair including keynote lectures, workshops and poster sessions as well as an exhibition of research groups and institutes. DoktaMed is a peer-to-peer event organized by a team of 40 students. A needs analysis before its implementation underlined the information deficit as a possible cause for the high rate of abandoned projects. In the annual evaluation, visitors of DoktaMed rate the event with an average grade of 2.1 on a six-level Likert scale (n=558, SD=1.06, with "1=very good", "6=poor"). They stated to now feel better informed about the topic and regarded visiting DoktaMed as a worthwhile investment of time. Students are generally satisfied with the event and feel better informed after visiting DoktaMed. However, many students never visit DoktaMed for various reasons. A possible improvement would be to present a greater number of clinical studies in addition to the laboratory work that DoktaMed focuses on now. Evaluation after six years of DoktaMed is very promising. Visitors seem to be better informed. Nevertheless there is space for improvement in order to get more students and more faculty members involved. More studies are needed to assess long-term effects.
Snijders Blok, Lot; Hiatt, Susan M; Bowling, Kevin M; Prokop, Jeremy W; Engel, Krysta L; Cochran, J Nicholas; Bebin, E Martina; Bijlsma, Emilia K; Ruivenkamp, Claudia A L; Terhal, Paulien; Simon, Marleen E H; Smith, Rosemarie; Hurst, Jane A; McLaughlin, Heather; Person, Richard; Crunk, Amy; Wangler, Michael F; Streff, Haley; Symonds, Joseph D; Zuberi, Sameer M; Elliott, Katherine S; Sanders, Victoria R; Masunga, Abigail; Hopkin, Robert J; Dubbs, Holly A; Ortiz-Gonzalez, Xilma R; Pfundt, Rolph; Brunner, Han G; Fisher, Simon E; Kleefstra, Tjitske; Cooper, Gregory M
2018-05-08
Many genetic causes of developmental delay and/or intellectual disability (DD/ID) are extremely rare, and robust discovery of these requires both large-scale DNA sequencing and data sharing. Here we describe a GeneMatcher collaboration which led to a cohort of 13 affected individuals harboring protein-altering variants, 11 of which are de novo, in MED13; the only inherited variant was transmitted to an affected child from an affected mother. All patients had intellectual disability and/or developmental delays, including speech delays or disorders. Other features that were reported in two or more patients include autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, optic nerve abnormalities, Duane anomaly, hypotonia, mild congenital heart abnormalities, and dysmorphisms. Six affected individuals had mutations that are predicted to truncate the MED13 protein, six had missense mutations, and one had an in-frame-deletion of one amino acid. Out of the seven non-truncating mutations, six clustered in two specific locations of the MED13 protein: an N-terminal and C-terminal region. The four N-terminal clustering mutations affect two adjacent amino acids that are known to be involved in MED13 ubiquitination and degradation, p.Thr326 and p.Pro327. MED13 is a component of the CDK8-kinase module that can reversibly bind Mediator, a multi-protein complex that is required for Polymerase II transcription initiation. Mutations in several other genes encoding subunits of Mediator have been previously shown to associate with DD/ID, including MED13L, a paralog of MED13. Thus, our findings add MED13 to the group of CDK8-kinase module-associated disease genes.
Zamora-Ros, Raul; Knaze, Viktoria; Luján-Barroso, Leila; Romieu, Isabelle; Scalbert, Augustin; Slimani, Nadia; Hjartåker, Anette; Engeset, Dagrun; Skeie, Guri; Overvad, Kim; Bredsdorff, Lea; Tjønneland, Anne; Halkjær, Jytte; Key, Timothy J; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Mulligan, Angela A; Winkvist, Anna; Johansson, Ingegerd; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas; Peeters, Petra H M; Wallström, Peter; Ericson, Ulrika; Pala, Valeria; de Magistris, Maria Santucci; Polidoro, Silvia; Tumino, Rosario; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Dilis, Vardis; Katsoulis, Michael; Huerta, José María; Martínez, Virginia; Sánchez, María-José; Ardanaz, Eva; Amiano, Pilar; Teucher, Birgit; Grote, Verena; Bendinelli, Benedetta; Boeing, Heiner; Förster, Jana; Touillaud, Marina; Perquier, Florence; Fagherazzi, Guy; Gallo, Valentina; Riboli, Elio; González, Carlos A
2013-04-28
A greater adherence to the traditional Mediterranean (MED) diet is associated with a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases. This dietary pattern is based on higher consumption of plant products that are rich in flavonoids. We compared the total flavonoid dietary intakes, their food sources and various lifestyle factors between MED and non-MED countries participating in the EPIC study. Flavonoid intakes and their food sources for 35,628 subjects, aged 35-74 years and recruited between 1992 and 2000, in twenty-six study centres were estimated using standardised 24 h dietary recall software (EPIC-Soft®). An ad hoc food composition database on flavonoids was compiled using analytical data from the United States Department of Agriculture and Phenol-Explorer databases. Moreover, it was expanded to include using recipes, estimations of missing values and flavonoid retention factors. No significant differences in total flavonoid mean intake between non-MED countries (373·7 mg/d) and MED countries (370·2 mg/d) were observed. In the non-MED region, the main contributors were proanthocyanidins (48·2%) and flavan-3-ol monomers (24·9%) and the principal food sources were tea (25·7%) and fruits (32·8%). In the MED region, proanthocyanidins (59·0%) were by far the most abundant contributor and fruits (55·1%), wines (16·7%) and tea (6·8%) were the main food sources. The present study shows similar results for total dietary flavonoid intakes, but significant differences in flavonoid class intakes, food sources and some characteristics between MED and non-MED countries. These differences should be considered in studies about the relationships between flavonoid intake and chronic diseases.
Distributed learning or medical tourism? A Canadian residency program's experience in global health.
Kelly, Kate; McCarthy, Anne; McLean, Laurie
2015-01-01
Global health experiences (GHEs) are becoming increasingly prevalent in surgical residency education. Although it may seem intuitive that participation in GHEs develops CanMEDS competencies, this has not been studied in depth in surgery. The purpose of this study is (1) to explore if and how otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) resident participation in GHEs facilitates the development of CanMEDS competencies and (2) to develop an OHNS GHE tool to facilitate the integration of CanMEDS into GHE participation and evaluation. An online survey explored the GHEs of current and past OHNS residents in Canada. Based on the data collected and a literature review, a foundational tool was then created to (1) enable OHNS residents to structure their GHEs into CanMEDS-related learning objectives and (2) enable OHNS program directors to more effectively evaluate residents' GHEs with respect to CanMEDS competencies. Participants' GHEs varied widely. These experiences often contributed informally to the development of several CanMEDS competencies. However, few residents had concrete objectives, rarely were CanMEDS roles clearly incorporated, and most residents were not formally evaluated during their experience. Residents felt they achieved greater learning when predeparture objectives and postexperience reflections were integrated into their GHEs. Although GHEs vary widely, they can serve as valuable forums for developing CanMEDS competencies among participating residents. Without clear objectives that adhere to the CanMEDS framework or formal assessment methods however, residents in GHEs risk becoming medical tourists. The use of an objective and evaluation tool may facilitate the creation of predeparture learning objectives, encourage self-reflection on their GHE, and better enable program directors to evaluate residents participating in GHEs. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Technical development of PubMed Interact: an improved interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches
Muin, Michael; Fontelo, Paul
2006-01-01
Background The project aims to create an alternative search interface for MEDLINE/PubMed that may provide assistance to the novice user and added convenience to the advanced user. An earlier version of the project was the 'Slider Interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches' (SLIM) which provided JavaScript slider bars to control search parameters. In this new version, recent developments in Web-based technologies were implemented. These changes may prove to be even more valuable in enhancing user interactivity through client-side manipulation and management of results. Results PubMed Interact is a Web-based MEDLINE/PubMed search application built with HTML, JavaScript and PHP. It is implemented on a Windows Server 2003 with Apache 2.0.52, PHP 4.4.1 and MySQL 4.1.18. PHP scripts provide the backend engine that connects with E-Utilities and parses XML files. JavaScript manages client-side functionalities and converts Web pages into interactive platforms using dynamic HTML (DHTML), Document Object Model (DOM) tree manipulation and Ajax methods. With PubMed Interact, users can limit searches with JavaScript slider bars, preview result counts, delete citations from the list, display and add related articles and create relevance lists. Many interactive features occur at client-side, which allow instant feedback without reloading or refreshing the page resulting in a more efficient user experience. Conclusion PubMed Interact is a highly interactive Web-based search application for MEDLINE/PubMed that explores recent trends in Web technologies like DOM tree manipulation and Ajax. It may become a valuable technical development for online medical search applications. PMID:17083729
Yu, Wenxi; Zhang, Zhichang; Min, Daliu; Yang, Qingcheng; Du, Xuefei; Tang, Lina; Lin, Feng; Sun, Yuanjue; Zhao, Hui; Zheng, Shuier; He, Aina; Li, Hongtao; Yao, Yang; Shen, Zan
2014-04-01
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant tumour of bone. Nearly 30-40% of OS patients have a poor prognosis despite multimodal treatments. Because the carcinogenesis of OS remains unclear, the identification of new oncogenes that control the tumourigenesis and progression of OS is crucial for developing new therapies. Here, we found that the expression of Mediator of RNA polymerase II transcription subunit 19 (Med19) was increased in OS samples from patients compared to normal bone tissues. Cyclin D1 and cyclin B1 are upregulated in Med19 positive OS tissues. Importantly, among 97 OS patients of Enneking stage IIB or IIIB, Med19 expression was correlated with metastasis (P<0.05) and poor prognosis (P<0.01). Med19 knockdown significantly induced growth inhibition, reduced colony-forming ability and suppressed migration in the OS cell lines Saos-2 and U2OS, along with the downregulated expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin B1. Med19 knockdown also induced apoptosis in Saos-2 cells via induction of caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP). In addition, Med19 knockdown significantly suppressed tumour growth in an OS xenograft nude mouse model via suppression of cyclin D1 and cyclin B1. Simultaneously, Med19 downregulation decreased the expression of Ki67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in tumour samples from OS xenograft nude mice. Med19 depletion remarkably reduced tumour metastasis in a model of OS metastatic spreading. Taken together, our data suggest that Med19 acts as an oncogene in OS via a possible cyclin D1/cyclin B1 modulation pathway. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Ralph, David J; Eardley, Ian; Taubel, Jorg; Terrill, Paul; Holland, Tim
2018-02-01
Current treatments for erectile dysfunction (ED) have some limitations. This study evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of MED2005, a 0.2% glyceryl trinitrate topical gel, formulated into an enhanced absorption topical delivery system (DermaSys), administered on demand, in the treatment of ED. This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, phase II crossover trial involved 232 men with ED (231 treated, 230 assessed for efficacy) and their partners. After a 4-week run-in period, patients were randomized to 1 of 2 treatment sequences, MED2005-placebo or placebo-MED2005. Each treatment was given for 4 weeks, separated by a 1-week washout interval. Efficacy was assessed by the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), the Sexual Encounter Profile, a Global Assessment Questionnaire (GAQ), and specific questions about the onset and offset of action and treatment preferences (patients and partners). The primary outcome measure was the IIEF erectile function domain (IIEF-EF) score. Other efficacy assessments were secondary outcomes. The mean baseline IIEF-EF score was 17.1 (SD = 5.7), and this increased to 19.6 (SD = 7.5) after MED2005 treatment and 18.5 (SD = 6.7) after placebo (P = .0132). Overall, 23.1% of patients showed a clinically relevant (≥4-point) increase in IIEF-EF scores after treatment with MED2005 only compared with 14.5% who responded after MED2005 and placebo, 14.0% who responded after placebo only, and 48.4% who did not respond after either treatment (P = .0272). MED2005 also was associated with significant improvements compared with placebo in the other IIEF domains, and this was consistent with patients' and partners' responses to the GAQ. For all assessments, significant effects of MED2005 were seen primarily in patients with mild ED. The start of erection was noticed within 5 and 10 minutes in 44.2% and 69.5%, respectively, of all intercourse attempts with MED2005. Patients and partners showed significant preferences for MED2005 over placebo. The most commonly reported adverse events during MED2005 treatment were headache (patients, n = 18 [7.9%]; partners, n = 3 [1.3%]) and nasopharyngitis (patients, n = 13 [5.7%]; partners, n = 2 [0.9%]). These findings suggest that topical glyceryl trinitrate could be a useful treatment option in ED. Strengths of this study include the use of a validated outcome measure. Limitations include the use of only 1 dosage. Further studies are warranted to investigate the efficacy of topical glyceryl trinitrate to include higher doses, thereby improving clinical significance, especially in cases of moderate and severe ED. Ralph DJ, Eardley I, Taubel J, et al. Efficacy and Safety of MED2005, a Topical Glyceryl Trinitrate Formulation, in the Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction: A Randomized Crossover Study. J Sex Med 2018;15:167-175. Copyright © 2017 Futura Medical. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
47 CFR 95.1209 - Permissible communications.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR
2011-10-01
... to which the MedRadio implant or body-worn transmitter is used. (c) MedRadio programmer/control...Radio programmer/control transmitters may transmit only non-voice data containing operational... shall transmit except in response to a transmission from a MedRadio programmer/control transmitter or in...
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Health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet: an update of research over the last 5 years.
Gotsis, Efthymios; Anagnostis, Panagiotis; Mariolis, Anargyros; Vlachou, Athanasia; Katsiki, Niki; Karagiannis, Asterios
2015-04-01
The Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) has been reported to be protective against the occurrence of several diseases. Increasing evidence suggests that the MedDiet could counter diseases associated with chronic inflammation, including metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, obesity, pulmonary diseases, and cognition disorders. Adoption of a MedDiet was associated with beneficial effects on the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines, antioxidant cellular and circulating biomarkers as well as with regulation of gene polymorphisms involved in the atherosclerotic process. The MedDiet has been considered for the prevention of cardiovascular and other chronic degenerative diseases focusing on the impact of a holistic dietary approach rather than on single nutrients. Epidemiological dietary scores measuring adherence to a MedDiet have been developed. This narrative review considers the results of up-to-date clinical studies (with a focus on the last 5 years) that evaluated the effectiveness of the MedDiet in reducing the prevalence of chronic and degenerative diseases. © The Author(s) 2014.
Kokol, Peter; Vošner, Helena Blažun
2018-01-01
The overall aim of the present study was to compare the coverage of existing research funding information for articles indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. The numbers of articles with funding information published in 2015 were identified in the three selected databases and compared using bibliometric analysis of a sample of twenty-eight prestigious medical journals. Frequency analysis of the number of articles with funding information showed statistically significant differences between Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. The largest proportion of articles with funding information was found in Web of Science (29.0%), followed by PubMed (14.6%) and Scopus (7.7%). The results show that coverage of funding information differs significantly among Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases in a sample of the same medical journals. Moreover, we found that, currently, funding data in PubMed is more difficult to obtain and analyze compared with that in the other two databases.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jia, Xiaodong; Zhao, Ming; Di, Yuan; Jin, Chao; Lee, Jay
2017-01-01
Minimum Entropy Deconvolution (MED) filter, which is a non-parametric approach for impulsive signature detection, has been widely studied recently. Although the merits of the MED filter are manifold, this method tends to over highlight the dominant peaks and its performance becomes less stable when strong noise exists. In order to better understand the behavior of the MED filter, this study first investigated the mathematical fundamentals of the MED filter and then explained the reason why the MED filter tends to over highlight the dominant peaks. In order to pursue finer solutions for weak impulsive signature enhancement, the Convolutional Sparse Filter (CSF) is originally proposed in this work and the derivation of the CSF is presented in details. The superiority of the proposed CSF over the MED filter is validated by both simulated data and experimental data. The results demonstrate that CSF is an effective method for impulsive signature enhancement that could be applied in rotating machines for incipient fault detection.
Mediator MED23 Links Pigmentation and DNA Repair through the Transcription Factor MITF.
Xia, Min; Chen, Kun; Yao, Xiao; Xu, Yichi; Yao, Jiaying; Yan, Jun; Shao, Zhen; Wang, Gang
2017-08-22
DNA repair is related to many physiological and pathological processes, including pigmentation. Little is known about the role of the transcriptional cofactor Mediator complex in DNA repair and pigmentation. Here, we demonstrate that Mediator MED23 plays an important role in coupling UV-induced DNA repair to pigmentation. The loss of Med23 specifically impairs the pigmentation process in melanocyte-lineage cells and in zebrafish. Med23 deficiency leads to enhanced nucleotide excision repair (NER) and less DNA damage following UV radiation because of the enhanced expression and recruitment of NER factors to chromatin for genomic stability. Integrative analyses of melanoma cells reveal that MED23 controls the expression of a melanocyte master regulator, Mitf, by modulating its distal enhancer activity, leading to opposing effects on pigmentation and DNA repair. Collectively, the Mediator MED23/MITF axis connects DNA repair to pigmentation, thus providing molecular insights into the DNA damage response and skin-related diseases. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Beyond Information Retrieval—Medical Question Answering
Lee, Minsuk; Cimino, James; Zhu, Hai Ran; Sable, Carl; Shanker, Vijay; Ely, John; Yu, Hong
2006-01-01
Physicians have many questions when caring for patients, and frequently need to seek answers for their questions. Information retrieval systems (e.g., PubMed) typically return a list of documents in response to a user’s query. Frequently the number of returned documents is large and makes physicians’ information seeking “practical only ‘after hours’ and not in the clinical settings”. Question answering techniques are based on automatically analyzing thousands of electronic documents to generate short-text answers in response to clinical questions that are posed by physicians. The authors address physicians’ information needs and described the design, implementation, and evaluation of the medical question answering system (MedQA). Although our long term goal is to enable MedQA to answer all types of medical questions, currently, we currently implement MedQA to integrate information retrieval, extraction, and summarization techniques to automatically generate paragraph-level text for definitional questions (i.e., “What is X?”). MedQA can be accessed at http://www.dbmi.columbia.edu/~yuh9001/research/MedQA.html. PMID:17238385
Mills, Whitney L; Regev, Tziona; Kunik, Mark E; Wilson, Nancy L; Moye, Jennifer; McCullough, Laurence B; Naik, Aanand D
2014-03-01
Older adults prefer to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and preliminary validation of Making and Executing Decisions for Safe and Independent Living (MED-SAIL), a brief screening tool for capacity to live safely and independently in the community. Prospective preliminary validation study. Outpatient geriatrics clinic located in a community-based hospital. Forty-nine community-dwelling older adults referred to the clinic for a comprehensive capacity assessment. We examined internal consistency, criterion-based validity, concurrent validity, and accuracy of classification for MED-SAIL. The items included in MED-SAIL demonstrated internal consistency (5 items; α = 0.85). MED-SAIL was significantly correlated with the Independent Living Scales (r = 0.573, p ≤0.001) and instrumental activities of daily living (r = 0.440, p ≤0.01). The Mann-Whitney U test revealed significant differences between the no capacity and partial/full capacity classifications on MED-SAIL (U(48) = 60.5, Z = -0.38, p <0.0001). The area under the curve was 0.864 (95% confidence interval: 0.84-0.99). This study demonstrated the validity of MED-SAIL as a brief screening tool to identify older adults with impaired capacity for remaining safe and independent in their current living environment. MED-SAIL is useful tool for health and social service providers in the community for the purpose of referral for definitive capacity evaluation. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Shahi, Puja; Gulshan, Kailash; Näär, Anders M; Moye-Rowley, W Scott
2010-07-15
The multiprotein transcriptional Mediator complex provides a key link between RNA polymerase II and upstream transcriptional activator proteins. Previous work has established that the multidrug resistance transcription factors Pdr1 and Pdr3 interact with the Mediator component Med15/Gal11 to drive normal levels of expression of the ATP-binding cassette transporter-encoding gene PDR5 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PDR5 transcription is induced upon loss of the mitochondrial genome (rho(0) cells) and here we provide evidence that this rho(0) induction is Med15 independent. A search through other known Mediator components determined that Med12/Srb8, a member of the CDK8 Mediator submodule, is required for rho(0) activation of PDR5 transcription. The CDK8 submodule contains the cyclin C homologue (CycC/Srb11), cyclin-dependent kinase Cdk8/Srb10, and the large Med13/Srb9 protein. Loss of these other proteins did not lead to the same block in PDR5 induction. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses demonstrated that Med15 is associated with the PDR5 promoter in both rho(+) and rho(0), whereas Med12 recruitment to this target promoter is highly responsive to loss of the mitochondrial genome. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments revealed that association of Pdr3 with Med12 can only be detected in rho(0) cells. These experiments uncover the unique importance of Med12 in activated transcription of PDR5 seen in rho(0) cells.
75 FR 39201 - MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2010-07-08
... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee will meet... and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110-343) and in compliance with the Federal Advisory...
75 FR 52304 - MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2010-08-25
... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee will meet... Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110- 343) and in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee...
76 FR 12016 - MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2011-03-04
... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The MedBow-Routt Resource Advisory Committee will meet... Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110- 343) and in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee...
Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR
2011-10-01
... 47 Telecommunication 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Antennas. 95.1213 Section 95.1213... SERVICES Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio) § 95.1213 Antennas. No antenna for a MedRadio transmitter shall be configured for permanent outdoor use. In addition, any MedRadio antenna used outdoors...
Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
2010-10-01
... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Antennas. 95.1213 Section 95.1213... SERVICES Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio) § 95.1213 Antennas. No antenna for a MedRadio transmitter shall be configured for permanent outdoor use. In addition, any MedRadio antenna used outdoors...
Genetics Home Reference: lipoid proteinosis
... Problems National Alliance on Mental Illness Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance GeneReviews (1 link) Lipoid Proteinosis Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) LIPOID PROTEINOSIS OF URBACH AND WIETHE MedGen (1 link) Lipid proteinosis Sources for This Page Callizo M, Ibáñez- ...
The Effect of a Mediterranean Diet on the Incidence of Cataract Surgery.
García-Layana, Alfredo; Ciufo, Gianfranco; Toledo, Estefania; Martínez-González, Miguel A; Corella, Dolores; Fitó, Montse; Estruch, Ramon; Gómez-Gracia, Enrique; Fiol, Miguel; Lapetra, José; Serra-Majem, Lluís; Pintó, Xavier; Portillo, Maria P; Sorli, José V; Bulló, Mónica; Vinyoles, Ernest; Sala-Vila, Aleix; Ros, Emilio; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Arós, Fernando
2017-05-03
Cataract is a leading cause of vision impairment worldwide, and surgery is the only available treatment. The process that initiates lens opacification is dependent on the oxidative stress experienced by the lens components. A healthy overall dietary pattern, with the potential to reduce oxidative stress, has been suggested as a means to decrease the risk of developing cataract. We aimed to investigate the hypothesis that an intervention with a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) rather than a low-fat diet could decrease the incidence of cataract surgery in elderly subjects. We included 5802 men and women (age range: 55-80 years) from the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea study (multicenter, parallel-group, randomized controlled clinical trial) who had not undergone cataract surgery. They were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: (1) a MedDiet enriched with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) ( n = 1998); (2) a MedDiet enriched with nuts ( n = 1914), and a control group recommended to follow a low-fat diet ( n = 1890). The incidence of cataract surgery was recorded yearly during follow-up clinical evaluations. Primary analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis. Cox regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between the nutritional intervention and the incidence of cataract surgery. During a follow-up period of 7.0 years (mean follow-up period: 5.7 years; median: 5.9 years), 559 subjects underwent cataract surgery. Two hundred and six participants from the MedDiet + EVOO group, 174 from the MedDiet + Nuts group, and 179 from the control group underwent cataract surgery. We did not observe a reduction in the incidence of cataract surgery in the MedDiet groups compared to the control group. The multivariable adjusted hazard ratios were 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84-1.26, p = 0.79) for the control group versus the MedDiet + EVOO group and 1.06 (95% CI: 0.86-1.31, p = 0.58) for the control group versus the MedDiet + Nuts group. To our knowledge, this is the first large randomized trial assessing the role of a MedDiet on the incidence of cataract surgery. Our results showed that the incidence of cataract surgery was similar in the MedDiet with EVOO, MedDiet with nuts, and low-fat diet groups. Further studies are necessary to investigate whether a MedDiet could have a preventive role in cataract surgery.
The Effect of a Mediterranean Diet on the Incidence of Cataract Surgery
García-Layana, Alfredo; Ciufo, Gianfranco; Toledo, Estefania; Martínez-González, Miguel A.; Corella, Dolores; Fitó, Montse; Estruch, Ramon; Gómez-Gracia, Enrique; Fiol, Miguel; Lapetra, José; Serra-Majem, Lluís; Pintó, Xavier; Portillo, Maria P.; Sorli, José V.; Bulló, Mónica; Vinyoles, Ernest; Sala-Vila, Aleix; Ros, Emilio; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Arós, Fernando
2017-01-01
Background: Cataract is a leading cause of vision impairment worldwide, and surgery is the only available treatment. The process that initiates lens opacification is dependent on the oxidative stress experienced by the lens components. A healthy overall dietary pattern, with the potential to reduce oxidative stress, has been suggested as a means to decrease the risk of developing cataract. We aimed to investigate the hypothesis that an intervention with a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) rather than a low-fat diet could decrease the incidence of cataract surgery in elderly subjects. Methods: We included 5802 men and women (age range: 55–80 years) from the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea study (multicenter, parallel-group, randomized controlled clinical trial) who had not undergone cataract surgery. They were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: (1) a MedDiet enriched with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) (n = 1998); (2) a MedDiet enriched with nuts (n = 1914), and a control group recommended to follow a low-fat diet (n = 1890). The incidence of cataract surgery was recorded yearly during follow-up clinical evaluations. Primary analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis. Cox regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between the nutritional intervention and the incidence of cataract surgery. Results: During a follow-up period of 7.0 years (mean follow-up period: 5.7 years; median: 5.9 years), 559 subjects underwent cataract surgery. Two hundred and six participants from the MedDiet + EVOO group, 174 from the MedDiet + Nuts group, and 179 from the control group underwent cataract surgery. We did not observe a reduction in the incidence of cataract surgery in the MedDiet groups compared to the control group. The multivariable adjusted hazard ratios were 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84–1.26, p = 0.79) for the control group versus the MedDiet + EVOO group and 1.06 (95% CI: 0.86–1.31, p = 0.58) for the control group versus the MedDiet + Nuts group. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first large randomized trial assessing the role of a MedDiet on the incidence of cataract surgery. Our results showed that the incidence of cataract surgery was similar in the MedDiet with EVOO, MedDiet with nuts, and low-fat diet groups. Further studies are necessary to investigate whether a MedDiet could have a preventive role in cataract surgery. PMID:28467363
Genetics Home Reference: Rotor syndrome
... syndrome). Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2010 Oct;24(5):555-71. doi: 10.1016/j.bpg.2010.07.007. Review. Citation on PubMed Wolkoff AW, Wolpert E, Pascasio FN, Arias IM. Rotor's syndrome. A distinct inheritable pathophysiologic entity. Am J Med. 1976 Feb;60(2):173-9. Citation on PubMed ...
2012-10-22
Res. Commun 2004;316:997–1001. [PubMed: 15044083] 178. Karin M. NF-κB in cancer development and progression. Nature 2006;441:431. [PubMed: 16724054...of TWIST gene expression. Cancer Res 2007;67:9066–9076. [PubMed: 17909010] 199. Ali S, Coombes RC. Endocrine-responsive breast cancer and strategies...for combating resistance. Nat. Rev. Cancer 2002;2:101–112. [PubMed: 12635173] 200. Coombes RC, Gibson L, Hall E, Emson M, Bliss J. Aromatase
Mars Science Laboratory Heatshield Flight Data Analysis
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Mahzari, Milad; White, Todd
2017-01-01
NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which landed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on August 5th, 2012, was the largest and heaviest Mars entry vehicle representing a significant advancement in planetary entry, descent and landing capability. Hypersonic flight performance data was collected using MSLs on-board sensors called Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI). This talk will give an overview of MSL entry and a description of MEDLI sensors. Observations from flight data will be examined followed by a discussion of analysis efforts to reconstruct surface heating from heatshields in-depth temperature measurements. Finally, a brief overview of MEDLI2 instrumentation, which will fly on NASAs Mars2020 mission, will be presented with a discussion on how lessons learned from MEDLI data affected the design of MEDLI2 instrumentation.
Kannry, J L; Wright, L; Shifman, M; Silverstein, S; Miller, P L
1996-01-01
OBJECTIVE: To examine the issues involved in mapping an existing structured controlled vocabulary, the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) developed at Columbia University, to an institutional vocabulary, the laboratory and pharmacy vocabularies of the Yale New Haven Medical Center. DESIGN: 200 Yale pharmacy terms and 200 Yale laboratory terms were randomly selected from database files containing all of the Yale laboratory and pharmacy terms. These 400 terms were then mapped to the MED in three phases: mapping terms, mapping relationships between terms, and mapping attributes that modify terms. RESULTS: 73% of the Yale pharmacy terms mapped to MED terms. 49% of the Yale laboratory terms mapped to MED terms. After certain obsolete and otherwise inappropriate laboratory terms were eliminated, the latter rate improved to 59%. 23% of the unmatched Yale laboratory terms failed to match because of differences in granularity with MED terms. The Yale and MED pharmacy terms share 12 of 30 distinct attributes. The Yale and MED laboratory terms share 14 of 23 distinct attributes. CONCLUSION: The mapping of an institutional vocabulary to a structured controlled vocabulary requires that the mapping be performed at the level of terms, relationships, and attributes. The mapping process revealed the importance of standardization of local vocabulary subsets, standardization of attribute representation, and term granularity. PMID:8750391
Definition of the Mediterranean Diet; a Literature Review.
Davis, Courtney; Bryan, Janet; Hodgson, Jonathan; Murphy, Karen
2015-11-05
Numerous studies over several decades suggest that following the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and improve cognitive health. However, there are inconsistencies among methods used for evaluating and defining the MedDiet. Through a review of the literature, we aimed to quantitatively define the MedDiet by food groups and nutrients. Databases PubMed, MEDLINE, Science Direct, Academic Search Premier and the University of South Australia Library Catalogue were searched. Articles were included if they defined the MedDiet in at least two of the following ways: (1) general descriptive definitions; (2) diet pyramids/numbers of servings of key foods; (3) grams of key foods/food groups; and (4) nutrient and flavonoid content. Quantity of key foods and nutrient content was recorded and the mean was calculated. The MedDiet contained three to nine serves of vegetables, half to two serves of fruit, one to 13 serves of cereals and up to eight serves of olive oil daily. It contained approximately 9300 kJ, 37% as total fat, 18% as monounsaturated and 9% as saturated, and 33 g of fibre per day. Our results provide a defined nutrient content and range of servings for the MedDiet based on past and current literature. More detailed reporting amongst studies could refine the definition further.
Anandhakumar, Jayamani; Moustafa, Yara W.; Chowdhary, Surabhi; Kainth, Amoldeep S.
2016-01-01
Mediator is an evolutionarily conserved coactivator complex essential for RNA polymerase II transcription. Although it has been generally assumed that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Mediator is a stable trimodular complex, its structural state in vivo remains unclear. Using the “anchor away” (AA) technique to conditionally deplete select subunits within Mediator and its reversibly associated Cdk8 kinase module (CKM), we provide evidence that Mediator's tail module is highly dynamic and that a subcomplex consisting of Med2, Med3, and Med15 can be independently recruited to the regulatory regions of heat shock factor 1 (Hsf1)-activated genes. Fluorescence microscopy of a scaffold subunit (Med14)-anchored strain confirmed parallel cytoplasmic sequestration of core subunits located outside the tail triad. In addition, and contrary to current models, we provide evidence that Hsf1 can recruit the CKM independently of core Mediator and that core Mediator has a role in regulating postinitiation events. Collectively, our results suggest that yeast Mediator is not monolithic but potentially has a dynamic complexity heretofore unappreciated. Multiple species, including CKM-Mediator, the 21-subunit core complex, the Med2-Med3-Med15 tail triad, and the four-subunit CKM, can be independently recruited by activated Hsf1 to its target genes in AA strains. PMID:27185874
Qi, Yanli; Liu, Hui; Yu, Jiayin; Chen, Xiulai
2017-01-01
ABSTRACT Candida glabrata is a promising producer of organic acids. To elucidate the physiological function of the Mediator tail subunit Med15B in the response to low-pH stress, we constructed a deletion strain, C. glabrata med15BΔ, and an overexpression strain, C. glabrata HTUΔ/CgMED15B. Deletion of MED15B caused biomass production, glucose consumption rate, and cell viability to decrease by 28.3%, 31.7%, and 26.5%, respectively, compared with those of the parent (HTUΔ) strain at pH 2.0. Expression of lipid metabolism-related genes was significantly downregulated in the med15BΔ strain, whereas key genes of ergosterol biosynthesis showed abnormal upregulation. This caused the proportion of C18:1 fatty acids, the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids (UFA/SFA), and the total phospholipid content to decrease by 11.6%, 27.4%, and 37.6%, respectively. Cells failed to synthesize fecosterol and ergosterol, leading to the accumulation and a 60.3-fold increase in the concentration of zymosterol. Additionally, cells showed reductions of 69.2%, 11.6%, and 21.8% in membrane integrity, fluidity, and H+-ATPase activity, respectively. In contrast, overexpression of Med15B increased the C18:1 levels, total phospholipids, ergosterol content, and UFA/SFA by 18.6%, 143.5%, 94.5%, and 18.7%, respectively. Membrane integrity, fluidity, and H+-ATPase activity also increased by 30.2%, 6.9%, and 51.8%, respectively. Furthermore, in the absence of pH buffering, dry weight of cells and pyruvate concentrations were 29.3% and 61.2% higher, respectively, than those of the parent strain. These results indicated that in C. glabrata, Med15B regulates tolerance toward low pH via transcriptional regulation of acid stress response genes and alteration in lipid composition. IMPORTANCE This study explored the role of the Mediator tail subunit Med15B in the metabolism of Candida glabrata under acidic conditions. Overexpression of MED15B enhanced yeast tolerance to low pH and improved biomass production, cell viability, and pyruvate yield. Membrane lipid composition data indicated that Med15B might play a critical role in membrane integrity, fluidity, and H+-ATPase activity homeostasis at low pH. Thus, controlling membrane composition may serve to increase C. glabrata productivity at low pH. PMID:28710262
Casas, Rosa; Sacanella, Emilio; Urpí-Sardà, Mireia; Corella, Dolores; Castañer, Olga; Lamuela-Raventos, Rosa-María; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Martínez-González, Miguel-Angel; Ros, Emilio; Estruch, Ramon
2016-09-01
The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) has demonstrated short-term anti-inflammatory effects, but little is known about its long-term immunomodulatory properties. Our goal was to assess the long-term effects of the MedDiet on inflammatory markers related to atherogenesis in adults at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with the effects of a low-fat diet (LFD). We randomly assigned 165 high-risk participants (one-half men; mean age: 66 y) without overt CVD to 1 of 3 diets: a MedDiet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a MedDiet supplemented with nuts, or an LFD. Follow-up data were collected at 3 and 5 y. Repeated-measures ANOVA, adjusted for potential confounding variables, was used to evaluate changes in diet adherence, CVD risk factors, and inflammatory variables. The 2 MedDiet groups achieved a high degree of adherence to the intervention, and the LFD group had reduced energy intake from fat by 13% by 5 y. Compared with baseline, at 3 and 5 y, both MedDiet groups had significant reductions of ≥16% in plasma concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor α, and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (P ≤ 0.04), whereas there were no significant changes in the LFD group. The reductions in CD49d and CD40 expressions in T lymphocytes and monocytes at 3 y were ≥16% greater in both MedDiet groups than were the changes in the LFD group (P < 0.001) at 3 y. Compared with baseline, at 3 y, the MedDiet groups had increased HDL-cholesterol (≥8%) and decreased blood pressure (>4%) and total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglyceride (≥8%) concentrations. At 5 y, concentrations of glucose (13%) and glycated hemoglobin (8%) had increased with the LFD. The MedDiet participants had lower cellular and plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers related to atherosclerosis at 3 and 5 y. This anti-inflammatory role of the MedDiet could explain in part the long-term cardioprotective effect of the MedDiet against CVD. This trial was registered at controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN35739639. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Liu Wengui; Wu Xiaotao; Guo Jinhe
We assessed the long-term outcomes of patients with lumbar disc herniation treated with percutaneous lumbar discectomy (PLD) or microendoscopic discectomy (MED). A retrospective study was performed in consecutive patients with lumbar disc herniation treated with PLD (n = 129) or MED (n = 101) in a single hospital from January 2000 to March 2002. All patients were followed up with MacNab criteria and self-evaluation questionnaires comprising the Oswestry Disability Index and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Several statistical methods were used for analyses of the data, and a p value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.more » A total of 104 patients (80.62%) with PLD and 82 patients (81.19%) with MED were eligible for analyses, with a mean follow-up period of 6.64 {+-} 0.67 years and 6.42 {+-} 0.51 years, respectively. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, number of lesions, major symptoms and physical signs, and radiological findings. According to the MacNab criteria, 75.96% in the PLD group and 84.15% in the MED group achieved excellent or good results, respectively, this was statistically significant (p = 0.0402). With the Oswestry Disability Index questionnaires, the average scores and minimal disability, respectively, were 6.97 and 71.15% in the PLD group and 4.89 and 79.27% in the MED group. Total average scores of Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey were 75.88 vs. 81.86 in PLD group vs. MED group (p = 0.0582). The cost and length of hospitalization were higher or longer in MED group, a statistically significant difference (both p < 0.0001). Long-term complications were observed in two patients (2.44%) in the MED group, no such complications were observed in the PLD group. Both PLD and MED show an acceptable long-term efficacy for treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Compared with MED patients, long-term satisfaction is slightly lower in the PLD patients; complications, hospitalization duration, and costs in PLD group are also lower.« less
Integrated and implicit: how residents learn CanMEDS roles by participating in practice.
Renting, Nienke; Raat, A N Janet; Dornan, Tim; Wenger-Trayner, Etienne; van der Wal, Martha A; Borleffs, Jan C C; Gans, Rijk O B; Jaarsma, A Debbie C
2017-09-01
Learning outcomes for residency training are defined in competency frameworks such as the CanMEDS framework, which ultimately aim to better prepare residents for their future tasks. Although residents' training relies heavily on learning through participation in the workplace under the supervision of a specialist, it remains unclear how the CanMEDS framework informs practice-based learning and daily interactions between residents and supervisors. This study aimed to explore how the CanMEDS framework informs residents' practice-based training and interactions with supervisors. Constructivist grounded theory guided iterative data collection and analyses. Data were collected by direct observations of residents and supervisors, combined with formal and field interviews. We progressively arrived at an explanatory theory by coding and interpreting the data, building provisional theories and through continuous conversations. Data analysis drew on sensitising insights from communities of practice theory, which provided this study with a social learning perspective. CanMEDS roles occurred in an integrated fashion and usually remained implicit during interactions. The language of CanMEDS was not adopted in clinical practice, which seemed to impede explicit learning interactions. The CanMEDS framework seemed only one of many factors of influence in practice-based training: patient records and other documents were highly influential in daily activities and did not always correspond with CanMEDS roles. Additionally, the position of residents seemed too peripheral to allow them to learn certain aspects of the Health Advocate and Leader roles. The CanMEDS framework did not really guide supervisors' and residents' practice or interactions. It was not explicitly used as a common language in which to talk about resident performance and roles. Therefore, the extent to which CanMEDS actually helps improve residents' learning trajectories and conversations between residents and supervisors about residents' progress remains questionable. This study highlights the fact that the reification of competency frameworks into the complexity of practice-based learning is not a straightforward exercise. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.
Net improvement of correct answers to therapy questions after pubmed searches: pre/post comparison.
McKibbon, Kathleen Ann; Lokker, Cynthia; Keepanasseril, Arun; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Haynes, R Brian
2013-11-08
Clinicians search PubMed for answers to clinical questions although it is time consuming and not always successful. To determine if PubMed used with its Clinical Queries feature to filter results based on study quality would improve search success (more correct answers to clinical questions related to therapy). We invited 528 primary care physicians to participate, 143 (27.1%) consented, and 111 (21.0% of the total and 77.6% of those who consented) completed the study. Participants answered 14 yes/no therapy questions and were given 4 of these (2 originally answered correctly and 2 originally answered incorrectly) to search using either the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries narrow therapy filter via a purpose-built system with identical search screens. Participants also picked 3 of the first 20 retrieved citations that best addressed each question. They were then asked to re-answer the original 14 questions. We found no statistically significant differences in the rates of correct or incorrect answers using the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries. The rate of correct answers increased from 50.0% to 61.4% (95% CI 55.0%-67.8%) for the PubMed main screen searches and from 50.0% to 59.1% (95% CI 52.6%-65.6%) for Clinical Queries searches. These net absolute increases of 11.4% and 9.1%, respectively, included previously correct answers changing to incorrect at a rate of 9.5% (95% CI 5.6%-13.4%) for PubMed main screen searches and 9.1% (95% CI 5.3%-12.9%) for Clinical Queries searches, combined with increases in the rate of being correct of 20.5% (95% CI 15.2%-25.8%) for PubMed main screen searches and 17.7% (95% CI 12.7%-22.7%) for Clinical Queries searches. PubMed can assist clinicians answering clinical questions with an approximately 10% absolute rate of improvement in correct answers. This small increase includes more correct answers partially offset by a decrease in previously correct answers.
Subtype-Specific Tumor-Associated Fibroblasts Contribute to the Pathogenesis of Uterine Leiomyoma.
Wu, Xin; Serna, Vanida A; Thomas, Justin; Qiang, Wenan; Blumenfeld, Michael L; Kurita, Takeshi
2017-12-15
Recent genomic studies have identified subtypes of uterine leiomyoma (LM) with distinctive genetic alterations. Here, we report the elucidation of the biological characteristics of the two most prevalent uterine leiomyoma subtypes, MED12-mutant (MED12-LM) and HMGA2-overexpressing (HMGA2-LM) uterine leiomyomas. Because each tumor carries only one genetic alteration, both subtypes are considered to be monoclonal. Approximately 90% of cells in HMGA2-uterine leiomyoma were smooth muscle cells (SMC) with HMGA2 overexpression. In contrast, MED12-LM consisted of similar numbers of SMC and non-SMC, which were mostly tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAF). Paradoxically, TAF carried no mutations in MED12, suggesting an interaction between SMC and TAF to coordinate their growth. The higher amount of extracellular matrix in MED12-LM than HMGA2-LM was partially due to the high concentration of collagen-producing TAF. SMC growth in a xenograft assay was driven by progesterone in both uterine leiomyoma subtypes. In contrast, TAF in MED12-LM proliferated in response to estradiol, whereas progesterone had no effect. The high concentration of estrogen-responsive TAF in MED12-LM explains the inconsistent discoveries between in vivo and in vitro studies on the mitogenic effect of estrogen and raises questions regarding the accuracy of previous studies utilizing MED12-LM cell culture. In addition, the differential effects of estradiol and progesterone on these uterine leiomyoma subtypes emphasize the importance of subtypes and genotypes in designing nonsurgical therapeutic strategies for uterine leiomyoma. Cancer Res; 77(24); 6891-901. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.
Factors affecting the loss of MED12-mutated leiomyoma cells during in vitro growth.
Bloch, Jeannine; Holzmann, Carsten; Koczan, Dirk; Helmke, Burkhard Maria; Bullerdiek, Jörn
2017-05-23
Uterine leiomyomas (UL) are the most prevalent symptomatic human tumors at all and somatic mutations of the gene encoding mediator subcomplex 12 (MED12) constitute the most frequent driver mutations in UL. Recently, a rapid loss of mutated cells during in vitro growth of UL-derived cell cultures was reported, resulting in doubts about the benefits of UL-derived cell cultures. To evaluate if the rapid loss of MED12-mutated cells in UL cell cultures depends on in vitro passaging, we set up cell cultures from nine UL from 40-50 year old Caucasian patients with at least one UL. Cultured UL cells were investigated for loss of MED12-mutated cells. Genetic characterization of native tumor samples and adjacent myometrium was done by array analysis. "Aged" primary cultures without passaging were compared to cells of three subsequent passages. Comparative analyses of the mutated/non-mutated ratios between native tissue, primary cells, and cultured tumor cells revealed a clear decrease of MED12-mutated cells. None of the tumors showed gross alterations of the array profiles, excluding the presence of gross genomic imbalances besides the MED12 mutations as a reason for the intertumoral variation in the loss of MED12-mutated cells. Albeit at a lesser rate, loss of MED12-mutated cells from cell cultures of UL occurs even without passaging thus indicating the requirement of soluble factors or matrix components lacking in vitro. Identification of these factors can help to understand the mechanisms of the growth of the most frequent type of uterine leiomyomas and to decipher novel drug targets.
Mills, Whitney L.; Regev, Tziona; Kunik, Mark E.; Wilson, Nancy L.; Moye, Jennifer; McCullough, Laurence B.; Naik, Aanand D.
2017-01-01
Objectives Older adults prefer to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and preliminary validation of Making and Executing Decisions for Safe and Independent Living (MED-SAIL), a brief screening tool for capacity to live safely and independently in the community. Design Prospective preliminary validation study. Setting Outpatient geriatrics clinic located in a community-based hospital. Participants Forty-nine community-dwelling older adults referred to the clinic for a comprehensive capacity assessment. Measurements We examined internal consistency, criterion-based validity, concurrent validity, and accuracy of classification for MED-SAIL. Results The items included in MED-SAIL demonstrated internal consistency (5 items; α = 0.85). MED-SAIL was significantly correlated with the Independent Living Scales (r = 0.573, p ≤ 0.001) and instrumental activities of daily living (r = 0.440, p ≤ 0.01). The Mann-Whitney U test revealed significant differences between the no capacity and partial/full capacity classifications on MED-SAIL (U(48) = 60.5, Z = −0.38, p <0.0001). The area under the curve was 0.864 (95% confidence interval: 0.84–0.99). Conclusions This study demonstrated the validity of MED-SAIL as a brief screening tool to identify older adults with impaired capacity for remaining safe and independent in their current living environment. MED-SAIL is useful tool for health and social service providers in the community for the purpose of referral for definitive capacity evaluation. PMID:23567420
Effects of subthalamic nucleus stimulation on motor cortex plasticity in Parkinson disease
Kim, Sang Jin; Udupa, Kaviraja; Ni, Zhen; Moro, Elena; Gunraj, Carolyn; Mazzella, Filomena; Lozano, Andres M.; Hodaie, Mojgan; Lang, Anthony E.
2015-01-01
Objective: We hypothesized that subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) will improve long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity in motor cortex in Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: We studied 8 patients with PD treated with STN-DBS and 9 age-matched healthy controls. Patients with PD were studied in 4 sessions in medication (Med) OFF/stimulator (Stim) OFF, Med-OFF/Stim-ON, Med-ON/Stim-OFF, and Med-ON/Stim-ON states in random order. Motor evoked potential amplitude and cortical silent period duration were measured at baseline before paired associated stimulation (PAS) and at 3 different time intervals (T0, T30, T60) up to 60 minutes after PAS in the abductor pollicis brevis and abductor digiti minimi muscles. Results: Motor evoked potential size significantly increased after PAS in controls (+67.7% of baseline at T30) and in patients in the Med-ON/Stim-ON condition (+55.8% of baseline at T30), but not in patients in the Med-OFF/Stim-OFF (−0.4% of baseline at T30), Med-OFF/Stim-ON (+10.3% of baseline at T30), and Med-ON/Stim-OFF conditions (+17.3% of baseline at T30). Cortical silent period duration increased after PAS in controls but not in patients in all test conditions. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that STN-DBS together with dopaminergic medications restore LTP-like plasticity in motor cortex in PD. Restoration of cortical plasticity may be one of the mechanisms of how STN-DBS produces clinical benefit. PMID:26156511
Rapid Estimation of TPH Reduction in Oil-Contaminated Soils Using the MED Method
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Edenborn, H.M.; Zenone, V.A.
2007-09-01
Oil-contaminated soil and sludge generated during federal well plugging activities in northwestern Pennsylvania are currently remediated on small landfarm sites in lieu of more expensive landfill disposal. Bioremediation success at these sites in the past has been gauged by the decrease in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations to less than 10,000 mg/kg measured using EPA Method 418.1. We tested the “molarity of ethanol droplet” (MED) water repellency test as a rapid indicator of TPH concentration in soil at one landfarm near Bradford, PA. MED was estimated by determining the minimum ethanol concentration (0 – 6 M) required to penetrate air-driedmore » and sieved soil samples within 10 sec. TPH in soil was analyzed by rapid fluorometric analysis of methanol soil extracts, which correlated well with EPA Method 1664. Uncontaminated landfarm site soil amended with increasing concentrations of waste oil sludge showed a high correlation between MED and TPH. MED values exceeded the upper limit of 6 M as TPH estimates exceed ca. 25,000 mg/kg. MED and TPH at the land farm were sampled monthly during summer months over two years in a grid pattern that allowed spatial comparisons of site remediation effectiveness. MED and TPH decreased at a constant rate over time and remained highly correlated. Inexpensive alternatives to reagent-grade ethanol gave comparable results. The simple MED approach served as an inexpensive alternative to the routine laboratory analysis of TPH during the monitoring of oily waste bioremediation at this landfarm site.« less
Improving accuracy for identifying related PubMed queries by an integrated approach.
Lu, Zhiyong; Wilbur, W John
2009-10-01
PubMed is the most widely used tool for searching biomedical literature online. As with many other online search tools, a user often types a series of multiple related queries before retrieving satisfactory results to fulfill a single information need. Meanwhile, it is also a common phenomenon to see a user type queries on unrelated topics in a single session. In order to study PubMed users' search strategies, it is necessary to be able to automatically separate unrelated queries and group together related queries. Here, we report a novel approach combining both lexical and contextual analyses for segmenting PubMed query sessions and identifying related queries and compare its performance with the previous approach based solely on concept mapping. We experimented with our integrated approach on sample data consisting of 1539 pairs of consecutive user queries in 351 user sessions. The prediction results of 1396 pairs agreed with the gold-standard annotations, achieving an overall accuracy of 90.7%. This demonstrates that our approach is significantly better than the previously published method. By applying this approach to a one day query log of PubMed, we found that a significant proportion of information needs involved more than one PubMed query, and that most of the consecutive queries for the same information need are lexically related. Finally, the proposed PubMed distance is shown to be an accurate and meaningful measure for determining the contextual similarity between biological terms. The integrated approach can play a critical role in handling real-world PubMed query log data as is demonstrated in our experiments.
Comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar literature searches.
Anders, Michael E; Evans, Dennis P
2010-05-01
Literature searches are essential to evidence-based respiratory care. To conduct literature searches, respiratory therapists rely on search engines to retrieve information, but there is a dearth of literature on the comparative efficiencies of search engines for researching clinical questions in respiratory care. To compare PubMed and Google Scholar search results for clinical topics in respiratory care to that of a benchmark. We performed literature searches with PubMed and Google Scholar, on 3 clinical topics. In PubMed we used the Clinical Queries search filter. In Google Scholar we used the search filters in the Advanced Scholar Search option. We used the reference list of a related Cochrane Collaboration evidence-based systematic review as the benchmark for each of the search results. We calculated recall (sensitivity) and precision (positive predictive value) with 2 x 2 contingency tables. We compared the results with the chi-square test of independence and Fisher's exact test. PubMed and Google Scholar had similar recall for both overall search results (71% vs 69%) and full-text results (43% vs 51%). PubMed had better precision than Google Scholar for both overall search results (13% vs 0.07%, P < .001) and full-text results (8% vs 0.05%, P < .001). Our results suggest that PubMed searches with the Clinical Queries filter are more precise than with the Advanced Scholar Search in Google Scholar for respiratory care topics. PubMed appears to be more practical to conduct efficient, valid searches for informing evidence-based patient-care protocols, for guiding the care of individual patients, and for educational purposes.
Improving accuracy for identifying related PubMed queries by an integrated approach
Lu, Zhiyong; Wilbur, W. John
2009-01-01
PubMed is the most widely used tool for searching biomedical literature online. As with many other online search tools, a user often types a series of multiple related queries before retrieving satisfactory results to fulfill a single information need. Meanwhile, it is also a common phenomenon to see a user type queries on unrelated topics in a single session. In order to study PubMed users’ search strategies, it is necessary to be able to automatically separate unrelated queries and group together related queries. Here, we report a novel approach combining both lexical and contextual analyses for segmenting PubMed query sessions and identifying related queries and compare its performance with the previous approach based solely on concept mapping. We experimented with our integrated approach on sample data consisting of 1,539 pairs of consecutive user queries in 351 user sessions. The prediction results of 1,396 pairs agreed with the gold-standard annotations, achieving an overall accuracy of 90.7%. This demonstrates that our approach is significantly better than the previously published method. By applying this approach to a one day query log of PubMed, we found that a significant proportion of information needs involved more than one PubMed query, and that most of the consecutive queries for the same information need are lexically related. Finally, the proposed PubMed distance is shown to be an accurate and meaningful measure for determining the contextual similarity between biological terms. The integrated approach can play a critical role in handling real-world PubMed query log data as is demonstrated in our experiments. PMID:19162232
Fornero, Christy; Suo, Bangxia; Zahde, Mais; Juveland, Katelyn; Kirik, Viktor
2017-11-01
Glassy Hair 1 (GLH1) gene that promotes papillae formation on trichome cell walls was identified as a subunit of the transcriptional mediator complex MED25. The MED25 gene is shown to be expressed in trichomes. The expression of the trichome development marker genes GLABRA2 (GL2) and Ethylene Receptor2 (ETR2) is not affected in the glh1 mutant. Presented data suggest that Arabidopsis MED25 mediator component is likely involved in the transcription of genes promoting papillae deposition in trichomes. The plant cell wall plays an important role in communication, defense, organization and support. The importance of each of these functions varies by cell type. Specialized cells, such as Arabidopsis trichomes, exhibit distinct cell wall characteristics including papillae. To better understand the molecular processes important for papillae deposition on the cell wall surface, we identified the GLASSY HAIR 1 (GLH1) gene, which is necessary for papillae formation. We found that a splice-site mutation in the component of the transcriptional mediator complex MED25 gene is responsible for the near papillae-less phenotype of the glh1 mutant. The MED25 gene is expressed in trichomes. Reporters for trichome developmental marker genes GLABRA2 (GL2) and Ethylene Receptor2 (ETR2) were not affected in the glh1 mutant. Collectively, the presented results show that MED25 is necessary for papillae formation on the cell wall surface of leaf trichomes and suggest that the Arabidopsis MED25 mediator component is likely involved in the transcription of a subset of genes that promote papillae deposition in trichomes.
Modified UMS, Modified SemRep and SemMedDB-UTH | Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR)
Modified UMLS, modified SemRep and SemMedDB-UTH – these are resources (UMLS, SemMedDB-UT) and tools (SemRep) created and maintained by National Library of Medicine that we have modified for personalized cancer therapy and returned to the NLM.
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2013-11-29
... devices in clinical use. This system is called the Medical Product Safety Network (MedSun). FDA is seeking... the user facilities participating in MedSun, to obtain a demographic profile of the facilities, and... collecting data on the electronic adverse event report form, MedSun collects additional information from...
Military Post Office Mail Distribution Scheme (MPOMDS)
1990-04-01
VIENNA) 09667-0001 AMERICAN EMBASSY BELGIUM (BRUSSELS) 34032-0001 AMERICAN EMBASSY BOLIVIA (LA PAZ) 34030-0001 AMERICAN EMBASSY BRAZIL (BRASILA) 34033...1801 3 INF DIV, NCO ACADEMY 09036- 2018 3 INF, REPL DET 09701-1815 3 MATERIAL MAINT CMD 09182-1823 3 MED BN 09164-3443 3 MED DET 09164-3433 3 MED DET
MedEdPORTAL: Educational Scholarship for Teaching
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Reynolds, Robby J.; Candler, Christopher S.
2008-01-01
MedEdPORTAL is an online publication service provided at no charge by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The intent is to promote collaboration and educational scholarship by helping educators publish and share educational resources. With MedEdPORTAL, users can quickly locate high-quality, peer-reviewed teaching materials in both…
Software-Enabled Distributed Network Governance: The PopMedNet Experience.
Davies, Melanie; Erickson, Kyle; Wyner, Zachary; Malenfant, Jessica; Rosen, Rob; Brown, Jeffrey
2016-01-01
The expanded availability of electronic health information has led to increased interest in distributed health data research networks. The distributed research network model leaves data with and under the control of the data holder. Data holders, network coordinating centers, and researchers have distinct needs and challenges within this model. The concerns of network stakeholders are addressed in the design and governance models of the PopMedNet software platform. PopMedNet features include distributed querying, customizable workflows, and auditing and search capabilities. Its flexible role-based access control system enables the enforcement of varying governance policies. Four case studies describe how PopMedNet is used to enforce network governance models. Trust is an essential component of a distributed research network and must be built before data partners may be willing to participate further. The complexity of the PopMedNet system must be managed as networks grow and new data, analytic methods, and querying approaches are developed. The PopMedNet software platform supports a variety of network structures, governance models, and research activities through customizable features designed to meet the needs of network stakeholders.
PubMed Phrases, an open set of coherent phrases for searching biomedical literature
Kim, Sun; Yeganova, Lana; Comeau, Donald C.; Wilbur, W. John; Lu, Zhiyong
2018-01-01
In biomedicine, key concepts are often expressed by multiple words (e.g., ‘zinc finger protein’). Previous work has shown treating a sequence of words as a meaningful unit, where applicable, is not only important for human understanding but also beneficial for automatic information seeking. Here we present a collection of PubMed® Phrases that are beneficial for information retrieval and human comprehension. We define these phrases as coherent chunks that are logically connected. To collect the phrase set, we apply the hypergeometric test to detect segments of consecutive terms that are likely to appear together in PubMed. These text segments are then filtered using the BM25 ranking function to ensure that they are beneficial from an information retrieval perspective. Thus, we obtain a set of 705,915 PubMed Phrases. We evaluate the quality of the set by investigating PubMed user click data and manually annotating a sample of 500 randomly selected noun phrases. We also analyze and discuss the usage of these PubMed Phrases in literature search. PMID:29893755
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Briggs, M.D.; Choi, HiChang; Warman, M.L.
1994-10-01
Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) is a dominantly inherited chondrodysplasia characterized by mild short stature and early-onset osteoarthrosis. Some forms of MED clinically resemble another chondrodysplasia phenotype, the mild form of pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH). On the basis of their clinical similarities as well as similar ultra-structural and biochemical features in cartilage from some patients, it has been proposed that MED and PSACH belong to a single bone-dysplasia family. Recently, both mild and severe PSACH as well as a form of MED have been linked to the same interval on chromosome 19, suggesting that they may be allelic disorders. Linkage studies with themore » chromosome 19 markers were carried out in a large family with MED and excluded the previously identified interval. Using this family, we have identified a MED locus on the short arm of chromosome 1, in a region containing the gene (COL9A2) that encodes the {alpha}2 chain of type IX collagen, a structural component of the cartilage extracellular matrix. 39 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.« less
The function of the Mediator complex in plant immunity.
An, Chuanfu; Mou, Zhonglin
2013-03-01
Upon pathogen infection, plants undergo dramatic transcriptome reprogramming to shift from normal growth and development to immune response. During this rapid process, the multiprotein Mediator complex has been recognized as an important player to fine-tune gene-specific and pathway-specific transcriptional reprogramming by acting as an adaptor/coregulator between sequence-specific transcription factor and RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). Here, we review current understanding of the role of five functionally characterized Mediator subunits (MED8, MED15, MED16, MED21 and MED25) in plant immunity. All these Mediator subunits positively regulate resistance against leaf-infecting biotrophic bacteria or necrotrophic fungi. While MED21 appears to regulate defense against fungal pathogens via relaying signals from upstream regulators and chromatin modification to RNAPII, the other four Mediator subunits locate at different positions of the defense network to convey phytohormone signal(s). Fully understanding the role of Mediator in plant immunity needs to characterize more Mediator subunits in both Arabidopsis and other plant species. Identification of interacting proteins of Mediator subunits will further help to reveal their specific regulatory mechanisms in plant immunity.
DATS, the data tag suite to enable discoverability of datasets.
Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Alter, George; Grethe, Jeffrey S; Xu, Hua; Fore, Ian M; Lyle, Jared; Gururaj, Anupama E; Chen, Xiaoling; Kim, Hyeon-Eui; Zong, Nansu; Li, Yueling; Liu, Ruiling; Ozyurt, I Burak; Ohno-Machado, Lucila
2017-06-06
Today's science increasingly requires effective ways to find and access existing datasets that are distributed across a range of repositories. For researchers in the life sciences, discoverability of datasets may soon become as essential as identifying the latest publications via PubMed. Through an international collaborative effort funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative, we have designed and implemented the DAta Tag Suite (DATS) model to support the DataMed data discovery index. DataMed's goal is to be for data what PubMed has been for the scientific literature. Akin to the Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) used in PubMed, the DATS model enables submission of metadata on datasets to DataMed. DATS has a core set of elements, which are generic and applicable to any type of dataset, and an extended set that can accommodate more specialized data types. DATS is a platform-independent model also available as an annotated serialization in schema.org, which in turn is widely used by major search engines like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex.
EDITORIAL: Annual prizes for best papers
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2006-09-01
2005 Roberts Prize The publishers of Physics in Medicine and Biology (PMB) in association with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) jointly award an annual prize for an article published in PMB during the previous year. The following 14 articles, listed below in chronological order, were rated the best of 2005 based on the (two or three) referees' assessments: P Kundrát et al 2005 Probabilistic two-stage model of cell inactivation by ionizing particles Phys. Med. Biol. 50 1433-47 D Arora et al 2005 Direct thermal dose control of constrained focused ultrasound treatments: phantom and in vivo evaluation Phys. Med. Biol. 50 1919-35 J S Dysart et al 2005 Characterization of Photofrin photobleaching for singlet oxygen dose estimation during photodynamic therapy of MLL cells in vitro Phys. Med. Biol. 50 2597-616 M Defrise et al 2005 Fourier rebinning of time-of-flight PET data Phys. Med. Biol. 50 2749-63 Z Su et al 2005 Systematic investigation of the signal properties of polycrystalline HgI2 detectors under mammographic, radiographic, fluoroscopic and radiotherapy irradiation conditions Phys. Med. Biol. 50 2907-28 E Bräuer-Krisch et al 2005 New irradiation geometry for microbeam radiation therapy Phys. Med. Biol. 50 3103-11 H C Pyo et al 2005 Identification of current density distribution in electrically conducting subject with anisotropic conductivity distribution Phys. Med. Biol. 50 3183-96 R P Findlay et al 2005 Effects of posture on FDTD calculations of specific absorption rate in a voxel model of the human body Phys. Med. Biol. 50 3825-35 G Alexandrakis et al 2005 Tomographic bioluminescence imaging by use of a combined optical-PET (OPET) system: a computer simulation feasibility study Phys. Med. Biol. 50 4225-41 J Keshvari et al 2005 Comparison of radio frequency energy absorption in ear and eye region of children and adults at 900, 1800 and 2450 MHz Phys. Med. Biol. 50 4355-69 J Laufer et al 2005 In vitro measurements of absolute blood oxygen saturation using pulsed near-infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy: accuracy and resolution Phys. Med. Biol. 50 4409-28 Z Cao et al 2005 Optimal number of pinholes in multi-pinhole SPECT for mouse brain imaging---a simulation study Phys. Med. Biol. 50 4609-24 R Dharmakumar et al 2005 A novel microbubble construct for intracardiac or intravascular MR manometry: a theoretical study Phys. Med. Biol. 50 4745-62 R Chopra et al 2005 Method for MRI-guided conformal thermal therapy of prostate with planar transurethral ultrasound heating applicators Phys. Med. Biol. 50 4957-75 The IPEM Publications Committee then assessed and rated these papers in order to choose a winner. We have much pleasure in advising readers that the 2005 Roberts Prize is awarded to: J S Dysart and M S Patterson 2005 Characterization of Photofrin photobleaching for singlet oxygen dose estimation during photodynamic therapy of MLL cells in vitro Phys. Med. Biol. 50 2597-616 2006 Prize for the Highest Cited Paper The annual prize for the most highly cited paper is awarded by the journal publishers to the article published in PMB that has received the most citations1 in the previous 5 years (in this case for the period 2001 to 2005 inclusive). We have much pleasure in advising readers that the 2006 prize is awarded to: P J Keall, V R Kini, S S Vedam and R Mohan 2001 Motion adaptive x-ray therapy: a feasibility study Phys. Med. Biol. 46 1-10 Simon Harris, Publisher Steve Webb, Editor-in-Chief 1 Figures taken from Thomson/ISI
Mickelson, J.J.; MacNeily, A.E.
2008-01-01
It has been more than a decade since the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada implemented the Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists (CanMEDS) project. Despite frequent and widespread correspondence to Canadian practitioners and educators, the adoption of the 7 core competencies espoused by CanMEDS has been slow. Barriers to the teaching and acquisition of these skills include a lack of understanding of what they actually represent, a paucity of tools to teach them and an inability to quantify performance. It is essential to translate the goals of the CanMEDS project into clinically relevant concepts. We define the current status of the CanMEDS competencies with respect to urological training and provide some context to what has been, until now, a poorly defined and abstract educational construct. PMID:18781207
Goldberg, Harry; Klaff, Justin; Spjut, Aaron; Milner, Stephen
2014-01-01
The aim of this study was to compare the ease and accuracy of measuring the surface area of a severe burn through the use of a mobile software application (BurnMed) to the traditional method of assessment, the Lund and Browder chart. BurnMed calculates the surface area of a burn by enabling the user to first manipulate a three-dimensional model on a mobile device and then by touching the model at the locations representing the patient's injury. The surface area of the burn is calculated in real time. Using a cohort of 18 first-year medical students with no experience in burn care, the surface area of a simulated burn on a mannequin was made using BurnMed and compared to estimates derived from the Lund and Browder chart. At the completion of this study, students were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to assess the ease of use of BurnMed. Users were able to easily and accurately measure the surface area of a simulated burn using the BurnMed application. In addition, there was less variability in surface area measurements with the application compared to the results obtained using the Lund and Browder chart. Users also reported that BurnMed was easier to use than the Lund and Browder chart. A software application, BurnMed, has been developed for a mobile device that easily and accurately determines the surface area of a burn. This system uses a three-dimensional model that can be rotated, enlarged, and transposed by the health care provider to easily determine the extent of a burn. Results show that the variability of measurements using BurnMed is lower than the measurements obtained using the Lund and Browder chart. BurnMed is available at no charge in the Apple™ Store.
Chernoff, Miriam; Ford-Chatterton, Heather; Crain, Marilyn J
2012-10-01
To demonstrate the utility of a medical terminology-based method for identifying cases of possible mitochondrial dysfunction (MD) in a large cohort of youths with perinatal HIV infection and to describe the scoring algorithms. Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) ® version 6 terminology was used to query clinical criteria for mitochondrial dysfunction by two published classifications, the Enquête Périnatale Française (EPF) and the Mitochondrial Disease Classification (MDC). Data from 2,931 participants with perinatal HIV infection on PACTG 219/219C were analyzed. Data were qualified for severity and persistence, after which clinical reviews of MedDRA-coded and other study data were performed. Of 14,000 data records captured by the EPF MedDRA query, there were 3,331 singular events. Of 18,000 captured by the MDC query, there were 3,841 events. Ten clinicians blindly reviewed non MedDRA-coded supporting data for 15 separate clinical conditions. We used the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) language to code scoring algorithms. 768 participants (26%) met the EPF case definition of possible MD; 694 (24%) met the MDC case definition, and 480 (16%) met both definitions. Subjective application of codes could have affected our results. MedDRA terminology does not include indicators of severity or persistence. Version 6.0 of MedDRA did not include Standard MedDRA Queries, which would have reduced the time needed to map MedDRA terms to EPF and MDC criteria. Together with a computer-coded scoring algorithm, MedDRA terminology enabled identification of potential MD based on clinical data from almost 3000 children with substantially less effort than a case by case review. The article is accessible to readers with a background in statistical hypothesis testing. An exposure to public health issues is useful but not strictly necessary.
Díaz-López, Andrés; Babio, Nancy; Martínez-González, Miguel A; Corella, Dolores; Amor, Antonio J; Fitó, Montse; Estruch, Ramon; Arós, Fernando; Gómez-Gracia, Enrique; Fiol, Miquel; Lapetra, José; Serra-Majem, Lluís; Basora, Josep; Basterra-Gortari, F Javier; Zanon-Moreno, Vicente; Muñoz, Miguel Ángel; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi
2015-11-01
To date no clinical trials have evaluated the role of dietary patterns on the incidence of microvascular diabetes complications. We hypothesized that a nutritional intervention based on the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) would have greater protective effect on diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy than a low-fat control diet. This was a post hoc analysis of a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes participating in the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) study, a multicenter randomized nutritional intervention trial conducted in a population at high cardiovascular risk. Individuals with type 2 diabetes who were free of microvascular complications at enrollment (n = 3,614, aged 55-80 years) were randomly assigned to one of three dietary interventions: MedDiet supplemented with extravirgin olive oil (MedDiet+EVOO), MedDiet supplemented with mixed nuts (MedDiet+Nuts), or a low-fat control diet. Two independent outcomes were considered: new onset of diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression. During a median follow-up of 6.0 years, we identified 74 new cases of retinopathy and 168 of nephropathy. Compared with the control diet, multivariable-adjusted HRs for diabetic retinopathy were 0.56 (95% CI 0.32-0.97) for the MedDiet+EVOO and 0.63 (0.35-1.11) for the MedDiet+Nuts. No between-group differences were found for nephropathy. When the yearly updated information on adherence to the MedDiet was considered, the HR for retinopathy in the highest versus the lowest quintile was 0.34 (0.13-0.89; P = 0.001 for trend). No significant associations were found for nephropathy. A MedDiet enriched with EVOO may protect against diabetic retinopathy but not diabetic nephropathy. © 2015 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.
Chernoff, Miriam; Ford-Chatterton, Heather; Crain, Marilyn J.
2012-01-01
Objective To demonstrate the utility of a medical terminology-based method for identifying cases of possible mitochondrial dysfunction (MD) in a large cohort of youths with perinatal HIV infection and to describe the scoring algorithms. Methods Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA)® version 6 terminology was used to query clinical criteria for mitochondrial dysfunction by two published classifications, the Enquête Périnatale Française (EPF) and the Mitochondrial Disease Classification (MDC). Data from 2,931 participants with perinatal HIV infection on PACTG 219/219C were analyzed. Data were qualified for severity and persistence, after which clinical reviews of MedDRA-coded and other study data were performed. Results Of 14,000 data records captured by the EPF MedDRA query, there were 3,331 singular events. Of 18,000 captured by the MDC query, there were 3,841 events. Ten clinicians blindly reviewed non MedDRA-coded supporting data for 15 separate clinical conditions. We used the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) language to code scoring algorithms. 768 participants (26%) met the EPF case definition of possible MD; 694 (24%) met the MDC case definition, and 480 (16%) met both definitions. Limitations Subjective application of codes could have affected our results. MedDRA terminology does not include indicators of severity or persistence. Version 6.0 of MedDRA did not include Standard MedDRA Queries, which would have reduced the time needed to map MedDRA terms to EPF and MDC criteria. Conclusion Together with a computer-coded scoring algorithm, MedDRA terminology enabled identification of potential MD based on clinical data from almost 3000 children with substantially less effort than a case by case review. The article is accessible to readers with a background in statistical hypothesis testing. An exposure to public health issues is useful but not strictly necessary. PMID:23797349
Hoogendam, Arjen; Stalenhoef, Anton FH; Robbé, Pieter F de Vries; Overbeke, A John PM
2008-01-01
Background The use of PubMed to answer daily medical care questions is limited because it is challenging to retrieve a small set of relevant articles and time is restricted. Knowing what aspects of queries are likely to retrieve relevant articles can increase the effectiveness of PubMed searches. The objectives of our study were to identify queries that are likely to retrieve relevant articles by relating PubMed search techniques and tools to the number of articles retrieved and the selection of articles for further reading. Methods This was a prospective observational study of queries regarding patient-related problems sent to PubMed by residents and internists in internal medicine working in an Academic Medical Centre. We analyzed queries, search results, query tools (Mesh, Limits, wildcards, operators), selection of abstract and full-text for further reading, using a portal that mimics PubMed. Results PubMed was used to solve 1121 patient-related problems, resulting in 3205 distinct queries. Abstracts were viewed in 999 (31%) of these queries, and in 126 (39%) of 321 queries using query tools. The average term count per query was 2.5. Abstracts were selected in more than 40% of queries using four or five terms, increasing to 63% if the use of four or five terms yielded 2–161 articles. Conclusion Queries sent to PubMed by physicians at our hospital during daily medical care contain fewer than three terms. Queries using four to five terms, retrieving less than 161 article titles, are most likely to result in abstract viewing. PubMed search tools are used infrequently by our population and are less effective than the use of four or five terms. Methods to facilitate the formulation of precise queries, using more relevant terms, should be the focus of education and research. PMID:18816391
Brown, Elliot G
2003-01-01
The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a unified standard terminology for recording and reporting adverse drug event data. Its introduction is widely seen as a significant improvement on the previous situation, where a multitude of terminologies of widely varying scope and quality were in use. However, there are some complexities that may cause difficulties, and these will form the focus for this paper. Two methods of searching MedDRA-coded databases are described: searching based on term selection from all of MedDRA and searching based on terms in the safety database. There are several potential traps for the unwary in safety searches. There may be multiple locations of relevant terms within a system organ class (SOC) and lack of recognition of appropriate group terms; the user may think that group terms are more inclusive than is the case. MedDRA may distribute terms relevant to one medical condition across several primary SOCs. If the database supports the MedDRA model, it is possible to perform multiaxial searching: while this may help find terms that might have been missed, it is still necessary to consider the entire contents of the SOCs to find all relevant terms and there are many instances of incomplete secondary linkages. It is important to adjust for multiaxiality if data are presented using primary and secondary locations. Other sources for errors in searching are non-intuitive placement and the selection of terms as preferred terms (PTs) that may not be widely recognised. Some MedDRA rules could also result in errors in data retrieval if the individual is unaware of these: in particular, the lack of multiaxial linkages for the Investigations SOC, Social circumstances SOC and Surgical and medical procedures SOC and the requirement that a PT may only be present under one High Level Term (HLT) and one High Level Group Term (HLGT) within any single SOC. Special Search Categories (collections of PTs assembled from various SOCs by searching all of MedDRA) are limited by the small number available and by lack of clarity about criteria applied in their construction. Difficulties in database searching may be addressed by suitable user training and experience, and by central reporting of detected deficiencies in MedDRA. Other remedies may include regulatory guidance on implementation and use of MedDRA. Further systematic review of MedDRA is needed and generation of standardised searches that may be used 'off the shelf' will help, particularly where the same search is performed repeatedly on multiple data sets. Until these enhancements are widely available, MedDRA users should take great care when searching a safety database to ensure that cases are not inadvertently missed.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Little, Alan; Bose, Deepak; Karlgaard, Chris; Munk, Michelle; Kuhl, Chris; Schoenenberger, Mark; Antill, Chuck; Verhappen, Ron; Kutty, Prasad; White, Todd
2013-01-01
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI) hardware was a first-of-its-kind sensor system that gathered temperature and pressure readings on the MSL heatshield during Mars entry on August 6, 2012. MEDLI began as challenging instrumentation problem, and has been a model of collaboration across multiple NASA organizations. After the culmination of almost 6 years of effort, the sensors performed extremely well, collecting data from before atmospheric interface through parachute deploy. This paper will summarize the history of the MEDLI project and hardware development, including key lessons learned that can apply to future instrumentation efforts. MEDLI returned an unprecedented amount of high-quality engineering data from a Mars entry vehicle. We will present the performance of the 3 sensor types: pressure, temperature, and isotherm tracking, as well as the performance of the custom-built sensor support electronics. A key component throughout the MEDLI project has been the ground testing and analysis effort required to understand the returned flight data. Although data analysis is ongoing through 2013, this paper will reveal some of the early findings on the aerothermodynamic environment that MSL encountered at Mars, the response of the heatshield material to that heating environment, and the aerodynamic performance of the entry vehicle. The MEDLI data results promise to challenge our engineering assumptions and revolutionize the way we account for margins in entry vehicle design.
Yu, Hong; Kaufman, David
2007-01-01
The Internet is having a profound impact on physicians' medical decision making. One recent survey of 277 physicians showed that 72% of physicians regularly used the Internet to research medical information and 51% admitted that information from web sites influenced their clinical decisions. This paper describes the first cognitive evaluation of four state-of-the-art Internet search engines: Google (i.e., Google and Scholar.Google), MedQA, Onelook, and PubMed for answering definitional questions (i.e., questions with the format of "What is X?") posed by physicians. Onelook is a portal for online definitions, and MedQA is a question answering system that automatically generates short texts to answer specific biomedical questions. Our evaluation criteria include quality of answer, ease of use, time spent, and number of actions taken. Our results show that MedQA outperforms Onelook and PubMed in most of the criteria, and that MedQA surpasses Google in time spent and number of actions, two important efficiency criteria. Our results show that Google is the best system for quality of answer and ease of use. We conclude that Google is an effective search engine for medical definitions, and that MedQA exceeds the other search engines in that it provides users direct answers to their questions; while the users of the other search engines have to visit several sites before finding all of the pertinent information.
Tracking Australian health and medical research expenditure with a PubMed bibliometric method.
Mendis, Kumara; Bailey, Jannine; McLean, Rick
2015-06-01
To assess Australian health and medical research (HMR) investment returns by measuring the trends in HMR expenditure and PubMed publications by Australian authors. Bibliometric analysis collating Australian HMR expenditure reported by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australian HMR publications indexed in PubMed. Similar methods were applied to data from the United Kingdom and New Zealand. From financial year 2000/01 through 2011/12, HMR investment increased by 232% from $1.49 to $4.94 billion (current prices adjusted for inflation), while PubMed publications increased by 123% from 10,696 to 23,818. The average HMR investment required for a single PubMed publication rose by 49% from $139,304 in 2000/01 to $207,364 in 2011/12. Quality analyses showed an increase in systematic reviews, cohort studies and clinical trials, and a decrease in publications in PubMed's core clinical journal collection. Comparisons with New Zealand and the United Kingdom showed that Australia has had the greatest overall percentage increase in gross publication numbers and publications per capita. Our analyses confirm that increased HMR expenditure is associated with an increase in HMR publications in PubMed. Tracking HMR investment outcomes using this method could be useful for future policy and funding decisions at a federal and specific institution level. © 2015 Public Health Association of Australia.
Shaikhali, Jehad; Davoine, Céline; Brännström, Kristoffer; Rouhier, Nicolas; Bygdell, Joakim; Björklund, Stefan; Wingsle, Gunnar
2015-06-15
The eukaryotic mediator integrates regulatory signals from promoter-bound transcription factors (TFs) and transmits them to RNA polymerase II (Pol II) machinery. Although redox signalling is important in adjusting plant metabolism and development, nothing is known about a possible redox regulation of mediator. In the present study, using pull-down and yeast two-hybrid assays, we demonstrate the association of mediator (MED) subunits MED10a, MED28 and MED32 with the GLABROUS1 (GL1) enhancer-binding protein-like (GeBPL), a plant-specific TF that binds a promoter containing cryptochrome 1 response element 2 (CryR2) element. All the corresponding recombinant proteins form various types of covalent oligomers linked by intermolecular disulfide bonds that are reduced in vitro by the thioredoxin (TRX) and/or glutathione/glutaredoxin (GRX) systems. The presence of recombinant MED10a, MED28 and MED32 subunits or changes of its redox state affect the DNA-binding capacity of GeBPL suggesting that redox-driven conformational changes might modulate its activity. Overall, these results advance our understanding of how redox signalling affects transcription and identify mediator as a novel actor in redox signalling pathways, relaying or integrating redox changes in combination with specific TFs as GeBPL. © The Authors Journal compilation © 2015 Biochemical Society.
Anandhakumar, Jayamani; Moustafa, Yara W; Chowdhary, Surabhi; Kainth, Amoldeep S; Gross, David S
2016-07-15
Mediator is an evolutionarily conserved coactivator complex essential for RNA polymerase II transcription. Although it has been generally assumed that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Mediator is a stable trimodular complex, its structural state in vivo remains unclear. Using the "anchor away" (AA) technique to conditionally deplete select subunits within Mediator and its reversibly associated Cdk8 kinase module (CKM), we provide evidence that Mediator's tail module is highly dynamic and that a subcomplex consisting of Med2, Med3, and Med15 can be independently recruited to the regulatory regions of heat shock factor 1 (Hsf1)-activated genes. Fluorescence microscopy of a scaffold subunit (Med14)-anchored strain confirmed parallel cytoplasmic sequestration of core subunits located outside the tail triad. In addition, and contrary to current models, we provide evidence that Hsf1 can recruit the CKM independently of core Mediator and that core Mediator has a role in regulating postinitiation events. Collectively, our results suggest that yeast Mediator is not monolithic but potentially has a dynamic complexity heretofore unappreciated. Multiple species, including CKM-Mediator, the 21-subunit core complex, the Med2-Med3-Med15 tail triad, and the four-subunit CKM, can be independently recruited by activated Hsf1 to its target genes in AA strains. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Extracting and standardizing medication information in clinical text - the MedEx-UIMA system.
Jiang, Min; Wu, Yonghui; Shah, Anushi; Priyanka, Priyanka; Denny, Joshua C; Xu, Hua
2014-01-01
Extraction of medication information embedded in clinical text is important for research using electronic health records (EHRs). However, most of current medication information extraction systems identify drug and signature entities without mapping them to standard representation. In this study, we introduced the open source Java implementation of MedEx, an existing high-performance medication information extraction system, based on the Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) framework. In addition, we developed new encoding modules in the MedEx-UIMA system, which mapped an extracted drug name/dose/form to both generalized and specific RxNorm concepts and translated drug frequency information to ISO standard. We processed 826 documents by both systems and verified that MedEx-UIMA and MedEx (the Python version) performed similarly by comparing both results. Using two manually annotated test sets that contained 300 drug entries from medication list and 300 drug entries from narrative reports, the MedEx-UIMA system achieved F-measures of 98.5% and 97.5% respectively for encoding drug names to corresponding RxNorm generic drug ingredients, and F-measures of 85.4% and 88.1% respectively for mapping drug names/dose/form to the most specific RxNorm concepts. It also achieved an F-measure of 90.4% for normalizing frequency information to ISO standard. The open source MedEx-UIMA system is freely available online at http://code.google.com/p/medex-uima/.
MED GATA factors promote robust development of the C. elegans endoderm
Maduro, Morris F.; Broitman-Maduro, Gina; Choi, Hailey; Carranza, Francisco; Wu, Allison Chia-Yi; Rifkin, Scott A.
2015-01-01
The MED-1,2 GATA factors contribute to specification of E, the progenitor of the C. elegans endoderm, through the genes end-1 and end-3, and in parallel with the maternal factors SKN-1, POP-1 and PAL-1. END-1,3 activate elt-2 and elt-7 to initiate a program of intestinal development, which is maintained by positive autoregulation. Here, we advance the understanding of MED-1,2 in E specification. We find that expression of end-1 and end-3 is greatly reduced in med-1,2(−) embryos. We generated strains in which MED sites have been mutated in end-1 and end-3. Without MED input, gut specification relies primarily on POP-1 and PAL-1. 25% of embryos fail to make intestine, while those that do display abnormal numbers of gut cells due to a delayed and stochastic acquisition of intestine fate. Surviving adults exhibit phenotypes consistent with a primary defect in the intestine. Our results establish that MED-1,2 provide robustness to endoderm specification through end-1 and end-3, and reveal that gut differentiation may be more directly linked to specification than previously appreciated. The results argue against an “all-or-none” description of cell specification, and suggest that activation of tissue-specific master regulators, even when expression of these is maintained by positive autoregulation, does not guarantee proper function of differentiated cells. PMID:25959238
Bosnian and Herzegovinian medical scientists in PubMed database.
Masic, Izet
2013-01-01
In this paper it is shortly presented PubMed as one of the most important on-line databases of the scientific biomedical literature. Also, the author has analyzed the most cited authors, professors of the medical faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the published papers in the biomedical journals abstracted and indexed in PubMed.
Mediation and the "Chilling" Effect of Med-Arb in a Simulated Labor-Management Dispute.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Carnevale, Peter J. D.; Leatherwood, Marya L.
Mediation and mediation-arbitration (med-arb) are two forms of third-party conflict intervention that can affect integrative agreements in labor-management negotiation. In an attempt to evaluate the relative value of each of these two methods, 160 volunteers, almost all business students, were randomly placed into a mediation triad, a med-arb…
47 CFR 95.627 - MedRadio transmitters in the 401-406 MHz band.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR
2012-10-01
... the MedRadio programmer/control transmitter monitoring system antenna gain relative to an isotropic... level must be increased or decreased by an amount equal to the monitoring system antenna gain above or below the gain of an isotropic antenna, respectively. (4) If no signal in a MedRadio channel above the...
47 CFR 95.627 - MedRadio transmitters in the 401-406 MHz band.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR
2013-10-01
... the MedRadio programmer/control transmitter monitoring system antenna gain relative to an isotropic... level must be increased or decreased by an amount equal to the monitoring system antenna gain above or below the gain of an isotropic antenna, respectively. (4) If no signal in a MedRadio channel above the...
47 CFR 95.627 - MedRadio transmitters in the 401-406 MHz band.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR
2014-10-01
... the MedRadio programmer/control transmitter monitoring system antenna gain relative to an isotropic... level must be increased or decreased by an amount equal to the monitoring system antenna gain above or below the gain of an isotropic antenna, respectively. (4) If no signal in a MedRadio channel above the...
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and prediction of incident stroke
Tsivgoulis, Georgios; Psaltopoulou, Theodora; Wadley, Virginia G.; Alexandrov, Andrei V.; Howard, George; Unverzagt, Frederick W.; Moy, Claudia; Howard, Virginia J.; Kissela, Brett; Judd, Suzanne E.
2015-01-01
Context There are limited data regarding the potential association of adherence to Mediterranean Diet (MeD) with incident stroke in non-Mediterranean populations. Objective We sought to assess the longitudinal association between greater adherence to MeD and lower risk of incident stroke both with and without adjustment for factors that are independently related to stroke burden by capitalizing on the large, sample of the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) subjects. Design, Setting and Participants Prospective, population-based, cohort of 30,239 individuals enrolled in REGARDS Study 2003–2007, excluding participants with stroke history, missing demographic data and Food Frequency Questionnaires and unavailable follow-up information. Adherence to MeD was categorized using dichotomization and trichotomization of MeD-score. Main Outcome Measures Incident stroke diagnosed by expert panel review of medical records using clinical and neuroimaging data during a mean follow-up period of 6.5 years. Results Incident stroke was identified in 565 participants (2.8%; 497 cases of ischemic and 68 cases of hemorrhagic stroke) out of 20,197 individuals fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Low (HR versus high adherence: 1.28; 95%CI:1.00–1.63) and moderate (HR versus high adherence: 1.32; 95%CI:1.05–1.66) adherence to MeD were associated with higher risk of incident ischemic stroke (IS) in initial univariate analysis. After adjusting for demographics, vascular risk factors, blood pressure levels, and antihypertensive medications use, low adherence to MeD (MeD-score: 0–3) tended to be associated with a higher risk of incident IS [HR versus high adherence (MeD-score: 6–9): 1.29; 95%CI:0.99–1.67]. A similar relationship was documented for moderate adherence to MeD (MeD score: 4–5; HR versus high adherence: 1.25; 95%CI:0.98–1.58). After dichotomization of MeD-score, low adherence to MeD (MeD-score: 0–4) was independently associated with higher incidence of IS in multivariable analyses (HR: 1.27;95%CI:1.04–1.54). We documented no association (p>0.5) of dichotomized or trichotomized MeD-score with incident hemorrhagic stroke. There was no interaction of race (p=0.38) on the association of adherence to MeD with incident IS. Conclusions Low adherence to MeD appears to be associated with a higher risk of incident IS independent of numerous potential confounders. Adherence to MeD is not related to the risk of incident hemorrhagic stroke. PMID:25628306
2013-01-01
Background PubMed translations of OvidSP Medline search filters offer searchers improved ease of access. They may also facilitate access to PubMed’s unique content, including citations for the most recently published biomedical evidence. Retrieving this content requires a search strategy comprising natural language terms (‘textwords’), rather than Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). We describe a reproducible methodology that uses a validated PubMed search filter translation to create a textword-only strategy to extend retrieval to PubMed’s unique heart failure literature. Methods We translated an OvidSP Medline heart failure search filter for PubMed and established version equivalence in terms of indexed literature retrieval. The PubMed version was then run within PubMed to identify citations retrieved by the filter’s MeSH terms (Heart failure, Left ventricular dysfunction, and Cardiomyopathy). It was then rerun with the same MeSH terms restricted to searching on title and abstract fields (i.e. as ‘textwords’). Citations retrieved by the MeSH search but not the textword search were isolated. Frequency analysis of their titles/abstracts identified natural language alternatives for those MeSH terms that performed less effectively as textwords. These terms were tested in combination to determine the best performing search string for reclaiming this ‘lost set’. This string, restricted to searching on PubMed’s unique content, was then combined with the validated PubMed translation to extend the filter’s performance in this database. Results The PubMed heart failure filter retrieved 6829 citations. Of these, 834 (12%) failed to be retrieved when MeSH terms were converted to textwords. Frequency analysis of the 834 citations identified five high frequency natural language alternatives that could improve retrieval of this set (cardiac failure, cardiac resynchronization, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, and LV dysfunction). Together these terms reclaimed 157/834 (18.8%) of lost citations. Conclusions MeSH terms facilitate precise searching in PubMed’s indexed subset. They may, however, work less effectively as search terms prior to subject indexing. A validated PubMed search filter can be used to develop a supplementary textword-only search strategy to extend retrieval to PubMed’s unique content. A PubMed heart failure search filter is available on the CareSearch website (http://www.caresearch.com.au) providing access to both indexed and non-indexed heart failure evidence. PMID:23819658
Martin, B A; Chewning, B A; Margolis, A R; Wilson, D A; Renken, J
2016-01-01
The health and economic toll of medication errors by older adults is well documented. Poor communication and medication coordination problems increase the likelihood of adverse drug events (ADEs). Older adults have difficulty communicating with health care professionals, including pharmacists. As such, the theory-based Med Wise program was designed. Building on the Self-efficacy Framework and the Chronic Care Model, this program was tested with community-dwelling older adults. This study and its resultant paper: (1) describe the theory-based design of the Med Wise program; (2) describe the collaboration of multiple community partners to develop a sustainable model for implementing Med Wise; and (3) present findings from the Med Wise course evaluation. Med Wise was designed to be a sustainable, skill-based educational and behavior change program consisting of two, 2-h interactive classes to enhance participants' medication communication skills and self-efficacy. To explore the potential to disseminate Med Wise throughout the state, a partnership was formed between the pharmacy team and the statewide Aging & Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs), as well as the Community-Academic Aging Research Network (CAARN). Over 30 lay volunteer leaders in 8 Wisconsin (U.S. State) counties were trained, and they delivered Med Wise through ADRC community centers. The CAARN staff evaluated the fidelity of the course delivery by leaders. To evaluate Med Wise, a quasi-experimental design using pre/post surveys assessed knowledge, worry and self-efficacy. A telephone follow-up three months later assessed self-efficacy and translation of medication management skills and behaviors. Med Wise programs were presented to 198 community-dwelling older adults while maintaining program fidelity. This evaluation found significant increases in older adults' knowledge about pharmacists' roles and responsibilities, likelihood of talking with a pharmacist about medication concerns, and self-efficacy for communicating with pharmacists. At the 3 month follow-up, participants reported increased interactions with pharmacists, with 29.2% of participants reported seeking medication reviews and 28.5% medication schedule reviews. The two-class Med Wise program showed sustained impact at 3 months on key outcomes. Further, the community partners successfully implemented the program with fidelity across 8 counties suggesting its ability to be disseminated and sustained. Future directions include expanding the program to examine wider adoption, and measuring program impact on regimen safety and health outcomes linked to increases in patient engagement. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Sex differences in the impact of the Mediterranean diet on systemic inflammation.
Bédard, Alexandra; Lamarche, Benoît; Corneau, Louise; Dodin, Sylvie; Lemieux, Simone
2015-05-12
Some intervention trials have reported a reduction in systemic inflammation with the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) while others have observed no effect. Despite the fact that sex differences have been highlighted in the inflammatory regulation, it is still not known whether MedDiet exerts similar effects on systemic inflammation in men and women. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate sex differences in the effects of the MedDiet on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Participants were 35 men and 27 premenopausal women (24-53 years) presenting a slightly deteriorated lipid profile. All foods were provided to participants during a 4-week isocaloric MedDiet. At baseline, women had higher hs-CRP concentrations than men (P = 0.03). No sex difference was observed in hs-CRP response to the MedDiet (P for sex-by-time interaction = 0.36), with both men and women experiencing no change (respectively P = 0.62 and P > 0.99). When subgroups were formed according to hs-CRP concentration before the MedDiet phase, men with elevated baseline values (≥2 mg/l) experienced a reduction in hs-CRP over time with the MedDiet (-26.5 %) while an increase was observed in men with lower baseline values (+96.6 %; P for group-by-time interaction = 0.02). This pattern of change was not observed in women. Results from this controlled feeding study suggest that men and women have similar effects from the MedDiet on systemic inflammation. The individual's overall inflammatory status seems to influence these effects, but only in men. This clinical trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01293344 .
Warensjö Lemming, Eva; Byberg, Liisa; Wolk, Alicja; Michaëlsson, Karl
2018-04-01
High adherence to healthy diets has the potential to prevent disease and prolong life span, and healthy dietary pattern scores have each been associated with disease and mortality. We studied two commonly promoted healthy diet scores (modified Mediterranean diet score (mMED) and the Healthy Nordic Food Index (HNFI)) and the combined effect of the two scores in association with all-cause and cause-specific mortality (cancer, CVD and ischaemic heart disease). The study included 38 428 women (median age of 61 years) from the Swedish Mammography Cohort. Diet and covariate data were collected in a questionnaire. mMED and HNFI were generated and categorised into low-, medium- and high-adherence groups, and in nine combinations of these. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of register-ascertained mortality and 95 % CI were calculated in Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. During follow-up (median: 17 years), 10 478 women died. In the high-adherence categories compared with low-adherence categories, the HR for all-cause mortality was 0·76 (95 % CI 0·70, 0·81) for mMED and 0·89 (95 % CI 0·83, 0·96) for HNFI. Higher adherence to mMED was associated with lower mortality in each stratum of HNFI in the combined analysis. In general, mMED, compared with HNFI, was more strongly associated with a lower cause-specific mortality. In Swedish women, both mMED and HNFI were inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. The combined analysis, however, indicated an advantage to be adherent to the mMED. The present version of HNFI did not associate with mortality independent of mMED score.
Gupta, Chandra Prakash; Kureel, Jyoti; Mansoori, Mohd Nizam; Shukla, Priyanka; John, Aijaz A.; Singh, Kavita; Purohit, Dipak; Awasthi, Pallavi; Singh, Divya; Goel, Atul
2015-01-01
We evaluated the bone regeneration and healing effect of Medicarpin (med) in cortical bone defect model that heals by intramembranous ossification. For the study, female Sprague–Dawley rats were ovariectomized and rendered osteopenic. A drill hole injury was generated in mid femoral bones of all the animals. Med treatment was commenced the day after and continued for 15 days. PTH was taken as a reference standard. Fifteen days post-treatment, animals were sacrificed. Bones were collected for histomorphometry studies at the injury site by micro-computed tomography (μCT) and confocal microscopy. RNA and protein was harvested from newly generated bone. For immunohistochemistry, 5μm sections of decalcified femur bone adjoining the drill hole site were cut. By μCT analysis and calcein labeling of newly generated bone it was found that med promotes bone healing and new bone formation at the injury site and was comparable to PTH in many aspects. Med treatment led to increase in the Runx-2 and osteocalcin signals indicating expansion of osteoprogenitors at the injury site as evaluated by qPCR and immunohistochemical localization. It was observed that med promoted bone regeneration by activating canonical Wnt and notch signaling pathway. This was evident by increased transcript and protein levels of Wnt and notch signaling components in the defect region. Finally, we confirmed that med treatment leads to elevated bone healing in pre-osteoblasts by co localization of beta catenin with osteoblast marker alkaline phosphatase. In conclusion, med treatment promotes new bone regeneration and healing at the injury site by activating Wnt/canonical and notch signaling pathways. This study also forms a strong case for evaluation of med in delayed union and non-union fracture cases. PMID:26657206
Dixit, Manisha; Raghuvanshi, Ashutosh; Gupta, Chandra Prakash; Kureel, Jyoti; Mansoori, Mohd Nizam; Shukla, Priyanka; John, Aijaz A; Singh, Kavita; Purohit, Dipak; Awasthi, Pallavi; Singh, Divya; Goel, Atul
2015-01-01
We evaluated the bone regeneration and healing effect of Medicarpin (med) in cortical bone defect model that heals by intramembranous ossification. For the study, female Sprague-Dawley rats were ovariectomized and rendered osteopenic. A drill hole injury was generated in mid femoral bones of all the animals. Med treatment was commenced the day after and continued for 15 days. PTH was taken as a reference standard. Fifteen days post-treatment, animals were sacrificed. Bones were collected for histomorphometry studies at the injury site by micro-computed tomography (μCT) and confocal microscopy. RNA and protein was harvested from newly generated bone. For immunohistochemistry, 5μm sections of decalcified femur bone adjoining the drill hole site were cut. By μCT analysis and calcein labeling of newly generated bone it was found that med promotes bone healing and new bone formation at the injury site and was comparable to PTH in many aspects. Med treatment led to increase in the Runx-2 and osteocalcin signals indicating expansion of osteoprogenitors at the injury site as evaluated by qPCR and immunohistochemical localization. It was observed that med promoted bone regeneration by activating canonical Wnt and notch signaling pathway. This was evident by increased transcript and protein levels of Wnt and notch signaling components in the defect region. Finally, we confirmed that med treatment leads to elevated bone healing in pre-osteoblasts by co localization of beta catenin with osteoblast marker alkaline phosphatase. In conclusion, med treatment promotes new bone regeneration and healing at the injury site by activating Wnt/canonical and notch signaling pathways. This study also forms a strong case for evaluation of med in delayed union and non-union fracture cases.
Mediterranean diet and metabolic syndrome in an urban population: the Athens Study.
Gouveri, Evanthia T; Tzavara, Chara; Drakopanagiotakis, Fotios; Tsaoussoglou, Marina; Marakomichelakis, Georgios E; Tountas, Yannis; Diamantopoulos, Emmanuel J
2011-10-01
Previous studies demonstrated the beneficial impact of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on metabolic syndrome (MetS). The aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate the association between MedDiet and MetS in a representative sample of the Athenian population in the early 1980s, when MetS had not been established as an entity yet. In a cross-sectional epidemiologic survey of cardiovascular disease (CVD), 2,074 randomly selected adults were examined: 900 men and 1,174 women (age, 46.9 ± 14.9 years). MetS was defined according to criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III. A validated questionnaire concerning nutrition habits was administered, and MedDiet was assessed according to guidelines of the Division of Nutrition/Epidemiology, Athens University Medical School. Overall, 1,023 participants (49.3%) followed MedDiet (47.3% men, 52.0% women, P = .033) with similar rates across age groups (P = .337). MetS was diagnosed in 24.0% of those following MedDiet, compared with 27.9% of those not following it (P = .041). Participants with CVD or diabetes mellitus were less likely to follow MedDiet (43% vs 50%, P = .009). Multivariate analysis revealed that MedDiet is associated with a 20% reduction in MetS (odds ratio = 0.80, 95% confidence interval = 0.65-0.98), after adjustment for age, gender, smoking, light physical activity, serum levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and γ-glutamyl transferase, diabetes mellitus, CVD, family history of hypertension, and/or hyperlipidemia. Results indicate that adherence to MedDiet may attenuate the prevalence of MetS and, consequently, the increasing burden of diabetes mellitus and CVD, especially in urban populations.
Holbrook, Anne; Bowen, James M; Patel, Harsit; O'Brien, Chris; You, John J; Tahavori, Roshan; Doleweerd, Jeff; Berezny, Tim; Perri, Dan; Nieuwstraten, Carmine; Troyan, Sue; Patel, Ameen
2016-12-30
Medication reconciliation (MedRec) has been a mandated or recommended activity in Canada, the USA and the UK for nearly 10 years. Accreditation bodies in North America will soon require MedRec for every admission, transfer and discharge of every patient. Studies of MedRec have revealed unintentional discrepancies in prescriptions but no clear evidence that clinically important outcomes are improved, leading to widely variable practices. Our objective was to apply process mapping methodology to MedRec to clarify current processes and resource usage, identify potential efficiencies and gaps in care, and make recommendations for improvement in the light of current literature evidence of effectiveness. Process engineers observed and recorded all MedRec activities at 3 academic teaching hospitals, from initial emergency department triage to patient discharge, for general internal medicine patients. Process maps were validated with frontline staff, then with the study team, managers and patient safety leads to summarise current problems and discuss solutions. Across all of the 3 hospitals, 5 general problem themes were identified: lack of use of all available medication sources, duplication of effort creating inefficiency, lack of timeliness of completion of the Best Possible Medication History, lack of standardisation of the MedRec process, and suboptimal communication of MedRec issues between physicians, pharmacists and nurses. MedRec as practised in this environment requires improvements in quality, timeliness, consistency and dissemination. Further research exploring efficient use of resources, in terms of personnel and costs, is required. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.
PubMedMiner: Mining and Visualizing MeSH-based Associations in PubMed.
Zhang, Yucan; Sarkar, Indra Neil; Chen, Elizabeth S
2014-01-01
The exponential growth of biomedical literature provides the opportunity to develop approaches for facilitating the identification of possible relationships between biomedical concepts. Indexing by Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) represent high-quality summaries of much of this literature that can be used to support hypothesis generation and knowledge discovery tasks using techniques such as association rule mining. Based on a survey of literature mining tools, a tool implemented using Ruby and R - PubMedMiner - was developed in this study for mining and visualizing MeSH-based associations for a set of MEDLINE articles. To demonstrate PubMedMiner's functionality, a case study was conducted that focused on identifying and comparing comorbidities for asthma in children and adults. Relative to the tools surveyed, the initial results suggest that PubMedMiner provides complementary functionality for summarizing and comparing topics as well as identifying potentially new knowledge.
Reconstitution of active human core Mediator complex reveals a critical role of the MED14 subunit.
Cevher, Murat A; Shi, Yi; Li, Dan; Chait, Brian T; Malik, Sohail; Roeder, Robert G
2014-12-01
The evolutionarily conserved Mediator complex is a critical coactivator for RNA polymerase II (Pol II)-mediated transcription. Here we report the reconstitution of a functional 15-subunit human core Mediator complex and its characterization by functional assays and chemical cross-linking coupled to MS (CX-MS). Whereas the reconstituted head and middle modules can stably associate, basal and coactivator functions are acquired only after incorporation of MED14 into the bimodular complex. This results from a dramatically enhanced ability of MED14-containing complexes to associate with Pol II. Altogether, our analyses identify MED14 as both an architectural and a functional backbone of the Mediator complex. We further establish a conditional requirement for metazoan-specific MED26 that becomes evident in the presence of heterologous nuclear factors. This general approach paves the way for systematic dissection of the multiple layers of functionality associated with the Mediator complex.
Mental Health and Academic Achievement among M.Ed. Students in Kerala
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Moradi Sheykhjan, Tohid; K., Rajeswari; Jabari, Kamran
2017-01-01
The present research endeavor was aimed to assess relationship between Mental Health and Academic Achievement among M.Ed. students in Kerala. The sample of the study consisted of 314 M.Ed. students in Kerala. The method used for the present study was survey method. Mental Health Status Scale (M.H.S. Scale) was used and the study used the total…
An Interactive Iterative Method for Electronic Searching of Large Literature Databases
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Hernandez, Marco A.
2013-01-01
PubMed® is an on-line literature database hosted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Containing over 21 million citations for biomedical literature--both abstracts and full text--in the areas of the life sciences, behavioral studies, chemistry, and bioengineering, PubMed® represents an important tool for researchers. PubMed® searches return…
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Schaefer, Kerrie
2012-01-01
This article examines a programme of work produced by community-based theatre company, Manaton and East Dartmoor (MED) Theatre, addressing issues of climate change as they impact on life in rural Devon, UK. After some discussion of MED Theatre's constitution as a community-based company and the group's long-term engagement with the place, history,…
Leaving the Lecture Behind: Putting PubMed Instruction into the Hands of the Students.
Turner, Rose L; M Ketchum, Andrea; Ratajeski, Melissa A; Wessel, Charles B
2017-01-01
This column describes the development of a one-shot PubMed instruction class for medical students at a health sciences library. Background information on the objective is presented and discussed in the context of educational practice literature. The new course design centers on a guided group method of instruction in order to integrate more active learning. Surveyed students reported that the method was an effective way to learn how to search PubMed and that they preferred it to a traditional lecture. Pros and cons of the method are offered for other health sciences libraries interested in presenting PubMed instruction in a similar manner.
PubMed enhancements: fulfilling the promise of a great product.
Schott, Michael J
2004-01-01
There have been many recent changes to PubMed to enhance its usefulness. Those changes include: LinkOut Libraries (local holding field), PubMed Central (full-text articles archived by the National Library of Medicine), and LinkOut (access to full-text articles right from the PubMed citation). Medical librarians should be aware of how these features work to best assist their clients. These new features offer the possibility of true desktop access for library patrons. Not only will patrons appreciate these new features, but their use in libraries will literally change what we do, who does it, and how it is done.
Human melioidosis reported by ProMED.
Nasner-Posso, Katherinn Melissa; Cruz-Calderón, Stefania; Montúfar-Andrade, Franco E; Dance, David A B; Rodriguez-Morales, Alfonso J
2015-06-01
There are limited sources describing the global burden of emerging diseases. A review of human melioidosis reported by ProMED was performed and the reliability of the data retrieved assessed in comparison to published reports. The effectiveness of ProMED was evaluated as a source of epidemiological data by focusing on melioidosis. Using the keyword 'melioidosis' in the ProMED search engine, all of the information from the reports and collected data was reviewed using a structured form, including the year, country, gender, occupation, number of infected individuals, and number of fatal cases. One hundred and twenty-four entries reported between January 1995 and October 2014 were identified. A total of 4630 cases were reported, with death reported in 505 cases, suggesting a misleadingly low overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 11%. Of 20 cases for which the gender was reported, 12 (60%) were male. Most of the cases were reported from Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia, with sporadic reports from other countries. Internet-based reporting systems such as ProMED are useful to gather information and synthesize knowledge on emerging infections. Although certain areas need to be improved, ProMED provided good information about melioidosis. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Mediterranean Diet and Health Outcomes in the SUN Cohort
Carlos, Silvia; De La Fuente-Arrillaga, Carmen; Bes-Rastrollo, Maira; Razquin, Cristina; Rico-Campà, Anaïs; Martínez-González, Miguel Angel
2018-01-01
The Mediterranean Dietary (MedDiet) Pattern has been linked to many beneficial health effects. This review summarizes the main findings of a prospective cohort study, the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort, specifically focused on MedDiet and the risk of major chronic disease. It is an open cohort in which 22,786 Spanish university graduates have participated since 1999 until February 2018. Data on diet, lifestyle and clinical diagnosis are collected at baseline and every two years. After reviewing 21 publications from the SUN cohort on the effects of the MedDiet, we conclude that this cohort has provided good evidence that a high MedDiet adherence is associated with a reduced incidence of all-cause mortality, fatal and non-fatal major cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, weight gain, metabolic syndrome, depression, cognitive decline, and nephrolithiasis. An inverse dose-response relationship was found for many of these associations. The MedDiet was also associated with lower average heart rate, a mitigation of the harmful effects of overweight/obesity on the risk of CVD, and an attenuation of the effects of obesity on type 2 diabetes. A suggestion that the MedDiet may enhance fertility was also found. PMID:29614726
Zeiler, Gareth E; Dzikiti, Brighton T; Fosgate, Geoffrey T; Stegmann, Frik G; Venter, Frans J; Rioja, Eva
2014-07-01
To compare the anaesthetic, analgesic and cardiorespiratory effects of intramuscular (IM) medetomidine and ketamine administered alone or combined with morphine or tramadol, for orchiectomy in cats. Randomised, blinded, prospective clinical study. Thirty client-owned cats. Cats (n = 10 in each group) received a combination of medetomidine (60 μgkg(-1) ) and ketamine (10 mg kg(-1) ) alone (MedK); combined with morphine (0.2 mg kg(-1) ) (MedKM), or combined with tramadol (2 mg kg(-1) ) (MedKT) IM. Time of induction, surgical and recovery events were recorded, and physiological parameters measured and recorded. Analgesia was evaluated with a visual analogue scale, a composite scoring system and the von Frey mechanical threshold device, every hour from three to eight hours post-drug administration injection. Data were analyzed with a linear mixed model, Kruskal-Wallis or Chi-square tests (p < 0.05). Median (IQR) induction and recovery times (minutes) were not significantly (p = 0.125) different between groups: 5.6 (2.7-8.0), 7.4 (5.1-9.6) and 8.0 (5.8-14.9) for induction and 128.5 (95.1-142.8), 166.4 (123.1-210.0) and 142.9 (123.4-180.2) for recovery, with MedK, MedKT and MedKM, respectively. Two cats (MedKM) required alfaxalone for endotracheal intubation. In all groups, three or four cats required additional isoflurane for surgery. Arterial oxygen tension overall (mean ± SD: 66 ± 2 mmHg) was low. Surgery resulted in increased systolic arterial blood pressure (p < 0.001), haemoglobin saturation (p < 0.001), respiratory (p = 0.003) and heart rates (p = 0.002). Pain scores did not differ significantly between groups. Von Frey responses decreased over time; changes over time varied by treatment (p < 0.001), MedK returning to baseline values more rapidly than MedKM and MedKT. No cat required rescue analgesics. All three protocols can provide adequate anaesthesia and analgesia for orchiectomy in cats. However, rescue intervention to maintain surgical anaesthesia may be required in some cats. Oxygen supplementation is advised. © 2014 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia.
2010-01-01
Background The identification of health services research in databases such as PubMed/Medline is a cumbersome task. This task becomes even more difficult if the field of interest involves the use of diverse methods and data sources, as is the case with nurse staffing research. This type of research investigates the association between nurse staffing parameters and nursing and patient outcomes. A comprehensively developed search strategy may help identify nurse staffing research in PubMed/Medline. Methods A set of relevant references in PubMed/Medline was identified by means of three systematic reviews. This development set was used to detect candidate free-text and MeSH terms. The frequency of these terms was compared to a random sample from PubMed/Medline in order to identify terms specific to nurse staffing research, which were then used to develop a sensitive, precise and balanced search strategy. To determine their precision, the newly developed search strategies were tested against a) the pool of relevant references extracted from the systematic reviews, b) a reference set identified from an electronic journal screening, and c) a sample from PubMed/Medline. Finally, all newly developed strategies were compared to PubMed's Health Services Research Queries (PubMed's HSR Queries). Results The sensitivities of the newly developed search strategies were almost 100% in all of the three test sets applied; precision ranged from 6.1% to 32.0%. PubMed's HSR queries were less sensitive (83.3% to 88.2%) than the new search strategies. Only minor differences in precision were found (5.0% to 32.0%). Conclusions As with other literature on health services research, nurse staffing studies are difficult to identify in PubMed/Medline. Depending on the purpose of the search, researchers can choose between high sensitivity and retrieval of a large number of references or high precision, i.e. and an increased risk of missing relevant references, respectively. More standardized terminology (e.g. by consistent use of the term "nurse staffing") could improve the precision of future searches in this field. Empirically selected search terms can help to develop effective search strategies. The high consistency between all test sets confirmed the validity of our approach. PMID:20731858
Simon, Michael; Hausner, Elke; Klaus, Susan F; Dunton, Nancy E
2010-08-23
The identification of health services research in databases such as PubMed/Medline is a cumbersome task. This task becomes even more difficult if the field of interest involves the use of diverse methods and data sources, as is the case with nurse staffing research. This type of research investigates the association between nurse staffing parameters and nursing and patient outcomes. A comprehensively developed search strategy may help identify nurse staffing research in PubMed/Medline. A set of relevant references in PubMed/Medline was identified by means of three systematic reviews. This development set was used to detect candidate free-text and MeSH terms. The frequency of these terms was compared to a random sample from PubMed/Medline in order to identify terms specific to nurse staffing research, which were then used to develop a sensitive, precise and balanced search strategy. To determine their precision, the newly developed search strategies were tested against a) the pool of relevant references extracted from the systematic reviews, b) a reference set identified from an electronic journal screening, and c) a sample from PubMed/Medline. Finally, all newly developed strategies were compared to PubMed's Health Services Research Queries (PubMed's HSR Queries). The sensitivities of the newly developed search strategies were almost 100% in all of the three test sets applied; precision ranged from 6.1% to 32.0%. PubMed's HSR queries were less sensitive (83.3% to 88.2%) than the new search strategies. Only minor differences in precision were found (5.0% to 32.0%). As with other literature on health services research, nurse staffing studies are difficult to identify in PubMed/Medline. Depending on the purpose of the search, researchers can choose between high sensitivity and retrieval of a large number of references or high precision, i.e. and an increased risk of missing relevant references, respectively. More standardized terminology (e.g. by consistent use of the term "nurse staffing") could improve the precision of future searches in this field. Empirically selected search terms can help to develop effective search strategies. The high consistency between all test sets confirmed the validity of our approach.
Carbonneau, Élise; Royer, Marie-Michelle; Richard, Caroline; Couture, Patrick; Desroches, Sophie; Lemieux, Simone; Lamarche, Benoît
2017-03-19
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) consumed before and after weight loss on eating behavioral traits as measured by the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) in men with metabolic syndrome (MetS). In this fixed sequence study, 19 men with MetS (National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria), aged between 24 and 62 years, first consumed a five-week standardized North American control diet followed by a five-week MedDiet, both under weight-maintaining controlled-feeding conditions. This was followed by a 20-week caloric restriction weight loss period in free-living conditions, without specific recommendations towards adhering to the principles of the MedDiet. Participants were finally subjected to a final five-week MedDiet phase under isoenergetic controlled-feeding conditions. The MedDiet before weight loss had no impact on eating behavioral traits. Body weight reduction by caloric restriction (-10.2% of initial weight) was associated with increased cognitive restraint ( p < 0.0001) and with reduced disinhibition ( p = 0.02) and susceptibility to hunger ( p = 0.01). Feeding the MedDiet for five weeks under isoenergetic conditions after the weight loss phase had no further impact on eating behavioral traits. Results of this controlled-feeding study suggest that consumption of the MedDiet per se has no effect on eating behavioral traits as measured by TFEQ, unless it is combined with significant weight loss.
Bédard, Alexandra; Corneau, Louise; Lamarche, Benoît; Dodin, Sylvie; Lemieux, Simone
2015-05-15
Sex differences have been previously highlighted in the cardioprotective effects of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet). The objective of this study was to investigate whether sex differences also exist with regard to LDL particle size distribution and oxidation. Participants were 37 men and 32 premenopausal women (24-53 years) with slightly elevated LDL-C concentrations (3.4-4.9 mmol/L) or total cholesterol/HDL-C ≥5.0. Variables were measured before and after a four-week isoenergetic MedDiet. Sex differences were found in response to the MedDiet for the proportion of medium LDL (255-260 Å) (p for sex-by-time interaction = 0.01) and small, dense LDL (sdLDL; <255 Å) (trend; p for sex-by-time interaction = 0.06), men experiencing an increase in the proportion of medium LDL with a concomitant reduction in the proportion of sdLDL, while an opposite trend was observed in women. A sex difference was also noted for estimated cholesterol concentrations among sdLDL (p for sex-by-time interaction = 0.03), with only men experiencing a reduction in response to the MedDiet. The MedDiet marginally reduced oxidized LDL (oxLDL) concentrations (p = 0.07), with no sex difference. Results suggest that short-term consumption of the MedDiet leads to a favorable redistribution of LDL subclasses from smaller to larger LDL only in men. These results highlight the importance of considering sex issues in cardiovascular benefits of the MedDiet.
Piróg, Katarzyna A.; Katakura, Yoshihisa; Mironov, Aleksandr; Briggs, Michael D.
2013-01-01
Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) are skeletal disorders resulting from mutations in COMP, matrilin-3 or collagen IX and are characterised by short-limbed dwarfism and premature osteoarthritis. Interestingly, recent reports suggest patients can also manifest with muscle weakness. Here we present a detailed analysis of two mouse models of the PSACH/MED disease spectrum; ΔD469 T3-COMP (PSACH) and V194D matrilin-3 (MED). In grip test experiments T3-COMP mice were weaker than wild-type littermates, whereas V194D mice behaved as controls, confirming that short-limbed dwarfism alone does not contribute to PSACH/MED-related muscle weakness. Muscles from T3-COMP mice showed an increase in centronuclear fibers at the myotendinous junction. T3-COMP tendons became more lax in cyclic testing and showed thicker collagen fibers when compared with wild-type tissue; matrilin-3 mutant tissues were indistinguishable from controls. This comprehensive study of the myopathy associated with PSACH/MED mutations enables a better understanding of the disease progression, confirms that it is genotype specific and that the limb weakness originates from muscle and tendon pathology rather than short-limbed dwarfism itself. Since some patients are primarily diagnosed with neuromuscular symptoms, this study will facilitate better awareness of the differential diagnoses that might be associated with the PSACH/MED spectrum and subsequent care of PSACH/MED patients. PMID:24312420
Predicting clicks of PubMed articles.
Mao, Yuqing; Lu, Zhiyong
2013-01-01
Predicting the popularity or access usage of an article has the potential to improve the quality of PubMed searches. We can model the click trend of each article as its access changes over time by mining the PubMed query logs, which contain the previous access history for all articles. In this article, we examine the access patterns produced by PubMed users in two years (July 2009 to July 2011). We explore the time series of accesses for each article in the query logs, model the trends with regression approaches, and subsequently use the models for prediction. We show that the click trends of PubMed articles are best fitted with a log-normal regression model. This model allows the number of accesses an article receives and the time since it first becomes available in PubMed to be related via quadratic and logistic functions, with the model parameters to be estimated via maximum likelihood. Our experiments predicting the number of accesses for an article based on its past usage demonstrate that the mean absolute error and mean absolute percentage error of our model are 4.0% and 8.1% lower than the power-law regression model, respectively. The log-normal distribution is also shown to perform significantly better than a previous prediction method based on a human memory theory in cognitive science. This work warrants further investigation on the utility of such a log-normal regression approach towards improving information access in PubMed.
Predicting clicks of PubMed articles
Mao, Yuqing; Lu, Zhiyong
2013-01-01
Predicting the popularity or access usage of an article has the potential to improve the quality of PubMed searches. We can model the click trend of each article as its access changes over time by mining the PubMed query logs, which contain the previous access history for all articles. In this article, we examine the access patterns produced by PubMed users in two years (July 2009 to July 2011). We explore the time series of accesses for each article in the query logs, model the trends with regression approaches, and subsequently use the models for prediction. We show that the click trends of PubMed articles are best fitted with a log-normal regression model. This model allows the number of accesses an article receives and the time since it first becomes available in PubMed to be related via quadratic and logistic functions, with the model parameters to be estimated via maximum likelihood. Our experiments predicting the number of accesses for an article based on its past usage demonstrate that the mean absolute error and mean absolute percentage error of our model are 4.0% and 8.1% lower than the power-law regression model, respectively. The log-normal distribution is also shown to perform significantly better than a previous prediction method based on a human memory theory in cognitive science. This work warrants further investigation on the utility of such a log-normal regression approach towards improving information access in PubMed. PMID:24551386
Understanding PubMed user search behavior through log analysis.
Islamaj Dogan, Rezarta; Murray, G Craig; Névéol, Aurélie; Lu, Zhiyong
2009-01-01
This article reports on a detailed investigation of PubMed users' needs and behavior as a step toward improving biomedical information retrieval. PubMed is providing free service to researchers with access to more than 19 million citations for biomedical articles from MEDLINE and life science journals. It is accessed by millions of users each day. Efficient search tools are crucial for biomedical researchers to keep abreast of the biomedical literature relating to their own research. This study provides insight into PubMed users' needs and their behavior. This investigation was conducted through the analysis of one month of log data, consisting of more than 23 million user sessions and more than 58 million user queries. Multiple aspects of users' interactions with PubMed are characterized in detail with evidence from these logs. Despite having many features in common with general Web searches, biomedical information searches have unique characteristics that are made evident in this study. PubMed users are more persistent in seeking information and they reformulate queries often. The three most frequent types of search are search by author name, search by gene/protein, and search by disease. Use of abbreviation in queries is very frequent. Factors such as result set size influence users' decisions. Analysis of characteristics such as these plays a critical role in identifying users' information needs and their search habits. In turn, such an analysis also provides useful insight for improving biomedical information retrieval.Database URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed.
Extracting and standardizing medication information in clinical text – the MedEx-UIMA system
Jiang, Min; Wu, Yonghui; Shah, Anushi; Priyanka, Priyanka; Denny, Joshua C.; Xu, Hua
2014-01-01
Extraction of medication information embedded in clinical text is important for research using electronic health records (EHRs). However, most of current medication information extraction systems identify drug and signature entities without mapping them to standard representation. In this study, we introduced the open source Java implementation of MedEx, an existing high-performance medication information extraction system, based on the Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) framework. In addition, we developed new encoding modules in the MedEx-UIMA system, which mapped an extracted drug name/dose/form to both generalized and specific RxNorm concepts and translated drug frequency information to ISO standard. We processed 826 documents by both systems and verified that MedEx-UIMA and MedEx (the Python version) performed similarly by comparing both results. Using two manually annotated test sets that contained 300 drug entries from medication list and 300 drug entries from narrative reports, the MedEx-UIMA system achieved F-measures of 98.5% and 97.5% respectively for encoding drug names to corresponding RxNorm generic drug ingredients, and F-measures of 85.4% and 88.1% respectively for mapping drug names/dose/form to the most specific RxNorm concepts. It also achieved an F-measure of 90.4% for normalizing frequency information to ISO standard. The open source MedEx-UIMA system is freely available online at http://code.google.com/p/medex-uima/. PMID:25954575
MED1 mediates androgen receptor splice variant induced gene expression in the absence of ligand
Liu, Gang; Sprenger, Cynthia; Wu, Pin-Jou; Sun, Shihua; Uo, Takuma; Haugk, Kathleen; Epilepsia, Kathryn Soriano; Plymate, Stephen
2015-01-01
The appearance of constitutively active androgen receptor splice variants (AR-Vs) has been proposed as one of the causes of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, the underlying mechanism of AR-Vs in CRPC transcriptional regulation has not been defined. A distinct transcriptome enriched with cell cycle genes, e.g. UBE2C, has been associated with AR-Vs, which indicates the possibility of an altered transcriptional mechanism when compared to full-length wild-type AR (ARfl). Importantly, a recent study reported the critical role of p-MED1 in enhancing UBE2C expression through a locus looping pattern, which only occurs in CRPC but not in androgen-dependent prostate cancer (ADPC). To investigate the potential correlation between AR-V and MED1, in the present study we performed protein co-immunoprecipitation, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and cell proliferation assays and found that MED1 is necessary for ARv567es induced UBE2C up-regulation and subsequent prostate cancer cell growth. Furthermore, p-MED1 is bound to ARv567es independent of full-length AR; p-MED1 has higher recruitment to UBE2C promoter and enhancer regions in the presence of ARv567es. Our data indicate that p-MED1 serves as a key mediator in ARv567es induced gene expression and suggests a mechanism by which AR-Vs promote the development and progression of CRPC. PMID:25481872
Evaluation of Mediterranean diet adherence in patients with a history of coronary revascularization.
Acar, B; Gucuk Ipek, E; Unal, S; Yayla, C; Karanfil, M; Burak, C; Kara, M; Bayraktar, F; Kuyumcu, M S; Aydogdu, S
Lifestyle modification is an important component of the secondary prevention strategies; and a healthy diet is one of the cornerstones in management of the coronary heart disease. We aimed to investigate the dietary habits of the patients with history of coronary revascularization, characteristics of the ones with good adherence by using alternate MedDiet questionnaire. We included outpatients who had a history of coronary revascularization at least 6 months prior to enrollment. Each participant filled out a questionnaire to collect the data of demographics and clinical characteristics. Alternate MedDiet score was calculated to evaluate the Mediterranean style dietary adherence. Alternate MedDiet was originally based on 14-item questionnaire; we adjusted it to our population (max 13 points). We enrolled 226 consecutive outpatients (age 61.7±10.9 years, 72% males). The median duration after revascularization was 60 months. A total of 112 (49.6%) patients had previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), 77 (34.1%) had coronary by-pass graft surgery (CABG), and 36 (15.9%) had both revascularization procedures. The median MedDiet score was 6. Patients were stratified into two subgroups (MedDiet score ≥7 vs. <7). A total of 61 (26.9%) patients had MedDiet score ≥7. By univariate analysis, good MedDiet scores were associated with older age, waist circumference, body mass index, high education level, regular follow-up, duration after first revascularization and revascularization with CABG+PCI. In the multivariate analysis, high education level (P=.002, OR=8.212, 95%CI: 2.155-31.291) and duration after revascularization (P=.034, OR=1.007, 95%CI: 1.001-1.013) were independent predictors of good MedDiet scores. The adherence rate to a healthy diet was low in patients with previous coronary revascularization. MedDiet score seems to be practical and useful item to evaluate the dietary habits in outpatient setting. Mediterranean diet adherence rates were associated with high education level, and duration after revascularization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.
Shahar, Danit R.; Houston, Denise K.; Hue, Trisha F.; Lee, Jung-Sun; Sahyoun, Nadine R.; Tylavsky, Frances A.; Geva, Diklah; Vardi, Hillel; Harris, Tamara B.
2012-01-01
Background Walking speed is an indirect marker of overall mobility performance. Data regarding its association with diet is lacking. Objectives To determine the association between the Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) score with 20m walking-speed over 8 years. Design Health-ABC cohort study beginning in 1997–1998. Setting and participants We analyzed data of 2,225 well-functioning participants aged ≥70y. Measurements Walking-speed was assessed in relation to low, medium, and high adherence to the MedDiet (0–2, 3–5, 6–9 points, respectively). Results Individuals in the highest vs. the lowest MedDiet adherence groups were more likely to be men, less likely to be smokers, with lower BMI, higher energy intake and physical activity (p<0.05). Usual and rapid 20m walking speed were highest in the high MedDiet adherence group compared with the other groups, 1.19±0.19, 1.16±0.21, and 1.15±0.19m/s, respectively, (p=0.02) for usual speed and 1.65±0.30, 1.59±0.32, and 1.55±0.30m/s, respectively (p=0.001) for rapid speed. Over 8y, both usual and rapid 20m walking speed declined in all MedDiet adherence groups. Higher MedDiet adherence was an independent predictor of less decline in usual 20m walking speed (p=0.049) in Generalized Estimating Equations adjusted for age, race, gender, site, education, smoking, physical activity, energy intake, health status, depression, and cognitive score. The effect decreased after adding total body-fat-percent to the model (p=0.134). Similar results were observed for MedDiet adherence and rapid 20m walking speed; the association remained significant after adjustment for total body-fat-percent (p=0.012). In all models the interaction between time and MedDiet adherence was not significant. Conclusion Walking speed over 8 years was faster among those with higher MedDiet adherence at baseline. The differences remained significant over 8y, suggesting a long-term effect of diet on mobility performance with aging. PMID:23035758
Huedo-Medina, Tania B; Garcia, Marissa; Bihuniak, Jessica D; Kenny, Anne; Kerstetter, Jane
2016-03-01
Several systematic reviews/meta-analyses published within the past 10 y have examined the associations of Mediterranean-style diets (MedSDs) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, these reviews have not been evaluated for satisfying contemporary methodologic quality standards. This study evaluated the quality of recent systematic reviews/meta-analyses on MedSD and CVD risk outcomes by using an established methodologic quality scale. The relation between review quality and impact per publication value of the journal in which the article had been published was also evaluated. To assess compliance with current standards, we applied a modified version of the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTARMedSD) quality scale to systematic reviews/meta-analyses retrieved from electronic databases that had met our selection criteria: 1) used systematic or meta-analytic procedures to review the literature, 2) examined MedSD trials, and 3) had MedSD interventions independently or combined with other interventions. Reviews completely satisfied from 8% to 75% of the AMSTARMedSD items (mean ± SD: 31.2% ± 19.4%), with those published in higher-impact journals having greater quality scores. At a minimum, 60% of the 24 reviews did not disclose full search details or apply appropriate statistical methods to combine study findings. Only 5 of the reviews included participant or study characteristics in their analyses, and none evaluated MedSD diet characteristics. These data suggest that current meta-analyses/systematic reviews evaluating the effect of MedSD on CVD risk do not fully comply with contemporary methodologic quality standards. As a result, there are more research questions to answer to enhance our understanding of how MedSD affects CVD risk or how these effects may be modified by the participant or MedSD characteristics. To clarify the associations between MedSD and CVD risk, future meta-analyses and systematic reviews should not only follow methodologic quality standards but also include more statistical modeling results when data allow. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
An automatic method to generate domain-specific investigator networks using PubMed abstracts.
Yu, Wei; Yesupriya, Ajay; Wulf, Anja; Qu, Junfeng; Gwinn, Marta; Khoury, Muin J
2007-06-20
Collaboration among investigators has become critical to scientific research. This includes ad hoc collaboration established through personal contacts as well as formal consortia established by funding agencies. Continued growth in online resources for scientific research and communication has promoted the development of highly networked research communities. Extending these networks globally requires identifying additional investigators in a given domain, profiling their research interests, and collecting current contact information. We present a novel strategy for building investigator networks dynamically and producing detailed investigator profiles using data available in PubMed abstracts. We developed a novel strategy to obtain detailed investigator information by automatically parsing the affiliation string in PubMed records. We illustrated the results by using a published literature database in human genome epidemiology (HuGE Pub Lit) as a test case. Our parsing strategy extracted country information from 92.1% of the affiliation strings in a random sample of PubMed records and in 97.0% of HuGE records, with accuracies of 94.0% and 91.0%, respectively. Institution information was parsed from 91.3% of the general PubMed records (accuracy 86.8%) and from 94.2% of HuGE PubMed records (accuracy 87.0). We demonstrated the application of our approach to dynamic creation of investigator networks by creating a prototype information system containing a large database of PubMed abstracts relevant to human genome epidemiology (HuGE Pub Lit), indexed using PubMed medical subject headings converted to Unified Medical Language System concepts. Our method was able to identify 70-90% of the investigators/collaborators in three different human genetics fields; it also successfully identified 9 of 10 genetics investigators within the PREBIC network, an existing preterm birth research network. We successfully created a web-based prototype capable of creating domain-specific investigator networks based on an application that accurately generates detailed investigator profiles from PubMed abstracts combined with robust standard vocabularies. This approach could be used for other biomedical fields to efficiently establish domain-specific investigator networks.
An automatic method to generate domain-specific investigator networks using PubMed abstracts
Yu, Wei; Yesupriya, Ajay; Wulf, Anja; Qu, Junfeng; Gwinn, Marta; Khoury, Muin J
2007-01-01
Background Collaboration among investigators has become critical to scientific research. This includes ad hoc collaboration established through personal contacts as well as formal consortia established by funding agencies. Continued growth in online resources for scientific research and communication has promoted the development of highly networked research communities. Extending these networks globally requires identifying additional investigators in a given domain, profiling their research interests, and collecting current contact information. We present a novel strategy for building investigator networks dynamically and producing detailed investigator profiles using data available in PubMed abstracts. Results We developed a novel strategy to obtain detailed investigator information by automatically parsing the affiliation string in PubMed records. We illustrated the results by using a published literature database in human genome epidemiology (HuGE Pub Lit) as a test case. Our parsing strategy extracted country information from 92.1% of the affiliation strings in a random sample of PubMed records and in 97.0% of HuGE records, with accuracies of 94.0% and 91.0%, respectively. Institution information was parsed from 91.3% of the general PubMed records (accuracy 86.8%) and from 94.2% of HuGE PubMed records (accuracy 87.0). We demonstrated the application of our approach to dynamic creation of investigator networks by creating a prototype information system containing a large database of PubMed abstracts relevant to human genome epidemiology (HuGE Pub Lit), indexed using PubMed medical subject headings converted to Unified Medical Language System concepts. Our method was able to identify 70–90% of the investigators/collaborators in three different human genetics fields; it also successfully identified 9 of 10 genetics investigators within the PREBIC network, an existing preterm birth research network. Conclusion We successfully created a web-based prototype capable of creating domain-specific investigator networks based on an application that accurately generates detailed investigator profiles from PubMed abstracts combined with robust standard vocabularies. This approach could be used for other biomedical fields to efficiently establish domain-specific investigator networks. PMID:17584920
Utilizing OODB schema modeling for vocabulary management.
Gu, H.; Cimino, J. J.; Halper, M.; Geller, J.; Perl, Y.
1996-01-01
Comprehension of complex controlled vocabularies is often difficult. We present a method, facilitated by an object-oriented database, for depicting such a vocabulary (the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) from the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center) in a schematic way which uses a sparse inheritance network of area classes. The resulting Object Oriented Health Vocabulary repository (OOHVR) allows visualization of the 43,000 MED concepts as 90 area classes. This view has provided valuable information to those responsible with maintaining the MED. As a result, the MED organization has been improved and some previously-unrecognized errors and inconsistencies have been removed. We believe that this schematic approach allows improved comprehension of the gestalt of large controlled medical vocabulary. PMID:8947671
Enriching PubMed Related Article Search with Sentence Level Co-citations
Tran, Nam; Alves, Pedro; Ma, Shuangge
2009-01-01
PubMed related article links identify closely related articles and enhance our ability to navigate the biomedical literature. They are derived by calculating the word similarity between two articles, relating articles with overlapping word content. In this paper, we propose to enrich PubMed with a new type of related article link based on citations within a single sentence (i.e. sentence level co-citations or SLCs). Using different similarity metrics, we demonstrated that articles linked by SLCs are highly related. We also showed that only half of SLCs are found among PubMed related article links. Additionally, we discuss how the citing sentence of an SLC explains the connection between two articles. PMID:20351935
Robust assessment of the expansion and retreat of Mediterranean climate in the 21st century
Alessandri, Andrea; De Felice, Matteo; Zeng, Ning; Mariotti, Annarita; Pan, Yutong; Cherchi, Annalisa; Lee, June-Yi; Wang, Bin; Ha, Kyung-Ja; Ruti, Paolo; Artale, Vincenzo
2014-01-01
The warm-temperate regions of the globe characterized by dry summers and wet winters (Mediterranean climate; MED) are especially vulnerable to climate change. The potential impact on water resources, ecosystems and human livelihood requires a detailed picture of the future changes in this unique climate zone. Here we apply a probabilistic approach to quantitatively address how and why the geographic distribution of MED will change based on the latest-available climate projections for the 21st century. Our analysis provides, for the first time, a robust assessment of significant northward and eastward future expansions of MED over both the Euro-Mediterranean and western North America. Concurrently, we show a significant 21st century replacement of the equatorward MED margins by the arid climate type. Moreover, future winters will become wetter and summers drier in both the old and newly established MED zones. Should these projections be realized, living conditions in some of the most densely populated regions in the world will be seriously jeopardized. PMID:25448867
Disclosure of Medical Errors in Oman
Norrish, Mark I. K.
2015-01-01
Objectives: This study aimed to provide insight into the preferences for and perceptions of medical error disclosure (MED) by members of the public in Oman. Methods: Between January and June 2012, an online survey was used to collect responses from 205 members of the public across five governorates of Oman. Results: A disclosure gap was revealed between the respondents’ preferences for MED and perceived current MED practices in Oman. This disclosure gap extended to both the type of error and the person most likely to disclose the error. Errors resulting in patient harm were found to have a strong influence on individuals’ perceived quality of care. In addition, full disclosure was found to be highly valued by respondents and able to mitigate for a perceived lack of care in cases where medical errors led to damages. Conclusion: The perceived disclosure gap between respondents’ MED preferences and perceptions of current MED practices in Oman needs to be addressed in order to increase public confidence in the national health care system. PMID:26052463
Jiang, Chui-gang
2007-03-01
To explore the development state of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy in the world. Retrieve and analyze the literatures about clinically treating low back pain with acupuncture and moxibustion published at periodicals included by SCI in recent 5 years in Pubmed. Nineteen concerned literatures were retrieved. Authors of the literatures come from USA, Germany, Hong Kong of China, UK (including Northern Ireland) , Austria, Sweden and Italy. The literatures were published at Altern Ther Health Med, Am J Phys Med Rehabil, Anesth Analg, Arch Intern Med, Forsch Komplementärmed Klass Naturheilkd, Health Technol Assess, Rheumatology (Oxford), South Med J, Spine, Complment Ther Med, Pain. Three researches show that efficacy of acupuncture is uncertain. Other researches support the efficacy of acupuncture. The researches on treating low back pain with acupuncture and moxibustion are still mainly about efficacy of the acupuncture and moxibustion therapy. The acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is still in the process of gradually admitted by international medicine.
MedBlock: Efficient and Secure Medical Data Sharing Via Blockchain.
Fan, Kai; Wang, Shangyang; Ren, Yanhui; Li, Hui; Yang, Yintang
2018-06-21
With the development of electronic information technology, electronic medical records (EMRs) have been a common way to store the patients' data in hospitals. They are stored in different hospitals' databases, even for the same patient. Therefore, it is difficult to construct a summarized EMR for one patient from multiple hospital databases due to the security and privacy concerns. Meanwhile, current EMRs systems lack a standard data management and sharing policy, making it difficult for pharmaceutical scientists to develop precise medicines based on data obtained under different policies. To solve the above problems, we proposed a blockchain-based information management system, MedBlock, to handle patients' information. In this scheme, the distributed ledger of MedBlock allows the efficient EMRs access and EMRs retrieval. The improved consensus mechanism achieves consensus of EMRs without large energy consumption and network congestion. In addition, MedBlock also exhibits high information security combining the customized access control protocols and symmetric cryptography. MedBlock can play an important role in the sensitive medical information sharing.
Morlino, Massimo; Polese, Daniela; Bruni, Andrea; Renato, Bellinello
2005-10-01
The aim of this study was to verify the presence of cultural variety among the psychiatric journals available on PubMed, the major online tool for accessing literature. Data for analysis were taken from a survey of the world psychiatric journals indexed in Index Medicus 1999 (IM), the alphabetical list used by PubMed, and from the mean impact factor (IF) values of the journals. Approximately 80% of international psychiatric literature available on PubMed is published in Anglo-Saxon countries, especially in the USA (59.8% of the total). The widespread use of the English language (94.9% of all the journals) further stresses the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon cultural model, as do the mean IF values of Anglo-Saxon journals compared to non-Anglo-Saxon publications (3.252 vs. 1.693; P=0.0079). The under-representation of non-Anglo-Saxon cultural models on PubMed plays a negative role for bringing about a truly multicultural literature in psychiatry.
Reconstitution of active human core Mediator complex reveals a pivotal role of the MED14 subunit
Cevher, Murat A.; Shi, Yi; Li, Dan; Chait, Brian T.; Malik, Sohail; Roeder, Robert G.
2014-01-01
The evolutionarily conserved Mediator complex is a critical coactivator for RNA polymerase II (Pol II)-mediated transcription. Here, we report the reconstitution of a functional 15-subunit human core Mediator complex and its characterization by functional assays and chemical cross-linking coupled to mass spectrometry (CX-MS). Whereas the reconstituted head and middle modules can stably associate, only with incorporation of MED14 into the bi-modular complex does it acquire basal and coactivator functions. This results from a dramatically enhanced ability of MED14-containing complexes to associate with Pol II. Altogether, our analyses identify MED14 as both an architectural and a functional backbone of the Mediator complex. We further establish a conditional requirement for metazoan-specific MED26 that becomes evident in the presence of heterologous nuclear factors. This general approach paves the way for systematically dissecting the multiple layers of functionalities associated with the Mediator complex. PMID:25383669
Observing floods from space: Experience gained from COSMO-SkyMed observations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Pierdicca, N.; Pulvirenti, L.; Chini, M.; Guerriero, L.; Candela, L.
2013-03-01
The COSMO-SkyMed mission offers a unique opportunity to obtain all weather radar images characterized by short revisit time, thus being useful for flood evolution mapping. The COSMO-SkyMed system has been activated several times in the last few years in occasion of flood events all over the world in order to provide very high resolution X-band SAR images useful for flood detection purposes. This paper discusses the major outcomes of the experience gained, within the framework of the OPERA Pilot Project funded by the Italian Space Agency, from using COSMO-SkyMed data for the purpose of near real time generation of flood maps. A review of the mechanisms which determine the imprints of the inundation on the radar images and of the fundamental simulation tools able to predict these imprints and help image interpretation is provided. The approach developed to process the data and to generate the flood maps is also summarized. Then, the paper illustrates the experience gained with COSMO-SkyMed by describing and discussing a number of significant examples. These examples demonstrate the potential of the COSMO-SkyMed system and the suitability of the approach developed for generating the final products, but they also highlight some critical aspects that require further investigations to improve the reliability of the flood maps.
ERK Oscillation-Dependent Gene Expression Patterns and Deregulation by Stress-Response
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Waters, Katrina M.; Cummings, Brian S.; Shankaran, Harish
2014-09-15
Studies were undertaken to determine whether ERK oscillations regulate a unique subset of genes in human keratinocytes and subsequently, whether the p38 stress response inhibits ERK oscillations. A DNA microarray identified many genes that were unique to ERK oscillations, and network reconstruction predicted an important role for the mediator complex subunit 1 (MED1) node in mediating ERK oscillation-dependent gene expression. Increased ERK-dependent phosphorylation of MED1 was observed in oscillating cells compared to non-oscillating counterparts as validation. Treatment of keratinocytes with a p38 inhibitor (SB203580) increased ERK oscillation amplitudes and MED1 and phospho-MED1 protein levels. Bromate is a probable human carcinogenmore » that activates p38. Bromate inhibited ERK oscillations in human keratinocytes and JB6 cells and induced an increase in phospho-p38 and decrease in phospho-MED1 protein levels. Treatment of normal rat kidney cells and primary salivary gland epithelial cells with bromate decreased phospho-MED1 levels in a reversible fashion upon treatment with p38 inhibitors (SB202190; SB203580). Our results indicate that oscillatory behavior in the ERK pathway alters homeostatic gene regulation patterns and that the cellular response to perturbation may manifest differently in oscillating vs non-oscillating cells.« less
Hooijmans, Carlijn R; Tillema, Alice; Leenaars, Marlies; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel
2010-01-01
Collecting and analysing all available literature before starting an animal experiment is important and it is indispensable when writing a systematic review (SR) of animal research. Writing such review prevents unnecessary duplication of animal studies and thus unnecessary animal use (Reduction). One of the factors currently impeding the production of ‘high-quality’ SRs in laboratory animal science is the fact that searching for all available literature concerning animal experimentation is rather difficult. In order to diminish these difficulties, we developed a search filter for PubMed to detect all publications concerning animal studies. This filter was compared with the method most frequently used, the PubMed Limit: Animals, and validated further by performing two PubMed topic searches. Our filter performs much better than the PubMed limit: it retrieves, on average, 7% more records. Other important advantages of our filter are that it also finds the most recent records and that it is easy to use. All in all, by using our search filter in PubMed, all available literature concerning animal studies on a specific topic can easily be found and assessed, which will help in increasing the scientific quality and thereby the ethical validity of animal experiments. PMID:20551243
Health Aspects of Climate Change in Cities with Mediterranean Climate, and Local Adaptation Plans
Paz, Shlomit; Negev, Maya; Clermont, Alexandra; Green, Manfred S.
2016-01-01
Cities with a Mediterranean-type climate (Med-cities) are particularly susceptible to health risks from climate change since they are located in biogeographical hot-spots that experience some of the strongest effects of the changing climate. The study aims to highlight health impacts of climate change in Med-cities, analyze local climate adaptation plans and make adaptation policy recommendations for the Med-city level. We identified five Med-cities with a climate change adaptation plan: Adelaide, Barcelona, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Santiago. Beyond their similar Med-climate features (although Santiago’s are slightly different), the cities have different socio-economic characteristics in various aspects. We analyzed each plan according to how it addresses climate change-related drivers of health impacts among city dwellers. For each driver, we identified the types of policy adaptation tools that address it in the urban climate adaptation plans. The surveyed cities address most of the fundamental climate change-related drivers of risks to human health, including rising temperatures, flooding and drought, but the policy measures to reduce negative impacts vary across cities. We suggest recommendations for Med-cities in various aspects, depending on their local needs and vulnerability challenges: assessment of health risks, extreme events management and long-term adaptation, among others. PMID:27110801
Yokotsuka, M; Aoyama, M; Kubota, K
2000-07-01
The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities Terminology (MedDRA) version 2.1 (V2.1) was released in March 1999 accompanied by the MedDRA/J V2.1J specifically for Japanese users. In prescription-event monitoring in Japan (J-PEM), we have employed the MedDRA/J for data entry, signal generation and event listing. In J-PEM, the lowest level terms (LLTs) in the MedDRA/J are used in data entry because the richness of LLTs is judged to be advantageous. A signal is generated normally at the preferred term (PT) level, but it has been found that various reporters describe the same event using descriptions that are potentially encoded by LLTs under different PTs. In addition, some PTs are considered too specific to generate the proper signal. In the system used in J-PEM, when an LLT is selected as a candidate to encode an event, another LLT under a different PT, if any, is displayed on the computer screen so that it may be coded instead of, or in addition to, the candidate LLT. The five-level structure of the MedDRA is used when listing events but some modification is required to generate a functional event list.
Brown, Elliot G
2002-01-01
To support signal generation a terminology should facilitate recognition of medical conditions by using terms which represent unique concepts, providing appropriate, homogeneous grouping of related terms. It should allow intuitive or mathematical identification of adverse events reaching a threshold frequency or with disproportionate incidence, permit identification of important events which are commonly drug-related, and support recognition of new syndromes. It is probable that the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) preferred terms (PTs) or high level terms (HLTs) will be used to represent adverse events for the purposes of signal generation. A comparison with 315 WHO Adverse Reaction Terminology (WHO-ART) PTs showed that for about 72% of WHO-ART PTs, there were one or two corresponding MedDRA PTs. However, there were instances where there were many MedDRA PTs corresponding to single WHO-ART PTs. In many cases, MedDRA HLTs grouped large numbers of PTs and sometimes there could be problems when a single HLT comprises PTs which represent very different medical concepts, or conditions which differ greatly in their clinical importance. Further studies are needed to compare the way in which identical data sets coded with MedDRA and with other terminologies actually function in generating and exploring signals using the same methods of detection and evaluation.
Health Aspects of Climate Change in Cities with Mediterranean Climate, and Local Adaptation Plans.
Paz, Shlomit; Negev, Maya; Clermont, Alexandra; Green, Manfred S
2016-04-21
Cities with a Mediterranean-type climate (Med-cities) are particularly susceptible to health risks from climate change since they are located in biogeographical hot-spots that experience some of the strongest effects of the changing climate. The study aims to highlight health impacts of climate change in Med-cities, analyze local climate adaptation plans and make adaptation policy recommendations for the Med-city level. We identified five Med-cities with a climate change adaptation plan: Adelaide, Barcelona, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Santiago. Beyond their similar Med-climate features (although Santiago's are slightly different), the cities have different socio-economic characteristics in various aspects. We analyzed each plan according to how it addresses climate change-related drivers of health impacts among city dwellers. For each driver, we identified the types of policy adaptation tools that address it in the urban climate adaptation plans. The surveyed cities address most of the fundamental climate change-related drivers of risks to human health, including rising temperatures, flooding and drought, but the policy measures to reduce negative impacts vary across cities. We suggest recommendations for Med-cities in various aspects, depending on their local needs and vulnerability challenges: assessment of health risks, extreme events management and long-term adaptation, among others.
Hooijmans, Carlijn R; Tillema, Alice; Leenaars, Marlies; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel
2010-07-01
Collecting and analysing all available literature before starting an animal experiment is important and it is indispensable when writing a systematic review (SR) of animal research. Writing such review prevents unnecessary duplication of animal studies and thus unnecessary animal use (Reduction). One of the factors currently impeding the production of 'high-quality' SRs in laboratory animal science is the fact that searching for all available literature concerning animal experimentation is rather difficult. In order to diminish these difficulties, we developed a search filter for PubMed to detect all publications concerning animal studies. This filter was compared with the method most frequently used, the PubMed Limit: Animals, and validated further by performing two PubMed topic searches. Our filter performs much better than the PubMed limit: it retrieves, on average, 7% more records. Other important advantages of our filter are that it also finds the most recent records and that it is easy to use. All in all, by using our search filter in PubMed, all available literature concerning animal studies on a specific topic can easily be found and assessed, which will help in increasing the scientific quality and thereby the ethical validity of animal experiments.
Rieker, Ralf J; Agaimy, Abbas; Moskalev, Evgeny A; Hebele, Simone; Hein, Alexander; Mehlhorn, Grit; Beckmann, Matthias W; Hartmann, Arndt; Haller, Florian
2013-06-01
The pathogenesis and classification of multicentric smooth muscle tumours with benign appearance and concurrent/metachronous uterine and peritoneal involvement is controversial and may on occasion be diagnostically challenging. Leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata (LPD) is a rare condition affecting women of reproductive age, characterised by the occurrence of multiple small peritoneal smooth muscle nodules with bland histology. We investigated a total of 12 uterine and seven concurrent/metachronous peritoneal smooth muscle nodules with benign appearance from two females for mutations in the mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12), which has recently been identified as the most frequent genetic aberration in uterine leiomyomas. The first case harboured different MED12 mutations in the peritoneal nodules. Mutational status of peritoneal nodules was discordant with that of the uterine leiomyomas. The second case displayed the same MED12 mutation in all five peritoneal nodules, but this mutation was not detected in her current uterine leiomyomas. Our results suggest that smooth muscle neoplasms with benign appearance of the primary and secondary müllerian system share a similar genetic background of MED12 mutation in combination with oestrogen dependency. Analysis of MED12 mutation status might be a valuable adjunct tool for the future classification of these sometimes diagnostically challenging multicentric tumours.
ProMED-mail: 22 years of digital surveillance of emerging infectious diseases.
Carrion, Malwina; Madoff, Lawrence C
2017-05-01
ProMED-mail (ProMED) was launched in 1994 as an email service to identify unusual health events related to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and toxins affecting humans, animals and plants. It is used daily by public health leaders, government officials at all levels, physicians, veterinarians and other healthcare workers, researchers, private companies, journalists and the general public. Reports are produced and commentary provided by a global team of subject matter experts in a variety of fields including virology, parasitology, epidemiology, entomology, veterinary and plant disease specialists. ProMED operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has over 83 000 subscribers, representing every country in the world. Additionally, ProMED disseminates information via its website and through social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook as well as through RSS feeds. Over the last 22 years, it has been the first to report on numerous major and minor disease outbreaks including SARS, MERS, Ebola and the early spread of Zika. ProMED is transparent, apolitical, open to all and free of charge, making it an important and longstanding contributor to global health surveillance. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Davis, Courtney; Hodgson, Jonathan; Bryan, Janet; Garg, Manohar; Woodman, Richard; Murphy, Karen
2017-01-01
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is thought to be achievable in non-Mediterranean regions, but this has yet to be investigated. We aimed to determine if an older Australian population could adhere to a MedDiet for six months. We conducted a randomised, parallel dietary intervention trial with two dietary arms: the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) group and the habitual diet (HabDiet) control group. A 15-point Mediterranean diet adherence score and food and nutrient intakes were estimated from three-day weighed food records collected at baseline, two and four months. Erythrocyte fatty acids, serum carotenoids and urinary metabolites were assessed at baseline, three and six months. We enrolled 166 participants; 152 commenced and 137 completed the study (70 in the MedDiet group, 67 in the HabDiet group). Adherence scores were significantly higher in the MedDiet group at two months (between group difference 2.2, 95% CI 1.3, 2.9) and four months (between group difference 2.6, 95% CI 1.9, 3.3). Consumption of vegetables, fruits, fish, legumes, nuts and olive oil significantly increased in the MedDiet group compared to the control, and discretionary food intake decreased (p < 0.01). Measures of compliance including serum β-carotene, lycopene and erythrocyte monounsaturated fatty acids were significantly higher in the MedDiet group at three and six months (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that a population of older Australians can adopt a Mediterranean diet over a six month period. PMID:28538676
Davis, Courtney; Hodgson, Jonathan; Bryan, Janet; Garg, Manohar; Woodman, Richard; Murphy, Karen
2017-05-24
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is thought to be achievable in non-Mediterranean regions, but this has yet to be investigated. We aimed to determine if an older Australian population could adhere to a MedDiet for six months. We conducted a randomised, parallel dietary intervention trial with two dietary arms: the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) group and the habitual diet (HabDiet) control group. A 15-point Mediterranean diet adherence score and food and nutrient intakes were estimated from three-day weighed food records collected at baseline, two and four months. Erythrocyte fatty acids, serum carotenoids and urinary metabolites were assessed at baseline, three and six months. We enrolled 166 participants; 152 commenced and 137 completed the study (70 in the MedDiet group, 67 in the HabDiet group). Adherence scores were significantly higher in the MedDiet group at two months (between group difference 2.2, 95% CI 1.3, 2.9) and four months (between group difference 2.6, 95% CI 1.9, 3.3). Consumption of vegetables, fruits, fish, legumes, nuts and olive oil significantly increased in the MedDiet group compared to the control, and discretionary food intake decreased ( p < 0.01). Measures of compliance including serum β-carotene, lycopene and erythrocyte monounsaturated fatty acids were significantly higher in the MedDiet group at three and six months ( p < 0.05). Our results indicate that a population of older Australians can adopt a Mediterranean diet over a six month period.
Sherman, Kerry A; Cameron, Linda D
2015-10-01
The aim of this special section is to showcase research contributing to our understanding of factors influencing decisions to undergo genetic testing and the impact of the genetic testing process on health-related behaviors of tested individuals. The first two articles report studies investigating factors associated with interest in genetic testing and acceptance of test results (Sherman et al. in J Behav Med doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9630-9 , 2015; Taber et al. in J Behav Med doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9642-5 , 2015b). The next two papers address the unique contribution of genetic risk information to understanding risk beyond genetic counseling alone (Heiniger et al. in J Behav Med doi 10.1007/s10865-015-9632-7 , 2015; Taber et al. in J Behav Med doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9648-z , 2015a). The final three articles investigate the effects of genetic risk information on beliefs about disease control and prevention (Aspinwall et al. in J Behav Med doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9631-8 , 2015; Kelly et al. in J Behav Med doi 10.1007/s10865-014-9613-2 , 2014; Myers et al. in J Behav Med doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9626-5 , 2015). Collectively, the special section of papers highlights the diverse ways in which behavioural medicine contributes to our understanding of genetic testing for disease risk, and points to the value of further research to better understand ways in which individuals perceive, interpret and respond to genetic risk information.
Uptake and impact of regulated pharmacy technicians in Ontario community pharmacies.
Grootendorst, Paul; Shim, Minsup; Tieu, Jimmy
2018-01-01
Since 2010, most provincial Colleges of Pharmacists have licensed pharmacy technicians. The colleges hoped this would give pharmacists time to provide "expanded scope" activities such as medication reviews. Little is known, however, about the uptake and impact of pharmacy technicians on pharmacists' provision of such services. We address these questions using data for Ontario community pharmacies. Data on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were obtained from the Ontario College of Pharmacists website in September 2016. Their place of employment was used to calculate the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists and technicians employed at each community pharmacy. Pharmacy claims data for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2016, were obtained from the Ontario Public Drug Programs (OPDP). These data included number of MedsChecks performed, type of MedsCheck and number of prescriptions dispensed to OPDP beneficiaries. Pharmacy technicians were employed in 24% of the pharmacies in our sample. Technician employment rates were highest in Central Fill pharmacies and pharmacies serving long-term care facilities. In general, pharmacies employing 1 or fewer technician full-time equivalents (FTEs) had a slightly higher probability of providing MedsChecks and, of those that did provide Meds Checks Annuals, provided more of them. Pharmacies that hired 3 or more technician FTEs were markedly less likely to provide MedsChecks. Pharmacies differ in their employment of technicians and in the apparent impact of technicians on the provision of MedsChecks. However, these represent associations. Additional research is needed to assess the causal effect of technician employment on the provision of MedsChecks.
Uptake and impact of regulated pharmacy technicians in Ontario community pharmacies
Grootendorst, Paul; Shim, Minsup
2018-01-01
Background: Since 2010, most provincial Colleges of Pharmacists have licensed pharmacy technicians. The colleges hoped this would give pharmacists time to provide “expanded scope” activities such as medication reviews. Little is known, however, about the uptake and impact of pharmacy technicians on pharmacists’ provision of such services. We address these questions using data for Ontario community pharmacies. Methods: Data on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were obtained from the Ontario College of Pharmacists website in September 2016. Their place of employment was used to calculate the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists and technicians employed at each community pharmacy. Pharmacy claims data for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2016, were obtained from the Ontario Public Drug Programs (OPDP). These data included number of MedsChecks performed, type of MedsCheck and number of prescriptions dispensed to OPDP beneficiaries. Results: Pharmacy technicians were employed in 24% of the pharmacies in our sample. Technician employment rates were highest in Central Fill pharmacies and pharmacies serving long-term care facilities. In general, pharmacies employing 1 or fewer technician full-time equivalents (FTEs) had a slightly higher probability of providing MedsChecks and, of those that did provide Meds Checks Annuals, provided more of them. Pharmacies that hired 3 or more technician FTEs were markedly less likely to provide MedsChecks. Conclusions: Pharmacies differ in their employment of technicians and in the apparent impact of technicians on the provision of MedsChecks. However, these represent associations. Additional research is needed to assess the causal effect of technician employment on the provision of MedsChecks. PMID:29796133
Carbonneau, Élise; Royer, Marie-Michelle; Richard, Caroline; Couture, Patrick; Desroches, Sophie; Lemieux, Simone; Lamarche, Benoît
2017-01-01
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) consumed before and after weight loss on eating behavioral traits as measured by the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) in men with metabolic syndrome (MetS). In this fixed sequence study, 19 men with MetS (National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria), aged between 24 and 62 years, first consumed a five-week standardized North American control diet followed by a five-week MedDiet, both under weight-maintaining controlled-feeding conditions. This was followed by a 20-week caloric restriction weight loss period in free-living conditions, without specific recommendations towards adhering to the principles of the MedDiet. Participants were finally subjected to a final five-week MedDiet phase under isoenergetic controlled-feeding conditions. The MedDiet before weight loss had no impact on eating behavioral traits. Body weight reduction by caloric restriction (−10.2% of initial weight) was associated with increased cognitive restraint (p < 0.0001) and with reduced disinhibition (p = 0.02) and susceptibility to hunger (p = 0.01). Feeding the MedDiet for five weeks under isoenergetic conditions after the weight loss phase had no further impact on eating behavioral traits. Results of this controlled-feeding study suggest that consumption of the MedDiet per se has no effect on eating behavioral traits as measured by TFEQ, unless it is combined with significant weight loss. PMID:28335489
Bédard, Alexandra; Corneau, Louise; Lamarche, Benoît; Dodin, Sylvie; Lemieux, Simone
2015-01-01
Sex differences have been previously highlighted in the cardioprotective effects of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet). The objective of this study was to investigate whether sex differences also exist with regard to LDL particle size distribution and oxidation. Participants were 37 men and 32 premenopausal women (24–53 years) with slightly elevated LDL-C concentrations (3.4–4.9 mmol/L) or total cholesterol/HDL-C ≥5.0. Variables were measured before and after a four-week isoenergetic MedDiet. Sex differences were found in response to the MedDiet for the proportion of medium LDL (255–260 Å) (p for sex-by-time interaction = 0.01) and small, dense LDL (sdLDL; <255 Å) (trend; p for sex-by-time interaction = 0.06), men experiencing an increase in the proportion of medium LDL with a concomitant reduction in the proportion of sdLDL, while an opposite trend was observed in women. A sex difference was also noted for estimated cholesterol concentrations among sdLDL (p for sex-by-time interaction = 0.03), with only men experiencing a reduction in response to the MedDiet. The MedDiet marginally reduced oxidized LDL (oxLDL) concentrations (p = 0.07), with no sex difference. Results suggest that short-termconsumption of the MedDiet leads to a favorable redistribution of LDL subclasses from smaller to larger LDL only in men. These results highlight the importance of considering sex issues in cardiovascular benefits of the MedDiet. PMID:25988764
Death, dying and informatics: misrepresenting religion on MedLine.
Rodríguez Del Pozo, Pablo; Fins, Joseph J
2005-07-01
The globalization of medical science carries for doctors worldwide a correlative duty to deepen their understanding of patients' cultural contexts and religious backgrounds, in order to satisfy each as a unique individual. To become better informed, practitioners may turn to MedLine, but it is unclear whether the information found there is an accurate representation of culture and religion. To test MedLine's representation of this field, we chose the topic of death and dying in the three major monotheistic religions. We searched MedLine using PubMed in order to retrieve and thematically analyze full-length scholarly journal papers or case reports dealing with religious traditions and end-of-life care. Our search consisted of a string of words that included the most common denominations of the three religions, the standard heading terms used by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRCBL), and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) used by the National Library of Medicine. Eligible articles were limited to English-language papers with an abstract. We found that while a bibliographic search in MedLine on this topic produced instant results and some valuable literature, the aggregate reflected a selection bias. American writers were over-represented given the global prevalence of these religious traditions. Denominationally affiliated authors predominated in representing the Christian traditions. The Islamic tradition was under-represented. MedLine's capability to identify the most current, reliable and accurate information about purely scientific topics should not be assumed to be the same case when considering the interface of religion, culture and end-of-life care.
Albayrak, Ozgür; Föcker, Manuel; Wibker, Katrin; Hebebrand, Johannes
2012-06-01
We aimed to determine the quantitative scientific publication output of child and adolescent psychiatric/psychological affiliations during 2005-2010 by country based on both, "PubMed" and "Scopus" and performed a bibliometric qualitative evaluation for 2009 using "PubMed". We performed our search by affiliation related to child and adolescent psychiatric/psychological institutions using "PubMed". For the quantitative analysis for 2005-2010, we counted the number of abstracts. For the qualitative analysis for 2009 we derived the impact factor of each abstract's journal from "Journal Citation Reports". We related total impact factor scores to the gross domestic product (GDP) and population size of each country. Additionally, we used "Scopus" to determine the number of abstracts for each country that was identified via "PubMed" for 2009 and compared the ranking of countries between the two databases. 61 % of the publications between 2005 and 2010 originated from European countries and 26 % from the USA. After adjustment for GDP and population size, the ranking positions changed in favor of smaller European countries with a population size of less than 20 million inhabitants. The ranking of countries for the count of articles in 2009 as derived from "Scopus" was similar to that identified via the "PubMed" search. The performed search revealed only minor differences between "Scopus" and "PubMed" related to the ranking of countries. Our data indicate a sharp difference between countries with a high versus low GDP with regard to scientific publication output in child and adolescent psychiatry/psychology.
Do Language Fluency and Other Socioeconomic Factors Influence the Use of PubMed and MedlinePlus?
Sheets, L.; Gavino, A.; Callaghan, F.; Fontelo, P.
2013-01-01
Background Increased usage of MedlinePlus by Spanish-speakers was observed after introduction of MedlinePlus in Spanish. This probably reflects increased usage of MEDLINE and PubMed by those with greater fluency in the language in which it is presented; but this has never been demonstrated in English speakers. Evidence that lack of English fluency deters international healthcare personnel from using PubMed could support the use of multi-language search tools like Babel-MeSH. Objectives This study aims to measure the effects of language fluency and other socioeconomic factors on PubMed MEDLINE and MedlinePlus access by international users. Methods We retrospectively reviewed server pageviews of PubMed and MedlinePlus from various periods of time, and analyzed them against country statistics on language fluency, GDP, literacy rate, Internet usage, medical schools, and physicians per capita, to determine whether they were associated. Results We found fluency in English to be positively associated with pageviews of PubMed and MedlinePlus in countries with high literacy rates. Spanish was generally found to be positively associated with pageviews of MedlinePlus en Español. The other parameters also showed varying degrees of association with pageviews. Conclusions After adjusting for the other factors investigated in this study, language fluency was a consistently significant predictor of the use of PubMed, MedlinePlus English and MedlinePlus en Español. This study may support the need for multi-language search tools and may increase access of health information resources from non-English speaking countries. PMID:23874356
Do language fluency and other socioeconomic factors influence the use of PubMed and MedlinePlus?
Sheets, L; Gavino, A; Callaghan, F; Fontelo, P
2013-01-01
Increased usage of MedlinePlus by Spanish-speakers was observed after introduction of MedlinePlus in Spanish. This probably reflects increased usage of MEDLINE and PubMed by those with greater fluency in the language in which it is presented; but this has never been demonstrated in English speakers. Evidence that lack of English fluency deters international healthcare personnel from using PubMed could support the use of multi-language search tools like Babel-MeSH. This study aims to measure the effects of language fluency and other socioeconomic factors on PubMed MEDLINE and MedlinePlus access by international users. We retrospectively reviewed server pageviews of PubMed and MedlinePlus from various periods of time, and analyzed them against country statistics on language fluency, GDP, literacy rate, Internet usage, medical schools, and physicians per capita, to determine whether they were associated. We found fluency in English to be positively associated with pageviews of PubMed and MedlinePlus in countries with high literacy rates. Spanish was generally found to be positively associated with pageviews of MedlinePlus en Español. The other parameters also showed varying degrees of association with pageviews. After adjusting for the other factors investigated in this study, language fluency was a consistently significant predictor of the use of PubMed, MedlinePlus English and MedlinePlus en Español. This study may support the need for multi-language search tools and may increase access of health information resources from non-English speaking countries.
Death, dying and informatics: misrepresenting religion on MedLine
Rodríguez del Pozo, Pablo; Fins, Joseph J
2005-01-01
Background The globalization of medical science carries for doctors worldwide a correlative duty to deepen their understanding of patients' cultural contexts and religious backgrounds, in order to satisfy each as a unique individual. To become better informed, practitioners may turn to MedLine, but it is unclear whether the information found there is an accurate representation of culture and religion. To test MedLine's representation of this field, we chose the topic of death and dying in the three major monotheistic religions. Methods We searched MedLine using PubMed in order to retrieve and thematically analyze full-length scholarly journal papers or case reports dealing with religious traditions and end-of-life care. Our search consisted of a string of words that included the most common denominations of the three religions, the standard heading terms used by the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRCBL), and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) used by the National Library of Medicine. Eligible articles were limited to English-language papers with an abstract. Results We found that while a bibliographic search in MedLine on this topic produced instant results and some valuable literature, the aggregate reflected a selection bias. American writers were over-represented given the global prevalence of these religious traditions. Denominationally affiliated authors predominated in representing the Christian traditions. The Islamic tradition was under-represented. Conclusion MedLine's capability to identify the most current, reliable and accurate information about purely scientific topics should not be assumed to be the same case when considering the interface of religion, culture and end-of-life care. PMID:15992401
MedEdPORTAL: a report on oral health resources for health professions educators.
Chickmagalur, Nithya S; Allareddy, Veerasathpurush; Sandmeyer, Sue; Valachovic, Richard W; Candler, Christopher S; Saleh, Michael; Cahill, Emily; Karimbux, Nadeem Y
2013-09-01
MedEdPORTAL is a unique web-based peer-reviewed publication venue for clinical health educators sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The open exchange of educational resources promotes professional collaboration across health professions. In 2008, the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) collaborated with AAMC to allow dental educators to use the platform to publish dental curriculum resources. Oral health is integral to general health; hence, collaboration among health care professionals brings enormous value to patient-centered care. The aim of this study was to conduct a current survey of metrics and submission statistics of MedEdPORTAL resources. The data were collected using the MedEdPORTAL search engine and ADEA and AAMC staff. The data collected were categorized and reported in tables and charts. Results showed that at the time of this study there were over 2,000 medical and dental resources available to anyone worldwide. Oral health resources constituted approximately 30 percent of the total resources, which included cross-indexing with information relevant to both medical and dental audiences. There were several types of dental resources available; the most common were the ones focusing on critical thinking. The usage of MedEdPORTAL has been growing, with participation from over 190 countries and 10,000 educational institutions around the world. The findings of this report suggest that MedEdPORTAL is succeeding in its aim to foster global collaborative education, professional education, and educational scholarship. As such, MedEdPORTAL is providing a new forum for collaboration and opens venues for promising future work in professional education.
Liu, Jie; Zhang, Tianren; Jia, Jizeng; Sun, Jiaqiang
2016-03-01
Powdery mildew, caused by the biotrophic fungal pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, is a major limitation for the production of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). However, to date, the transcriptional regulation of bread wheat defense against powdery mildew remains largely unknown. Here, we report the function and molecular mechanism of the bread wheat Mediator subunit 25 (TaMED25) in regulating the bread wheat immune response signaling pathway. Three homoalleles of TaMED25 from bread wheat were identified and mapped to chromosomes 5A, 5B, and 5D, respectively. We show that knockdown of TaMED25 by barley stripe mosaic virus-induced gene silencing reduced bread wheat susceptibility to the powdery mildew fungus during the compatible plant-pathogen interaction. Moreover, our results indicate that MED25 may play a conserved role in regulating bread wheat and barley (Hordeum vulgare) susceptibility to powdery mildew. Similarly, bread wheat ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3-LIKE1 (TaEIL1), an ortholog of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3, negatively regulates bread wheat resistance against powdery mildew. Using various approaches, we demonstrate that the conserved activator-interacting domain of TaMED25 interacts physically with the separate amino- and carboxyl-terminal regions of TaEIL1, contributing to the transcriptional activation activity of TaEIL1. Furthermore, we show that TaMED25 and TaEIL1 synergistically activate ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR1 (TaERF1) transcription to modulate bread wheat basal disease resistance to B. graminis f. sp. tritici by repressing the expression of pathogenesis-related genes and deterring the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. Collectively, we identify the TaMED25-TaEIL1-TaERF1 signaling module as a negative regulator of bread wheat resistance to powdery mildew. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.
Cárdenas-Fuentes, Gabriela; Subirana, Isaac; Martinez-Gonzalez, Miguel A; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Corella, Dolores; Estruch, Ramon; Fíto, Montserrat; Muñoz-Bravo, Carlos; Fiol, Miguel; Lapetra, José; Aros, Fernando; Serra-Majem, Luis; Tur, Josep A; Pinto, Xavier; Ros, Emilio; Coltell, Oscar; Díaz-López, Andres; Ruiz-Canela, Miguel; Schröder, Helmut
2018-04-25
Although evidence indicates that both physical activity and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) reduce the risk of all-cause mortality, a little is known about optimal intensities of physical activity and their combined effect with MedDiet in older adults. We assessed the separate and combined associations of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and MedDiet adherence with all-cause mortality. We prospectively studied 7356 older adults (67 ± 6.2 years) at high vascular risk from the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea study. At baseline and yearly thereafter, adherence to the MedDiet and LTPA were measured using validated questionnaires. After 6.8 years of follow-up, we documented 498 deaths. Adherence to the MedDiet and total, light, and moderate-to-vigorous LTPA were inversely associated with all-cause mortality (p < 0.01 for all) in multiple adjusted Cox regression models. The adjusted hazard of all-cause mortality was 73% lower (hazard ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval 0.19-0.38, p < 0.001) for the combined category of highest adherence to the MedDiet (3rd tertile) and highest total LTPA (3rd tertile) compared to lowest adherence to the MedDiet (1st tertile) and lowest total LTPA (1st tertile). Reductions in mortality risk did not meaningfully differ between total, light intensity, and moderate-to-vigorous LTPA. We found that higher levels of LTPA, regardless of intensity (total, light and moderate-to-vigorous), and greater adherence to the MedDiet were associated separately and jointly with lower all-cause mortality. The finding that light LTPA was inversely associated with mortality is relevant because this level of intensity is a feasible option for older adults.
Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes With the Mediterranean Diet
Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Bulló, Monica; Babio, Nancy; Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel; Ibarrola-Jurado, Núria; Basora, Josep; Estruch, Ramon; Covas, Maria Isabel; Corella, Dolores; Arós, Fernando; Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Valentina; Ros, Emilio
2011-01-01
OBJECTIVE To test the effects of two Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) interventions versus a low-fat diet on incidence of diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This was a three-arm randomized trial in 418 nondiabetic subjects aged 55–80 years recruited in one center (PREDIMED-Reus, northeastern Spain) of the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea [PREDIMED] study, a large nutrition intervention trial for primary cardiovascular prevention in individuals at high cardiovascular risk. Participants were randomly assigned to education on a low-fat diet (control group) or to one of two MedDiets, supplemented with either free virgin olive oil (1 liter/week) or nuts (30 g/day). Diets were ad libitum, and no advice on physical activity was given. The main outcome was diabetes incidence diagnosed by the 2009 American Diabetes Association criteria. RESULTS After a median follow-up of 4.0 years, diabetes incidence was 10.1% (95% CI 5.1–15.1), 11.0% (5.9–16.1), and 17.9% (11.4–24.4) in the MedDiet with olive oil group, the MedDiet with nuts group, and the control group, respectively. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios of diabetes were 0.49 (0.25–0.97) and 0.48 (0.24–0.96) in the MedDiet supplemented with olive oil and nuts groups, respectively, compared with the control group. When the two MedDiet groups were pooled and compared with the control group, diabetes incidence was reduced by 52% (27–86). In all study arms, increased adherence to the MedDiet was inversely associated with diabetes incidence. Diabetes risk reduction occurred in the absence of significant changes in body weight or physical activity. CONCLUSIONS MedDiets without calorie restriction seem to be effective in the prevention of diabetes in subjects at high cardiovascular risk. PMID:20929998
The statistical validity of nursing home survey findings.
Woolley, Douglas C
2011-11-01
The Medicare nursing home survey is a high-stakes process whose findings greatly affect nursing homes, their current and potential residents, and the communities they serve. Therefore, survey findings must achieve high validity. This study looked at the validity of one key assessment made during a nursing home survey: the observation of the rate of errors in administration of medications to residents (med-pass). Statistical analysis of the case under study and of alternative hypothetical cases. A skilled nursing home affiliated with a local medical school. The nursing home administrators and the medical director. Observational study. The probability that state nursing home surveyors make a Type I or Type II error in observing med-pass error rates, based on the current case and on a series of postulated med-pass error rates. In the common situation such as our case, where med-pass errors occur at slightly above a 5% rate after 50 observations, and therefore trigger a citation, the chance that the true rate remains above 5% after a large number of observations is just above 50%. If the true med-pass error rate were as high as 10%, and the survey team wished to achieve 75% accuracy in determining that a citation was appropriate, they would have to make more than 200 med-pass observations. In the more common situation where med pass errors are closer to 5%, the team would have to observe more than 2000 med-passes to achieve even a modest 75% accuracy in their determinations. In settings where error rates are low, large numbers of observations of an activity must be made to reach acceptable validity of estimates for the true rates of errors. In observing key nursing home functions with current methodology, the State Medicare nursing home survey process does not adhere to well-known principles of valid error determination. Alternate approaches in survey methodology are discussed. Copyright © 2011 American Medical Directors Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Zhang, Tianren; Jia, Jizeng; Sun, Jiaqiang
2016-01-01
Powdery mildew, caused by the biotrophic fungal pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, is a major limitation for the production of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). However, to date, the transcriptional regulation of bread wheat defense against powdery mildew remains largely unknown. Here, we report the function and molecular mechanism of the bread wheat Mediator subunit 25 (TaMED25) in regulating the bread wheat immune response signaling pathway. Three homoalleles of TaMED25 from bread wheat were identified and mapped to chromosomes 5A, 5B, and 5D, respectively. We show that knockdown of TaMED25 by barley stripe mosaic virus-induced gene silencing reduced bread wheat susceptibility to the powdery mildew fungus during the compatible plant-pathogen interaction. Moreover, our results indicate that MED25 may play a conserved role in regulating bread wheat and barley (Hordeum vulgare) susceptibility to powdery mildew. Similarly, bread wheat ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3-LIKE1 (TaEIL1), an ortholog of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3, negatively regulates bread wheat resistance against powdery mildew. Using various approaches, we demonstrate that the conserved activator-interacting domain of TaMED25 interacts physically with the separate amino- and carboxyl-terminal regions of TaEIL1, contributing to the transcriptional activation activity of TaEIL1. Furthermore, we show that TaMED25 and TaEIL1 synergistically activate ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR1 (TaERF1) transcription to modulate bread wheat basal disease resistance to B. graminis f. sp. tritici by repressing the expression of pathogenesis-related genes and deterring the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. Collectively, we identify the TaMED25-TaEIL1-TaERF1 signaling module as a negative regulator of bread wheat resistance to powdery mildew. PMID:26813794
EDITORIAL: Annual prizes for best papers
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2007-07-01
2006 Roberts Prize The publishers of Physics in Medicine and Biology (PMB) in association with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) jointly award an annual prize for an article published in PMB during the previous year. The following ten articles, listed below in chronological order, were rated the best of 2006 based on the (two or three) referees' assessments: D W Mundy et al 2006 Radiation binary targeted therapy for HER-2 positive breast cancers: assumptions, theoretical assessment and future directions Phys. Med. Biol. 51 1377-91 Y Yang et al 2006 Investigation of optical coherence tomography as an imaging modality in tissue engineering Phys. Med. Biol. 51 1649-59 M Krämer and M Scholz 2006 Rapid calculation of biological effects in ion radiotherapy Phys. Med. Biol. 51 1959-70 P Crespo et al 2006 On the detector arrangement for in-beam PET for hadron therapy monitoring Phys. Med. Biol. 51 2143-63 R J Senden et al 2006 Polymer gel dosimeters with reduced toxicity: a preliminary investigation of the NMR and optical dose-response using different monomers Phys. Med. Biol. 51 3301-14 J Wang et al 2006 FDTD calculation of whole-body average SAR in adult and child models for frequencies from 30 MHz to 3 GHz Phys. Med. Biol. 51 4119-27 C A T Van den Berg et al 2006 The use of MR B+1 imaging for validation of FDTD electromagnetic simulations of human anatomies Phys. Med. Biol. 51 4735-46 S Qin and K W Ferrara 2006 Acoustic response of compliable microvessels containing ultrasound contrast agents Phys. Med. Biol. 51 5065-88 R Kramer et al 2006 Skeletal dosimetry in the MAX06 and the FAX06 phantoms for external exposure to photons based on vertebral 3D-microCT images Phys. Med. Biol. 51 6265-89 R Leiderman et al 2006 Coupling between elastic strain and interstitial fluid flow: ramifications for poroelastic imaging Phys. Med. Biol. 51 6291-313 An IPEM college of jurors then assessed and rated these papers in order to choose a winner. We have much pleasure in advising readers that the 2006 Roberts Prize is awarded to: M Krämer and M Scholz 2006 Rapid calculation of biological effects in ion radiotherapy Phys. Med. Biol. 51 1959-70 2007 Prize for the Highest Cited Paper The annual prize for the most highly cited paper is awarded by the journal publishers (IOP Publishing) to the article published in PMB that has received the most citations1 in the previous 5 years (in this case for the period 2002 to 2006 inclusive). We have much pleasure in advising readers that the 2007 prize is awarded to: S S Vedam, P J Keall, V R Kini, H Mostafavi, H P Shukla and R Mohan 2003 Acquiring a four-dimensional computed tomography dataset using an external respiratory signal Phys. Med. Biol. 48 45-62 Simon Harris, Publisher Steve Webb, Editor-in-Chief 1 Figures taken from Thomson/ISI
Wartime Medical Requirements Models: A Comparison of MPM, MEPES, and LPX-MED.
1996-10-01
theater-level models: • Medical Planning Module (MPM) • Medical Planning and Execution System (MEPES) • External Logistics Processor-Medical Module ...current plan is to modify LPX-MED to include a requirements calculator, there is no plan to link the require- ments calculation module and the...simulation module . We believe the simulation module (i.e., today’s LPX-MED) needs reasonable starting values, which a calculator model can pro- vide
PubMed Interact: an Interactive Search Application for MEDLINE/PubMed
Muin, Michael; Fontelo, Paul; Ackerman, Michael
2006-01-01
Online search and retrieval systems are important resources for medical literature research. Progressive Web 2.0 technologies provide opportunities to improve search strategies and user experience. Using PHP, Document Object Model (DOM) manipulation and Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax), PubMed Interact allows greater functionality so users can refine search parameters with ease and interact with the search results to retrieve and display relevant information and related articles. PMID:17238658
The Web-based CanMEDS Resident Learning Portfolio Project (WEBCAM): how we got started.
Glen, Peter; Balaa, Fady; Momoli, Franco; Martin, Louise; Found, Dorothy; Arnaout, Angel
2016-12-01
The CanMEDS framework is ubiquitous in Canadian postgraduate medical education; however, training programs do not have a universal method of assessing competence. We set out to develop a novel portfolio that allowed trainees to generate a longitudinal record of their training and development within the framework. The portfolio provided an objective means for the residency program director to document and evaluate resident progress within the CanMEDS roles.
CyberMedVPS: visual programming for development of simulators.
Morais, Aline M; Machado, Liliane S
2011-01-01
Computer applications based on Virtual Reality (VR) has been outstanding in training and teaching in the medical filed due to their ability to simulate realistic in which users can practice skills and decision making in different situations. But was realized in these frameworks a hard interaction of non-programmers users. Based on this problematic will be shown the CyberMedVPS, a graphical module which implement Visual Programming concepts to solve an interaction trouble. Frameworks to develop such simulators are available but their use demands knowledge of programming. Based on this problematic will be shown the CyberMedVPS, a graphical module for the CyberMed framework, which implements Visual Programming concepts to allow the development of simulators by non-programmers professionals of the medical field.
Solar-assisted MED treatment of Eskom power station waste water
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Roos, Thomas H.; Rogers, David E. C.; Gericke, Gerhard
2017-06-01
The comparative benefits of multi-effect distillation (MED) used in conjunction with Nano Filtration (NF), Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Eutectic Freeze Crystallization (EFC) are determined for waste water minimization for inland coal fired power stations for Zero Liquid Effluent Discharge (ZLED). A sequence of technologies is proposed to achieve maximal water recovery and brine concentration: NF - physico-chemical treatment - MED - EFC. The possibility of extending the concentration of RO reject arising from minewater treatment at the Lethabo power station with MED alone is evaluated with mineral formation modelling using the thermochemical modelling software Phreeq-C. It is shown that pretreatment is essential to extend the amount of water that can be recovered, and this can be beneficially supported by NF.
TeleMed: Wide-area, secure, collaborative object computing with Java and CORBA for healthcare
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Forslund, D.W.; George, J.E.; Gavrilov, E.M.
1998-12-31
Distributed computing is becoming commonplace in a variety of industries with healthcare being a particularly important one for society. The authors describe the development and deployment of TeleMed in a few healthcare domains. TeleMed is a 100% Java distributed application build on CORBA and OMG standards enabling the collaboration on the treatment of chronically ill patients in a secure manner over the Internet. These standards enable other systems to work interoperably with TeleMed and provide transparent access to high performance distributed computing to the healthcare domain. The goal of wide scale integration of electronic medical records is a grand-challenge scalemore » problem of global proportions with far-reaching social benefits.« less
Google Scholar versus PubMed in locating primary literature to answer drug-related questions.
Freeman, Maisha Kelly; Lauderdale, Stacy A; Kendrach, Michael G; Woolley, Thomas W
2009-03-01
Google Scholar linked more visitors to biomedical journal Web sites than did PubMed after the database's initial release; however, its usefulness in locating primary literature articles is unknown. To assess in both databases the availability of primary literature target articles; total number of citations; availability of free, full-text journal articles; and number of primary literature target articles retrieved by year within the first 100 citations of the search results. Drug information question reviews published in The Annals of Pharmacotherapy Drug Information Rounds column served as targets to determine the retrieval ability of Google Scholar and PubMed searches. Reviews printed in this column from January 2006 to June 2007 were eligible for study inclusion. Articles were chosen if at least 2 key words of the printed article were included in the PubMed Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) database, and these terms were searched in both databases. Twenty-two of 33 (67%) eligible Drug Information Rounds articles met the inclusion criteria. The median number of primary literature articles used in each of these articles was 6.5 (IQR 4.8, 8.3; mean +/- SD 8 +/- 5.4). No significant differences were found for the mean number of target primary literature articles located within the first 100 citations in Google Scholar and PubMed searches (5.1 +/- 3.9 vs 5.3 +/- 3.3; p = 0.868). Google Scholar searches located more total results than PubMed (2211.6 +/- 3999.5 vs 44.2 +/- 47.4; p = 0.019). The availability of free, full-text journal articles per Drug Information Rounds article was similar between the databases (1.8 +/- 1.7 vs 2.3 +/- 1.7; p = 0.325). More primary literature articles published prior to 2000 were located with Google Scholar searches compared with PubMed (62.8% vs 34.9%; p = 0.017); however, no statistically significant differences between the databases were observed for articles published after 2000 (66.4 vs 77.1; p = 0.074). No significant differences were identified in the number of target primary literature articles located between databases. PubMed searches yielded fewer total citations than Google Scholar results; however, PubMed appears to be more specific than Google Scholar for locating relevant primary literature articles.
Viscogliosi, Giovanni; Cipriani, Elisa; Liguori, Maria Livia; Marigliano, Benedetta; Saliola, Mirella; Ettorre, Evaristo; Andreozzi, Paola
2013-06-01
The adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (Med Diet) seems to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome. The present study aimed to explore whether the adherence to the overall Med Diet pattern and to specific Med Diet items is associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), insulin resistance (IR), and microinflammation in subjects free of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Each patient underwent clinical assessment. Adherence to the Med Diet was measured by a previously validated 14-item questionnaire. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criteria; IR was defined by homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR); inflammation was assessed through a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) assay. A total of 120 subjects (64.2% women, mean age 59.8±10.2 years) were enrolled at this study. Subjects with lower Med Diet pattern adherence exhibited higher occurrence of metabolic syndrome and all its components and higher HOMA-IR and hsCRP values (P for all <0.0001). Subjects with metabolic syndrome were less likely to consume olive oil (P=0.002) and vegetables (P=0.023). By multivariable analyses, the overall Med Diet score was found to be strongly and inversely associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome [B=-0.066; 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.105 to -0.028; P=0.001], IFG (B=-0.076; 95% CI -0.114 to -0.038; p<0.0001), high HOMA-IR (B=-0.071; 95% CI -0.108 to -0.034; P<0.0001) and high hsCRP (B=-0.082; 95% CI -0.125 to -0.045; P<0.0001). None of specific Med Diet items independently predicted metabolic syndrome, IFG, and high HOMA-IR. Instead, the consumption of white meat over red meat (B=-0.324; 95% CI -0.467 to -0.178; P<0.0001) was found to be inversely associated with increased hsCRP. The inverse associations between adherence to Med Diet and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and prediabetes may be due more to the effects of the entire dietary pattern rather than to individual food components. Metabolic syndrome-related microinflammation may further be linked to specific Med Diet components.
CDAPubMed: a browser extension to retrieve EHR-based biomedical literature.
Perez-Rey, David; Jimenez-Castellanos, Ana; Garcia-Remesal, Miguel; Crespo, Jose; Maojo, Victor
2012-04-05
Over the last few decades, the ever-increasing output of scientific publications has led to new challenges to keep up to date with the literature. In the biomedical area, this growth has introduced new requirements for professionals, e.g., physicians, who have to locate the exact papers that they need for their clinical and research work amongst a huge number of publications. Against this backdrop, novel information retrieval methods are even more necessary. While web search engines are widespread in many areas, facilitating access to all kinds of information, additional tools are required to automatically link information retrieved from these engines to specific biomedical applications. In the case of clinical environments, this also means considering aspects such as patient data security and confidentiality or structured contents, e.g., electronic health records (EHRs). In this scenario, we have developed a new tool to facilitate query building to retrieve scientific literature related to EHRs. We have developed CDAPubMed, an open-source web browser extension to integrate EHR features in biomedical literature retrieval approaches. Clinical users can use CDAPubMed to: (i) load patient clinical documents, i.e., EHRs based on the Health Level 7-Clinical Document Architecture Standard (HL7-CDA), (ii) identify relevant terms for scientific literature search in these documents, i.e., Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), automatically driven by the CDAPubMed configuration, which advanced users can optimize to adapt to each specific situation, and (iii) generate and launch literature search queries to a major search engine, i.e., PubMed, to retrieve citations related to the EHR under examination. CDAPubMed is a platform-independent tool designed to facilitate literature searching using keywords contained in specific EHRs. CDAPubMed is visually integrated, as an extension of a widespread web browser, within the standard PubMed interface. It has been tested on a public dataset of HL7-CDA documents, returning significantly fewer citations since queries are focused on characteristics identified within the EHR. For instance, compared with more than 200,000 citations retrieved by breast neoplasm, fewer than ten citations were retrieved when ten patient features were added using CDAPubMed. This is an open source tool that can be freely used for non-profit purposes and integrated with other existing systems.
CDAPubMed: a browser extension to retrieve EHR-based biomedical literature
2012-01-01
Background Over the last few decades, the ever-increasing output of scientific publications has led to new challenges to keep up to date with the literature. In the biomedical area, this growth has introduced new requirements for professionals, e.g., physicians, who have to locate the exact papers that they need for their clinical and research work amongst a huge number of publications. Against this backdrop, novel information retrieval methods are even more necessary. While web search engines are widespread in many areas, facilitating access to all kinds of information, additional tools are required to automatically link information retrieved from these engines to specific biomedical applications. In the case of clinical environments, this also means considering aspects such as patient data security and confidentiality or structured contents, e.g., electronic health records (EHRs). In this scenario, we have developed a new tool to facilitate query building to retrieve scientific literature related to EHRs. Results We have developed CDAPubMed, an open-source web browser extension to integrate EHR features in biomedical literature retrieval approaches. Clinical users can use CDAPubMed to: (i) load patient clinical documents, i.e., EHRs based on the Health Level 7-Clinical Document Architecture Standard (HL7-CDA), (ii) identify relevant terms for scientific literature search in these documents, i.e., Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), automatically driven by the CDAPubMed configuration, which advanced users can optimize to adapt to each specific situation, and (iii) generate and launch literature search queries to a major search engine, i.e., PubMed, to retrieve citations related to the EHR under examination. Conclusions CDAPubMed is a platform-independent tool designed to facilitate literature searching using keywords contained in specific EHRs. CDAPubMed is visually integrated, as an extension of a widespread web browser, within the standard PubMed interface. It has been tested on a public dataset of HL7-CDA documents, returning significantly fewer citations since queries are focused on characteristics identified within the EHR. For instance, compared with more than 200,000 citations retrieved by breast neoplasm, fewer than ten citations were retrieved when ten patient features were added using CDAPubMed. This is an open source tool that can be freely used for non-profit purposes and integrated with other existing systems. PMID:22480327
Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and risk of lung cancer in the Netherlands Cohort Study.
Schulpen, Maya; van den Brandt, Piet A
2018-03-01
The evidence on a cancer-protective effect of the Mediterranean diet (MD) is still limited. Therefore, we investigated the association between MD adherence and lung cancer risk. Data were used from 120 852 participants of the Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS), aged 55-69 years. Dietary habits were assessed at baseline (1986) using a validated FFQ and alternate and modified Mediterranean diet scores (aMED and mMED, respectively), including and excluding alcohol, were calculated. After 20·3 years of follow-up, 2861 lung cancer cases and 3720 subcohort members (case-cohort design) could be included in multivariable Cox regression analyses. High (6-8) v. low (0-3) aMED excluding alcohol was associated with non-significantly reduced lung cancer risks in men and women with hazard ratios of 0·91 (95 % CI 0·72, 1·15) and 0·73 (95 % CI 0·49, 1·09), respectively. aMED-containing models generally fitted better than mMED-containing models. In never smokers, a borderline significant decreasing trend in lung cancer risk was observed with increasing aMED excluding alcohol. Analyses stratified by the histological lung cancer subtypes did not identify subtypes with a particularly strong inverse relation with MD adherence. Generally, the performance of aMED and World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research dietary score variants without alcohol was comparable. In conclusion, MD adherence was non-significantly inversely associated with lung cancer risk in the NLCS. Future studies should focus on differences in associations across the sexes and histological subtypes. Furthermore, exclusion of alcohol from MD scores should be investigated more extensively, primarily with respect to a potential role of the MD in cancer prevention.
MED: a new non-supervised gene prediction algorithm for bacterial and archaeal genomes.
Zhu, Huaiqiu; Hu, Gang-Qing; Yang, Yi-Fan; Wang, Jin; She, Zhen-Su
2007-03-16
Despite a remarkable success in the computational prediction of genes in Bacteria and Archaea, a lack of comprehensive understanding of prokaryotic gene structures prevents from further elucidation of differences among genomes. It continues to be interesting to develop new ab initio algorithms which not only accurately predict genes, but also facilitate comparative studies of prokaryotic genomes. This paper describes a new prokaryotic genefinding algorithm based on a comprehensive statistical model of protein coding Open Reading Frames (ORFs) and Translation Initiation Sites (TISs). The former is based on a linguistic "Entropy Density Profile" (EDP) model of coding DNA sequence and the latter comprises several relevant features related to the translation initiation. They are combined to form a so-called Multivariate Entropy Distance (MED) algorithm, MED 2.0, that incorporates several strategies in the iterative program. The iterations enable us to develop a non-supervised learning process and to obtain a set of genome-specific parameters for the gene structure, before making the prediction of genes. Results of extensive tests show that MED 2.0 achieves a competitive high performance in the gene prediction for both 5' and 3' end matches, compared to the current best prokaryotic gene finders. The advantage of the MED 2.0 is particularly evident for GC-rich genomes and archaeal genomes. Furthermore, the genome-specific parameters given by MED 2.0 match with the current understanding of prokaryotic genomes and may serve as tools for comparative genomic studies. In particular, MED 2.0 is shown to reveal divergent translation initiation mechanisms in archaeal genomes while making a more accurate prediction of TISs compared to the existing gene finders and the current GenBank annotation.
Economic benefits of the Mediterranean-style diet consumption in Canada and the United States
Abdullah, Mohammad M.H.; Jones, Jason P.H.; Jones, Peter J.H.
2015-01-01
Background The Mediterranean-style diet (MedDiet) is an established healthy-eating behavior that has consistently been shown to favorably impact cardiovascular health, thus likely improving quality of life and reducing costs associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Data on the economic benefits of MedDiet intakes are, however, scarce. Objective The objective of this study was to estimate the annual healthcare and societal cost savings that would accrue to the Canadian and American public, independently, as a result of a reduction in the incidence of CVD following adherence to a MedDiet. Design A variation in cost-of-illness analysis entailing three stages of estimations was developed to 1) identify the proportion of individuals who are likely to adopt a MedDiet in North America, 2) assess the impact of the MedDiet intake on CVD incidence reduction, and 3) impute the potential savings in costs associated with healthcare and productivity following the estimated CVD reduction. To account for the uncertainty factor, a sensitivity analysis of four scenarios, including ideal, optimistic, pessimistic, and very-pessimistic assumptions, was implemented within each of these stages. Results Significant improvements in CVD-related costs were evident with varying MedDiet adoption and CVD reduction rates. Specifically, CAD $41.9 million to 2.5 billion in Canada and US $1.0–62.8 billion in the United States were estimated to accrue as total annual savings in economic costs, given the ‘very-pessimistic’ through ‘ideal’ scenarios. Conclusions Closer adherence to dietary behaviors that are consistent with the principles of the MedDiet is expected to contribute to a reduction in the monetary burdens of CVD in Canada, the United States, and possibly other parts of the world. PMID:26111965
#GeriMedJC: The Twitter Complement to the Traditional-Format Geriatric Medicine Journal Club.
Gardhouse, Amanda I; Budd, Laura; Yang, Seu Y C; Wong, Camilla L
2017-06-01
Twitter is a public microblogging platform that overcomes physical limitations and allows unrestricted participation beyond academic silos, enabling interactive discussions. Twitter-based journal clubs have demonstrated growth, sustainability, and worldwide communication, using a hashtag (#) to follow participation. This article describes the first year of #GeriMedJC, a monthly 1-hour live, 23-hour asynchronous Twitter-based complement to the traditional-format geriatric medicine journal club. The Twitter moderator tweets from the handle @GeriMedJC; encourages use of #GeriMedJC; and invites content experts, study authors, and followers to participate in critical appraisal of medical literature. Using the hashtag #GeriMedJC, tweets were categorized according to thematic content, relevance to the journal club, and authorship. Third-party analytical tools Symplur and Twitter Analytics were used for growth and effect metrics (number of followers, participants, tweets, retweets, replies, impressions). Qualitative analysis of follower and participant profiles was used to establish country of origin and occupation. A semistructured interview of postgraduate trainees was conducted to ascertain qualitative aspects of the experience. In the first year, @GeriMedJC has grown to 541 followers on six continents. Most followers were physicians (43%), two-thirds of which were geriatricians. Growth metrics increased over 12 months, with a mean of 121 tweets, 25 participants, and 105,831 impressions per journal club. Tweets were most often related to the article being appraised (87.5%) and ranged in thematic content from clinical practice (29%) to critical appraisal (24%) to medical education (20%). #GeriMedJC is a feasible example of using social media platforms such as Twitter to encourage international and interprofessional appraisal of medical literature. © 2017, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2017, The American Geriatrics Society.
The role of endobronchial ultrasound versus mediastinoscopy for non-small cell lung cancer.
Czarnecka-Kujawa, Katarzyna; Yasufuku, Kazuhiro
2017-03-01
This review provides an update on the current role of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and mediastinoscopy (Med) in assessment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Invasive mediastinal lymph node (LN) staging is the major application for both of these techniques. Up until recently, Med was the gold standard for invasive mediastinal LN staging in NSCLC. However, EBUS-TBNA has shown to be equivalent, and in some studies better than Med for invasive staging of lung cancer. EBUS-TBNA offers access to N1 LNs and development of the thin convex probe EBUS (TCP-EBUS) will expand EBUS-TBNA access from the paratracheal region and central airways to more distal parabronchial regions allowing for more extensive N1 LN assessment and sampling more distal lung tumors. EBUS-TBNA is more cost-effective than Med and it is currently recommended as the test of first choice for invasive mediastinal LN staging in lung cancer. Confirmatory Med should be performed selectively in patients with high pretest probability of metastatic disease. Addition of esophageal ultrasound fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) may increase diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA mediastinal staging. Both Med and EBUS-TBNA can be used in primary lung cancer diagnosis, restaging of the mediastinum following neoadjuvant therapy and in diagnosis of lung cancer recurrence. In the future, a combination of EBUS-TBNA with or without EUS-FNA and Med is most likely going to provide the most optimal invasive assessment of the mediastinum in patients with lung cancer. The decision on test choice and sequence should be made on a case-by-case basis and factoring in local resources and expertise.
Clements, Sarah J; Maijo, Monica; Ivory, Kamal; Nicoletti, Claudio; Carding, Simon R
2017-01-01
Aging is accompanied by increased susceptibility to infection and age-associated chronic diseases. It is also associated with reduced vaccine responses, which is often attributed to immunosenescence and the functional decline of the immune system. Immunosenescence is characterized by a chronic, low-grade, inflammatory state termed inflammaging. Habitants of Mediterranean (MED) regions maintain good health into old age; often attributed to MED diets. Adoption of a MED-diet by elderly subjects, in Norfolk (UK), may improve immune responses of these individuals and in particular, dendritic cell (DC) function. A total of 120 elderly subjects (65-79 years old) recruited onto the Nu-AGE study, a multicenter European dietary study specifically addressing the needs of the elderly, across five countries, and were randomized to the control or MED-diet groups, for one year. Blood samples were taken pre- and post-intervention for DC analysis and were compared with each other, and to samples obtained from 45 young (18-40 years old) subjects. MED-diet compliance was assessed using high performance liquid chromatography-with tandem mass spectrometry analysis of urine samples. Immune cell and DC subset numbers and concentrations of secreted proteins were determined by flow cytometric analysis. As expected, reduced myeloid DC numbers were observed in blood samples from elderly subjects compared with young. The elevated secretion of the adipokine, resistin, after ex vivo stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from elderly subjects, was significantly reduced after MED-diet intervention. This study provides further evidence of numerical and functional effects of aging on DCs. The MED-diet showed potential to impact on the aging immune cells investigated and could provide an economical approach to address problems associated with our aging population.
Piróg, Katarzyna A.; Jaka, Oihane; Katakura, Yoshihisa; Meadows, Roger S.; Kadler, Karl E.; Boot-Handford, Raymond P.; Briggs, Michael D.
2010-01-01
Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) are relatively common skeletal dysplasias belonging to the same bone dysplasia family. PSACH is characterized by generalized epi-metaphyseal dysplasia, short-limbed dwarfism, joint laxity and early onset osteoarthritis. MED is a milder disease with radiographic features often restricted to the epiphyses of the long bones. PSACH and some forms of MED result from mutations in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), a pentameric glycoprotein found in cartilage, tendon, ligament and muscle. PSACH-MED patients often have a mild myopathy characterized by mildly increased plasma creatine kinase levels, a variation in myofibre size and/or small atrophic fibres. In some instances, patients are referred to neuromuscular clinics prior to the diagnosis of an underlying skeletal dysplasia; however, the myopathy associated with PSACH-MED has not previously been studied. In this study, we present a detailed study of skeletal muscle, tendon and ligament from a mouse model of mild PSACH harbouring a COMP mutation. Mutant mice exhibited a progressive muscle weakness associated with an increased number of muscle fibres with central nuclei at the perimysium and at the myotendinous junction. Furthermore, the distribution of collagen fibril diameters in the mutant tendons and ligaments was altered towards thicker collagen fibrils, and the tendons became more lax in cyclic strain tests. We hypothesize that the myopathy in PSACH-MED originates from an underlying tendon and ligament pathology that is a direct result of structural abnormalities to the collagen fibril architecture. This is the first comprehensive characterization of the musculoskeletal phenotype of PSACH-MED and is directly relevant to the clinical management of these patients. PMID:19808781
Naples, Lisa M; Langan, Jennifer N; Kearns, Karen S
2010-03-01
Seventeen adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with an average age of 37 yr were immobilized with a combination of tiletamine-zolazepam (TZ) and medetomidine (MED) by one of two modes of delivery. Group A animals received the drug combination intramuscularly at 3 mg/kg and 0.05 mg/kg, respectively. Animals in group B received MED by oral transmucosal administration, meaning oral delivery with presumptive transmucosal absorption. MED at 0.1 mg/kg was mixed with marshmallow crème, and delivery was followed by 3 mg/kg of TZ intramuscularly. Chimpanzees from both groups were recovered after administration of atipamezole at 0.3 mg/kg intramuscularly. All chimpanzees were compliant with oral transmucosal drug administration, although two chimpanzees preferred oral MED mixed with applesauce. All animals exhibited some anxiety and excitatory behavior associated with darting, but this was reduced in group B, which was premedicated with oral transmucosal MED. The mean time from TZ administration to sedation sufficient for human contact was 16.4 and 14.7 min with and without oral transmucosal premedication, respectively. The mean time for recovery for those chimpanzees given oral transmucosal premedication was 13.8 min, which was significantly shorter than the time of recovery for the group not given oral premedication (P = 0.02). Oral transmucosal administration of MED provided light sedation in 16 of 17 chimpanzees to the level of arousable recumbency and a heavier sedation in one chimpanzee with no adverse side effects. TZ combined with MED by either oral transmucosal or injectable administration provided safe, heavy, long sedation with rapid, smooth, uneventful recoveries.
Yubero-Serrano, Elena M; Delgado-Casado, Nieves; Delgado-Lista, Javier; Perez-Martinez, Pablo; Tasset-Cuevas, Inmaculada; Santos-Gonzalez, Monica; Caballero, Javier; Garcia-Rios, Antonio; Marin, Carmen; Gutierrez-Mariscal, Francisco M; Fuentes, Francisco; Villalba, Jose M; Tunez, Isaac; Perez-Jimenez, Francisco; Lopez-Miranda, Jose
2011-12-01
Postprandial oxidative stress is characterized by an increased susceptibility of the organism towards oxidative damage after consumption of a meal rich in lipids and/or carbohydrates. We have investigated whether the quality of dietary fat alters postprandial cellular oxidative stress and whether the supplementation with coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ) lowers postprandial oxidative stress in an elderly population. In this randomized crossover study, 20 participants were assigned to receive three isocaloric diets for periods of 4 week each: (1) Mediterranean diet supplemented with CoQ (Med+CoQ diet), (2) Mediterranean diet (Med diet), and (3) saturated fatty acid-rich diet (SFA diet). After a 12-h fast, the volunteers consumed a breakfast with a fat composition similar to that consumed in each of the diets. CoQ, lipid peroxides (LPO), oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), protein carbonyl (PC), total nitrite, nitrotyrosine plasma levels, catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and ischemic reactive hyperaemia (IRH) were determined. Med diet produced a lower postprandial GPx activity and a lower decrease in total nitrite level compared to the SFA diet. Med and Med+CoQ diets induced a higher postprandial increase in IRH and a lower postprandial LPO, oxLDL, and nitrotyrosine plasma levels than the SFA diet. Moreover, the Med+CoQ diet produced a lower postprandial decrease in total nitrite and a greater decrease in PC levels compared to the other two diets and lower SOD, CAT, and GPx activities than the SFA diet.In conclusion, Med diet reduces postprandial oxidative stress by reducing processes of cellular oxidation and increases the action of the antioxidant system in elderly persons and the administration of CoQ further improves this redox balance.
Zhang, Anda; Petrov, Kostadin O.; Hyun, Emily R.; Liu, Zhongle; Gerber, Scott A.
2012-01-01
The amplification of the TLO (for telomere-associated) genes in Candida albicans, compared to its less pathogenic, close relative Candida dubliniensis, suggests a role in virulence. Little, however, is known about the function of the Tlo proteins. We have purified the Mediator coactivator complex from C. albicans (caMediator) and found that Tlo proteins are a stoichiometric component of caMediator. Many members of the Tlo family are expressed, and each is a unique member of caMediator. Protein expression analysis of individual Tlo proteins, as well as the purification of tagged Tlo proteins, demonstrate that there is a large free population of Tlo proteins in addition to the Mediator-associated population. Coexpression and copurification of Tloα12 and caMed3 in Escherichia coli established a direct physical interaction between the two proteins. We have also made a C. albicans med3Δ/Δ strain and purified an intact Mediator from this strain. The analysis of the composition of the med3Δ Mediator shows that it lacks a Tlo subunit. Regarding Mediator function, the med3Δ/Δ strain serves as a substitute for the difficult-to-make tloΔ/Δ C. albicans strain. A potential role of the TLO and MED3 genes in virulence is supported by the inability of the med3Δ/Δ strain to form normal germ tubes. This study of caMediator structure provides initial clues to the mechanism of action of the Tlo genes and a platform for further mechanistic studies of caMediator's involvement in gene regulatory patterns that underlie pathogenesis. PMID:22562472
Medina-Remón, A; Tresserra-Rimbau, A; Pons, A; Tur, J A; Martorell, M; Ros, E; Buil-Cosiales, P; Sacanella, E; Covas, M I; Corella, D; Salas-Salvadó, J; Gómez-Gracia, E; Ruiz-Gutiérrez, V; Ortega-Calvo, M; García-Valdueza, M; Arós, F; Saez, G T; Serra-Majem, L; Pinto, X; Vinyoles, E; Estruch, R; Lamuela-Raventos, R M
2015-01-01
Hypertension is one of the main cardiovascular risk factors in the elderly. The aims of this work were to evaluate if a one-year intervention with two Mediterranean diets (Med-diet) could decrease blood pressure (BP) due to a high polyphenol consumption, and if the decrease in BP was mediated by plasma nitric oxide (NO) production. An intervention substudy of 200 participants at high cardiovascular risk was carried out within the PREDIMED trial. They were randomly assigned to a low-fat control diet or to two Med-diets, one supplemented with extra virgin olive oil (Med-EVOO) and the other with nuts (Med-nuts). Anthropometrics and clinical parameters were measured at baseline and after one year of intervention, as well as BP, plasma NO and total polyphenol excretion (TPE) in urine samples. Systolic and diastolic BP decreased significantly after a one-year dietary intervention with Med-EVOO and Med-nuts. These changes were associated with a significant increase in TPE and plasma NO. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was observed between changes in urinary TPE, a biomarker of TP intake, and in plasma NO (Beta = 4.84; 95% CI: 0.57-9.10). TPE in spot urine sample was positively correlated with plasma NO in Med-diets supplemented with either EVOO or nuts. The statistically significant increases in plasma NO were associated with a reduction in systolic and diastolic BP levels, adding to the growing evidence that polyphenols might protect the cardiovascular system by improving the endothelial function and enhancing endothelial synthesis of NO. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Gogaert, Stefan; Vande Veegaete, Axel; Scholliers, Annelies; Vandekerckhove, Philippe
2016-10-01
First aid (FA) services are provisioned on-site as a preventive measure at most public events. In Flanders, Belgium, the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders (BRCF) is the major provider of these FA services with volunteers being deployed at approximately 10,000 public events annually. The BRCF has systematically registered information on the patients being treated in FA posts at major events and mass gatherings during the last 10 years. This information has been collected in a web-based client server system called "MedTRIS" (Medical Triage and Registration Informatics System). MedTRIS contains data on more than 200,000 patients at 335 mass events. This report describes the MedTRIS architecture, the data collected, and how the system operates in the field. This database consolidates different types of information with regards to FA interventions in a standardized way for a variety of public events. MedTRIS allows close monitoring in "real time" of the situation at mass gatherings and immediate intervention, when necessary; allows more accurate prediction of resources needed; allows to validate conceptual and predictive models for medical resources at (mass) public events; and can contribute to the definition of a standardized minimum data set (MDS) for mass-gathering health research and evaluation. Gogaert S , Vande veegaete A , Scholliers A , Vandekerckhove P . "MedTRIS" (Medical Triage and Registration Informatics System): a web-based client server system for the registration of patients being treated in first aid posts at public events and mass gatherings. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(5):557-562.
2017-08-01
Health is to determine the most effective ways to integrate , interpret, and apply biological, social, psychological , and clinical determinants of...MED 238A Nucleic Acids Concentration and Integrity Room MED 5.573C Methods Overview – Nucleic Acids Room MED 238A Critical Thinking...response evoked in the medial prefrontal cortex by stimulating in the hippocampus, a measure of the integrity of this important pathway that is 11
Development of Biologically Based Therapies for Basal-Like Tumors
2007-04-01
Lynda R. Sawyer5, Xiaping He2,3, Melissa A. Troester6, Carolyn I. Sartor3,7, Thais Rieger-House8, Philip S. Bernard8, Lisa A. Carey5, and Charles M...med.unc.edu Xiaping He: xiaping@med.unc.edu Melissa A.Troester: troester@schoolph.umass.edu Carolyn I. Sartor: carolyn_sartor@med.unc.edu Thais Rieger... Giordano A: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors in breast cancer: current status and future development. Front Biosci
Concept of Operations for the Establishment of the Joint Pathology Center
2008-12-19
the Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical (JTF CapMed ) in collaboration with the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS...Medical Examiner (OAFME). The Board deems the identification of appropriate support for the OAFME as critical , since with the disestablishment of...the DoD. The establishment of the JPC within JTF CapMed is a logical choice to the extent that JTF Cap Med is a joint medical organization and can
2005-05-01
Center (PEC) guidelines on therapeutic failure. Such guidelines recommend atorvastatin as an alternative agent in patients who had a bona fide failure...on simvastatin. Failures requiring atorvastatin as an alternate agent were defined as (a) patients not at their LDL goal on maximal doses of...simvastatin 20 atorvastatin 20 med changed 3 (2%) simvastatin 10 atorvastatin 10 med changed 1 (0.7%) simvastatin 10 atorvastatin 20 med changed 5 (3.3
Kostrouchová, Markéta; Kostrouch, David; Kaššák, Filip; Kostrouchová, Veronika; Benda, Aleš; Krause, Michael W.; Saudek, Vladimír; Kostrouchová, Marta
2017-01-01
The evolutionarily conserved Mediator complex is a critical player in regulating transcription. Comprised of approximately two dozen proteins, the Mediator integrates diverse regulatory signals through direct protein-protein interactions that, in turn, modulate the influence of Mediator on RNA Polymerase II activity. One Mediator subunit, MED28, is known to interact with cytoplasmic structural proteins, providing a potential direct link between cytoplasmic dynamics and the control of gene transcription. Although identified in many animals and plants, MED28 is not present in yeast; no bona fide MED28 has been described previously in Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we identify bioinformatically F28F8.5, an uncharacterized predicted protein, as the nematode homologue of MED28. As in other Metazoa, F28F8.5 has dual nuclear and cytoplasmic localization and plays critical roles in the regulation of development. F28F8.5 is a vital gene and its null mutants have severely malformed gonads and do not reproduce. F28F8.5 interacts on the protein level with the Mediator subunits MDT-6 and MDT-30. Our results indicate that F28F8.5 is an orthologue of MED28 and suggest that the potential to link cytoplasmic and nuclear events is conserved between MED28 vertebrate and nematode orthologues. PMID:28603670
Chen, Chou-Cheng; Ho, Chung-Liang
2014-01-01
While a huge amount of information about biological literature can be obtained by searching the PubMed database, reading through all the titles and abstracts resulting from such a search for useful information is inefficient. Text mining makes it possible to increase this efficiency. Some websites use text mining to gather information from the PubMed database; however, they are database-oriented, using pre-defined search keywords while lacking a query interface for user-defined search inputs. We present the PubMed Abstract Reading Helper (PubstractHelper) website which combines text mining and reading assistance for an efficient PubMed search. PubstractHelper can accept a maximum of ten groups of keywords, within each group containing up to ten keywords. The principle behind the text-mining function of PubstractHelper is that keywords contained in the same sentence are likely to be related. PubstractHelper highlights sentences with co-occurring keywords in different colors. The user can download the PMID and the abstracts with color markings to be reviewed later. The PubstractHelper website can help users to identify relevant publications based on the presence of related keywords, which should be a handy tool for their research. http://bio.yungyun.com.tw/ATM/PubstractHelper.aspx and http://holab.med.ncku.edu.tw/ATM/PubstractHelper.aspx.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lionello, Piero; Medclivar Sc, The
2014-05-01
MedCLIVAR serves as a scientific network to promote interaction among different scientific disciplines and to develop a multidisciplinary vision of the evolution of the Mediterranean climate through studies that integrate atmospheric, marine, and terrestrial climate components at time scales ranging from paleoreconstructions to future climate scenarios. The network deals with scientific issues including past climate variability; connections between the Mediterranean and global climate; the Mediterranean Sea circulation and sea level; feedbacks on the global climate system; and regional responses to greenhouse gas, air pollution, and aerosols. The MedCLIVAR initiative was proposed at the 2003 European Geosciences Union assembly in Nice, France. In 2005, it was endorsed by the International Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) office. Subsequently, the MedCLIVAR Research Network Project was formally approved by the European Science Foundation and launched in May 2006 for a five year duration. Now MedCLIVAR is continuing with self supporting initiatives, such as the third MedCLIVAR conference, which will be held in June 2014 in Ankara (Turkey) , the publication of a special issue of Regional Environmental Change devoted to the climate of the Mediterranean region, and a newsletter, which is published every six months. More information available in Lionello, P., Gacic, M., Gomis, D., Garcia-Herrera, R., Giorgi, F., Planton, S., Trigo, R., (...), Xoplaki, E. (2012) Program focuses on climate of the Mediterranean region, Eos Trans. AGU 93:105-106
The Middle Eastern and biblical origins of the Mediterranean diet.
Berry, Elliot M; Arnoni, Yardena; Aviram, Michael
2011-12-01
To place the Mediterranean diet (MedDi) in the context of the cultural history of the Middle East and emphasise the health effects of some of the biblical seven species - wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and date honey. Review of the literature concerning the benefits of these foods. Middle East and Mediterranean Basin. Mediterranean populations and clinical studies utilising the MedDi. The MedDi has been associated with lower rates of CVD, and epidemiological evidence promotes the benefits of consuming fruit and vegetables. Recommended foods for optimal health include whole grain, fish, wine, pomegranates, figs, walnuts and extra virgin olive oil. The biblical traditional diet, including the seven species and additional Mediterranean fruits, has great health advantages, especially for CVD. In addition to the diet, lifestyle adaptation that involves increasing physical activity and organised meals, together with healthy food choices, is consistent with the traditional MedDi. The MedDi is a manageable, lifestyle-friendly diet that, when fortified with its biblical antecedent attributes, may prove to be even more enjoyable and considerably healthier in combating the obesogenic environment and in decreasing the risks of the non-communicable diseases of modern life than conventional, modern dietary recommendations. The biblical seven species, together with other indigenous foods from the Middle East, are now scientifically recognised as healthy foods, and further improve the many beneficial effects of the MedDi.
MET network in PubMed: a text-mined network visualization and curation system.
Dai, Hong-Jie; Su, Chu-Hsien; Lai, Po-Ting; Huang, Ming-Siang; Jonnagaddala, Jitendra; Rose Jue, Toni; Rao, Shruti; Chou, Hui-Jou; Milacic, Marija; Singh, Onkar; Syed-Abdul, Shabbir; Hsu, Wen-Lian
2016-01-01
Metastasis is the dissemination of a cancer/tumor from one organ to another, and it is the most dangerous stage during cancer progression, causing more than 90% of cancer deaths. Improving the understanding of the complicated cellular mechanisms underlying metastasis requires investigations of the signaling pathways. To this end, we developed a METastasis (MET) network visualization and curation tool to assist metastasis researchers retrieve network information of interest while browsing through the large volume of studies in PubMed. MET can recognize relations among genes, cancers, tissues and organs of metastasis mentioned in the literature through text-mining techniques, and then produce a visualization of all mined relations in a metastasis network. To facilitate the curation process, MET is developed as a browser extension that allows curators to review and edit concepts and relations related to metastasis directly in PubMed. PubMed users can also view the metastatic networks integrated from the large collection of research papers directly through MET. For the BioCreative 2015 interactive track (IAT), a curation task was proposed to curate metastatic networks among PubMed abstracts. Six curators participated in the proposed task and a post-IAT task, curating 963 unique metastatic relations from 174 PubMed abstracts using MET.Database URL: http://btm.tmu.edu.tw/metastasisway. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.
Damarell, Raechel A; Tieman, Jennifer J
2016-03-01
Health professionals must be able to search competently for evidence to support practice. We sought to understand how palliative care clinicians construct searches for palliative care literature in PubMed, to quantify search efficacy in retrieving a set of relevant articles and to compare performance against a Palliative CareSearch Filter (PCSF). Included studies from palliative care systematic reviews formed a test set. Palliative care clinicians (n = 37) completed a search task using PubMed. Individual clinician searches were reconstructed in PubMed and combined with the test set to calculate retrieval sensitivity. PCSF performance in the test set was also determined. Many clinicians struggled to create useful searches. Twelve used a single search term, 17 narrowed the search inappropriately and 8 confused Boolean operators. The mean number of test set citations (n = 663) retrieved was 166 (SD = 188), or 25% although 76% of clinicians believed they would find more than 50% of the articles. Only 8 participants (22%) achieved this. Correlations between retrieval and PubMed confidence (r = 0.13) or frequency of use (r = -0.18) were weak. Many palliative care clinicians search PubMed ineffectively. Targeted skills training and PCSF promotion may improve evidence retrieval. © 2015 Health Libraries Group.
Thomas-Claudepierre, Anne-Sophie; Robert, Isabelle; Rocha, Pedro P; Raviram, Ramya; Schiavo, Ebe; Heyer, Vincent; Bonneau, Richard; Luo, Vincent M; Reddy, Janardan K; Borggrefe, Tilman; Skok, Jane A; Reina-San-Martin, Bernardo
2016-03-07
Immunoglobulin (Ig) class switch recombination (CSR) is initiated by the transcription-coupled recruitment of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) to Ig switch regions (S regions). During CSR, the IgH locus undergoes dynamic three-dimensional structural changes in which promoters, enhancers, and S regions are brought to close proximity. Nevertheless, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we show that Med1 and Med12, two subunits of the mediator complex implicated in transcription initiation and long-range enhancer/promoter loop formation, are dynamically recruited to the IgH locus enhancers and the acceptor regions during CSR and that their knockdown in CH12 cells results in impaired CSR. Furthermore, we show that conditional inactivation of Med1 in B cells results in defective CSR and reduced acceptor S region transcription. Finally, we show that in B cells undergoing CSR, the dynamic long-range contacts between the IgH enhancers and the acceptor regions correlate with Med1 and Med12 binding and that they happen at a reduced frequency in Med1-deficient B cells. Our results implicate the mediator complex in the mechanism of CSR and are consistent with a model in which mediator facilitates the long-range contacts between S regions and the IgH locus enhancers during CSR and their transcriptional activation. © 2016 Thomas-Claudepierre et al.
Kostrouchová, Markéta; Kostrouch, David; Chughtai, Ahmed A; Kaššák, Filip; Novotný, Jan P; Kostrouchová, Veronika; Benda, Aleš; Krause, Michael W; Saudek, Vladimír; Kostrouchová, Marta; Kostrouch, Zdeněk
2017-01-01
The evolutionarily conserved Mediator complex is a critical player in regulating transcription. Comprised of approximately two dozen proteins, the Mediator integrates diverse regulatory signals through direct protein-protein interactions that, in turn, modulate the influence of Mediator on RNA Polymerase II activity. One Mediator subunit, MED28, is known to interact with cytoplasmic structural proteins, providing a potential direct link between cytoplasmic dynamics and the control of gene transcription. Although identified in many animals and plants, MED28 is not present in yeast; no bona fide MED28 has been described previously in Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we identify bioinformatically F28F8.5, an uncharacterized predicted protein, as the nematode homologue of MED28. As in other Metazoa, F28F8.5 has dual nuclear and cytoplasmic localization and plays critical roles in the regulation of development. F28F8.5 is a vital gene and its null mutants have severely malformed gonads and do not reproduce. F28F8.5 interacts on the protein level with the Mediator subunits MDT-6 and MDT-30. Our results indicate that F28F8.5 is an orthologue of MED28 and suggest that the potential to link cytoplasmic and nuclear events is conserved between MED28 vertebrate and nematode orthologues.
Makita, Yuko; Kobayashi, Norio; Mochizuki, Yoshiki; Yoshida, Yuko; Asano, Satomi; Heida, Naohiko; Deshpande, Mrinalini; Bhatia, Rinki; Matsushima, Akihiro; Ishii, Manabu; Kawaguchi, Shuji; Iida, Kei; Hanada, Kosuke; Kuromori, Takashi; Seki, Motoaki; Shinozaki, Kazuo; Toyoda, Tetsuro
2009-07-01
Molecular breeding of crops is an efficient way to upgrade plant functions useful to mankind. A key step is forward genetics or positional cloning to identify the genes that confer useful functions. In order to accelerate the whole research process, we have developed an integrated database system powered by an intelligent data-retrieval engine termed PosMed-plus (Positional Medline for plant upgrading science), allowing us to prioritize highly promising candidate genes in a given chromosomal interval(s) of Arabidopsis thaliana and rice, Oryza sativa. By inferentially integrating cross-species information resources including genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, localizomes, phenomes and literature, the system compares a user's query, such as phenotypic or functional keywords, with the literature associated with the relevant genes located within the interval. By utilizing orthologous and paralogous correspondences, PosMed-plus efficiently integrates cross-species information to facilitate the ranking of rice candidate genes based on evidence from other model species such as Arabidopsis. PosMed-plus is a plant science version of the PosMed system widely used by mammalian researchers, and provides both a powerful integrative search function and a rich integrative display of the integrated databases. PosMed-plus is the first cross-species integrated database that inferentially prioritizes candidate genes for forward genetics approaches in plant science, and will be expanded for wider use in plant upgrading in many species.
Graduating med-peds residents' interest in part-time employment.
Fix, Amy L; Kaelber, David C; Melgar, Thomas A; Chamberlain, John; Cull, William; Robbins, Brett W
2011-01-01
As part-time work is becoming more popular among the primary care specialties, we examined the demographic descriptors of med-peds residents seeking and finding part-time employment upon completion of residency training. As part of the 2006 annual American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Graduating Med-Peds Residents Survey, we surveyed the graduating residents of all med-peds programs about their interest in and plans for part-time employment. A total of 199 (60%) of the residents responded. Of the resident respondents applying for nonfellowship jobs, 19% sought part-time positions and 10% actually accepted a part-time position. Female residents were significantly more likely than male residents to apply for part-time jobs (26% vs. 7%, P = .034). Sixty percent of female residents immediately seeking work and 58% of those going on to fellowship reported an interest in arranging a part-time or reduced-hours position at some point in the next 5 years. Part-time employment among med-peds residents applying for nonfellowship positions after graduation is similar to the current incidence of part-time employment in other fields of primary care. A much higher percentage of med-peds residents are interested in arranging part-time work within 5 years after graduation. This strong interest in part-time work has many implications for the primary care workforce. Copyright © 2011 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PubMed Medical publications from Libya
Bakoush, O; Al-Tubuly, AA; Ashammakhi, N; Elkhammas, EA
2007-01-01
Medical research and publications are the back-bone for advancing the medical field. We identified the Pubmed medical publications that are affiliated with Libya to shed some light on the contribution of this country's medical community to the PubMed database. All publications affiliated with Libya in the PubMed were counted over a five year period ending December 2006. We also used the same method to obtain data on the PubMed medical publications from Tunisia, Morocco and Yemen. Tunisia had the largest number of PubMed publications among the studied countries: 20.4 publications per million population per year and 7.2 publications per year per one billion US$ GDP. Libya had much fewer publications: 2.4 publications per million population per year and 0.4 publications per one billion US$ GDP. The citation frequency for Libyan published research was very low compared to Tunisian and Moroccan related research. Conclusion: This preliminary analysis shows that medical research output in Libya is about twenty times less than in other countries with similar backgrounds, and that it needs to be enhanced. PMID:21503210
Vigi4Med Scraper: A Framework for Web Forum Structured Data Extraction and Semantic Representation
Audeh, Bissan; Beigbeder, Michel; Zimmermann, Antoine; Jaillon, Philippe; Bousquet, Cédric
2017-01-01
The extraction of information from social media is an essential yet complicated step for data analysis in multiple domains. In this paper, we present Vigi4Med Scraper, a generic open source framework for extracting structured data from web forums. Our framework is highly configurable; using a configuration file, the user can freely choose the data to extract from any web forum. The extracted data are anonymized and represented in a semantic structure using Resource Description Framework (RDF) graphs. This representation enables efficient manipulation by data analysis algorithms and allows the collected data to be directly linked to any existing semantic resource. To avoid server overload, an integrated proxy with caching functionality imposes a minimal delay between sequential requests. Vigi4Med Scraper represents the first step of Vigi4Med, a project to detect adverse drug reactions (ADRs) from social networks founded by the French drug safety agency Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament (ANSM). Vigi4Med Scraper has successfully extracted greater than 200 gigabytes of data from the web forums of over 20 different websites. PMID:28122056
Koga, S; Sairyo, K; Shibuya, I; Kanamori, Y; Kosugi, T; Matsumoto, H; Kitagawa, Y; Sumita, T; Dezawa, A
2012-02-01
In this report, we introduce two cases of recurrent herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) at L5-S1 that were successfully removed using the small incised microendoscopic discectomy (sMED) technique, proposed by Dezawa and Sairyo in 2011. sMED was performed via the interlaminar approach with a percutaneous endoscope. The patients had previously underdone microendoscopic discectomy for HNP. For the recurrent HNP, the sMED interlaminar approach was selected because the HNP occurred at the level of L5-S1; the percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal approach was not possible for anatomical reasons. To perform sMED via the interlaminar approach, we employed new, specially made devices to enable us to use this technique. In conclusion, sMED is the most minimally invasive approach available for HNP, and its limitations have been gradually eliminated with the introduction specially made devices. In the near future, percutaneous endoscopic surgery could be the gold standard for minimally invasive disc surgery. © 2012 Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery, Asia Endosurgery Task Force and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
Natural language processing and visualization in the molecular imaging domain.
Tulipano, P Karina; Tao, Ying; Millar, William S; Zanzonico, Pat; Kolbert, Katherine; Xu, Hua; Yu, Hong; Chen, Lifeng; Lussier, Yves A; Friedman, Carol
2007-06-01
Molecular imaging is at the crossroads of genomic sciences and medical imaging. Information within the molecular imaging literature could be used to link to genomic and imaging information resources and to organize and index images in a way that is potentially useful to researchers. A number of natural language processing (NLP) systems are available to automatically extract information from genomic literature. One existing NLP system, known as BioMedLEE, automatically extracts biological information consisting of biomolecular substances and phenotypic data. This paper focuses on the adaptation, evaluation, and application of BioMedLEE to the molecular imaging domain. In order to adapt BioMedLEE for this domain, we extend an existing molecular imaging terminology and incorporate it into BioMedLEE. BioMedLEE's performance is assessed with a formal evaluation study. The system's performance, measured as recall and precision, is 0.74 (95% CI: [.70-.76]) and 0.70 (95% CI [.63-.76]), respectively. We adapt a JAVA viewer known as PGviewer for the simultaneous visualization of images with NLP extracted information.
Qamruddin, Irfan; Alam, Mohammad Khursheed; Khamis, Mohd Fadhli; Husein, Adam
2015-01-01
Objective. To evaluate various noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures for the enhancement of orthodontic tooth movement in animals. Materials and Methods. Literature was searched using NCBI (PubMed, PubMed Central, and PubMed Health), MedPilot (Medline, Catalogue ZB MED, Catalogue Medicine Health, and Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE)), and Google Scholar from January 2009 till 31 December 2014. We included original articles related to noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures to enhance orthodontic tooth movement in animals. Extraction of data and quality assessments were carried out by two observers independently. Results. The total number of hits was 9195 out of which just 11 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Nine articles were good and 5 articles were moderate in quality. Low level laser therapy (LLLT) was among the most common noninvasive techniques whereas flapless corticision using various instruments was among the commonest minimally invasive procedures to enhance velocity of tooth movement. Conclusions. LLLT, low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), mechanical vibration, and flapless corticision are emerging noninvasive and minimally invasive techniques which need further researches to establish protocols to use them clinically with conviction. PMID:26881201
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gazarik, Michael J.; Hwang, Helen; Little, Alan; Cheatwood, Neil; Wright, Michael; Herath, Jeff
2007-01-01
The Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI) Project's objectives are to measure aerothermal environments, sub-surface heatshield material response, vehicle orientation, and atmospheric density for the atmospheric entry and descent phases of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry vehicle. The flight science objectives of MEDLI directly address the largest uncertainties in the ability to design and validate a robust Mars entry system, including aerothermal, aerodynamic and atmosphere models, and thermal protection system (TPS) design. The instrumentation suite will be installed in the heatshield of the MSL entry vehicle. The acquired data will support future Mars entry and aerocapture missions by providing measured atmospheric data to validate Mars atmosphere models and clarify the design margins for future Mars missions. MEDLI thermocouple and recession sensor data will significantly improve the understanding of aeroheating and TPS performance uncertainties for future missions. MEDLI pressure data will permit more accurate trajectory reconstruction, as well as separation of aerodynamic and atmospheric uncertainties in the hypersonic and supersonic regimes. This paper provides an overview of the project including the instrumentation design, system architecture, and expected measurement response.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gazarik, Michael J.; Little, Alan; Cheatwood, F. Neil; Wright, Michael J.; Herath, Jeff A.; Martinez, Edward R.; Munk, Michelle; Novak, Frank J.; Wright, Henry S.
2008-01-01
The Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI) Project s objectives are to measure aerothermal environments, sub-surface heatshield material response, vehicle orientation, and atmospheric density for the atmospheric entry and descent phases of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry vehicle. The flight science objectives of MEDLI directly address the largest uncertainties in the ability to design and validate a robust Mars entry system, including aerothermal, aerodynamic and atmosphere models, and thermal protection system (TPS) design. The instrumentation suite will be installed in the heatshield of the MSL entry vehicle. The acquired data will support future Mars entry and aerocapture missions by providing measured atmospheric data to validate Mars atmosphere models and clarify the design margins for future Mars missions. MEDLI thermocouple and recession sensor data will significantly improve the understanding of aeroheating and TPS performance uncertainties for future missions. MEDLI pressure data will permit more accurate trajectory reconstruction, as well as separation of aerodynamic and atmospheric uncertainties in the hypersonic and supersonic regimes. This paper provides an overview of the project including the instrumentation design, system architecture, and expected measurement response.
How to improve your PubMed/MEDLINE searches: 3. advanced searching, MeSH and My NCBI.
Fatehi, Farhad; Gray, Leonard C; Wootton, Richard
2014-03-01
Although the basic PubMed search is often helpful, the results may sometimes be non-specific. For more control over the search process you can use the Advanced Search Builder interface. This allows a targeted search in specific fields, with the convenience of being able to select the intended search field from a list. It also provides a history of your previous searches. The search history is useful to develop a complex search query by combining several previous searches using Boolean operators. For indexing the articles in MEDLINE, the NLM uses a controlled vocabulary system called MeSH. This standardised vocabulary solves the problem of authors, researchers and librarians who may use different terms for the same concept. To be efficient in a PubMed search, you should start by identifying the most appropriate MeSH terms and use them in your search where possible. My NCBI is a personal workspace facility available through PubMed and makes it possible to customise the PubMed interface. It provides various capabilities that can enhance your search performance.
Multi-lingual search engine to access PubMed monolingual subsets: a feasibility study.
Darmoni, Stéfan J; Soualmia, Lina F; Griffon, Nicolas; Grosjean, Julien; Kerdelhué, Gaétan; Kergourlay, Ivan; Dahamna, Badisse
2013-01-01
PubMed contains many articles in languages other than English but it is difficult to find them using the English version of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Thesaurus. The aim of this work is to propose a tool allowing access to a PubMed subset in one language, and to evaluate its performance. Translations of MeSH were enriched and gathered in the information system. PubMed subsets in main European languages were also added in our database, using a dedicated parser. The CISMeF generic semantic search engine was evaluated on the response time for simple queries. MeSH descriptors are currently available in 11 languages in the information system. All the 654,000 PubMed citations in French were integrated into CISMeF database. None of the response times exceed the threshold defined for usability (2 seconds). It is now possible to freely access biomedical literature in French using a tool in French; health professionals and lay people with a low English language may find it useful. It will be expended to several European languages: German, Spanish, Norwegian and Portuguese.
Characterization of the mechanism of drug-drug interactions from PubMed using MeSH terms.
Lu, Yin; Figler, Bryan; Huang, Hong; Tu, Yi-Cheng; Wang, Ju; Cheng, Feng
2017-01-01
Identifying drug-drug interaction (DDI) is an important topic for the development of safe pharmaceutical drugs and for the optimization of multidrug regimens for complex diseases such as cancer and HIV. There have been about 150,000 publications on DDIs in PubMed, which is a great resource for DDI studies. In this paper, we introduced an automatic computational method for the systematic analysis of the mechanism of DDIs using MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms from PubMed literature. MeSH term is a controlled vocabulary thesaurus developed by the National Library of Medicine for indexing and annotating articles. Our method can effectively identify DDI-relevant MeSH terms such as drugs, proteins and phenomena with high accuracy. The connections among these MeSH terms were investigated by using co-occurrence heatmaps and social network analysis. Our approach can be used to visualize relationships of DDI terms, which has the potential to help users better understand DDIs. As the volume of PubMed records increases, our method for automatic analysis of DDIs from the PubMed database will become more accurate.
Risk factors for bladder cancer: challenges of conducting a literature search using PubMed.
Joshi, Ashish; Preslan, Elicia
2011-04-01
The objective of this study was to assess the risk factors for bladder cancer using PubMed articles from January 2000 to December 2009. The study also aimed to describe the challenges encountered in the methodology of a literature search for bladder cancer risk factors using PubMed. Twenty-six categories of risk factors for bladder cancer were identified using the National Cancer Institute Web site and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Web site. A total of 1,338 PubMed searches were run using the term "urinary bladder cancer" and a risk factor term (e.g., "cigarette smoking") and were screened to identify 260 articles for final analysis. The search strategy had an overall precision of 3.42 percent, relative recall of 12.64 percent, and an F-measure of 5.39 percent. Although search terms derived from MeSH had the highest overall precision and recall, the differences did not reach significance, which indicates that for generalized, free-text searches of the PubMed database, the searchers' own terms are generally as effective as MeSH terms.
An in vivo requirement for the mediator subunit med14 in the maintenance of stem cell populations.
Burrows, Jeffrey T A; Pearson, Bret J; Scott, Ian C
2015-04-14
The Mediator complex has recently been shown to be a key player in the maintenance of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells. However, the in vivo consequences of loss of many Mediator subunits are unknown. We identified med14 as the gene affected in the zebrafish logelei (log) mutant, which displayed a morphological arrest by 2 days of development. Surprisingly, microarray analysis showed that transcription was not broadly affected in log mutants. Indeed, log cells transplanted into a wild-type environment were able to survive into adulthood. In planarians, RNAi knockdown demonstrated a requirement for med14 and many other Mediator components in adult stem cell maintenance and regeneration. Multiple stem/progenitor cell populations were observed to be reduced or absent in zebrafish med14 mutant embryos. Taken together, our results show a critical, evolutionarily conserved, in vivo function for Med14 (and Mediator) in stem cell maintenance, distinct from a general role in transcription. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lionello, Piero; Medclivar sg, The
2013-04-01
The MedCLIVAR initiative was first proposed at the 2003 European Geosciences Union assembly in Nice, France. In 2005, it was endorsed by the International Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) office. Subsequently, the MedCLIVAR Research Network Project was formally approved by the European Science Foundation and launched in May 2006 with the support of funding agencies from 12 countries. Since then, MedCLIVAR has served as a scientific network to promote interaction among different scientific disciplines and to develop a multidisciplinary vision of the evolution of the Mediterranean climate through studies that integrate atmospheric, marine, and terrestrial climate components at time scales ranging from paleoreconstructions to future climate scenarios. Presently, the network continues dealing with scientific issues including past climate variability; connections between the Mediterranean and global climate; the Mediterranean Sea circulation and sea level; feedbacks on the global climate system; and regional responses to greenhouse gas, air pollution, and aerosols. Its present activities include the publication of a newsletter, the organization of the next MedCLIVAR conference in 2014 and the publication of a special issue of Regional Environmental Change devoted to the climate of the Mediterranean region.
Genetics Home Reference: surfactant dysfunction
... Infant ClinicalTrials.gov (1 link) ClinicalTrials.gov Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (4 links) SURFACTANT METABOLISM DYSFUNCTION, PULMONARY, 1 SURFACTANT METABOLISM DYSFUNCTION, PULMONARY, 2 ...
Gaps in affiliation indexing in Scopus and PubMed.
Schmidt, Cynthia M; Cox, Roxanne; Fial, Alissa V; Hartman, Teresa L; Magee, Martha L
2016-04-01
The authors sought to determine whether unexpected gaps existed in Scopus's author affiliation indexing of publications written by the University of Nebraska Medical Center or Nebraska Medicine (UNMC/NM) authors during 2014. First, we compared Scopus affiliation identifier search results to PubMed affiliation keyword search results. Then, we searched Scopus using affiliation keywords (UNMC, etc.) and compared the results to PubMed affiliation keyword and Scopus affiliation identifier searches. We found that Scopus's records for approximately 7% of UNMC/NM authors' publications lacked appropriate UNMC/NM author affiliation identifiers, and many journals' publishers were supplying incomplete author affiliation information to PubMed. Institutions relying on Scopus to track their impact should determine whether Scopus's affiliation identifiers will, in fact, identify all articles published by their authors and investigators.
MEDIATOR18 and MEDIATOR20 confer susceptibility to Fusarium oxysporum in Arabidopsis thaliana
Stiller, Jiri; Davoine, Celine; Björklund, Stefan; Manners, John M.; Kazan, Kemal; Schenk, Peer M.
2017-01-01
The conserved protein complex known as Mediator conveys transcriptional signals by acting as an intermediary between transcription factors and RNA polymerase II. As a result, Mediator subunits play multiple roles in regulating developmental as well as abiotic and biotic stress pathways. In this report we identify the head domain subunits MEDIATOR18 and MEDIATOR20 as important susceptibility factors for Fusarium oxysporum infection in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mutants of MED18 and MED20 display down-regulation of genes associated with jasmonate signaling and biosynthesis while up-regulation of salicylic acid associated pathogenesis related genes and reactive oxygen producing and scavenging genes. We propose that MED18 and MED20 form a sub-domain within Mediator that controls the balance of salicylic acid and jasmonate associated defense pathways. PMID:28441405
MedEx/J: A One-Scan Simple and Fast NLP Tool for Japanese Clinical Texts.
Aramaki, Eiji; Yano, Ken; Wakamiya, Shoko
2017-01-01
Because of recent replacement of physical documents with electronic medical records (EMR), the importance of information processing in the medical field has increased. In light of this trend, we have been developing MedEx/J, which retrieves important Japanese language information from medical reports. MedEx/J executes two tasks simultaneously: (1) term extraction, and (2) positive and negative event classification. We designate this approach as a one-scan approach, providing simplicity of systems and reasonable accuracy. MedEx/J performance on the two tasks is described herein: (1) term extraction (F
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Prince, Jill L.; Shoenenberger, Mark
2017-01-01
The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) project requested that the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) support a ballistic range test to measure backshell pressures on scale models of the Mars 2020 entry capsule. The MEDLI2 project needed the test to provide important dynamic pressure data to help select a backshell pressure port, quantify drag coefficient reconstruction uncertainties, and design the data acquisition hardware. This document contains the outcome of the NESC assessment.
2016-12-01
repair, bowel anastomosis, central venous catheterization , and bladder catheterization . We performed a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to...DC, Gould MK. Preventing complications of central venous catheterization . N Engl J Med 2003;348:1123–33. 15. Maithel S, Sierra R, Korndorffer J, et...subclavian-vein catheterization . N Engl J Med. 1994;331(26):1735-1738. 2. Taylor RW, Palagiri AV. Central venous catheter- ization. Crit Care Med. 2007;35(5
1979-10-01
J. B. Sampson. A new inventory for the assessment of symptom occurrence and severity at high altitude. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 50(9)925:929, 1979...Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 47:280-301, 1976. 3. Caridis, D. T., R. B. Reinhold, P. W. Woodruff and J. Fine. Endotoxemia in man. Lancet. 2:1381-1386...Accidental hypothermia: An experimental study of practical rewarming methods. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 48:625-632, 1977. 4. D’Amato, H. E., S. Kronhein
Genetics Home Reference: biotin-thiamine-responsive basal ganglia disease
... link) Biotin-Thiamine-Responsive Basal Ganglia Disease Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) THIAMINE METABOLISM DYSFUNCTION SYNDROME 2 (BIOTIN- OR THIAMINE-RESPONSIVE TYPE) ...
Fusing literature and full network data improves disease similarity computation.
Li, Ping; Nie, Yaling; Yu, Jingkai
2016-08-30
Identifying relatedness among diseases could help deepen understanding for the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of diseases, and facilitate drug repositioning projects. A number of methods for computing disease similarity had been developed; however, none of them were designed to utilize information of the entire protein interaction network, using instead only those interactions involving disease causing genes. Most of previously published methods required gene-disease association data, unfortunately, many diseases still have very few or no associated genes, which impeded broad adoption of those methods. In this study, we propose a new method (MedNetSim) for computing disease similarity by integrating medical literature and protein interaction network. MedNetSim consists of a network-based method (NetSim), which employs the entire protein interaction network, and a MEDLINE-based method (MedSim), which computes disease similarity by mining the biomedical literature. Among function-based methods, NetSim achieved the best performance. Its average AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) reached 95.2 %. MedSim, whose performance was even comparable to some function-based methods, acquired the highest average AUC in all semantic-based methods. Integration of MedSim and NetSim (MedNetSim) further improved the average AUC to 96.4 %. We further studied the effectiveness of different data sources. It was found that quality of protein interaction data was more important than its volume. On the contrary, higher volume of gene-disease association data was more beneficial, even with a lower reliability. Utilizing higher volume of disease-related gene data further improved the average AUC of MedNetSim and NetSim to 97.5 % and 96.7 %, respectively. Integrating biomedical literature and protein interaction network can be an effective way to compute disease similarity. Lacking sufficient disease-related gene data, literature-based methods such as MedSim can be a great addition to function-based algorithms. It may be beneficial to steer more resources torward studying gene-disease associations and improving the quality of protein interaction data. Disease similarities can be computed using the proposed methods at http:// www.digintelli.com:8000/ .
Information sources for obesity prevention policy research: a review of systematic reviews.
Hanneke, Rosie; Young, Sabrina K
2017-08-08
Systematic identification of evidence in health policy can be time-consuming and challenging. This study examines three questions pertaining to systematic reviews on obesity prevention policy, in order to identify the most efficient search methods: (1) What percentage of the primary studies selected for inclusion in the reviews originated in scholarly as opposed to gray literature? (2) How much of the primary scholarly literature in this topic area is indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE? (3) Which databases index the greatest number of primary studies not indexed in PubMed, and are these databases searched consistently across systematic reviews? We identified systematic reviews on obesity prevention policy and explored their search methods and citations. We determined the percentage of scholarly vs. gray literature cited, the most frequently cited journals, and whether each primary study was indexed in PubMed. We searched 21 databases for all primary study articles not indexed in PubMed to determine which database(s) indexed the highest number of these relevant articles. In total, 21 systematic reviews were identified. Ten of the 21 systematic reviews reported searching gray literature, and 12 reviews ultimately included gray literature in their analyses. Scholarly articles accounted for 577 of the 649 total primary study papers. Of these, 495 (76%) were indexed in PubMed. Google Scholar retrieved the highest number of the remaining 82 non-PubMed scholarly articles, followed by Scopus and EconLit. The Journal of the American Dietetic Association was the most-cited journal. Researchers can maximize search efficiency by searching a small yet targeted selection of both scholarly and gray literature resources. A highly sensitive search of PubMed and those databases that index the greatest number of relevant articles not indexed in PubMed, namely multidisciplinary and economics databases, could save considerable time and effort. When combined with a gray literature search and additional search methods, including cited reference searching and consulting with experts, this approach could help maintain broad retrieval of relevant studies while improving search efficiency. Findings also have implications for designing specialized databases for public health research.
Dong, Jie; Yao, Zhi-Jiang; Zhang, Lin; Luo, Feijun; Lin, Qinlu; Lu, Ai-Ping; Chen, Alex F; Cao, Dong-Sheng
2018-03-20
With the increasing development of biotechnology and informatics technology, publicly available data in chemistry and biology are undergoing explosive growth. Such wealthy information in these data needs to be extracted and transformed to useful knowledge by various data mining methods. Considering the amazing rate at which data are accumulated in chemistry and biology fields, new tools that process and interpret large and complex interaction data are increasingly important. So far, there are no suitable toolkits that can effectively link the chemical and biological space in view of molecular representation. To further explore these complex data, an integrated toolkit for various molecular representation is urgently needed which could be easily integrated with data mining algorithms to start a full data analysis pipeline. Herein, the python library PyBioMed is presented, which comprises functionalities for online download for various molecular objects by providing different IDs, the pretreatment of molecular structures, the computation of various molecular descriptors for chemicals, proteins, DNAs and their interactions. PyBioMed is a feature-rich and highly customized python library used for the characterization of various complex chemical and biological molecules and interaction samples. The current version of PyBioMed could calculate 775 chemical descriptors and 19 kinds of chemical fingerprints, 9920 protein descriptors based on protein sequences, more than 6000 DNA descriptors from nucleotide sequences, and interaction descriptors from pairwise samples using three different combining strategies. Several examples and five real-life applications were provided to clearly guide the users how to use PyBioMed as an integral part of data analysis projects. By using PyBioMed, users are able to start a full pipelining from getting molecular data, pretreating molecules, molecular representation to constructing machine learning models conveniently. PyBioMed provides various user-friendly and highly customized APIs to calculate various features of biological molecules and complex interaction samples conveniently, which aims at building integrated analysis pipelines from data acquisition, data checking, and descriptor calculation to modeling. PyBioMed is freely available at http://projects.scbdd.com/pybiomed.html .
Fujiwara, Tatsuki; Nagaoka, Eiki; Watanabe, Taiju; Miyagi, Naoto; Kitao, Takashi; Sakota, Daisuke; Mamiya, Taichi; Shinshi, Tadahiko; Arai, Hirokuni; Takatani, Setsuo
2013-05-01
We have evaluated the feasibility of a newly developed single-use, magnetically levitated centrifugal blood pump, MedTech Mag-Lev, in a 3-week extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) study in calves against a Medtronic Bio-Pump BPX-80. A heparin- and silicone-coated polypropylene membrane oxygenator MERA NHP Excelung NSH-R was employed as an oxygenator. Six healthy male Holstein calves with body weights of about 100 kg were divided into two groups, four in the MedTech group and two in the Bio-Pump group. Under general anesthesia, the blood pump and oxygenator were inserted extracorporeally between the main pulmonary artery and the descending aorta via a fifth left thoracotomy. Postoperatively, both the pump and oxygen flow rates were controlled at 3 L/min. Heparin was continuously infused to maintain the activated clotting time at 200-240 s. All the MedTech ECMO calves completed the study duration. However, the Bio-Pump ECMO calves were terminated on postoperative days 7 and 10 because of severe hemolysis and thrombus formation. At the start of the MedTech ECMO, the pressure drop across the oxygenator was about 25 mm Hg with the pump operated at 2800 rpm and delivering 3 L/min flow. The PO2 of the oxygenator outlet was higher than 400 mm Hg with the PCO2 below 45 mm Hg. Hemolysis and thrombus were not seen in the MedTech ECMO circuits (plasma-free hemoglobin [PFH] < 5 mg/dL), while severe hemolysis (PFH > 20 mg/dL) and large thrombus were observed in the Bio-Pump ECMO circuits. Plasma leakage from the oxygenator did not occur in any ECMO circuits. Three-week cardiopulmonary support was performed successfully with the MedTech ECMO without circuit exchanges. The MedTech Mag-Lev could help extend the durability of ECMO circuits by the improved biocompatible performances. © 2013, Copyright the Authors. Artificial Organs © 2013, International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Study on Pubmed Search Tag Usage Pattern: Association Rule Mining of a Full-day Pubmed Query Log
2013-01-01
Background The practice of evidence-based medicine requires efficient biomedical literature search such as PubMed/MEDLINE. Retrieval performance relies highly on the efficient use of search field tags. The purpose of this study was to analyze PubMed log data in order to understand the usage pattern of search tags by the end user in PubMed/MEDLINE search. Methods A PubMed query log file was obtained from the National Library of Medicine containing anonymous user identification, timestamp, and query text. Inconsistent records were removed from the dataset and the search tags were extracted from the query texts. A total of 2,917,159 queries were selected for this study issued by a total of 613,061 users. The analysis of frequent co-occurrences and usage patterns of the search tags was conducted using an association mining algorithm. Results The percentage of search tag usage was low (11.38% of the total queries) and only 2.95% of queries contained two or more tags. Three out of four users used no search tag and about two-third of them issued less than four queries. Among the queries containing at least one tagged search term, the average number of search tags was almost half of the number of total search terms. Navigational search tags are more frequently used than informational search tags. While no strong association was observed between informational and navigational tags, six (out of 19) informational tags and six (out of 29) navigational tags showed strong associations in PubMed searches. Conclusions The low percentage of search tag usage implies that PubMed/MEDLINE users do not utilize the features of PubMed/MEDLINE widely or they are not aware of such features or solely depend on the high recall focused query translation by the PubMed’s Automatic Term Mapping. The users need further education and interactive search application for effective use of the search tags in order to fulfill their biomedical information needs from PubMed/MEDLINE. PMID:23302604
Genetics Home Reference: Brody myopathy
... Citation on PubMed Odermatt A, Barton K, Khanna VK, Mathieu J, Escolar D, Kuntzer T, Karpati G, ... Citation on PubMed Odermatt A, Taschner PE, Khanna VK, Busch HF, Karpati G, Jablecki CK, Breuning MH, ...
... patients in the United States. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2015; 33(21):2376-2383. [PubMed Abstract] Coghill ... for cancer risk and prevention. Current Opinion in Oncology 2012; 24(5):506-16 [PubMed Abstract] Goncalves ...
Genetics Home Reference: Aicardi syndrome
... 1080/13816810802320209. Citation on PubMed Eble TN, Sutton VR, Sangi-Haghpeykar H, Wang X, Jin W, Lewis ... Free article on PubMed Central Glasmacher MA, Sutton VR, Hopkins B, Eble T, Lewis RA, Park Parsons ...
Antioxidants and Cancer Prevention
... 95. [PubMed Abstract] Patterson RE, White E, Kristal AR, et al. Vitamin supplements and cancer risk: the ... 1750. [PubMed Abstract] Neuhouser ML, Barnett MJ, Kristal AR, et al. Dietary supplement use and prostate cancer ...
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccines
... 2162. [PubMed Abstract] Huh WK, Joura EA, Giuliano AR, et al. Final efficacy, immunogenicity, and safety analyses ... 2017; 390(10108):2143-2159. [PubMed Abstract] Giuliano AR, Palefsky JM, Goldstone S, et al. Efficacy of quadrivalent ...
Genetics Home Reference: aceruloplasminemia
... PubMed Harris ZL. Aceruloplasminemia. J Neurol Sci. 2003 Mar 15;207(1-2):108-9. Review. Citation ... nervous system. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004 Mar;1012:267-81. Review. Citation on PubMed Vassiliev ...
Genetics Home Reference: encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis
... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Hunter AG. Oculocerebrocutaneous and encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis syndromes: blind men and ... qualified healthcare professional . About Selection Criteria for Links Data Files & API Site Map Subscribe Customer Support USA. ...
Genetics Home Reference: vitiligo
... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Smith AG, Sturm RA. Multiple genes and locus interactions in ... qualified healthcare professional . About Selection Criteria for Links Data Files & API Site Map Subscribe Customer Support USA. ...
Genetics Home Reference: spina bifida
... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Bassuk AG, Kibar Z. Genetic basis of neural tube defects. ... qualified healthcare professional . About Selection Criteria for Links Data Files & API Site Map Subscribe Customer Support USA. ...
Genetics Home Reference: anencephaly
... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Bassuk AG, Kibar Z. Genetic basis of neural tube defects. ... qualified healthcare professional . About Selection Criteria for Links Data Files & API Site Map Subscribe Customer Support USA. ...
... 4003. [PubMed Abstract] Wolin KY, Yan Y, Colditz GA, Lee IM. Physical activity and colon cancer prevention: ... 505. [PubMed Abstract] Wolin KY, Yan Y, Colditz GA. Physical activity and risk of colon adenoma: a ...
Genetics Home Reference: GRACILE syndrome
... University of Utah Eccles Health Sciences Library: Iron Metabolism Patient Support and Advocacy Resources (1 link) Climb: National Information Centre for Metabolic Diseases Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
2002-01-01
A collaboration between NASA, Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. George Noon, and MicroMed Technology, Inc., resulted in a life-saving heart pump for patients awaiting heart transplants. The MicroMed DeBakey VAD functions as a "bridge to heart transplant" by pumping blood throughout the body to keep critically ill patients alive until a donor heart is available. Weighing less than 4 ounces and measuring 1 inch by 3 inches, the pump is approximately one-tenth the size of other currently marketed pulsatile VADs. This makes it less invasive and ideal for smaller adults and children. Because of the pump's small size, less than 5 percent of the patients implanted developed device-related infections. It can operate up to 8 hours on batteries, giving patients the mobility to do normal, everyday activities.The MicroMed DeBakey VAD is a registered trademark of MicroMed Technology, Inc.
Mancano, Michael A
2016-05-01
The purpose of this feature is to heighten awareness of specific adverse drug reactions (ADRs), discuss methods of prevention, and promote reporting of ADRs to the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Med Watch program (800-FDA-1088). If you have reported an interesting, preventable ADR to Med Watch, please consider sharing the account with our readers. Write to Dr. Mancano at ISMP, 200 Lakeside Drive, Suite 200, Horsham, PA 19044 (phone: 215-707-4936; e-mail: mmancano@temple.edu). Your report will be published anonymously unless otherwise requested. This feature is provided by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in cooperation with the FDA's Med Watchprogram and Temple University School of Pharmacy. ISMP is an FDA Med Watch partner.
Gaps in affiliation indexing in Scopus and PubMed
Schmidt, Cynthia M.; Cox, Roxanne; Fial, Alissa V.; Hartman, Teresa L.; Magee, Martha L.
2016-01-01
Objective The authors sought to determine whether unexpected gaps existed in Scopus's author affiliation indexing of publications written by the University of Nebraska Medical Center or Nebraska Medicine (UNMC/NM) authors during 2014. Methods First, we compared Scopus affiliation identifier search results to PubMed affiliation keyword search results. Then, we searched Scopus using affiliation keywords (UNMC, etc.) and compared the results to PubMed affiliation keyword and Scopus affiliation identifier searches. Results We found that Scopus's records for approximately 7% of UNMC/NM authors' publications lacked appropriate UNMC/NM author affiliation identifiers, and many journals' publishers were supplying incomplete author affiliation information to PubMed. Conclusions Institutions relying on Scopus to track their impact should determine whether Scopus's affiliation identifiers will, in fact, identify all articles published by their authors and investigators. PMID:27076801
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil; Ng, Kim Choon; Thu, Kyaw
2016-06-01
Power and desalination cogeneration plants are common in many water scared courtiers. Designers and planners for cogeneration face tough challenges in deciding the options:- Is it better to operate a power plant (PP) with the reverse osmosis (i.e., PP+RO) or the thermally-driven multi-effect distillation/multi-stage flashed (PP+MED/MSF) methods. From literature, the RO methods are known to be energy efficient whilst the MED/MSF are known to have excellent thermodynamic synergies as only low pressure and temperature steam are used. Not with-standing the challenges of severe feed seawater of the Gulf, such as the frequent harmful algae blooms (HABs) and high silt contents, this presentation presents a quantitative analyses using the exergy and energetic approaches in evaluating the performances of a real cogeneration plant that was recently proposed in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia. We demonstrate that the process choice of PP+RO versus PP+MED depends on the inherent efficiencies of individual process method which is closely related to innovative process design. In this connection, a method of primary fuel cost apportionment for a co-generation plant with a MED desalination is presented. We show that an energy approach, that captures the quality of expanding steam, is a better method over the conventional work output (energetic) and the energy method seems to be over-penalizing a thermally-driven MED by as much as 22% in the operating cost of water.
Eguaras, Sonia; Toledo, Estefanía; Hernández-Hernández, Aitor; Cervantes, Sebastián; Martínez-González, Miguel A
2015-11-05
Strong observational evidence supports the association between obesity and cardiovascular events. In elderly high-risk subjects, the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) was reported to counteract the adverse cardiovascular effects of adiposity. Whether this same attenuation is also present in younger subjects is not known. We prospectively examined the association between obesity and cardiovascular clinical events (myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular death) after 10.9 years follow-up in 19,065 middle-aged men and women (average age 38 year) according to their adherence to the MedDiet (<6 points or ≥6 points in the Trichopoulou's Mediterranean Diet Score). We observed 152 incident cases of cardiovascular disease (CVD). An increased risk of CVD across categories of body mass index (BMI) was apparent if adherence to the MedDiet was low, with multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs): 1.44 (95% confidence interval: 0.93-2.25) for ≥25 - <30 kg/m² of BMI and 2.00 (1.04-3.83) for ≥30 kg/m² of BMI, compared to a BMI < 25 kg/m². In contrast, these estimates were 0.77 (0.35-1.67) and 1.15 (0.39-3.43) with good adherence to MedDiet. Better adherence to the MedDiet was associated with reduced CVD events (p for trend = 0.029). Our results suggest that the MedDiet could mitigate the harmful cardiovascular effect of overweight/obesity.
The MedCLIVAR program and the climate of the Mediterranean region
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lionello, P.; Gacic, M.; Gomis, G.; Garcia-Herrera, R.; Giorgi, F.; Planton, S.; Trigo, R.; Theocharis, A.; Tsimplis, M. N.; Ulbrich, U.; Xoplaki, E.
2012-04-01
MedCLIVAR has become an independent platform for scientific discussion, the exchange of information and the coordination of activities across scientific groups around the Mediterranean. The scientific objects of the programme include past climate variability, connections between the Mediterranean and global climate, the Mediterranean Sea circulation and sea level, feedbacks on the global climate system, and the regional responses to greenhouse gas, air pollution, and aerosols. A strength of the MedCLIVAR programme is the development of a multidisciplinary vision of the evolution of Mediterranean climate, which includes atmospheric, marine and terrestrial components at multiple time scales, covering the range from paleo-reconstructions to future climate scenarios. MedCLIVAR has promoted scientific dissemination with many publication and by producing two books, which review the climate-related knowledge of the Mediterranean basin, one published at the beginning of the project and the second just recently finalized. Over these years, MedCLIVAR (www.medclivar.eu) has held 6 workshops and 2 schools, assigned 31 young scientist exchange grants and 7 senior scientist short visits, sponsored or co-sponsored 11 scientific meetings and organized annual sessions during the European Geophysical Union general assembly. A systematic archive of observations and model data simulations on the Mediterranean Climate, in order to both share data across the scientific community and ensure the data availability for 10 years, is presently being organized at the WDCC (http://cera-www.dkrz.de/CERA/MedCLIVAR.html)
Vemurafenib skin phototoxicity is indirectly linked to ultraviolet A minimal erythema dose decrease.
Brugière, C; Stefan, A; Morice, C; Cornet, E; Moreau, A; Allouche, S; Verneuil, L
2014-12-01
Vemurafenib, an anti-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma kinase B (BRAF) molecule, improves survival among patients with metastatic BRAF-mutated melanoma. Photosensitivity, a frequent cutaneous adverse effect induced by vemurafenib, can lead to cessation of treatment. To investigate photosensitivity mechanisms in patients treated with vemurafenib for metastatic melanoma. In a prospective study of 12 patients, photobiological explorations with measurements of ultraviolet A (UVA) minimal erythema dose (MED) and polychromatic MED were performed over 3 days in all 12 patients. UVA MED and polychromatic MED were also assessed for four patients before treatment. We then performed spectrophotometric analyses of (i) serum and faeces in these four patients, before and after introduction of vemurafenib; (ii) the lyophilized form of vemurafenib without excipient added; and (iii) the lyophilized form of vemurafenib added to serum and faeces before treatment. Photosensitivity was present in 92% of the patients. UVA MED was normal before treatment and decreased after treatment, while polychromatic MED remained normal. The same three peaks (210, 260 and 310 nm) were identified in the spectrum for UVB and UVC but not for UVA on spectrophotometric analyses for each condition (lyophilized vemurafenib; serum and faeces after introduction of vemurafenib; and lyophilized vemurafenib added to serum and faeces before treatment). The peaks were different before treatment. Our study confirms that photosensitivity under vemurafenib treatment was a UVA phototoxicity reaction, and our results suggest that a metabolite of vemurafenib rather than the parent molecule is involved in this phototoxicity. © 2014 British Association of Dermatologists.
Choi, Kyu-Won; Kim, Ki-Ho
2009-01-01
Background Determination of the minimal erythema dose (MED) is important for developing a phototherapy protocol and to diagnosis photosensitivity disorders. But obtaining a precise and reproducible MED is quite difficult because a phototest for erythema is based on subjective assessment. Objective The objective of our study was to compare the gross interpretation of a phototest and the objective measurement using a spectrophotometer for determining the parameters of cutaneous narrow-band UVB (NBUVB) therapy. Methods A total of 14 psoriasis and 10 vitiligo patients who receiving NBUVB phototherapy with skin types III and IV were selected for this study. To perform phototesting, ten sites on the skin of the back were vertically exposed to a series of 10 NBUVB doses among 14 doses between 340 and 1,400 mJ/cm2. We interpreted the gross findings of erythema and measured the L*a*b* values with using a spectrophotometer at each phototest spot and at the control skin. Also, we evaluate the relationship between the gross presentation and the spectrophotometric analysis by delta E for the assessment of the minimal perceptible erythema (MPE) and MED. Results For all the subjects, the MEDs were measured in the 490~1,000 mJ/cm2 range. The average of the colorimetric values for the control skin were L*: 64.8, a*: 7.9 and b*: 19.8. Among them, the L* value and MED value were shown to be inversely correlated, and as the L* value was decreased, the MED was increased. For the MPE, the delta E, which was the color difference of the normal skin and the phototest area, was within the range of 1.5~3.0 in 17 of the 21 patients, and 4 patients were within the range of 1.0~1.5. For the MED, among the 21 patients, the delta E of 17 patients was within the range of 3.0~6.0, and 4 patients were within the range of 6.0~12.0. Conclusion A spectrophotometer enables UV erythema to be assessed objectively and quantitatively, and this can compensate for the disadvantages of subjective gross interpretation when determining the MED. Delta E is a good novel and objective indicator for determining the MPE and MED. So, a spectrophotometer is a very useful instrument for developing a phototherapy protocol for psoriasis and other dermatoses and for making the diagnosis of photosensitivity disorders. PMID:20523771
Choi, Kyu-Won; Kim, Ki-Ho; Kim, Young-Hun
2009-05-01
Determination of the minimal erythema dose (MED) is important for developing a phototherapy protocol and to diagnosis photosensitivity disorders. But obtaining a precise and reproducible MED is quite difficult because a phototest for erythema is based on subjective assessment. The objective of our study was to compare the gross interpretation of a phototest and the objective measurement using a spectrophotometer for determining the parameters of cutaneous narrow-band UVB (NBUVB) therapy. A total of 14 psoriasis and 10 vitiligo patients who receiving NBUVB phototherapy with skin types III and IV were selected for this study. To perform phototesting, ten sites on the skin of the back were vertically exposed to a series of 10 NBUVB doses among 14 doses between 340 and 1,400 mJ/cm(2). We interpreted the gross findings of erythema and measured the L*a*b* values with using a spectrophotometer at each phototest spot and at the control skin. Also, we evaluate the relationship between the gross presentation and the spectrophotometric analysis by delta E for the assessment of the minimal perceptible erythema (MPE) and MED. For all the subjects, the MEDs were measured in the 490~1,000 mJ/cm(2) range. The average of the colorimetric values for the control skin were L*: 64.8, a*: 7.9 and b*: 19.8. Among them, the L* value and MED value were shown to be inversely correlated, and as the L* value was decreased, the MED was increased. For the MPE, the delta E, which was the color difference of the normal skin and the phototest area, was within the range of 1.5~3.0 in 17 of the 21 patients, and 4 patients were within the range of 1.0~1.5. For the MED, among the 21 patients, the delta E of 17 patients was within the range of 3.0~6.0, and 4 patients were within the range of 6.0~12.0. A spectrophotometer enables UV erythema to be assessed objectively and quantitatively, and this can compensate for the disadvantages of subjective gross interpretation when determining the MED. Delta E is a good novel and objective indicator for determining the MPE and MED. So, a spectrophotometer is a very useful instrument for developing a phototherapy protocol for psoriasis and other dermatoses and for making the diagnosis of photosensitivity disorders.
Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel; Hershey, Maria Soledad; Zazpe, Itziar
2017-01-01
Substantial evidence has verified the Mediterranean diet’s (MedDiet) nutritional adequacy, long-term sustainability, and effectiveness for preventing hard clinical events from cardiovascular disease (CVD), as well as increasing longevity. This article includes a cumulative meta-analysis of prospective studies supporting a strong inverse association between closer adherence to the MedDiet and the incidence of hard clinical events of CVD. The MedDiet has become an increasingly popular topic of interest when focusing on overall food patterns rather than single nutrient intake, not only in Mediterranean countries, but also globally. However, several myths and misconceptions associated with the traditional Mediterranean diet should be clearly addressed and dispelled, particularly those that label as “Mediterranean” an eating pattern that is not in line with the traditional Mediterranean diet. The transferability of the traditional MedDiet to the non-Mediterranean populations is possible, but it requires a multitude of changes in dietary habits. New approaches for promoting healthy dietary behavior consistent with the MedDiet will offer healthful, sustainable, and practical strategies at all levels of public health. The following article presents practical resources and knowledge necessary for accomplishing these changes. PMID:29117146
Deacetylmycoepoxydiene is an agonist of Rac1, and simultaneously induces autophagy and apoptosis.
Xie, Wei; Zhang, Wei; Sun, Mingwei; Lu, Chunhua; Shen, Yuemao
2018-05-09
Lung cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. Most cases of lung cancer are not curable, especially non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Thus, novel treatment targets for this malignant disease are urgently needed. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of Rac1 in treating p53-null human NSCLC H1299 as a novel drug target. Deacetylmycoepoxydiene (DA-MED), a cytotoxic natural polyketide, functions as a Rac1 agonist in p53-null NSCLC H1299 cells. DA-MED treatment drives Rac1 activation and promotes robust production of reactive oxygen species, activating mitochondrial permeability transition and the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Knockdown of Rac1 decreases ROS production in DA-MED-treated cells, resulting in a concomitant decrease in DA-MED-induced apoptosis. DA-MED-activated Rac1 induces autophagy by inhibiting mammalian target of rapamycin, leading to anti-apoptotic and anti-metastatic effects. Therefore, this study provides novel insight into the complex cytotoxic and pro-survival mechanisms associated with a potent Rac1 agonist and suggests that further development of more potent Rac1 agonists could be an effective strategy for future non-small cell lung cancer treatments.
Information Retrieval in Telemedicine: a Comparative Study on Bibliographic Databases
Ahmadi, Maryam; Sarabi, Roghayeh Ershad; Orak, Roohangiz Jamshidi; Bahaadinbeigy, Kambiz
2015-01-01
Background and Aims: The first step in each systematic review is selection of the most valid database that can provide the highest number of relevant references. This study was carried out to determine the most suitable database for information retrieval in telemedicine field. Methods: Cinhal, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched for telemedicine matched with Education, cost benefit and patient satisfaction. After analysis of the obtained results, the accuracy coefficient, sensitivity, uniqueness and overlap of databases were calculated. Results: The studied databases differed in the number of retrieved articles. PubMed was identified as the most suitable database for retrieving information on the selected topics with the accuracy and sensitivity ratios of 50.7% and 61.4% respectively. The uniqueness percent of retrieved articles ranged from 38% for Pubmed to 3.0% for Cinhal. The highest overlap rate (18.6%) was found between PubMed and Web of Science. Less than 1% of articles have been indexed in all searched databases. Conclusion: PubMed is suggested as the most suitable database for starting search in telemedicine and after PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science can retrieve about 90% of the relevant articles. PMID:26236086
Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel; Hershey, Maria Soledad; Zazpe, Itziar; Trichopoulou, Antonia
2017-11-08
Substantial evidence has verified the Mediterranean diet's (MedDiet) nutritional adequacy, long-term sustainability, and effectiveness for preventing hard clinical events from cardiovascular disease (CVD), as well as increasing longevity. This article includes a cumulative meta-analysis of prospective studies supporting a strong inverse association between closer adherence to the MedDiet and the incidence of hard clinical events of CVD. The MedDiet has become an increasingly popular topic of interest when focusing on overall food patterns rather than single nutrient intake, not only in Mediterranean countries, but also globally. However, several myths and misconceptions associated with the traditional Mediterranean diet should be clearly addressed and dispelled, particularly those that label as "Mediterranean" an eating pattern that is not in line with the traditional Mediterranean diet. The transferability of the traditional MedDiet to the non-Mediterranean populations is possible, but it requires a multitude of changes in dietary habits. New approaches for promoting healthy dietary behavior consistent with the MedDiet will offer healthful, sustainable, and practical strategies at all levels of public health. The following article presents practical resources and knowledge necessary for accomplishing these changes.
Supernovae Ia in 2017: a long time delay from merger/accretion to explosion
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Soker, Noam
2018-04-01
I use recent observational and theoretical studies of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to further constrain the viable SN Ia scenarios and to argue that there must be a substantial time delay between the end of the merger of the white dwarf (WD) with a companion or the end of mass accretion on to the WD and its terminal explosion. This merger/accretion to explosion delay (MED) is required to allow the binary system to lead to a more or less spherical explosion and to prevent a pre-explosion ionizing radiation. Considering these recent results and the required MED, I conclude that the core degenerate scenario is somewhat more favorable over the other scenarios, followed by the double degenerate scenario. Although the single degenerate scenario is viable as well, it is less likely to account for common (normal) SN Ia. As all scenarios require substantial MED, the MED has turned from a disadvantage of the core degenerate scenario to a challenge that theory should overcome. I hope that the requirement for a MED will stimulate the discussion of the different SN Ia scenarios and the comparison of the scenarios to each other.
Information Retrieval in Telemedicine: a Comparative Study on Bibliographic Databases.
Ahmadi, Maryam; Sarabi, Roghayeh Ershad; Orak, Roohangiz Jamshidi; Bahaadinbeigy, Kambiz
2015-06-01
The first step in each systematic review is selection of the most valid database that can provide the highest number of relevant references. This study was carried out to determine the most suitable database for information retrieval in telemedicine field. Cinhal, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched for telemedicine matched with Education, cost benefit and patient satisfaction. After analysis of the obtained results, the accuracy coefficient, sensitivity, uniqueness and overlap of databases were calculated. The studied databases differed in the number of retrieved articles. PubMed was identified as the most suitable database for retrieving information on the selected topics with the accuracy and sensitivity ratios of 50.7% and 61.4% respectively. The uniqueness percent of retrieved articles ranged from 38% for Pubmed to 3.0% for Cinhal. The highest overlap rate (18.6%) was found between PubMed and Web of Science. Less than 1% of articles have been indexed in all searched databases. PubMed is suggested as the most suitable database for starting search in telemedicine and after PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science can retrieve about 90% of the relevant articles.
What CORBA can do: An example of a new system developed with object technology: TeleMed
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Forslund, D.; Phillips, R.; Tomlinson, B.
1996-05-01
The TeleMed application grew out of a relationship with physicians at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine (NJC) in Denver. These physicians are experts in pulmonary diseases and radiology, helping patients combat effects of TB and other lung diseases. To make the knowledge and experience at NJC available to a wider audience, LANL has developed a virtual patient record system called TeleMed which is based on distributed national radiographic and patient record repository located throughout the country. Without leaving their offices, participating doctors can view clinical drug and radiographic data via a sophisticated multimedia interface. TeleMed ismore » also valuable for teaching and presentation as well. Thus a resident can use TeleMed for self-training in diagnostic techniques and a physician can use it to explain to a patient the course of their illness. Data can be viewed simultaneously by users at two or more distant locations for consultation with specialists in different fields. This capability is made possible by integration of multimedia information using commercial CORBA technology linking object-enable databases with client interfaces using a three-tiered architecture.« less
Chinese literatures of radiation oncology covered by PubMed over the past five years.
Niu, Dao-Li; Zhen, Jun-Jie; He, Fen
2010-04-01
PubMed is generally acknowledged for its scientificity in literature coverage and authority of literature retrieval . In recent years, many studies have been published in China about radiation oncology. We aimed to investigate the literatures about radiation oncology in China covered by PubMed over the past five years. We collected primary data by searching the PubMed database using the related subject words. The collected data were analyzed and evaluated by bibliometric methods. In the past five years, 550 articles by Chinese authors related to radiotherapy were indexed in PubMed. These articles were published in 160 journals among 26 Chinese provinces/cities. These articles mainly focused on radiation dose and computer-aided radiation therapy. Sixty-four articles were published by Chinese Journal of Cancer , which ranked the top. Forty-four articles were published by the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (IF=4.29), with the largest number among SCI journals. One hundred and sixteen articles from Guangdong Province were covered, accounting for 21.09%. Over the past five years, the discipline of radiation oncology has been greatly developed. The literatures mainly focus on clinical radiation oncology and their regional distribution is uneven.
Genetics Home Reference: chylomicron retention disease
... PubMed Charcosset M, Sassolas A, Peretti N, Roy CC, Deslandres C, Sinnett D, Levy E, Lachaux A. ... Epub 2007 Oct 22. Citation on PubMed Shoulders CC, Naoumova RP. The genes and proteins of atherogenic ...
... in the Danish study: another source of dose. Health Physics 2009; 97(4):343–347. [PubMed Abstract] Krewski ... radiation and leukemia risk among German uranium miners. Health Physics 2010; 99(3):314–321. [PubMed Abstract] National ...
Genetics Home Reference: Kleefstra syndrome
... PubMed Kleefstra T, Brunner HG, Amiel J, Oudakker AR, Nillesen WM, Magee A, Geneviève D, Cormier-Daire ... PubMed Kleefstra T, Smidt M, Banning MJ, Oudakker AR, Van Esch H, de Brouwer AP, Nillesen W, ...
Genetics Home Reference: adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency
... its chemical cousin RNA, and molecules such as ATP that serve as energy sources in the cell. ... For People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
Genetics Home Reference: histiocytosis-lymphadenopathy plus syndrome
... its chemical cousin RNA, and molecules such as ATP and GTP, which serve as energy sources in ... Skin Association Histiocytosis Association: Rosai-Dorfman Disease Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
Genetics Home Reference: Arts syndrome
... its chemical cousin RNA, and molecules such as ATP and GTP that serve as energy sources in ... Syndrome ClinicalTrials.gov (1 link) ClinicalTrials.gov Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
Genetics Home Reference: Liebenberg syndrome
... changes affect regions of DNA known as regulatory elements, which help turn on or turn off genes ( ... Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Seoighe DM, Gadancheva V, Regan R, McDaid J, ...
Genetics Home Reference: familial atrial fibrillation
... genes provide instructions for making parts of structural elements of cardiac muscle, such as sarcomeres. These structures ... Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Hucker WJ, Saini H, Lubitz SA, Ellinor PT. ...
Genetics Home Reference: molybdenum cofactor deficiency
... called molybdenum cofactor. Molybdenum cofactor, which contains the element molybdenum, is essential to the function of several ... Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Reiss J, Gross-Hardt S, Christensen E, Schmidt P, ...
Genetics Home Reference: motion sickness
... motion, particularly traveling in a car, bus, train, airplane, or boat. Amusement park rides, skiing, and virtual ... Association ClinicalTrials.gov (1 link) ClinicalTrials.gov Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
Genetics Home Reference: Chediak-Higashi syndrome
... 68(2):283-303. Review. Citation on PubMed Kaplan J, De Domenico I, Ward DM. Chediak-Higashi ... 22. Citation on PubMed Ward DM, Shiflett SL, Kaplan J. Chediak-Higashi syndrome: a clinical and molecular ...
Genetics Home Reference: craniofacial microsomia
... nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK5199/ Citation on PubMed Johnson JM, Moonis G, Green GE, Carmody R, Burbank ... Epub 2010 Mar 18. Review. Citation on PubMed Johnson JM, Moonis G, Green GE, Carmody R, Burbank ...
Genetics Home Reference: multiple familial trichoepithelioma
... 13. Citation on PubMed Bowen S, Gill M, Lee DA, Fisher G, Geronemus RG, Vazquez ME, Celebi JT. ... Fernandez-Figueras, Maria Tereza]. Citation on PubMed Lee DA, Grossman ME, Schneiderman P, Celebi JT. Genetics of ...
Genetics Home Reference: Brooke-Spiegler syndrome
... article on PubMed Central Bowen S, Gill M, Lee DA, Fisher G, Geronemus RG, Vazquez ME, Celebi JT. ... 124(5):919-20. Citation on PubMed Lee DA, Grossman ME, Schneiderman P, Celebi JT. Genetics of ...
Genetics Home Reference: Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease
... 2004 Dec 31. Review. Citation on PubMed Laukka JJ, Kamholz J, Bessert D, Skoff RP. Novel pathologic ... 59-65. Citation on PubMed Sarret C, Lemaire JJ, Tonduti D, Sontheimer A, Coste J, Pereira B, ...
Genetics Home Reference: Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome
... PUDLAK SYNDROME 1 Sources for This Page Bultema JJ, Ambrosio AL, Burek CL, Di Pietro SM. BLOC- ... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Bultema JJ, Di Pietro SM. Cell type-specific Rab32 and ...
Genetics Home Reference: trisomy 18
... 13. Citation on PubMed Yeo L, Guzman ER, Day-Salvatore D, Walters C, Chavez D, Vintzileos AM. Prenatal detection of fetal trisomy 18 through abnormal sonographic features. J Ultrasound Med. 2003 Jun;22(6):581-90; ...
Genetics Home Reference: lissencephaly with cerebellar hypoplasia
... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Ross ME, Swanson K, Dobyns WB. Lissencephaly with cerebellar ... AA, Abdel-Salam G, Koeller HB, Ilkin Y, Ross ME, Dobyns WB, Gleeson JG. Identification of a ...
MedSynDiKATe--design considerations for an ontology-based medical text understanding system.
Hahn, U.; Romacker, M.; Schulz, S.
2000-01-01
MedSynDiKATe is a natural language processor for automatically acquiring knowledge from medical finding reports. The content of these documents is transferred to formal representation structures which constitute a corresponding text knowledge base. The general system architecture we present integrates requirements from the analysis of single sentences, as well as those of referentially linked sentences forming cohesive texts. The strong demands MedSynDiKATe poses to the availability of expressive knowledge sources are accounted for by two alternative approaches to (semi)automatic ontology engineering. PMID:11079899
Structure of a Complete Mediator-RNA Polymerase II Pre-Initiation Complex.
Robinson, Philip J; Trnka, Michael J; Bushnell, David A; Davis, Ralph E; Mattei, Pierre-Jean; Burlingame, Alma L; Kornberg, Roger D
2016-09-08
A complete, 52-protein, 2.5 million dalton, Mediator-RNA polymerase II pre-initiation complex (Med-PIC) was assembled and analyzed by cryo-electron microscopy and by chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry. The resulting complete Med-PIC structure reveals two components of functional significance, absent from previous structures, a protein kinase complex and the Mediator-activator interaction region. It thereby shows how the kinase and its target, the C-terminal domain of the polymerase, control Med-PIC interaction and transcription. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1991-01-14
McCain 27 1 M. D. Ochs 73.5 4 C Richards 203.25 11 Dr. J. M. Riordan 108.5 6 Glassware Technicians: A. D. Jackson 322 18 W. Johnson 172 10 R...Kissinger. L. W.; Von. 1. / Med. Chem., 1*4*. 68, 1220- 1225. 3. Robins, R. K; Christensen, L. F. /. Med. Chem., 1978, 21, 742 4. Branson , J. (Bristol...Myers), personal communication. 5. Branson , Joanne J.; Ghazzouli, I.; Hitchcock, M. J. M; Webb, R. R.; Martin, J. C, J. Med. Chem., 1989. 32, 1457-1463
Jilg, Stefanie; Möltner, Andreas; Berberat, Pascal; Fischer, Martin R; Breckwoldt, Jan
2015-01-01
In German-speaking countries, the physicians' roles framework of the "Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists" (CanMEDS) is increasingly used to conceptualize postgraduate medical education. It is however unclear, whether it may also be applied to the final year of undergraduate education within clinical clerkships, called "Practical Year" (PY). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how clinically active physicians at a university hospital and at associated teaching hospitals judge the relevance of the seven CanMEDS roles (and their (role-defining) key competencies) in respect to their clinical work and as learning content for PY training. Furthermore, these physicians were asked whether the key competencies were actually taught during PY training. 124 physicians from internal medicine and surgery rated the relevance of the 28 key competencies of the CanMEDS framework using a questionnaire. For each competency, following three aspects were rated: "relevance for your personal daily work", "importance for teaching during PY", and "implementation into actual PY teaching". In respect to the main study objective, all questionnaires could be included into analysis. All seven CanMEDS roles were rated as relevant for personal daily work, and also as important for teaching during PY. Furthermore, all roles were stated to be taught during actual PY training. The roles "Communicator", "Medical Expert", and "Collaborator" were rated as significantly more important than the other roles, for all three sub-questions. No differences were found between the two disciplines internal medicine and surgery, nor between the university hospital and associated teaching hospitals. Participating physicians rated all key competencies of the CanMEDS model to be relevant for their personal daily work, and for teaching during PY. These findings support the suitability of the CanMEDS framework as a conceptual element of PY training.
Jilg, Stefanie; Möltner, Andreas; Berberat, Pascal; Fischer, Martin R.; Breckwoldt, Jan
2015-01-01
Background and aim: In German-speaking countries, the physicians’ roles framework of the “Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists” (CanMEDS) is increasingly used to conceptualize postgraduate medical education. It is however unclear, whether it may also be applied to the final year of undergraduate education within clinical clerkships, called “Practical Year” (PY). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how clinically active physicians at a university hospital and at associated teaching hospitals judge the relevance of the seven CanMEDS roles (and their (role-defining) key competencies) in respect to their clinical work and as learning content for PY training. Furthermore, these physicians were asked whether the key competencies were actually taught during PY training. Methods: 124 physicians from internal medicine and surgery rated the relevance of the 28 key competencies of the CanMEDS framework using a questionnaire. For each competency, following three aspects were rated: “relevance for your personal daily work”, “importance for teaching during PY”, and “implementation into actual PY teaching”. Results: In respect to the main study objective, all questionnaires could be included into analysis. All seven CanMEDS roles were rated as relevant for personal daily work, and also as important for teaching during PY. Furthermore, all roles were stated to be taught during actual PY training. The roles “Communicator”, “Medical Expert”, and “Collaborator” were rated as significantly more important than the other roles, for all three sub-questions. No differences were found between the two disciplines internal medicine and surgery, nor between the university hospital and associated teaching hospitals. Conclusion: Participating physicians rated all key competencies of the CanMEDS model to be relevant for their personal daily work, and for teaching during PY. These findings support the suitability of the CanMEDS framework as a conceptual element of PY training. PMID:26413171
Perceptions of Healthy-Looking and Sexy-Looking Brow Thickness.
Hwang, Kun; Kim, Hun
2018-06-01
This study aims to determine which brow thickness levels were considered ideal, healthy-looking, young-looking, and sexy-looking by Koreans.The 163 women and 38 men who visited a brow bar were asked to view illustrations of 4 brow thickness levels defined in terms of the percentage of the eye width at the lateral canthus: very thin (VTn-1/6) (16% of eye width), thin (Tn-1/5) (20%), medium (Med-1/4) (25%), and thick (Tk-1/3) (33%) and to choose which they thought were ideal, young-looking, healthy-looking, and sexy-looking.Med-1/4 (61.2%) was the brow thickness most often considered to be ideal, followed by Tk-1/3 (17.4%) and Tn-1/5 (15.9%). VTn-1/6 was the least preferred (5.5%). Med-1/4 was the most preferred ideal thickness among both sexes. Tk-1/3 (40.8%) was the thickness most often considered to be young-looking, followed by Med-1/4 (35.3%) and Tn-1/5 (18.4%). VTn-1/6 was the least preferred (5.5%). Tk-1/3 was the most preferred young-looking thickness among both sexes. Tk-1/3 (48.8%) was the thickness most often considered to be healthy-looking, followed by Med-1/4 (30.8%) and Tn-1/5 (11.9%). VTn-1/6 was the least preferred (8.5%). Tk-1/3 was the most preferred healthy-looking thickness by women (52.2%), whereas Med-1/4 was the most common choice among men (39.5%). Tn-1/5 (40.8%) was the thickness most often considered to be sexy-looking, followed by VTn-1/6 (25.9%) and Med-1/4 (21.4%). Tk-1/3 was the least preferred (11.9%). Tn-1/5 was the most preferred sexy-looking thickness among both sexes.The results may be used as guidelines for patient or customer preferences in facial rejuvenation operations, brow esthetics, or tattooing.
Samuel Fogné, Drabo; Olivier, Gnankine; Bassolé, Imael H N; Nébié, Roger Charles; Laurence, Mouton
2017-06-01
Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a major pest of many agricultural and ornamental crops in tropical and subtropical regions causing damages that result in important economic losses. Insecticides are commonly used in greenhouses or fields to control B. tabaci populations leading to rapid evolution of resistance that render treatments inefficient. Therefore, and for environmental and human health concerns, other approaches must be developed for this pest management. In the present study, we compare, using the leaf dip method, the toxicity of three essential oils (Cymbopogon citratus, Ocimum americanum, and Hyptis spicigera) and three seed oils (Lannea microcarpa, Lannea acida, and Carapa procera) with three chemical insecticides (acetamiprid, deltamethrin, and chlorpyrifos-ethyl) on adults. Two B. tabaci biotypes (MED-Q1 and MED-Q3) belonging to the Mediterranean species and collected in Burkina Faso were used. Essential oils were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector. We showed that these two biotypes have different levels of resistance to the three insecticides, MED-Q3 being more sensitive than MED-Q1. Moreover, they differ in the frequency of resistance alleles to insecticides, especially for organophosphates, as these alleles are almost fixed in MED-Q1. On the other hand, the two biotypes prove to be more susceptible to the plant extracts than to insecticides except for chlorpyrifos-ethyl, with essential oils that showed the highest insecticidal activities. Monoterpenes content were the most abundant and showed the highest insecticidal activities. Our results indicated that essential oils, but also seed oils, have the potential to constitute an alternative strategy of pest management. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
An objective structured clinical exam to measure intrinsic CanMEDS roles.
Kassam, Aliya; Cowan, Michèle; Donnon, Tyrone
2016-01-01
Background The CanMEDS roles provide a comprehensive framework to organize competency-based curricula; however, there is a challenge in finding feasible, valid, and reliable assessment methods to measure intrinsic roles such as Communicator and Collaborator. The objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) is more commonly used in postgraduate medical education for the assessment of clinical skills beyond medical expertise. Method We developed the CanMEDS In-Training Exam (CITE), a six-station OSCE designed to assess two different CanMEDS roles (one primary and one secondary) and general communication skills at each station. Correlation coefficients were computed for CanMEDS roles within and between stations, and for general communication, global rating, and total scores. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to investigate differences between year of residency, sex, and the type of residency program. Results In total, 63 residents participated in the CITE; 40 residents (63%) were from internal medicine programs, whereas the remaining 23 (37%) were pursuing other specialties. There was satisfactory internal consistency for all stations, and the total scores of the stations were strongly correlated with the global scores r=0.86, p<0.05. Noninternal medicine residents scored higher in terms of the Professional competency overall, whereas internal medicine residents scored significantly higher in the Collaborator competency overall. Discussion The OSCE checklists developed for the assessment of intrinsic CanMEDS roles were functional, but the specific items within stations required more uniformity to be used between stations. More generic types of checklists may also improve correlations across stations. Conclusion An OSCE measuring intrinsic competence is feasible; however, further development of our cases and checklists is needed. We provide a model of how to develop an OSCE to measure intrinsic CanMEDS roles that educators may adopt as residency programs move into competency-based medical education.
Levy, T; Walker, S; Mason, M; Spurrell, P; Rex, S; Brant, S; Paul, V
2001-01-01
OBJECTIVE—To determine the importance of rhythm regulation or rate control in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) and normal left ventricular function. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS—Thirty six patients with a mixed fast and slow ventricular response rate to their AF were randomised to either His bundle ablation (HBA) and VVIR pacemaker (HBA group) or VVI pacemaker and atrioventricular modifying drugs (Med group). Outcomes assessed at one, three, six, and 12 months included exercise duration and quality of life. RESULTS—Exercise duration significantly improved from baseline in both groups. There was no difference in outcome between the groups (Med +40% v HBA +20%, p = NS). The heart rate profile on exercise was similarly slowed in both groups compared to baseline. Quality of life significantly improved in both treatment arms for the modified Karolinska questionnaire (KQ) (Med +50% v HBA +50%, p = NS) and the Nottingham health profile (NHP) (Med +40% v HBA +20%, p = NS). However, for the individual symptom scores of each questionnaire more were improved in the Med group (KQ-Med 6 improved v HBA 4, NHP-Med 3 v HBA 1). Left ventricular function was equally preserved by both treatments during follow up. CONCLUSION—In these patients control of ventricular response rate with either HBA + VVIR pacemaker or atrioventricular modifying drugs + VVI pacemaker will lead to a significant improvement in exercise duration and quality of life. Rhythm regulation by HBA did not confer additional benefit, suggesting rate control alone is necessary for the successful symptomatic treatment of these patients in permanent AF. Keywords: ablation; atrial fibrillation; pacemaker; atrioventricular modifying drugs PMID:11156667
Sarntivijai, Sirarat; Zhang, Shelley; Jagannathan, Desikan G.; Zaman, Shadia; Burkhart, Keith K.; Omenn, Gilbert S.; He, Yongqun; Athey, Brian D.; Abernethy, Darrell R.
2016-01-01
Introduction A translational bioinformatics challenge lies in connecting population and individual’s clinical phenotypes in various formats to biological mechanisms. The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA®) is the default dictionary for Adverse Event (AE) reporting in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). The Ontology of Adverse Events (OAE) represents AEs as pathological processes occurring after drug exposures. Objectives The aim is to establish a semantic framework to link biological mechanisms to phenotypes of AEs by combining OAE with MedDRA® in FAERS data analysis. We investigated the AEs associated with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting tyrosine kinases. The selected 5 TKIs/mAbs (i.e., dasatinib, imatinib, lapatinib, cetuximab, and trastuzumab) are known to induce impaired ventricular function (non-QT) cardiotoxicity. Results Statistical analysis of FAERS data identified 1,053 distinct MedDRA® terms significantly associated with TKIs/mAbs, where 884 did not have corresponding OAE terms. We manually annotated these terms, added them to OAE by the standard OAE development strategy, and mapped them to MedDRA®. The data integration to provide insights into molecular mechanisms for drug-associated AEs is performed by including linkages in OAE for all related AE terms to MedDRA® and existing ontologies including Human Phenotype Ontology (HP), Uber Anatomy Ontology (UBERON), and Gene Ontology (GO). Sixteen AEs are shared by all 5 TKIs/mAbs, and each of 17 cardiotoxicity AEs was associated with at least one TKI/mAb. As an example, we analyzed ‘cardiac failure’ using the relations established in OAE with other ontologies, and demonstrated that one of the biological processes associated with cardiac failure maps to the genes associated with heart contraction. Conclusion By expanding existing OAE ontological design, our TKI use case demonstrates that the combination of OAE and MedDRA® provides a semantic framework to link clinical phenotypes of adverse drug events to biological mechanisms. PMID:27003817
Rangachari, Pavani
2018-01-01
Despite the regulatory impetus toward meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) to prevent medication errors during care transitions, hospital adherence has lagged for one chief reason: low physician engagement, stemming from lack of consensus about which physician is responsible for managing a patient's medication list. In October 2016, Augusta University received a 2-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system (AU Health) to progress from "limited use" of EHR MedRec technology to "meaningful use." The hypothesis is that SKN would bring together a diverse group of practitioners, to facilitate tacit knowledge exchange on issues related to EHR MedRec, which in turn is expected to increase practitioners' engagement in addressing those issues and enable meaningful use of EHR. The specific aims are to examine: 1) user-engagement in the SKN system, and 2) associations between "SKN use" and "meaningful use" of EHR. The 2-year project uses an exploratory mixed-method design and consists of three phases: 1) development; 2) SKN implementation; and 3) analysis. Phase 1, completed in May 2017, sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec from practitioners directly involved in the MedRec process. This process facilitated development of a "Reporting Tool" on issues related to EHR MedRec, which, along with an existing "SKN/Discussion Tool," was integrated into the EHR at AU Health. Phase 2 (launched in June 2017) involves implementing the EHR-integrated SKN system over a 52-week period in inpatient and outpatient medicine units. The prospective implementation design is expected to generate context-sensitive strategies for meaningful use and successful implementation of EHR MedRec and thereby make substantial contributions to the patient safety and risk management literature. From a health care policy perspective, if the hypothesis holds, federal vendors could be encouraged to incorporate SKN features into EHR systems.
Glady, Gilbert
2018-06-01
Asthma is one of the diseases that demonstrates a wide range of variation in its clinical expression, in addition to an important heterogeneity in the pathophysiological mechanisms present in each case. The ever-increasing knowledge of the molecular signalling routes and the development of the Bio Immune(G)ene Medicine [BI(G)MED] therapy in line with this knowledge has revealed a whole novel potential set of self-regulation biological molecules, that may be used to promote the physiological immunogenic self-regulation mechanisms and re-establish the homeostatic balance at a genomic, proteomic and cellular level. The aim of the present study is to demonstrate that the sublingual use of a therapeutic protocol based on BI(G)MED regulatory BIMUREGs in the treatment of chronic asthma may reduce or suppress corticosteroid therapy and avoid its harmful side effects which some patients suffer when using this treatment on a long-term basis. The clinical efficacy of BI(G)MED for chronic asthma was evaluated through a multi-centre study carried out in 2016 implementing a 6-month BI(G)MED treatment protocol for Bronchial Asthma. A total of 61 patients from private medical centres and of European countries including Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and Spain participated. The manuscript describes in detail the clinical efficacy of Bio Immune(G)ene regulatory BI(G)MED treatment protocol that allows the reduction or total removal of the corticosteroid dose in patients with chronic asthma. No adverse reactions were observed. The BI(G)MED regulatory therapy brings novel therapeutic possibilities as an effective and safe treatment of chronic asthma. BI(G)MED was demonstrated to significantly reduce asthma severity when parameter compositions were all analysed by categorical outcomes. Therefore, it is considered a good therapeutic alternative for patients who respond poorly to steroids.
Ølberg, Rolf-Arne; Sinclair, Melissa; Barker, Ian K; Crawshaw, Graham
2018-03-01
The combination of fentanyl and midazolam is commonly used as a sedative in humans. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sedative properties and physiological effects of fentanyl-midazolam and fentanyl-midazolam-ketamine compared with medetomidine-ketamine given intramuscularly in Japanese macaques ( Macaca fuscata). In a randomized crossover design, eight Japanese macaques were hand-injected with either 30 μg/kg fentanyl + 0.3 mg/kg midazolam (FM), 15 μg/kg fentanyl + 0.3 mg/kg midazolam + 5.0 mg/kg ketamine (FMK), or 0.05 mg/kg medetomidine + 5.0 mg/kg ketamine (MedK). Heart rate; indirect systolic, mean, and diastolic arterial pressure; respiratory rate; blood gas concentrations; rectal temperature; and duration of immobilization were recorded. Mixed linear models were used to evaluate the effects of drug treatment on all continuous variables, with a significance level of P < 0.05. Only three of seven animals receiving FM were successfully immobilized. All eight animals in both the FMK and MedK treatment groups had a rapid, smooth induction and were successfully immobilized. Both FMK and MedK treatments resulted in significant hypoxia and the animals required supplemental oxygen via face mask. The mean duration of FMK immobilization was 42 ± 10 min, significantly shorter than the 65 ± 14 min for the animals receiving MedK. Immobilization with MedK resulted in significantly lower heart rates, and significantly higher arterial pressure compared with FMK. Hypoventilation was significantly more pronounced in FMK-treated animals compared with MedK treatments. Immobilization with FMK resulted in a gradual, slow recovery whereas MedK-treated animals woke up more rapidly. Fentanyl-midazolam alone is not a useful sedative in Japanese macaques. A combination of fentanyl and midazolam with ketamine can be used as an alternative to medetomidine-ketamine in this species.
Agoritsas, Thomas; Merglen, Arnaud; Courvoisier, Delphine S; Combescure, Christophe; Garin, Nicolas; Perrier, Arnaud; Perneger, Thomas V
2012-06-12
Clinicians perform searches in PubMed daily, but retrieving relevant studies is challenging due to the rapid expansion of medical knowledge. Little is known about the performance of search strategies when they are applied to answer specific clinical questions. To compare the performance of 15 PubMed search strategies in retrieving relevant clinical trials on therapeutic interventions. We used Cochrane systematic reviews to identify relevant trials for 30 clinical questions. Search terms were extracted from the abstract using a predefined procedure based on the population, interventions, comparison, outcomes (PICO) framework and combined into queries. We tested 15 search strategies that varied in their query (PIC or PICO), use of PubMed's Clinical Queries therapeutic filters (broad or narrow), search limits, and PubMed links to related articles. We assessed sensitivity (recall) and positive predictive value (precision) of each strategy on the first 2 PubMed pages (40 articles) and on the complete search output. The performance of the search strategies varied widely according to the clinical question. Unfiltered searches and those using the broad filter of Clinical Queries produced large outputs and retrieved few relevant articles within the first 2 pages, resulting in a median sensitivity of only 10%-25%. In contrast, all searches using the narrow filter performed significantly better, with a median sensitivity of about 50% (all P < .001 compared with unfiltered queries) and positive predictive values of 20%-30% (P < .001 compared with unfiltered queries). This benefit was consistent for most clinical questions. Searches based on related articles retrieved about a third of the relevant studies. The Clinical Queries narrow filter, along with well-formulated queries based on the PICO framework, provided the greatest aid in retrieving relevant clinical trials within the 2 first PubMed pages. These results can help clinicians apply effective strategies to answer their questions at the point of care.
Doménech, Mónica; Roman, Pilar; Lapetra, José; García de la Corte, Francisco J; Sala-Vila, Aleix; de la Torre, Rafael; Corella, Dolores; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Valentina; Lamuela-Raventós, Rosa-María; Toledo, Estefania; Estruch, Ramón; Coca, Antonio; Ros, Emilio
2014-07-01
The PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) trial showed that Mediterranean diets (MedDiets) supplemented with either extravirgin olive oil or nuts reduced cardiovascular events, particularly stroke, compared with a control, lower fat diet. The mechanisms of cardiovascular protection remain unclear. We evaluated the 1-year effects of supplemented MedDiets on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP), blood glucose, and lipids. Randomized, parallel-design, controlled trial was conducted in 2 PREDIMED sites. Diets were ad libitum, and no advice on increasing physical activity or reducing sodium intake was given. Participants were 235 subjects (56.5% women; mean age, 66.5 years) at high cardiovascular risk (85.4% with hypertension). Adjusted changes from baseline in mean systolic BP were -2.3 (95% confidence interval [CI], -4.0 to -0.5) mm Hg and -2.6 (95% CI, -4.3 to -0.9) mm Hg in the MedDiets with olive oil and the MedDiets with nuts, respectively, and 1.7 (95% CI, -0.1 to 3.5) mm Hg in the control group (P<0.001). Respective changes in mean diastolic BP were -1.2 (95% CI, -2.2 to -0.2), -1.2 (95% CI, -2.2 to -0.2), and 0.7 (95% CI, -0.4 to 1.7) mm Hg (P=0.017). Daytime and nighttime BP followed similar patterns. Mean changes from baseline in fasting blood glucose were -6.1, -4.6, and 3.5 mg/dL (P=0.016) in the MedDiets with olive oil, MedDiets with nuts, and control diet, respectively; those of total cholesterol were -11.3, -13.6, and -4.4 mg/dL (P=0.043), respectively. In high-risk individuals, most with treated hypertension, MedDiets supplemented with extravirgin olive oil or nuts reduced 24-hour ambulatory BP, total cholesterol, and fasting glucose. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: ISRCTN35739639. © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.
MED-SUV final strategic issues
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Spampinato, Letizia; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Sangianantoni, Agata
2016-04-01
Aside the scientific, technical and financial aspects managed by the "Project Management" Work Package (WP1), the great challenge and more time consuming task of this WP has surely been the definition and application of some strategic guidelines crucial to trace the project right path to its final success and for the project outcome sustainability after month 36. In particular, given that one of the main objectives of MED-SUV is that to be compliant with the GEO initiative, particularly concerning the data sharing, great efforts have been made by WP1 at first to define the MED-SUV Data Policy Guidelines, and currently to make it suitable for the EU Supersites. At present, WP1 is also dealing with the exploitation of the achieved foreground among the project's participant and to define a Memorandum of Understanding to sustain the monitoring systems and e-infrastructure developed in the project framework. Whilst the Data Policy guidelines document was implemented in the first year of MED-SUV, WP1 is now focused on the last deliverable 'Strategic and Legal deliverables', which includes the remaining issues. To the aim, WP1 has strategically separated the Exploitation of Foreground document preparation from the Memorandum of Understanding definition. The Exploitation of Foreground process has regarded the identification of Foreground, the exploitable results, the purpose of such Foreground, the collection of information from either the scientific community of MED-SUV or industrial participants; to this aim WP1 circulated an ad hoc questionnaire to put together information on (the) every kind of MED-SUV outcome, on their owners, on the kind of ownership (single/joint), on the outcome exploitation, and on proposals for its sustainability. While the first information will allow us to prepare the final Exploitation Agreement among the project's participant, the information on the exploitation of the outcome and likely sustainability proposals will contribute to the definition of the project Memorandum of Understanding for the maintenance of the developed instrumentation and of the MED-SUV e-infrastructure following the project end.
It is beneficial to share good Diversity-related practices with other NHEERL Divisions. Sharing of this information will help MED showcase the many activities that are in place for Diversity that we are using to help us become a level 4 organization.
Genetics Home Reference: atelosteogenesis type 2
... 49-53. Review. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Rossi A, Superti-Furga A. Mutations in the diastrophic dysplasia sulfate transporter (DTDST) gene (SLC26A2): 22 novel mutations, mutation review, associated skeletal ...
Genetics Home Reference: CLN1 disease
... 10.1172/JCI33482. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Kollmann K, Uusi-Rauva K, Scifo E, Tyynelä J, Jalanko A, Braulke T. Cell biology and function of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis-related proteins. ...
The Mid-Continent Ecology Division (MED) conducts innovative research and predictive modeling to document and forecast the effects of pollutants on the integrity of watersheds and freshwater ecosystems.
Genetics Home Reference: alcohol use disorder
... or Free article on PubMed Central Awofala AA. Molecular and genetic determinants of alcohol dependence. J Addict Dis. 2013; ... G, Pascale E, Lucarelli M. Alcohol addiction: a molecular biology perspective. Curr Med Chem. 2015;22(6):670- ...
Genetics Home Reference: junctional epidermolysis bullosa
... PubMed Pulkkinen L, Uitto J. Mutation analysis and molecular genetics of epidermolysis bullosa. Matrix Biol. 1999 Feb;18( ... Sadowski S, Pfendner E, Uitto J. Epidermolysis bullosa. I. Molecular genetics of the junctional and hemidesmosomal variants. J Med ...
Genetics Home Reference: dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy
... Kawashima M, Tanaka F, Adachi H, Sobue G. Molecular genetics and biomarkers of polyglutamine diseases. Curr Mol Med. ... PubMed Tsuji S. Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy: clinical aspects and molecular genetics. Adv Neurol. 2002;89:231-9. Review. Citation ...
Genetics Home Reference: SATB2-associated syndrome
... factor Satb2 interacts with matrix attachment region DNA elements in a tissue-specific manner and demonstrates cell- ... Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Britanova O, de Juan Romero C, Cheung A, ...
Genetics Home Reference: isolated Pierre Robin sequence
... PG, Fitzpatrick DR, Lyonnet S. Highly conserved non-coding elements on either side of SOX9 associated with Pierre ... Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Jakobsen LP, Ullmann R, Christensen SB, Jensen KE, ...
Genetics Home Reference: neuroblastoma
... 2008 Oct 16;455(7215):967-70. doi: 10.1038/nature07398. Citation on PubMed Maris JM. Recent advances ... 2008 Oct 16;455(7215):930-5. doi: 10.1038/nature07261. Epub 2008 Aug 24. Citation on PubMed ...
Genetics Home Reference: gestational diabetes
... 2012 Jan 10. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Lowe WL Jr, Scholtens DM, Sandler V, Hayes MG. Genetics of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Maternal Metabolism. Curr Diab Rep. 2016 Feb;16(2):15. ...
Genetics Home Reference: glutathione synthetase deficiency
... Ristoff E, Larsson A. Inborn errors in the metabolism of glutathione. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2007 Mar 30;2:16. Review. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Wu G, Fang YZ, Yang S, ...
Mancano, Michael A
2015-02-01
The purpose of this feature is to heighten awareness of specific adverse drug reactions (ADRs), discuss methods of prevention, and promote reporting of ADRs to the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) MedWatch program (800-FDA-1088). If you have reported an interesting, preventable ADR to MedWatch, please consider sharing the account with our readers. Write to Dr. Mancano at ISMP, 200 Lakeside Drive, Suite 200, Horsham, PA 19044 (phone: 215-707-4936; e-mail: mmancano@temple.edu). Your report will be published anonymously unless otherwise requested. This feature is provided by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in cooperation with the FDA's Med Watch program and Temple University School of Pharmacy. ISMP is an FDA Med Watch partner.
Mancano, Michael A.
2016-01-01
The purpose of this feature is to heighten awareness of specific adverse drug reactions (ADRs), discuss methods of prevention, and promote reporting of ADRs to the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Med Watch program (800-FDA-1088). If you have reported an interesting, preventable ADR to Med Watch, please consider sharing the account with our readers. Write to Dr. Mancano at ISMP, 200 Lakeside Drive, Suite 200, Horsham, PA 19044 (phone: 215-707-4936; e-mail: mmancano@temple.edu). Your report will be published anonymously unless otherwise requested. This feature is provided by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in cooperation with the FDA's Med Watchprogram and Temple University School of Pharmacy. ISMP is an FDA Med Watch partner. PMID:27303087
Endo, Hiroshi
2015-01-01
This study examined whether manipulability during smartphone thumb-based touch operations could be predicted by the following robotic manipulability indices: the volume and direction of the 'manipulability ellipsoid' (MEd), both of which evaluate the influence of kinematics on manipulability. Limits of the thumb's range of motion were considered in the MEd to improve predictability. Thumb postures at 25 key target locations were measured in 16 subjects. Though there was no correlation between subjective evaluation and the volume of the MEd, high correlation was obtained when motion range limits were taken into account. These limits changed the size of the MEd and improved the accuracy of the manipulability evaluation. Movement directions associated with higher performance could also be predicted. In conclusion, robotic manipulability indices with motion range limits were considered to be useful measures for quantitatively evaluating human hand operations.
Management of data from clinical trials using the ArchiMed system.
Duftschmid, Georg; Gall, Walter; Eigenbauer, Ernst; Dorda, Wolfgang
2002-06-01
Clinical trials constitute a key source of medical research and are therefore conducted on a regular basis at university hospitals. The professional execution of trials requires, among other things, a repertoire of tools that support efficient data management. Tasks that are essential for efficient data management in clinical trials include the following: the design of the trial database, the design of electronic case report forms, recruiting patients, collection of data, and statistical analysis. The present article reports the manner in which these tasks are supported by the ArchiMed system at the University of Vienna and Graz Medical Schools. ArchiMed is customized for clinical end users, allowing them to autonomously manage their clinical trials without having to consult computer experts. An evaluation of the ArchiMed system in 12 trials recently conducted at the University of Vienna Medical School shows that the individual system functions can be usefully applied for data management in clinical trials.
Role for the MED21-MED7 Hinge in Assembly of the Mediator-RNA Polymerase II Holoenzyme*
Sato, Shigeo; Tomomori-Sato, Chieri; Tsai, Kuang-Lei; Yu, Xiaodi; Sardiu, Mihaela; Saraf, Anita; Washburn, Michael P.; Florens, Laurence; Asturias, Francisco J.; Conaway, Ronald C.
2016-01-01
Mediator plays an integral role in activation of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription. A key step in activation is binding of Mediator to Pol II to form the Mediator-Pol II holoenzyme. Here, we exploit a combination of biochemistry and macromolecular EM to investigate holoenzyme assembly. We identify a subset of human Mediator head module subunits that bind Pol II independent of other subunits and thus probably contribute to a major Pol II binding site. In addition, we show that binding of human Mediator to Pol II depends on the integrity of a conserved “hinge” in the middle module MED21-MED7 heterodimer. Point mutations in the hinge region leave core Mediator intact but lead to increased disorder of the middle module and markedly reduced affinity for Pol II. These findings highlight the importance of Mediator conformation for holoenzyme assembly. PMID:27821593
Mancano, Michael A.
2015-01-01
The purpose of this feature is to heighten awareness of specific adverse drug reactions (ADRs), discuss methods of prevention, and promote reporting of ADRs to the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) MedWatch program (800-FDA-1088). If you have reported an interesting, preventable ADR to MedWatch, please consider sharing the account with our readers. Write to Dr. Mancano at ISMP, 200 Lakeside Drive, Suite 200, Horsham, PA 19044 (phone: 215-707-4936; e-mail: mmancano@temple.edu). Your report will be published anonymously unless otherwise requested. This feature is provided by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in cooperation with the FDA’s MedWatch program and Temple University School of Pharmacy. ISMP is an FDA MedWatch partner. PMID:26405333
MedTxting: Learning based and Knowledge Rich SMS-style Medical Text Contraction
Liu, Feifan; Moosavinasab, Soheil; Houston, Thomas K.; Yu, Hong
2012-01-01
In mobile health (M-health), Short Message Service (SMS) has shown to improve disease related self-management and health service outcomes, leading to enhanced patient care. However, the hard limit on character size for each message limits the full value of exploring SMS communication in health care practices. To overcome this problem and improve the efficiency of clinical workflow, we developed an innovative system, MedTxting (available at http://medtxting.askhermes.org), which is a learning-based but knowledge-rich system that compresses medical texts in a SMS style. Evaluations on clinical questions and discharge summary narratives show that MedTxting can effectively compress medical texts with reasonable readability and noticeable size reduction. Findings in this work reveal potentials of MedTxting to the clinical settings, allowing for real-time and cost-effective communication, such as patient condition reporting, medication consulting, physicians connecting to share expertise to improve point of care. PMID:23304328
Mancano, Michael A
2017-04-01
The purpose of this feature is to heighten awareness of specific adverse drug reactions (ADRs), discuss methods of prevention, and promote reporting of ADRs to the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) MedWatch program (800-FDA-1088). If you have reported an interesting, preventable ADR to MedWatch, please consider sharing the account with our readers. Write to Dr. Mancano at ISMP, 200 Lakeside Drive, Suite 200, Horsham, PA 19044 (phone: 215-707-4936; e-mail: mmancano@temple.edu). Your report will be published anonymously unless otherwise requested. This feature is provided by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in cooperation with the FDA's MedWatch program and Temple University School of Pharmacy. ISMP is an FDA MedWatch partner.
Lankreijer, K; D'Hooghe, T; Sermeus, W; van Asseldonk, F P M; Repping, S; Dancet, E A F
2016-08-01
Can a valid and reliable questionnaire be developed to assess patients' experiences with all of the characteristics of hormonal fertility medication valued by them? The FertiMed questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool that assesses patients' experiences with all medication characteristics valued by them and that can be used for all hormonal fertility medications, irrespective of their route of administration. Hormonal fertility medications cause emotional strain and differ in their dosage regime and route of administration, although they often have comparable effectiveness. Medication experiences of former patients would be informative for medication choices. A recent literature review showed that there is no trustworthy tool to compare patients' experiences of medications with differing routes of administration, regarding all medication characteristics which patients value. The items of the new FertiMed questionnaire were generated by literature review and 23 patient interviews. In 2013, 411 IVF-patients were asked to retrospectively complete the FertiMed questionnaire to assess 1 out of the 8 different medications used for ovarian stimulation, induction of pituitary quiescence, ovulation triggering or luteal support. In total, 276 patients (on average 35 per medication) from 2 university fertility clinics (Belgium, the Netherlands) completed the FertiMed questionnaire (67% response rate). The FertiMed questionnaire questioned whether items were valued by patients and whether these items were experienced while using the assessed medication. Hence, the final outcome 'Experiences with Valued Aspects Scores' (EVAS) combined importance and experience ratings. The content and face validity, reliability, feasibility and discriminative potential of the FertiMed questionnaire were tested and changes were made accordingly. Patient interviews defined 51 items relevant to seven medication characteristics previously proved to be important to patients. Item analysis deleted 10 items. The combined results from the reliability and content validity analysis identified 10 characteristics instead of 7. The final FertiMed questionnaire was valid (Adapted Goodness of Fit Index = 0.95) and all but one characteristic ('ease of use: disturbance') could be assessed reliably (Cronbach's α > 0.60). The EVAS per characteristic differed between the medications inducing pituitary quiescence (P = 0.001). As all eight medications prescribed in the recruiting clinics were questioned, sample sizes per medication were rather small for presenting EVAS per medication and for testing the discriminative potential of the FertiMed questionnaire. The FertiMed questionnaire can be used for all hormonal fertility medications to assess in a valid and reliable way whether patients experience what they value regarding 10 medication characteristics (e.g. side effects and ease of use). Future randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing medications could include the FertiMed questionnaire as a Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM). Insights from these RCTs could be used to develop evidence-based decision aids aiming to facilitate shared physician-patient medication choices. Funding was received from the University of Leuven and Amsterdam University Medical Centre. E.A.F.D. holds a postdoctoral fellowship of the Research Foundation of Flanders. T.D. was appointed Vice-President and Head Global Medical Affairs Fertility at Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) on 1 October 2015. The reported project was initiated and finished before this date. The other authors had no conflicts of interest to declare. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Hardman, Roy J; Kennedy, Greg; Macpherson, Helen; Scholey, Andrew B; Pipingas, Andrew
2016-01-01
The Mediterranean-style diet (MedDiet) involves substantial intake of fruits, vegetables, and fish, and a lower consumption of dairy, red meat, and sugars. Over the past 15 years, much empirical evidence supports the suggestion that a MedDiet may be beneficial with respect to reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and dementia. A number of cross-sectional studies that have examined the impact of MedDiet on cognition have yielded largely positive results. The objective of this review is to evaluate longitudinal and prospective trials to gain an understanding of how a MedDiet may impact cognitive processes over time. The included studies were aimed at improving cognition or minimizing of cognitive decline. Studies reviewed included assessments of dietary status using either a food frequency questionnaire or a food diary assessment. Eighteen articles meeting our inclusion criteria were subjected to systematic review. These revealed that higher adherence to a MedDiet is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline, reduced conversion to Alzheimer's disease, and improvements in cognitive function. The specific cognitive domains that were found to benefit with improved Mediterranean Diet Score were memory (delayed recognition, long-term, and working memory), executive function, and visual constructs. The current review has also considered a number of methodological issues in making recommendations for future research. The utilization of a dietary pattern, such as the MedDiet, will be essential as part of the armamentarium to maintain quality of life and reduce the potential social and economic burden of dementia.
Hardman, Roy J.; Kennedy, Greg; Macpherson, Helen; Scholey, Andrew B.; Pipingas, Andrew
2016-01-01
The Mediterranean-style diet (MedDiet) involves substantial intake of fruits, vegetables, and fish, and a lower consumption of dairy, red meat, and sugars. Over the past 15 years, much empirical evidence supports the suggestion that a MedDiet may be beneficial with respect to reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and dementia. A number of cross-sectional studies that have examined the impact of MedDiet on cognition have yielded largely positive results. The objective of this review is to evaluate longitudinal and prospective trials to gain an understanding of how a MedDiet may impact cognitive processes over time. The included studies were aimed at improving cognition or minimizing of cognitive decline. Studies reviewed included assessments of dietary status using either a food frequency questionnaire or a food diary assessment. Eighteen articles meeting our inclusion criteria were subjected to systematic review. These revealed that higher adherence to a MedDiet is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline, reduced conversion to Alzheimer’s disease, and improvements in cognitive function. The specific cognitive domains that were found to benefit with improved Mediterranean Diet Score were memory (delayed recognition, long-term, and working memory), executive function, and visual constructs. The current review has also considered a number of methodological issues in making recommendations for future research. The utilization of a dietary pattern, such as the MedDiet, will be essential as part of the armamentarium to maintain quality of life and reduce the potential social and economic burden of dementia. PMID:27500135
Ir-192 HDR transit dose and radial dose function determination using alanine/EPR dosimetry
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Guzmán Calcina, Carmen S.; de Almeida, Adelaide; Oliveira Rocha, José R.; Abrego, Felipe Chen; Baffa, Oswaldo
2005-03-01
Source positioning close to the tumour in high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy is not instantaneous. An increment of dose will be delivered during the movement of the source in the trajectory to its static position. This increment is the transit dose, often not taken into account in brachytherapeutic treatment planning. The transit dose depends on the prescribed dose, number of treatment fractions, velocity and activity of the source. Combining all these factors, the transit dose can be 5% higher than the prescribed absorbed dose value (Sang-Hyun and Muller-Runkel, 1994 Phys. Med. Biol. 39 1181 8, Nath et al 1995 Med. Phys. 22 209 34). However, it cannot exceed this percentage (Nath et al 1995). In this work, we use the alanine-EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) dosimetric system using analysis of the first derivative of the signal. The transit dose was evaluated for an HDR system and is consistent with that already presented for TLD dosimeters (Bastin et al 1993 Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 26 695 702). Also using the same dosimetric system, the radial dose function, used to evaluate the geometric dose degradation around the source, was determined and its behaviour agrees better with those obtained by Monte Carlo simulations (Nath et al 1995, Williamson and Nath 1991 Med. Phys. 18 434 48, Ballester et al 1997 Med. Phys. 24 1221 8, Ballester et al 2001 Phys. Med. Biol. 46 N79 90) than with TLD measurements (Nath et al 1990 Med. Phys. 17 1032 40).
Ir-192 HDR transit dose and radial dose function determination using alanine/EPR dosimetry.
Calcina, Carmen S Guzmán; de Almeida, Adelaide; Rocha, José R Oliveira; Abrego, Felipe Chen; Baffa, Oswaldo
2005-03-21
Source positioning close to the tumour in high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy is not instantaneous. An increment of dose will be delivered during the movement of the source in the trajectory to its static position. This increment is the transit dose, often not taken into account in brachytherapeutic treatment planning. The transit dose depends on the prescribed dose, number of treatment fractions, velocity and activity of the source. Combining all these factors, the transit dose can be 5% higher than the prescribed absorbed dose value (Sang-Hyun and Muller-Runkel, 1994 Phys. Med. Biol. 39 1181-8, Nath et al 1995 Med. Phys. 22 209-34). However, it cannot exceed this percentage (Nath et al 1995). In this work, we use the alanine-EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) dosimetric system using analysis of the first derivative of the signal. The transit dose was evaluated for an HDR system and is consistent with that already presented for TLD dosimeters (Bastin et al 1993 Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 26 695-702). Also using the same dosimetric system, the radial dose function, used to evaluate the geometric dose degradation around the source, was determined and its behaviour agrees better with those obtained by Monte Carlo simulations (Nath et al 1995, Williamson and Nath 1991 Med. Phys. 18 434-48, Ballester et al 1997 Med. Phys. 24 1221-8, Ballester et al 2001 Phys. Med. Biol. 46 N79-90) than with TLD measurements (Nath et al 1990 Med. Phys. 17 1032-40).
Arpón, Ana; Milagro, Fermín I; Razquin, Cristina; Corella, Dolores; Estruch, Ramón; Fitó, Montserrat; Marti, Amelia; Martínez-González, Miguel A; Ros, Emilio; Salas-Salvadó, Jordi; Riezu-Boj, José-Ignacio; Martínez, J Alfredo
2017-12-23
DNA methylation could be reversible and mouldable by environmental factors, such as dietary exposures. The objective was to analyse whether an intervention with two Mediterranean diets, one rich in extra-virgin olive oil (MedDiet + EVOO) and the other one in nuts (MedDiet + nuts), was influencing the methylation status of peripheral white blood cells (PWBCs) genes. A subset of 36 representative individuals were selected within the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED-Navarra) trial, with three intervention groups in high cardiovascular risk volunteers: MedDiet + EVOO, MedDiet + nuts, and a low-fat control group. Methylation was assessed at baseline and at five-year follow-up. Ingenuity pathway analysis showed routes with differentially methylated CpG sites (CpGs) related to intermediate metabolism, diabetes, inflammation, and signal transduction. Two CpGs were specifically selected: cg01081346- CPT1B / CHKB-CPT1B and cg17071192- GNAS/GNASAS , being associated with intermediate metabolism. Furthermore, cg01081346 was associated with PUFAs intake, showing a role for specific fatty acids on epigenetic modulation. Specific components of MedDiet, particularly nuts and EVOO, were able to induce methylation changes in several PWBCs genes. These changes may have potential benefits in health; especially those changes in genes related to intermediate metabolism, diabetes, inflammation and signal transduction, which may contribute to explain the role of MedDiet and fat quality on health outcomes.
Razquin, Cristina; Estruch, Ramón; Fitó, Montserrat; Martínez-González, Miguel A.; Ros, Emilio
2017-01-01
DNA methylation could be reversible and mouldable by environmental factors, such as dietary exposures. The objective was to analyse whether an intervention with two Mediterranean diets, one rich in extra-virgin olive oil (MedDiet + EVOO) and the other one in nuts (MedDiet + nuts), was influencing the methylation status of peripheral white blood cells (PWBCs) genes. A subset of 36 representative individuals were selected within the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED-Navarra) trial, with three intervention groups in high cardiovascular risk volunteers: MedDiet + EVOO, MedDiet + nuts, and a low-fat control group. Methylation was assessed at baseline and at five-year follow-up. Ingenuity pathway analysis showed routes with differentially methylated CpG sites (CpGs) related to intermediate metabolism, diabetes, inflammation, and signal transduction. Two CpGs were specifically selected: cg01081346–CPT1B/CHKB-CPT1B and cg17071192–GNAS/GNASAS, being associated with intermediate metabolism. Furthermore, cg01081346 was associated with PUFAs intake, showing a role for specific fatty acids on epigenetic modulation. Specific components of MedDiet, particularly nuts and EVOO, were able to induce methylation changes in several PWBCs genes. These changes may have potential benefits in health; especially those changes in genes related to intermediate metabolism, diabetes, inflammation and signal transduction, which may contribute to explain the role of MedDiet and fat quality on health outcomes. PMID:29295516
Lokker, Cynthia; Haynes, R Brian; Wilczynski, Nancy L; McKibbon, K Ann; Walter, Stephen D
2011-01-01
Clinical Queries filters were developed to improve the retrieval of high-quality studies in searches on clinical matters. The study objective was to determine the yield of relevant citations and physician satisfaction while searching for diagnostic and treatment studies using the Clinical Queries page of PubMed compared with searching PubMed without these filters. Forty practicing physicians, presented with standardized treatment and diagnosis questions and one question of their choosing, entered search terms which were processed in a random, blinded fashion through PubMed alone and PubMed Clinical Queries. Participants rated search retrievals for applicability to the question at hand and satisfaction. For treatment, the primary outcome of retrieval of relevant articles was not significantly different between the groups, but a higher proportion of articles from the Clinical Queries searches met methodologic criteria (p=0.049), and more articles were published in core internal medicine journals (p=0.056). For diagnosis, the filtered results returned more relevant articles (p=0.031) and fewer irrelevant articles (overall retrieval less, p=0.023); participants needed to screen fewer articles before arriving at the first relevant citation (p<0.05). Relevance was also influenced by content terms used by participants in searching. Participants varied greatly in their search performance. Clinical Queries filtered searches returned more high-quality studies, though the retrieval of relevant articles was only statistically different between the groups for diagnosis questions. Retrieving clinically important research studies from Medline is a challenging task for physicians. Methodological search filters can improve search retrieval.
PubMed-based quantitative analysis of biomedical publications in the SAARC countries: 1985-2009.
Azim Majumder, Md Anwarul; Shaban, Sami F; Rahman, Sayeeda; Rahman, Nuzhat; Ahmed, Moslehuddin; Bin Abdulrahman, Khalid A; Islam, Ziauddin
2012-09-01
To conduct a geographical analysis of biomedical publications from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries over the past 25 years (1985-2009) using the PubMed database. A qualitative study. Web-based search during September 2010. A data extraction program, developed by one of the authors (SFS), was used to extract the raw publication counts from the downloaded PubMed data. A search of PubMed was performed for all journals indexed by selecting the advanced search option and entering the country name in the 'affiliation' field. The publications were normalized by total population, adult illiteracy rate, gross domestic product (GDP), secondary school enrollment ratio and Internet usage rate. The number of PubMed-listed papers published by the SAARC countries over the last 25 years totalled 141,783, which is 1.1% of the total papers indexed by PubMed in the same period. India alone produced 90.5% of total publications generated by SAARC countries. The average number of papers published per year from 1985 to 2009 was 5671 and number of publication increased approximately 242-fold. Normalizing by the population (per million) and GDP (per billion), India (133, 27.6%) and Nepal (323, 37.3%) had the highest publications respectively. There was a marked imbalance among the SAARC countries in terms of biomedical research and publication. Because of huge population and the high disease burden, biomedical research and publication output should receive special attention to formulate health policies, re-orient medical education curricula, and alleviate diseases and poverty.
Mostaghimi, Arash; Wanat, Karolyn; Crotty, Bradley H; Rosenbach, Misha
2015-10-16
In response to a perceived erosion of medical dermatology, combined internal medicine and dermatology programs (med/derm) programs have been developed that aim to train dermatologists who take care of medically complex patients. Despite the investment in these programs, there is currently no data with regards to the potential impact of these trainees on the dermatology workforce. To determine the experiences, motivations, and future plans of residents in combined med/derm residency programs. We surveyed residents at all United States institutions with both categorical and combined training programs in spring of 2012. Respondents used visual analog scales to rate clinical interests, self-assessed competency, career plans, and challenges. The primary study outcomes were comfort in taking care of patients with complex disease, future practice plans, and experience during residency. Twenty-eight of 31 med/derm residents (87.5%) and 28 of 91 (31%) categorical residents responded (overall response rate 46%). No significant differences were seen in self-assessed dermatology competency, or comfort in performing inpatient consultations, cosmetic procedures, or prescribing systemic agents. A trend toward less comfort in general dermatology was seen among med/derm residents. Med/derm residents were more likely to indicate career preferences for performing inpatient consultation and taking care of medically complex patients. Categorical residents rated their programs and experiences more highly. Med/derm residents have stronger interests in serving medically complex patients. Categorical residents are more likely to have a positive experience during residency. Future work will be needed to ascertain career choices among graduates once data are available.
Graham, John M; Visootsak, Jeannie; Dykens, Elisabeth; Huddleston, Lillie; Clark, Robin D; Jones, Kenneth L; Moeschler, John B; Opitz, John M; Morford, Jackie; Simensen, Richard; Rogers, R. Curtis; Schwartz, Charles E; Friez, Michael J; Stevenson, Roger E
2011-01-01
Opitz and Kaveggia [1974] reported on a family of five affected males with distinctive facial appearance, mental retardation, macrocephaly, imperforate anus and hypotonia. Risheg et al. [2007] identified an identical mutation (p.R961W) in MED12 in six families with Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome, including a surviving affected man from the family reported in 1974. The previously defined behavior phenotype of hyperactivity, affability, and excessive talkativeness is very frequent in young boys with this mutation, along with socially oriented, attention-seeking behaviors. We present case studies of two older males with FG syndrome and the p.R961W mutation to illustrate how their behavior changes with age. We also characterize the behavior of eight additional individuals with FG syndrome and this recurrent mutation in MED12 using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales 2nd ed., the Reiss Profile of Fundamental Goals and Motivation Sensitivities, and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Males with this MED12 mutation had deficits in communication skills compared to their socialization and daily living skills. In addition, they were at increased risk for maladaptive behavior, with a propensity towards aggression, anxiety, and inattention. Based on the behavior phenotype in 10 males with this recurrent MED12 mutation, we offer specific recommendations and interventional strategies. Our findings reinforce the importance of testing for the p.R961W MED12 mutation in males who are suspected of having developmental and behavioral problems with a clinical phenotype that is consistent with FG syndrome. PMID:18973276
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sangianantoni, Agata; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Spampinato, Letizia; Tulino, Sabrina
2015-04-01
The MED-SUV project aims to implement a digital e-infrastructure for data access in order to promote the monitoring and study of key volcanic regions prone to volcanic hazards, and thus improve hazard assessment, according to the rationale of Supersite GEO initiative to Vesuvius- Campi Flegrei and Mt Etna, currently identified as Permanent Supersites. The present study focuses on the life cycle of MED-SUV data generated in the first period of the project and highlights the managing approach, as well as the crucial steps to be implemented for ensuring that data will be properly and ethically managed and can be used and accessed from both MED-SUV and the external community. The process is conceived outlining how research data being handled as the project progresses, describing what data are collected, processed or generated and how these data are going to be shared and made available through Open Access. Data cycle begins with their generation and ends with the deposit in the digital infrastructure, its key series of stages through which MED-SUV data passes are Collection, Data citation, Categorization of data, Approval procedure, Registration of datasets, Application of licensing models, and PID assignment. This involves a combination of procedures and practices taking into account the scientific core mission and the priorities of the project as well as the potential legal issues related to the management and protection of the Intellectual Property. We believe that the implementation of this process constitutes a significant encouragement in MED-SUV data sharing and as a consequence a better understanding on the volcanic processes, hazard assessment and a better integration with other Supersites projects.
Implementing a Mediterranean-Style Diet Outside the Mediterranean Region.
Murphy, Karen J; Parletta, Natalie
2018-05-04
Populations surrounding the Mediterranean basin have traditionally reaped health benefits from a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), which may benefit Westernized countries plagued by chronic disease. But is it feasible to implement beyond the Mediterranean? To answer this question, we present evidence from randomized controlled trials that achieved high dietary compliance rates with subsequent physical and mental health benefits. In the 1960s, the Seven Countries Study identified dietary qualities of Mediterranean populations associated with healthy aging and longevity. The PREDIMED study confirmed reductions in CVD-related mortality with a MedDiet; a meta-analysis in over 4.7 million people showed reduced mortality, CVD-related mortality, and reduced risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Continually emerging research supports the MedDiet's benefits for chronic diseases including metabolic syndrome, cancers, liver disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, and anxiety. We summarize components of studies outside the Mediterranean that achieved high compliance to a Med-style diet: dietitian led, dietary education, goal setting, mindfulness; recipe books, meal plans, and food checklists; food hampers; regular contact between volunteers and staff through regular cooking classes; clinic visits; and recipes that are simple, palatable, and affordable. The next step is testing the MedDiet's feasibility in the community. Potential obstacles include access to dietetic/health care professionals, high meat intake, pervasive processed foods, and fast food outlets. For Western countries to promote a Med-style diet, collective support from government, key stakeholders and policy makers, food industry, retailers, and health professionals is needed to ensure the healthiest choice is the easiest choice.
Genetics Home Reference: spastic paraplegia type 3A
... on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Blackstone C. Cellular pathways of hereditary spastic paraplegia. Annu ... PP, Soderblom C, Tao-Cheng JH, Stadler J, Blackstone C. SPG3A protein atlastin-1 is enriched in ...
... antifungals. It works by slowing the growth of fungi that cause infection. ... may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online (http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch) or by phone (1-800-332-1088).
... echinocandins. It works by slowing the growth of fungi that cause infection. ... may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online (http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch) or by phone (1-800-332-1088).
Genetics Home Reference: microphthalmia with linear skin defects syndrome
... oxidative phosphorylation , by which mitochondria generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cell's main energy source. It also plays ... Syndrome ClinicalTrials.gov (1 link) ClinicalTrials.gov Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
Genetics Home Reference: cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia
... on PubMed Marcucci G, Haferlach T, Döhner H. Molecular genetics of adult acute myeloid leukemia: prognostic and therapeutic ... on PubMed Sanders MA, Valk PJ. The evolving molecular genetic landscape in acute myeloid leukaemia. Curr Opin Hematol. ...
Genetics Home Reference: epidermolysis bullosa with pyloric atresia
... PubMed Pulkkinen L, Uitto J. Mutation analysis and molecular genetics of epidermolysis bullosa. Matrix Biol. 1999 Feb;18( ... Sadowski S, Pfendner E, Uitto J. Epidermolysis bullosa. I. Molecular genetics of the junctional and hemidesmosomal variants. J Med ...
EPA MED-DULUTH'S ECOTOX AND ECO-SSL WEB APPLICATIONS
The ECOTOX (ECOTOXicology Database) system developed by the USEPA, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), Mid-Continent Ecology Division in Duluth, MN (MED-Duluth), provides a web browser search interface for locating aquatic and terrestrial toxic...
Genetics Home Reference: Holt-Oram syndrome
... PubMed OMIM: HOLT-ORAM SYNDROME Hatcher CJ, McDermott DA. Using the TBX5 transcription factor to grow and ... 2002;67:115-20. Citation on PubMed McDermott DA, Bressan MC, He J, Lee JS, Aftimos S, Brueckner ...
Genetics Home Reference: alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
... 27(3):274-81. Review. Citation on PubMed de Serres FJ, Blanco I, Fernández-Bustillo E. Estimated ... 9. Epub 2006 Sep 27. Citation on PubMed de Serres FJ, Blanco I, Fernández-Bustillo E. Estimating ...
Genetics Home Reference: Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome
... 1172-7-56. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Watkins D, Rosenblatt DS. Lessons in biology from patients with inborn errors of vitamin B12 metabolism. Biochimie. 2013 May;95(5):1019-22. doi: ...
The report is based on data and experience gained through the GLNPO-funded Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Consortium (GLCWC) and the EPA-STAR funded Great Lakes Ecological Indicators Project (GLEI). EPA-MED author Trebitz and other MED personnel were collaborators on the GLEI proje...
An approach to assessing stochastic radiogenic risk in medical imaging
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Wolbarst, Anthony B.; Hendee, William R.; Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55901
2011-12-15
Purpose: This letter suggests a formalism, the medical effective dose (MED), that is suitable for assessing stochastic radiogenic risks in diagnostic medical procedures. Methods: The MED is derived from radiobiological and probabilistic first principals, including: (1) The independence of radiation-induced biological effects in neighboring voxels at low doses; (2) the linear no-threshold assumption for stochastic radiation injury (although other dose-response relationships could be incorporated, instead); (3) the best human radiation dose-response data currently available; and (4) the built-in possibility that the carcinogenic risk to an irradiated organ may depend on its volume. The MED involves a dose-risk summation over irradiatedmore » voxels at high spatial resolution; it reduces to the traditional effective dose when every organ is irradiated uniformly and when the dependence of risk on organ volumes is ignored. Standard relative-risk tissue weighting factors can be used with the MED approach until more refined data become available. Results: The MED is intended for clinical and phantom dosimetry, and it provides an estimate of overall relative radiogenic stochastic risk for any given dose distribution. A result of the MED derivation is that the stochastic risk may increase with the volume of tissue (i.e., the number of cells) irradiated, a feature that can be activated when forthcoming radiobiological research warrants it. In this regard, the MED resembles neither the standard effective dose (E) nor the CT dose index (CTDI), but it is somewhat like the CT dose-length product (DLP). Conclusions: The MED is a novel, probabilistically and biologically based means of estimating stochastic-risk-weighted doses associated with medical imaging. Built in, ab initio, is the ability to link radiogenic risk to organ volume and other clinical factors. It is straightforward to implement when medical dose distributions are available, provided that one is content, for the time being, to accept the relative tissue weighting factors published by the International Commission of Radiological Protection (ICRP). It requires no new radiobiological data and avoids major problems encountered by the E, CTDI, and CT-E formalisms. It makes possible relative inter-patient dosimetry, and also realistic intercomparisons of stochastic risks from different protocols that yield images of comparable quality.« less
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
2010-07-09
... Safety Network (MedSun). Additionally, the electronic form will include hospital profile information and... Device-Safety Exchange (DS-X) (formerly called M-Den), which was a moderated site where MedSun members... emerging [[Page 39536
47 CFR 95.1203 - Authorized locations.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
2010-10-01
... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Authorized locations. 95.1203 Section 95.1203 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES PERSONAL RADIO SERVICES Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio) § 95.1203 Authorized locations. MedRadio...
Genetics Home Reference: isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency
... Metabolic Disorders (CLIMB) March of Dimes: Amino Acid Metabolism Disorders The Compassionate Friends GeneReviews (1 link) Isolated Sulfite Oxidase Deficiency ClinicalTrials.gov (1 link) ClinicalTrials.gov Scientific Articles on PubMed (1 link) PubMed OMIM (1 link) ...
Genetics Home Reference: arginine:glycine amidinotransferase deficiency
... amidinotransferase deficiency: the third inborn error of creatine metabolism in humans. Am J Hum Genet. 2001 Nov;69(5):1127-33. Epub 2001 Sep 10. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Nasrallah F, Feki M, Kaabachi ...
Genetics Home Reference: neuroferritinopathy
... J. Neuroferritinopathy: a new inborn error of iron metabolism. Neurogenetics. 2012 Feb;13(1):93-6. doi: 10.1007/s10048-011-0310-9. Epub 2012 Jan 26. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Keogh MJ, Morris CM, Chinnery ...
Genetics Home Reference: trisomy 13
... and review of literature. Am J Med Genet A. 2006 Jan 1;140(1):92-3. Review. Citation on PubMed Parker MJ, Budd JL, Draper ES, Young ID. Trisomy 13 and trisomy 18 in a defined population: epidemiological, genetic and prenatal observations. Prenat ...
2007-03-01
skiing injuries in physically disabled skiers . Am J Sports Med. 1992; 20:553-557 13. Cooper RA, Thorman T, Cooper R, Dvorznak MJ, Fitzgerald SG...Laskowski ER, Murtaugh PA. Snow skiing injuries in physically disabled skiers . Am J Sports Med. 1992; 20: 553-557 8. International Paralympic Committee...competitive skier with a disability. Am J Sports Med. 1992; 20: 55-60 10. Kirkby RJ, Cull J, Foreman P. Association of prelesion sports participation and
A Study of Gaps in Defensive Countermeasures for Web Security
2016-10-14
Reuse 4 1 1 High Session fixation 3 3 2 High Privilege escalation 2 6 7 Med Logic vulnerabilities 2 4 2,5,7 Med File inclusion N /A 5 4 Med Drive-by...downloads N /A N /A 10 Low Clickjacking N /A 7 N /A Low Plug-in attacks N /A N /A 9 Low of attacks occurring in each area. Reliable and well-classified data...that mapped cleanly to the attack areas described above, as indicated by N /A in the table. 4 2.3 GAP DISCOVERY PROCESS For the purposes of this study
A Study of Gaps in Defensive Countermeasures for Web Security
2015-10-18
4 1 1 High Session fixation 3 3 2 High Privilege escalation 2 6 7 Med Logic vulnerabilities 2 4 2,5,7 Med File inclusion N /A 5 4 Med Drive-by...downloads N /A N /A 10 Low Clickjacking N /A 7 N /A Low Plug-in attacks N /A N /A 9 Low occurring in each area. Reliable and well-classified data sources are...cleanly to the attack areas described above, as indicated by N /A in the table. 6 3.3 GAP DISCOVERY PROCESS For the purposes of this study, we focus on the
[Taehan Kan Hakhoe Chi (The Korean Journal of Hepatology) and Index Medicus (Medline/PubMed)].
Lee, Dong Hoo
2003-03-01
It is our great pleasure to announce that the Taehan Kan Hakhoe Chi (The Korean Journal of Hepatology) was approved for listing, from 2002, in the Index Medicus, Medline/PubMed of the National Library of Medicine, NIH of USA. Herein, I review the searching tools employing a Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) such as liver disease and liver neoplasm or an author index for this Journal in the PubMed at a website. Of course, The Korean Journal of Hepatology should be continually striving to be upgraded. Dream comes true.
Can CanMEDS competencies be developed in medical school anatomy laboratories? A literature review.
Hefler, Joshua; Ramnanan, Christopher J
2017-06-16
The purpose of this literature review was to identify potential ways in which undergraduate medical anatomy education may be relevant to the CanMEDS Roles, a competency-based framework used throughout Canadian medical training. A scoping review of medical education literature was conducted in March 2017 for English language publications that included key words related to anatomy education and to key competencies formally described for each of the Roles in the CanMEDS 2015 framework. Indicated benefits were then collated, characterized, and synthesized for each CanMEDS Role. There were 71 studies identified describing original findings. Perceived benefits of anatomy education were most often identified for competencies related to the Medical Expert Role. Multiple studies also cited benefits related to the Scholar, Professional and Collaborator Roles. There was a lack of literature related to the Health Advocate, Communicator, and Leader Roles. The majority of benefits defined in the literature were limited to student perceptions rather than objectively measured outcomes. There is some evidence to suggest that anatomy education can facilitate the development of core competencies related to several CanMEDS Roles, outside of simply developing medical knowledge in the Medical Expert Role. Future studies need to develop methods to objectively assess outcomes related to these competencies.
Gender Differences in the Appetite Response to a Satiating Diet
Bédard, Alexandra; Hudon, Anne-Marie; Drapeau, Vicky; Corneau, Louise; Dodin, Sylvie; Lemieux, Simone
2015-01-01
We examined gender differences in appetite sensations when exposed to Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) meals and determined whether there are gender differences in the change in the satiating properties of the MedDiet over time. Thirty-eight men and 32 premenopausal women consumed a 4-week isoenergetic MedDiet under controlled conditions. Visual analogue scales were used to measure perceived appetite sensations before and immediately after each meal consumed over the course of one day (Wednesday) of the first and the fourth week of intervention. Women reported greater decreases for desire to eat, hunger, and appetite score than men in response to the consumption of the MedDiet meals (gender-by-meal interactions, resp., P = 0.04, P = 0.048, and P = 0.03). Fullness and prospective food consumption responses did not significantly differ between men and women. Between the first and the fourth week of intervention, premeal prospective food consumption increased with time in men (P = 0.0007) but not in women (P = 0.84; P for gender-by-time interaction = 0.04). These results indicate gender differences in appetite sensations when exposed to the MedDiet. These results may be useful in order to have a better understanding of gender issues for body weight management. PMID:26442158
Data regarding articles retracted from PubMed indexed dental journals from India.
Shamim, Thorakkal
2018-06-01
This data aimed to audit the articles retracted from PubMed indexed dental journals from India. The PubMed indexed journals considered are Indian Journal of Dental research, Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology, Contemporary Clinical Dentistry, Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society for type of article, name of dental specialty, topic of individual dental specialties, causes for retraction of article and authorship trend of retracted articles using web-based search. Among PubMed indexed Indian dental journals,the number of retracted articles were as follows: Indian Journal of Dental research (4) followed by Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology (3), Contemporary Clinical Dentistry (3), Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry (2), Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology (2) and Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society (1). Out of 15 retracted articles from PubMed indexed Indian dental journals, case reports (7) form a major share followed by original articles(6) and review articles (2). Among the dental specialties of retracted articles, oral pathology and microbiology (5) constitute the major share followed by periodontics (4), pedodontics (4), oral medicine and radiology (1) and prosthodontics (1). Duplicate publication (7), plagiarism (5) and authorship dispute (3) are the causes for the retraction of article.
Davis, Philip M
2013-07-01
Does PubMed Central--a government-run digital archive of biomedical articles--compete with scientific society journals? A longitudinal, retrospective cohort analysis of 13,223 articles (5999 treatment, 7224 control) published in 14 society-run biomedical research journals in nutrition, experimental biology, physiology, and radiology between February 2008 and January 2011 reveals a 21.4% reduction in full-text hypertext markup language (HTML) article downloads and a 13.8% reduction in portable document format (PDF) article downloads from the journals' websites when U.S. National Institutes of Health-sponsored articles (treatment) become freely available from the PubMed Central repository. In addition, the effect of PubMed Central on reducing PDF article downloads is increasing over time, growing at a rate of 1.6% per year. There was no longitudinal effect for full-text HTML downloads. While PubMed Central may be providing complementary access to readers traditionally underserved by scientific journals, the loss of article readership from the journal website may weaken the ability of the journal to build communities of interest around research papers, impede the communication of news and events to scientific society members and journal readers, and reduce the perceived value of the journal to institutional subscribers.
Alderighi, Marzia; Ferrari, Raffaello; Maghini, Irene; Del Felice, Alessandra; Masiero, Stefano
2016-11-21
Radiographic examination is the gold standard to evaluate spine curves, but ionising radiations limit routine use. Non-invasive methods, such as skin-surface goniometer (IncliMed®) should be used instead. To evaluate intra- and interrater reliability to assess sagittal curves and mobility of the spine with IncliMed®. a reliability study on agonistic football players. Thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and mobility of the spine were assessed by IncliMed®. Measurements were repeated twice by each examiner during the same session with between-rater blinding. Intrarater and interrater reliability were measured by Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), 95% Confidence Interval (CI 95%) and Standard Error of Measurement (SEM). Thirty-four healthy female football players (19.17 ± 4.52 years) were enrolled. Statistical results showed high intrarater (0.805-0.923) and interrater (0.701-0.886) reliability (ICC > 0.8). The obtained intra- and interrater SEM were low, with overall absolute intrarater values between 1.39° and 2.76° and overall interrater values between 1.71° and 4.25°. IncliMed® provides high intra- and interrater reliability in healthy subjects, with limited Standard Error of Measurement. These results encourage its use in clinical practice and scientific research.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Vega, Francisco; Pérez, Wilson; Tello, Andrés.; Saquicela, Victor; Espinoza, Mauricio; Solano-Quinde, Lizandro; Vidal, Maria-Esther; La Cruz, Alexandra
2015-12-01
Advances in medical imaging have fostered medical diagnosis based on digital images. Consequently, the number of studies by medical images diagnosis increases, thus, collaborative work and tele-radiology systems are required to effectively scale up to this diagnosis trend. We tackle the problem of the collaborative access of medical images, and present WebMedSA, a framework to manage large datasets of medical images. WebMedSA relies on a PACS and supports the ontological annotation, as well as segmentation and visualization of the images based on their semantic description. Ontological annotations can be performed directly on the volumetric image or at different image planes (e.g., axial, coronal, or sagittal); furthermore, annotations can be complemented after applying a segmentation technique. WebMedSA is based on three main steps: (1) RDF-ization process for extracting, anonymizing, and serializing metadata comprised in DICOM medical images into RDF/XML; (2) Integration of different biomedical ontologies (using L-MOM library), making this approach ontology independent; and (3) segmentation and visualization of annotated data which is further used to generate new annotations according to expert knowledge, and validation. Initial user evaluations suggest that WebMedSA facilitates the exchange of knowledge between radiologists, and provides the basis for collaborative work among them.
Zhao, Di; Weng, Chunhua
2011-10-01
In this paper, we propose a novel method that combines PubMed knowledge and Electronic Health Records to develop a weighted Bayesian Network Inference (BNI) model for pancreatic cancer prediction. We selected 20 common risk factors associated with pancreatic cancer and used PubMed knowledge to weigh the risk factors. A keyword-based algorithm was developed to extract and classify PubMed abstracts into three categories that represented positive, negative, or neutral associations between each risk factor and pancreatic cancer. Then we designed a weighted BNI model by adding the normalized weights into a conventional BNI model. We used this model to extract the EHR values for patients with or without pancreatic cancer, which then enabled us to calculate the prior probabilities for the 20 risk factors in the BNI. The software iDiagnosis was designed to use this weighted BNI model for predicting pancreatic cancer. In an evaluation using a case-control dataset, the weighted BNI model significantly outperformed the conventional BNI and two other classifiers (k-Nearest Neighbor and Support Vector Machine). We conclude that the weighted BNI using PubMed knowledge and EHR data shows remarkable accuracy improvement over existing representative methods for pancreatic cancer prediction. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Zhao, Di; Weng, Chunhua
2011-01-01
In this paper, we propose a novel method that combines PubMed knowledge and Electronic Health Records to develop a weighted Bayesian Network Inference (BNI) model for pancreatic cancer prediction. We selected 20 common risk factors associated with pancreatic cancer and used PubMed knowledge to weigh the risk factors. A keyword-based algorithm was developed to extract and classify PubMed abstracts into three categories that represented positive, negative, or neutral associations between each risk factor and pancreatic cancer. Then we designed a weighted BNI model by adding the normalized weights into a conventional BNI model. We used this model to extract the EHR values for patients with or without pancreatic cancer, which then enabled us to calculate the prior probabilities for the 20 risk factors in the BNI. The software iDiagnosis was designed to use this weighted BNI model for predicting pancreatic cancer. In an evaluation using a case-control dataset, the weighted BNI model significantly outperformed the conventional BNI and two other classifiers (k-Nearest Neighbor and Support Vector Machine). We conclude that the weighted BNI using PubMed knowledge and EHR data shows remarkable accuracy improvement over existing representative methods for pancreatic cancer prediction. PMID:21642013
Can CanMEDS competencies be developed in medical school anatomy laboratories? A literature review
Ramnanan, Christopher J.
2017-01-01
Objectives The purpose of this literature review was to identify potential ways in which undergraduate medical anatomy education may be relevant to the CanMEDS Roles, a competency-based framework used throughout Canadian medical training. Methods A scoping review of medical education literature was conducted in March 2017 for English language publications that included key words related to anatomy education and to key competencies formally described for each of the Roles in the CanMEDS 2015 framework. Indicated benefits were then collated, characterized, and synthesized for each CanMEDS Role. Results There were 71 studies identified describing original findings. Perceived benefits of anatomy education were most often identified for competencies related to the Medical Expert Role. Multiple studies also cited benefits related to the Scholar, Professional and Collaborator Roles. There was a lack of literature related to the Health Advocate, Communicator, and Leader Roles. The majority of benefits defined in the literature were limited to student perceptions rather than objectively measured outcomes. Conclusions There is some evidence to suggest that anatomy education can facilitate the development of core competencies related to several CanMEDS Roles, outside of simply developing medical knowledge in the Medical Expert Role. Future studies need to develop methods to objectively assess outcomes related to these competencies. PMID:28650843
GenderMedDB: an interactive database of sex and gender-specific medical literature.
Oertelt-Prigione, Sabine; Gohlke, Björn-Oliver; Dunkel, Mathias; Preissner, Robert; Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera
2014-01-01
Searches for sex and gender-specific publications are complicated by the absence of a specific algorithm within search engines and by the lack of adequate archives to collect the retrieved results. We previously addressed this issue by initiating the first systematic archive of medical literature containing sex and/or gender-specific analyses. This initial collection has now been greatly enlarged and re-organized as a free user-friendly database with multiple functions: GenderMedDB (http://gendermeddb.charite.de). GenderMedDB retrieves the included publications from the PubMed database. Manuscripts containing sex and/or gender-specific analysis are continuously screened and the relevant findings organized systematically into disciplines and diseases. Publications are furthermore classified by research type, subject and participant numbers. More than 11,000 abstracts are currently included in the database, after screening more than 40,000 publications. The main functions of the database include searches by publication data or content analysis based on pre-defined classifications. In addition, registrants are enabled to upload relevant publications, access descriptive publication statistics and interact in an open user forum. Overall, GenderMedDB offers the advantages of a discipline-specific search engine as well as the functions of a participative tool for the gender medicine community.
Memory enhancing drugs and Alzheimer's disease: enhancing the self or preventing the loss of it?
Dekkers, Wim; Rikkert, Marcel Olde
2007-06-01
In this paper we analyse some ethical and philosophical questions related to the development of memory enhancing drugs (MEDs) and anti-dementia drugs. The world of memory enhancement is coloured by utopian thinking and by the desire for quicker, sharper, and more reliable memories. Dementia is characterized by decline, fragility, vulnerability, a loss of the most important cognitive functions and even a loss of self. While MEDs are being developed for self-improvement, in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) the self is being lost. Despite this it is precisely those patients with AD and other forms of dementia that provide the subjects for scientific research on memory improvement. Biomedical research in the field of MEDs and anti-dementia drugs appears to provide a strong impetus for rethinking what we mean by 'memory', 'enhancement', 'therapy', and 'self'. We conclude (1) that the enhancement of memory is still in its infancy, (2) that current MEDs and anti-dementia drugs are at best partially and minimally effective under specific conditions, (3) that 'memory' and 'enhancement' are ambiguous terms, (4) that there is no clear-cut distinction between enhancement and therapy, and (5) that the research into MEDs and anti-dementia drugs encourages a reductionistic view of the human mind and of the self.
Chen, Wei; Zhang, Xiaoting; Birsoy, Kivanc; Roeder, Robert G
2010-06-01
As conventional transcriptional factors that are activated in diverse signaling pathways, nuclear receptors play important roles in many physiological processes that include energy homeostasis. The MED1 subunit of the Mediator coactivator complex plays a broad role in nuclear receptor-mediated transcription by anchoring the Mediator complex to diverse promoter-bound nuclear receptors. Given the significant role of skeletal muscle, in part through the action of nuclear receptors, in glucose and fatty acid metabolism, we generated skeletal muscle-specific Med1 knockout mice. Importantly, these mice show enhanced insulin sensitivity and improved glucose tolerance as well as resistance to high-fat diet-induced obesity. Furthermore, the white muscle of these mice exhibits increased mitochondrial density and expression of genes specific to type I and type IIA fibers, indicating a fast-to-slow fiber switch, as well as markedly increased expression of the brown adipose tissue-specific UCP-1 and Cidea genes that are involved in respiratory uncoupling. These dramatic results implicate MED1 as a powerful suppressor in skeletal muscle of genetic programs implicated in energy expenditure and raise the significant possibility of therapeutical approaches for metabolic syndromes and muscle diseases through modulation of MED1-nuclear receptor interactions.
47 CFR Appendix 1 to Subpart E of... - Glossary of Terms
Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR
2013-10-01
... typically includes a frequency monitoring system that initiates a MedRadio communications session. MedRadio... Part 95 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO... station authorized in the CB. Channel frequencies. Reference frequencies from which the carrier frequency...
47 CFR Appendix 1 to Subpart E of... - Glossary of Terms
Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR
2014-10-01
... typically includes a frequency monitoring system that initiates a MedRadio communications session. MedRadio... Part 95 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO... station authorized in the CB. Channel frequencies. Reference frequencies from which the carrier frequency...
... is used to treat pneumonia caused by a fungus called Pneumocystis carinii. It is in a class ... may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online (http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch) or by phone (1-800-332-1088).
A-Z Directory | The University of Virginia
/cardiovascular-medicine/ Cardiovascular Nutrition (Diet and Cardiovascular Disease) http Medicine) https://med.virginia.edu/ Clinical Nutrition Services https://uvahealth.com/services/nutrition ... Nuclear Medicine, Division of https://med.virginia.edu/radiology/ Nutrition Services (Department of
Genetics Home Reference: Cohen syndrome
... complex and directs neurite outgrowth. J Biol Chem. 2015 Feb 6;290(6):3349-58. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.608174. Epub 2014 Dec 9. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Wang H, Falk MJ, Wensel C, Traboulsi EI. Cohen ...
Genetics Home Reference: congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects
... lesions. Arch Dermatol. 2006 Mar;142(3):348-51. Citation on PubMed Herman GE. Disorders of cholesterol ... Genet A. 2003 Oct 15;122A(3):246-51. Citation on PubMed Kaminska-Winciorek G, Brzezinska-Wcisło ...
Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR
2011-10-01
... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES PERSONAL RADIO... health care professionals are permitted to operate MedRadio transmitters. Persons may also operate Med... devices that are used by the person at the direction of a duly authorized health care professional; this...
Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
2010-10-01
... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES PERSONAL RADIO... health care professionals are permitted to operate MedRadio transmitters. Persons may also operate Med... devices that are used by the person at the direction of a duly authorized health care professional; this...
Genetics Home Reference: Ohdo syndrome, Say-Barber-Biesecker-Young-Simpson variant
... Bean LJH, Bird TD, Ledbetter N, Mefford HC, Smith RJH, Stephens K, editors. GeneReviews® [Internet]. Seattle (WA): ... PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Clayton-Smith J, O'Sullivan J, Daly S, Bhaskar S, Day R, ...
Genetics Home Reference: cerebral folate transport deficiency
... a treatable neurodegenerative disorder associated with disturbed myelin metabolism. Am J Hum Genet. 2009 Sep;85(3):354-63. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2009.08.005. Citation on PubMed or Free article on PubMed Central Toelle SP, Wille D, Schmitt ...
Roles of Estrogen Receptor-α and the Coactivator MED1 During Human Endometrial Decidualization
Kaya Okur, Hatice S.; Das, Amrita; Taylor, Robert N.; Bagchi, Indrani C.
2016-01-01
The steroid hormones 17β-estradiol and progesterone are critical regulators of endometrial stromal cell differentiation, known as decidualization, which is a prerequisite for successful establishment of pregnancy. The present study using primary human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs) addressed the role of estrogen receptor-α (ESR1) in decidualization. Knockdown of ESR1 transcripts by RNA interference led to a marked reduction in decidualization of HESCs. Gene expression profiling at an early stage of decidualization indicated that ESR1 negatively regulates several cell cycle regulatory factors, thereby suppressing the proliferation of HESCs as these cells enter the differentiation program. ESR1 also controls the expression of WNT4, FOXO1, and progesterone receptor (PGR), well-known mediators of decidualization. Whereas ESR1 knockdown strongly inhibited the expression of FOXO1 and WNT4 transcripts within 24 hours of the initiation of decidualization, PGR expression remained unaffected at this early time point. Our study also revealed a major role of cAMP signaling in influencing the function of ESR1 during decidualization. Using a proteomic approach, we discovered that the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylates Mediator 1 (MED1), a subunit of the mediator coactivator complex, during HESC differentiation. Using immunoprecipitation, we demonstrated that PKA-phosphorylated MED1 interacts with ESR1. The PKA-dependent phosphorylation of MED1 was also correlated with its enhanced recruitment to estrogen-responsive elements in the WNT4 gene. Knockdown of MED1 transcripts impaired the expression of ESR1-induced WNT4 and FOXO1 transcripts and blocked decidualization. Based on these findings, we conclude that modulation of ESR1-MED1 interactions by cAMP signaling plays a critical role in human decidualization. PMID:26849466
Veronese, Nicola; Stubbs, Brendon; Noale, Marianna; Solmi, Marco; Luchini, Claudio; Maggi, Stefania
2016-11-01
The Mediterranean diet has positively influenced various medical conditions, but only a paucity of studies has considered the relation between the Mediterranean diet and quality of life (QOL) among people living in North America. We investigated whether a higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (aMED) was associated with better QOL and decreased pain, stiffness, disability, and depression in a large cohort of North Americans from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. aMED was evaluated through a validated Mediterranean diet score categorized into quintiles. Outcomes of interest were QOL [assessed with the 12-Item Short-Form Health Outcome Survey (SF-12)]; disability, pain, and stiffness [assessed in both knees with the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC)]; and depressive symptoms [assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)]. Of the 4470 participants (2605 women; mean age: 61.3 y), those with a higher aMED had significantly more favorable scores on all outcomes investigated (P < 0.0001 for all comparisons). After adjustment for potential confounders in linear regression analyses, a higher aMED was significantly associated with a higher SF-12 physical composite scale value (β: 0.10; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.15; P < 0.0001), lower WOMAC scores (except for stiffness), and lower CES-D scores (β: -0.05; 95% CI: -0.09, -0.01; P = 0.01). An adjusted logistic regression analysis, taking as reference those in the 2 highest quintiles of the aMED score, confirmed these findings. Higher aMED is associated with better QOL and decreased pain, disability, and depressive symptoms. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00080171. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.
Keith, L; Hollar, D
2012-07-01
This study assessed the impact of a pre-medical pipeline program on successful completion of medical school and the capacity of this program to address achievement gaps experienced by disadvantaged students. The University of North Carolina (USA) Medical Education Development (MED) program provides intensive academic and test skills preparation for admission to medical, dental, and other allied health professions schools. This retrospective study evaluated the academic progress of a longitudinal sample of 1738 disadvantaged college students who completed MED between 1974 and 2001. Data sources included MED participant data, medical school admissions data for the host school, aggregate data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and individual MED participant data from AAMC. Methods of analysis utilized Chi-square, independent samples t test, and logistic regression to examine associations between factors. Of the 935 students in MED from 1974 to 2001, who had indicated an interest in medical school, 887 (94.9%) successfully matriculated and 801 (85.7%) successfully earned the MD degree. Using logistic regression, factors that were significantly correlated with earning the medical degree included the student's race, college undergraduate total and science grade point averages, with Hispanic, African American, and Native American participants earning the medical degree at rates comparable to Caucasian participants. MED students successfully earned the MD degree despite having significantly lower Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) scores and undergraduate grade point averages compared to all United States medical school applicants: MCAT scores had little relationship with student's success. These findings suggest that an intensive, nine-week, pre-medical academic enrichment program that incorporates confidence-building and small-group tutoring and peer support activities can build a foundation on which disadvantaged students can successfully earn matriculation to and graduation from medical school.
Rural providers' access to online resources: a randomized controlled trial
Hall, Laura J.; McElfresh, Karen R.; Warner, Teddy D.; Stromberg, Tiffany L.; Trost, Jaren; Jelinek, Devin A.
2016-01-01
Objective The research determined the usage and satisfaction levels with one of two point-of-care (PoC) resources among health care providers in a rural state. Methods In this randomized controlled trial, twenty-eight health care providers in rural areas were stratified by occupation and region, then randomized into either the DynaMed or the AccessMedicine study arm. Study participants were physicians, physician assistants, and nurses. A pre- and post-study survey measured participants' attitudes toward different information resources and their information-seeking activities. Medical student investigators provided training and technical support for participants. Data analyses consisted of analysis of variance (ANOVA), paired t tests, and Cohen's d statistic to compare pre- and post-study effects sizes. Results Participants in both the DynaMed and the AccessMedicine arms of the study reported increased satisfaction with their respective PoC resource, as expected. Participants in both arms also reported that they saved time in finding needed information. At baseline, both arms reported too little information available, which increased to “about right amounts of information” at the completion of the study. DynaMed users reported a Cohen's d increase of +1.50 compared to AccessMedicine users' reported use of 0.82. DynaMed users reported d2 satisfaction increases of 9.48 versus AccessMedicine satisfaction increases of 0.59 using a Cohen's d. Conclusion Participants in the DynaMed arm of the study used this clinically oriented PoC more heavily than the users of the textbook-based AccessMedicine. In terms of user satisfaction, DynaMed users reported higher levels of satisfaction than the users of AccessMedicine. PMID:26807050
DataMed - an open source discovery index for finding biomedical datasets.
Chen, Xiaoling; Gururaj, Anupama E; Ozyurt, Burak; Liu, Ruiling; Soysal, Ergin; Cohen, Trevor; Tiryaki, Firat; Li, Yueling; Zong, Nansu; Jiang, Min; Rogith, Deevakar; Salimi, Mandana; Kim, Hyeon-Eui; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Farcas, Claudiu; Johnson, Todd; Margolis, Ron; Alter, George; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Fore, Ian M; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Grethe, Jeffrey S; Xu, Hua
2018-01-13
Finding relevant datasets is important for promoting data reuse in the biomedical domain, but it is challenging given the volume and complexity of biomedical data. Here we describe the development of an open source biomedical data discovery system called DataMed, with the goal of promoting the building of additional data indexes in the biomedical domain. DataMed, which can efficiently index and search diverse types of biomedical datasets across repositories, is developed through the National Institutes of Health-funded biomedical and healthCAre Data Discovery Index Ecosystem (bioCADDIE) consortium. It consists of 2 main components: (1) a data ingestion pipeline that collects and transforms original metadata information to a unified metadata model, called DatA Tag Suite (DATS), and (2) a search engine that finds relevant datasets based on user-entered queries. In addition to describing its architecture and techniques, we evaluated individual components within DataMed, including the accuracy of the ingestion pipeline, the prevalence of the DATS model across repositories, and the overall performance of the dataset retrieval engine. Our manual review shows that the ingestion pipeline could achieve an accuracy of 90% and core elements of DATS had varied frequency across repositories. On a manually curated benchmark dataset, the DataMed search engine achieved an inferred average precision of 0.2033 and a precision at 10 (P@10, the number of relevant results in the top 10 search results) of 0.6022, by implementing advanced natural language processing and terminology services. Currently, we have made the DataMed system publically available as an open source package for the biomedical community. © The Author 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Knight, Alissa; Bryan, Janet; Wilson, Carlene; Hodgson, Jonathan M; Davis, Courtney R; Murphy, Karen J
2016-09-20
Evidence from a limited number of randomised controlled intervention trials (RCTs) have shown that a Mediterranean dietary pattern may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and enhance cognitive function among healthy older adults. However, there are currently no data in non-Mediterranean older adult populations. The present study aimed to address this gap by examining the effect of a Mediterranean dietary pattern (MedDiet) for six months on aspects of cognitive function in a randomised controlled intervention trial (the MedLey study) that extended for a duration of 18 months. In the final analysed cohort, a total of 137 men and women (mean age of 72.1 ± 5.0 years) randomly assigned to either a MedDiet or control diet (HabDiet) (i.e., habitual dietary intake), were assessed on a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery, including 11 individual tests. In multivariable-adjusted models, the MedDiet group did not perform significantly better than the HabDiet control group for executive functioning (adjusted mean differences: +2.53, 95% CI -2.59 to 7.65, p = 0.33); speed of processing (adjusted mean differences: +3.24, 95% CI -1.21 to 7.70, p = 0.15); memory (adjusted mean differences: +2.00, 95% CI -3.88 to 7.88, p = 0.50); visual-spatial ability (adjusted mean differences: +0.21, 95% CI -0.38 to 0.81, 0.48); and overall age-related cognitive performance (adjusted mean differences: +7.99, 95% CI -4.00 to 19.9, p = 0.19). In conclusion, this study did not find evidence of a beneficial effect of a MedDiet intervention on cognitive function among healthy older adults.
Goldbach, Hayley; Chang, Aileen Y; Kyer, Andrea; Ketshogileng, Dineo; Taylor, Lynne; Chandra, Amit; Dacso, Matthew; Kung, Shiang-Ju; Rijken, Taatske; Fontelo, Paul; Littman-Quinn, Ryan; Seymour, Anne K; Kovarik, Carrie L
2014-01-01
Objective Many mobile phone resources have been developed to increase access to health education in the developing world, yet few studies have compared these resources or quantified their performance in a resource-limited setting. This study aims to compare the performance of resident physicians in answering clinical scenarios using PubMed abstracts accessed via the PubMed for Handhelds (PubMed4Hh) website versus medical/drug reference applications (Medical Apps) accessed via software on the mobile phone. Methods A two-arm comparative study with crossover design was conducted. Subjects, who were resident physicians at the University of Botswana, completed eight scenarios, each with multi-part questions. The primary outcome was a grade for each question. The primary independent variable was the intervention arm and other independent variables included residency and question. Results Within each question type there were significant differences in ‘percentage correct’ between Medical Apps and PubMed4Hh for three of the six types of questions: drug-related, diagnosis/definitions, and treatment/management. Within each of these question types, Medical Apps had a higher percentage of fully correct responses than PubMed4Hh (63% vs 13%, 33% vs 12%, and 41% vs 13%, respectively). PubMed4Hh performed better for epidemiologic questions. Conclusions While mobile access to primary literature remains important and serves an information niche, mobile applications with condensed content may be more appropriate for point-of-care information needs. Further research is required to examine the specific information needs of clinicians in resource-limited settings and to evaluate the appropriateness of current resources in bridging location- and context-specific information gaps. PMID:23535665
Analysis of Urinary Biomarkers for Smoking Crack Cocaine: Results of a Danish Laboratory Study.
Jeppesen, Hans Henrik; Busch-Nielsen, Malthe; Larsen, Anders Nørgaard; Breindahl, Torben
2015-01-01
Crack cocaine (free-base cocaine) smokers belong to a subgroup of marginalized drug users exposed to severe health risks and great social harm. Detection of the urinary, pyrolytic biomarker methylecgonidine (MED) and its metabolite ecgonidine (ED) secures an unambiguous confirmation of crack cocaine smoking. Although prevalence studies of cocaine based upon self-reporting may not be accurate, laboratory analysis is seldom used for neither diagnostic purpose nor early identification of crack cocaine smoking, which is far more severe than snorting cocaine. A new analytical method was validated for MED, ED and other relevant cocaine metabolites using automated liquid handling and column switching coupled to liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. Limit of quantification was 30 ng/mL for ED and MED. This method was applied in a laboratory study of urine samples (n = 110) from cocaine users in Denmark subjected to routine drugs-of-abuse testing. Crack cocaine smoking was confirmed by the presence of MED and/or ED. Eighty-four samples (76.4%) were found positive for crack cocaine smoking in this group of problematic cocaine users. MED was only detected in 5.9% of the positive samples. The study shows a prevalence 3-fold higher to that recently suggested by European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. We therefore advocate that the urinary biomarkers MED and ED are included in routine testing methods for clinical toxicology. This may lead to an earlier identification of crack cocaine smoking and possibly prevent a more severe drug use. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Stocks, S J; Agius, R M; Cooley, N; Harrison, K L; Brison, D R; Horne, G; Gibbs, A; Povey, A C
2010-04-30
Approximately one-third of IVF cases in the UK are attributed to male factor infertility and in the majority of cases the origin of male infertility is unknown. The integrity of sperm DNA is important both for the success of assisted reproduction and the implications for the off-spring. One type of DNA damage that has not been investigated with respect to fertility outcomes is the adduct N7-methyldeoxyguanosine (N7-MedG), a biomarker for exposure to alkylating agents. A prospective cohort of couples attending for IVF had their N7-MedG levels in sperm measured using an immunoslot blot technique to examine whether sperm N7-MedG levels are associated with male factor infertility, semen quality measures or assisted reproduction outcomes. Sufficient DNA for analysis was obtained from 67/97 couples and N7-MedG was detected in 94% of sperm samples analysed. Men diagnosed with male factor infertility had significantly higher mean levels of N7-MedG in their sperm DNA (P=0.03). Logistic regression analysis showed that N7-MedG levels were significantly negatively associated with the proportion of oocytes successfully fertilised irrespective of the method of fertilisation used (IVF or intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection; ICSI, P<0.001). Therefore exposure to DNA alkylating agents is significantly associated with male infertility and the proportion of oocytes fertilised during assisted reproduction. Reducing such exposure may improve male fertility but further work is required to determine the relative importance of exogenous and endogenous sources of exposure. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Impact of PubMed search filters on the retrieval of evidence by physicians.
Shariff, Salimah Z; Sontrop, Jessica M; Haynes, R Brian; Iansavichus, Arthur V; McKibbon, K Ann; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Weir, Matthew A; Speechley, Mark R; Thind, Amardeep; Garg, Amit X
2012-02-21
Physicians face challenges when searching PubMed for research evidence, and they may miss relevant articles while retrieving too many nonrelevant articles. We investigated whether the use of search filters in PubMed improves searching by physicians. We asked a random sample of Canadian nephrologists to answer unique clinical questions derived from 100 systematic reviews of renal therapy. Physicians provided the search terms that they would type into PubMed to locate articles to answer these questions. We entered the physician-provided search terms into PubMed and applied two types of search filters alone or in combination: a methods-based filter designed to identify high-quality studies about treatment (clinical queries "therapy") and a topic-based filter designed to identify studies with renal content. We evaluated the comprehensiveness (proportion of relevant articles found) and efficiency (ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles) of the filtered and nonfiltered searches. Primary studies included in the systematic reviews served as the reference standard for relevant articles. The average physician-provided search terms retrieved 46% of the relevant articles, while 6% of the retrieved articles were relevant (corrected) (the ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles was 1:16). The use of both filters together produced a marked improvement in efficiency, resulting in a ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles of 1:5 (16 percentage point improvement; 99% confidence interval 9% to 22%; p < 0.003) with no substantive change in comprehensiveness (44% of relevant articles found; p = 0.55). The use of PubMed search filters improves the efficiency of physician searches. Improved search performance may enhance the transfer of research into practice and improve patient care.
Validation of search filters for identifying pediatric studies in PubMed.
Leclercq, Edith; Leeflang, Mariska M G; van Dalen, Elvira C; Kremer, Leontien C M
2013-03-01
To identify and validate PubMed search filters for retrieving studies including children and to develop a new pediatric search filter for PubMed. We developed 2 different datasets of studies to evaluate the performance of the identified pediatric search filters, expressed in terms of sensitivity, precision, specificity, accuracy, and number needed to read (NNR). An optimal search filter will have a high sensitivity and high precision with a low NNR. In addition to the PubMed Limits: All Child: 0-18 years filter (in May 2012 renamed to PubMed Filter Child: 0-18 years), 6 search filters for identifying studies including children were identified: 3 developed by Kastner et al, 1 developed by BestBets, one by the Child Health Field, and 1 by the Cochrane Childhood Cancer Group. Three search filters (Cochrane Childhood Cancer Group, Child Health Field, and BestBets) had the highest sensitivity (99.3%, 99.5%, and 99.3%, respectively) but a lower precision (64.5%, 68.4%, and 66.6% respectively) compared with the other search filters. Two Kastner search filters had a high precision (93.0% and 93.7%, respectively) but a low sensitivity (58.5% and 44.8%, respectively). They failed to identify many pediatric studies in our datasets. The search terms responsible for false-positive results in the reference dataset were determined. With these data, we developed a new search filter for identifying studies with children in PubMed with an optimal sensitivity (99.5%) and precision (69.0%). Search filters to identify studies including children either have a low sensitivity or a low precision with a high NNR. A new pediatric search filter with a high sensitivity and a low NNR has been developed. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sayyah Ensan, Ladan; Faghankhani, Masoomeh; Javanbakht, Anna; Ahmadi, Seyed-Foad; Baradaran, Hamid Reza
2011-01-01
Purpose To compare PubMed Clinical Queries and UpToDate regarding the amount and speed of information retrieval and users' satisfaction. Method A cross-over randomized trial was conducted in February 2009 in Tehran University of Medical Sciences that included 44 year-one or two residents who participated in an information mastery workshop. A one-hour lecture on the principles of information mastery was organized followed by self learning slide shows before using each database. Subsequently, participants were randomly assigned to answer 2 clinical scenarios using either UpToDate or PubMed Clinical Queries then crossed to use the other database to answer 2 different clinical scenarios. The proportion of relevantly answered clinical scenarios, time to answer retrieval, and users' satisfaction were measured in each database. Results Based on intention-to-treat analysis, participants retrieved the answer of 67 (76%) questions using UpToDate and 38 (43%) questions using PubMed Clinical Queries (P<0.001). The median time to answer retrieval was 17 min (95% CI: 16 to 18) using UpToDate compared to 29 min (95% CI: 26 to 32) using PubMed Clinical Queries (P<0.001). The satisfaction with the accuracy of retrieved answers, interaction with UpToDate and also overall satisfaction were higher among UpToDate users compared to PubMed Clinical Queries users (P<0.001). Conclusions For first time users, using UpToDate compared to Pubmed Clinical Querries can lead to not only a higher proportion of relevant answer retrieval within a shorter time, but also a higher users' satisfaction. So, addition of tutoring pre-appraised sources such as UpToDate to the information mastery curricula seems to be highly efficient. PMID:21858142
Sayyah Ensan, Ladan; Faghankhani, Masoomeh; Javanbakht, Anna; Ahmadi, Seyed-Foad; Baradaran, Hamid Reza
2011-01-01
To compare PubMed Clinical Queries and UpToDate regarding the amount and speed of information retrieval and users' satisfaction. A cross-over randomized trial was conducted in February 2009 in Tehran University of Medical Sciences that included 44 year-one or two residents who participated in an information mastery workshop. A one-hour lecture on the principles of information mastery was organized followed by self learning slide shows before using each database. Subsequently, participants were randomly assigned to answer 2 clinical scenarios using either UpToDate or PubMed Clinical Queries then crossed to use the other database to answer 2 different clinical scenarios. The proportion of relevantly answered clinical scenarios, time to answer retrieval, and users' satisfaction were measured in each database. Based on intention-to-treat analysis, participants retrieved the answer of 67 (76%) questions using UpToDate and 38 (43%) questions using PubMed Clinical Queries (P<0.001). The median time to answer retrieval was 17 min (95% CI: 16 to 18) using UpToDate compared to 29 min (95% CI: 26 to 32) using PubMed Clinical Queries (P<0.001). The satisfaction with the accuracy of retrieved answers, interaction with UpToDate and also overall satisfaction were higher among UpToDate users compared to PubMed Clinical Queries users (P<0.001). For first time users, using UpToDate compared to Pubmed Clinical Queries can lead to not only a higher proportion of relevant answer retrieval within a shorter time, but also a higher users' satisfaction. So, addition of tutoring pre-appraised sources such as UpToDate to the information mastery curricula seems to be highly efficient.
Kandzari, David E; Kario, Kazuomi; Mahfoud, Felix; Cohen, Sidney A; Pilcher, Garrett; Pocock, Stuart; Townsend, Raymond; Weber, Michael A; Böhm, Michael
2016-01-01
Renal sympathetic activation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of hypertension, as demonstrated by high renal norepinephrine spillover into plasma of patients with essential hypertension. Renal denervation has demonstrated a significant reduction in blood pressure in unblinded studies of hypertensive patients. The SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial, the first prospective, masked, randomized study of renal denervation versus sham control, failed its primary efficacy end point and raised important questions around potentially confounding factors, such as drug changes and adherence, study population, and procedural methods. The SPYRAL HTN Global Clinical Trial Program is designed to address limitations associated with predicate studies and provide insight into the impact of pharmacotherapy on renal denervation efficacy. The 2 initial trials of the program focus on the effect of renal denervation using the Symplicity Spyral multielectrode renal denervation catheter in hypertensive patients in the absence (SPYRAL HTN OFF-MED) and presence (SPYRAL HTN ON-MED) of antihypertensive medications. The SPYRAL HTN ON-MED study requires patients to be treated with a consistent triple therapy antihypertensive regimen, whereas the SPYRAL HTN OFF-MED study includes a 3- to 4-week drug washout period followed by a 3-month efficacy and safety end point in the absence of antihypertensive medications. The studies will randomize patients with combined systolic-diastolic hypertension to renal denervation or sham procedure. Both studies allow renal denervation treatments in renal artery branches and accessories. These studies will inform the design of the second pivotal phase of the program, which will more definitively analyze the antihypertensive effect of renal denervation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
User needs analysis and usability assessment of DataMed - a biomedical data discovery index.
Dixit, Ram; Rogith, Deevakar; Narayana, Vidya; Salimi, Mandana; Gururaj, Anupama; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Xu, Hua; Johnson, Todd R
2017-11-30
To present user needs and usability evaluations of DataMed, a Data Discovery Index (DDI) that allows searching for biomedical data from multiple sources. We conducted 2 phases of user studies. Phase 1 was a user needs analysis conducted before the development of DataMed, consisting of interviews with researchers. Phase 2 involved iterative usability evaluations of DataMed prototypes. We analyzed data qualitatively to document researchers' information and user interface needs. Biomedical researchers' information needs in data discovery are complex, multidimensional, and shaped by their context, domain knowledge, and technical experience. User needs analyses validate the need for a DDI, while usability evaluations of DataMed show that even though aggregating metadata into a common search engine and applying traditional information retrieval tools are promising first steps, there remain challenges for DataMed due to incomplete metadata and the complexity of data discovery. Biomedical data poses distinct problems for search when compared to websites or publications. Making data available is not enough to facilitate biomedical data discovery: new retrieval techniques and user interfaces are necessary for dataset exploration. Consistent, complete, and high-quality metadata are vital to enable this process. While available data and researchers' information needs are complex and heterogeneous, a successful DDI must meet those needs and fit into the processes of biomedical researchers. Research directions include formalizing researchers' information needs, standardizing overviews of data to facilitate relevance judgments, implementing user interfaces for concept-based searching, and developing evaluation methods for open-ended discovery systems such as DDIs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Looney, P T; Young, K C; Halling-Brown, M D
2016-06-01
MedXViewer (Medical eXtensible Viewer) has been developed to address the need for workstation-independent, picture archiving and communication system (PACS)-less viewing and interaction with anonymised medical images. The aim of this paper is to describe the design and features of MedXViewer as well as to introduce the new features available in the latest release (version 1.2). MedXViewer currently supports digital mammography and tomosynthesis. The flexible software design used to develop MedXViewer allows it to be easily extended to support other imaging modalities. Regions of interest can be drawn by a user, and any associated information about a mark, an image or a study can be added. The questions and settings can be easily configured depending on the need of the research allowing both ROC and FROC studies to be performed. Complex tree-like questions can be asked where a given answer presents the user to new questions. The hanging protocol can be specified for each study. Panning, windowing, zooming and moving through slices are all available while modality-specific features can be easily enabled, e.g. quadrant zooming in digital mammography and tomosynthesis studies. MedXViewer can integrate with a web-based image database OPTIMAM Medical Image Database allowing results and images to be stored centrally. The software can, alternatively, run without a network connection where the images and results can be encrypted and stored locally on a machine or external drive. MedXViewer has been used for running remote paper-less observer studies and is capable of providing a training infrastructure and coordinating remote collaborative viewing sessions. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Core Mediator structure at 3.4 Å extends model of transcription initiation complex.
Nozawa, Kayo; Schneider, Thomas R; Cramer, Patrick
2017-05-11
Mediator is a multiprotein co-activator that binds the transcription pre-initiation complex (PIC) and regulates RNA polymerase (Pol) II. The Mediator head and middle modules form the essential core Mediator (cMed), whereas the tail and kinase modules play regulatory roles. The architecture of Mediator and its position on the PIC are known, but atomic details are limited to Mediator subcomplexes. Here we report the crystal structure of the 15-subunit cMed from Schizosaccharomyces pombe at 3.4 Å resolution. The structure shows an unaltered head module, and reveals the intricate middle module, which we show is globally required for transcription. Sites of known Mediator mutations cluster at the interface between the head and middle modules, and in terminal regions of the head subunits Med6 (ref. 16) and Med17 (ref. 17) that tether the middle module. The structure led to a model for Saccharomyces cerevisiae cMed that could be combined with the 3.6 Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of the core PIC (cPIC). The resulting atomic model of the cPIC-cMed complex informs on interactions of the submodules forming the middle module, called beam, knob, plank, connector, and hook. The hook is flexibly linked to Mediator by a conserved hinge and contacts the transcription initiation factor IIH (TFIIH) kinase that phosphorylates the carboxy (C)-terminal domain (CTD) of Pol II and was recently positioned on the PIC. The hook also contains residues that crosslink to the CTD and reside in a previously described cradle. These results provide a framework for understanding Mediator function, including its role in stimulating CTD phosphorylation by TFIIH.
Jeon, Su-Young; Lee, Chae-Young; Song, Ki-Hoon
2014-01-01
Background The spectrophotometer is well known to be a useful tool for estimating the objective minimal erythema dose (MED) during planning of phototherapy protocol. However, only a few spectrophotometric values are used to evaluate the erythema and pigmentation of the MED site during phototesting. Objective To determinea new meaning of the relationships among spectrophotometric values during phototesting. Methods Twenty-five patients with psoriasis and 23 patients with vitiligo were selected before undergoing narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy. We interpreted the gross findings of erythema and measured the L*a*b* values using a spectrophotometer at each phototest spot. We compared MEDs, basic spectrophotometric values (L*a*b*), and b*/L* values separately according to skin type, and determined the correlation of each spectrophotometric value and the correlation between a* and b*/L* values. Results Among L*a*b* values, only b* values showed a statistically significant difference between the type III and IV groups (p=0.003). There was a positive correlation only between MEDs and b* values (p<0.05). The average b*/L*value in the type IV group was significantly higher than the type III group (p<0.05). Conclusion The higher b* values in type IV skin indicates that skin tanning develops more prominently than type III. The correlation between MEDs and b* values may signify that the skin pigmentation status is deepened with the higher MEDs. The difference in b*/L*values between type III and IV skin reflects that the b*/L*value is thought to be an index of tanning. The a* value, known as an index of erythema, does not influence the degree of tanning. PMID:24648682
Shu, Jing-Xian; Li, Ying; He, Ting; Chen, Ling; Li, Xue; Zou, Lin-Lin; Yin, Lu; Li, Xiao-Hui; Wang, An-Li; Liu, Xing; Yuan, Hong
2018-01-07
BACKGROUND The explosive increase in medical literature has changed therapeutic strategies, but it is challenging for physicians to keep up-to-date on the medical literature. Scientific literature data mining on a large-scale of can be used to refresh physician knowledge and better improve the quality of disease treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS This paper reports on a reformulated version of a data mining method called MedRank, which is a network-based algorithm that ranks therapy for a target disease based on the MEDLINE literature database. MedRank algorithm input for this study was a clear definition of the disease model; the algorithm output was the accurate recommendation of antihypertensive drugs. Hypertension with diabetes mellitus was chosen as the input disease model. The ranking output of antihypertensive drugs are based on the Joint National Committee (JNC) guidelines, one through eight, and the publication dates, ≤1977, ≤1980, ≤1984, ≤1988, ≤1993, ≤1997, ≤2003, and ≤2013. The McNemar's test was used to evaluate the efficacy of MedRank based on specific JNC guidelines. RESULTS The ranking order of antihypertensive drugs changed with the date of the published literature, and the MedRank algorithm drug recommendations had excellent consistency with the JNC guidelines in 2013 (P=1.00 from McNemar's test, Kappa=0.78, P=1.00). Moreover, the Kappa index increased over time. Sensitivity was better than specificity for MedRank; in addition, sensitivity was maintained at a high level, and specificity increased from 1997 to 2013. CONCLUSIONS The use of MedRank in ranking medical literature on hypertension with diabetes mellitus in our study suggests possible application in clinical practice; it is a potential method for supporting antihypertensive drug-prescription decisions.