Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “knowledge accumulation”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 541 records · Page 30Linked to original sources

[The annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Toronto (Ontario), 18-22 May 1995].

The state of the art concerning major biological phenomenons of importance for current research on urological cancers is first briefly presented, followed by notes on the more outstanding presentations in this field. These notes are organized in a synthetic fashion, in order to point to the meaning of the hypotheses and findings presented, when taken together, as they pertain to the understanding of the mechanisms at play in urological cancers, as we see them in 1995. Some concepts seem to have now reached a point where we can expect to see some applications in a not so distant future: in prostate cancer, it is confirmed that the machinery of apoptosis is functional even in the hormone-insensitive cells, suggesting that its enhancement might be useful in these often difficult situations; techniques to detect circulating malignant cells, which have been greatly refined (RT-PCR of PSA and PSM), are now extremely sensitive and may prove unvaluable in providing intermediate end points to compare the relative efficacy of treatment regimens in clinical trials; the symposium on prostate cancer screening by PSA dosage was an excellent opportunity to review extensively the data available on this topic, but -as expected- it could not decide on some essential issues; in bladder tumors, data on the expression of adhesion molecules (CD44 variant) are still preliminary, but some provocative observations have been reported (presence on mature ARN, only in bladder cancer cells, of intronic sequences that have not been excised); in renal cell cancer, a considerable amount of knowledge has accumulated on the von Hippel-Lindau gene, a putative anti-oncogene, and work is in progress to define the function of its protein; finally, pathways essential to understanding and treating cancer have been dissected, particularly the apoptosis-proliferation network, and the involvement in it of p53, Waf-1 and the bcl-2 gene family cascade.

Apoptosis↗

Psychiatric symptom management in terminal care.

During the terminal phase of illness, many geriatric patients develop psychiatric complications that subsequently have profound effects on their quality of life. Effective treatment requires the skills of a physician who is experienced in the recognition, assessment, and management of psychiatric complications of terminal care. Specialized knowledge is required, because even the most common psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, depression, and cognitive disorder) may be difficult to diagnose and treat. Recognition and management are complicated by the fact that these symptoms can arise as a consequence of other symptoms, for example, as a direct result of the disease and its treatment, or as a reflection of underlying psychosocial issues. In many instances, the use of pharmacologic agents, either alone or in combination with psychotherapeutic interventions, provides reasonable control of psychiatric symptoms. Here, too, specialized knowledge is required in order to know which regimens are likely to yield the most benefits with the least risk of toxicity. Fortunately, a considerable body of knowledge has accumulated over the last few years regarding the management of psychiatric symptoms in terminal care. The challenge for the future is to make sure that this information is applied in the routine clinical care of the terminally ill geriatric patient.

Antidepressive Agents↗

Reorienting intensive family preservation services in relation to public child welfare practice.

Despite broad support for family preservation as a policy, an approach to service delivery, and a program model, sufficient knowledge has accumulated to warrant reconsidering the use of intensive family preservation programs in public child welfare practice. Based on an integrative review of the child maltreatment and family preservation literature, the current rationale for programs-the prevention of placement-should be abandoned, and a new rationale should be developed. One such approach is articulated, including specification of new roles, goals, and target populations for intensive family preservation programs.

Child↗

[Hepatitis GBV isolated in acute liver failure. Successful outcome after liver transplantation].

Fulminant hepatic failure is a life-threatening condition associated with a mortality of approximately 80 per cent. Liver transplantation may be the only life-saving recourse in such cases. The condition can be caused by any of a number of different agencies such as viral infection, or toxic, circulatory or metabolic factors, though in a large proportion of cases the aetiology is unknown. Recently, knowledge has accumulated of a new hepatitis virus, hepatitis GB virus (HGBV), a Flavivirus remotely related to hepatitis C. The clinical significance of this virus is unclear. It is found in 3-4 per cent of blood donors, and most HGBV-positive patients are asymptomatic though some develop fulminant hepatic failure. The article consists in a case report of fulminant hepatic failure in a 17-year-old woman where no possible aetiological factor could be identified, other than her HGBV-positivity. The patient underwent a successful liver transplantation and is now, 18 months later, in excellent condition. She is still HGBV-positive but manifests no hepatic effects. Whether HGBV infection was responsible for the hepatic failure remains unclear, however.

Adolescent↗

Intracellular signal transduction mediated by ligation of MHC class I molecules.

A great deal of knowledge has accumulated regarding signal transduction after ligation of MHC class I (MHC-I) molecules. In recent years focus has been given to delineation of the intracellular signal pathways activated after MHC-I ligation. Activation of tyrosine kinases leading to a rise in the intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) is the major initial event occurring after MHC-I ligation of T cells. Curiously, the MHC-I-induced signaling is not dependent upon the cytoplasmic tail of the MHC-I molecule, suggesting that the MHC-I molecule induces intracellular signaling through association with other membrane-embedded molecules. More distal signaling events after MHC-I ligation includes activation of the Jak/Stat pathway leading to Stat-3 activation, and activation of the PI3-kinase leading to JNK activation and apoptosis. This review will sum up what is currently known about signaling induced by ligation of MHC-I.

Animals↗

[Changes of paradigms in psychiatry].

During the last centuries mental illnesses represented brain disorder. About hundred years ago--instead of gradually accumulating neurophysiological knowledge--the focus of attention shifted to investigation of abnormal mental states divorced from cerebral function. The advance of the brain research and psychopharmacology has been progressively narrowing the marked demarcation between organic and functional (psychogenic) syndromes. Till the end of the seventies the psychotic patients were treated in closed mental wards, the neurotics in open neurological ones in the common departments for neurology and psychiatry. The modernization of the mental care system started when psychiatry became independent of the neurology. The psychotherapy-despite of the international acknowledgement of the Hungarian psychoanalysts-has developed only in the last third of this century. The opposition of the biological and psychodynamic approaches theoretically refer to the presumed physical or mental origin, whereas mental function means the summation of variety of electrical and chemical events occurring in the brain. The asylums have gradually progressed to the open wards and therapeutic communities. Beside of the hospital treatment the outpatient care became a matter of primary importance, but the system of out-of-hospital alternatives, day-hospitals, halfway institutes, patient's homes, work places have been lacking. The modern psychiatric care system is moving forward the community in spite of its resistance. The psychiatric patients suffer not only from their mental symptoms and experienced disability, but mainly from the unfavorable attitudes of the immediate and social environment. The biological, psychological and sociological factors determine the origin, the treatment and the outcome of the mental disorders; neither of them can neglect without disadvantage of the other two.

Humans↗

The autonomic nervous system and sudden death.

The knowledge progressively accumulated on the relation between changes in autonomic activity and cardiac mortality, particularly in the setting of acute myocardial ischaemia, has turned during the last decade toward the potential prognostic value of markers of autonomic activity. Two of these markers, heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity, have gained progressive popularity. This chapter reviews some of the experimental observations that were instrumental for the novel clinical approach to post-myocardial infarction risk stratification based on the use of autonomic markers as risk stratifiers. It then focuses on clinical studies with special attention for a very recent multicentre prospective study (ATRAMI) carried out in almost 1300 post-myocardial infarction patients and aimed at the evaluation of the prognostic value of both heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity. Finally, some pathophysiological considerations are added to clarify the legitimacy, or lack of it, of the terminology currently used in clinical studies based on autonomic markers.

Animals↗

[Ischemia/reperfusion injury and organ failure].

Reperfusion injury is recognized as a syndrome which impairs an ischemic organ as well as remote organs throughout the entire body. Previous research has revealed that the various inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, platelet-activating factors, and free radicals, are involved and interact with each other in reperfusion injury. More recently, it has been demonstrated that neutrophils play an important role in the development of reperfusion injury. Thus the process of reperfusion injury is quite similar to that observed during the acute phase of inflammation. The same systemic reaction is also observed in multiple organ failure (MOF) or systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), where organ failure is a major determinant factor for the prognosis of patients. Regarding the treatment of organ failure due to reperfusion injury, several approaches using monoclonal antibody of adhesion molecules or receptor antagonist for cytokines have been introduced. Despite the current accumulation of knowledge, however, prevention is still the regimen for reperfusion injury and concomitant organ failure.

Humans↗

[The human language of medicine. Physical expression of empathy added to diagnosis promotes understanding].

The article consists in a review of the clinical encounter in terms of existential anatomy and bodily empathy. Making a diagnosis and understanding the patient are not seen as discrete, mutually exclusive endeavours. In addition to relying on their biomedical expertise, doctors need to be attuned to their patients' symptom presentations as living, experiential expressions of the body, existential anatomy. By 'sharing' his patients' basic bodily conditions, the doctor accumulates abundant knowledge throughout his professional life. Diagnosis is preceded, and its accuracy enhanced, by grasping the experiential essence of the patient's symptomatology. The doctor's ability to communicate with the patient within the realm of existential anatomy is what is referred to as bodily empathy. It is proposed that satisfactory management is dependent on interplay between diagnostic expertise and bodily empathy.

Communication↗

Drug interaction ontology (DIO) for inferences of possible drug-drug interactions.

Drug Interaction Ontology (DIO) was developed for formal representation of pharmacological knowledge. It provides a fundamental framework for accumulation of reusable knowledge components in molecular pharmacology. Ontology was employed and implemented as a relational model. Some features include: 1) Drug-biomolecule interaction was assumed as a primitive knowledge element. 2) Symbolic representation was developed for drug-biomolecule interaction. Consequences of two conjugated units of interaction were defined by using symbols. These are applied for query development for identification of possible drug-drug interaction. 3) The triadic relationship model was developed as a ground model for bio-logical interactions and/or function, including semantic ones. One application of DIO is to support hypothesis generation of drug interaction by providing new hypotheses from a structured database storing literature information on known drug-biomolecule interactions. A knowledge base using DIO that contains information beginning with anti-cancer drugs is now under development. Detection of possible drug interaction was tested and its capacity to lead clinically known ones was confirmed. The system generated theoretically possible drug-drug interactions, which implies potential usefulness of new drugs to be tested before actual clinical application. In this paper, sorivudine and 5-fluorouracil mediated by dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase are presented.

Arabinofuranosyluracil↗

[The education of neurologists for the XXI century].

The training of neurologists for the practice in the coming years requires deep changes in the system of medical education. It is critical for the medical student and the resident the acquisition of a broad knowledge of scientific information. But physicians must also know how to use knowledge they have accumulated from a variety of sources. They express their knowledge through abilities in the wards or in ambulatory settings in order to get an accurate diagnosis and the proper management of a particular condition. In addition to that they are expected to develop ethical attitudes toward their patients, peers and the greater society. They must be committed to work, to independent learning and to rationality. To accomplish its scholarly goals medical education has to emphasize the development of adequate personal attributes, skills and habits of mind rather than the transmission of factual information. With today's technology all the scientific information necessary for the practice of medicine is at the fingertips through computers. Memorization is therefore an absolute nonsense in teaching. A better education involves reducing the working load and the number of lecture hours providing students and residents with sufficient unscheduled time to seek out information independently and to assess their own learning. Problem-solving methods of teaching providing the formulation of multiple concurrent hypotheses, the critical analysis and evaluation of data and the application of new acquired knowledge as well as previously learned concepts to the solution of problems should be widely employed. Faculty members are guides who assist students and residents to develop analytical and critical skills.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Education, Medical↗

Professional and family responses to mental retardation in East Bengal and Bangladesh, 1770s-1990s.

Since the 1770s, formal knowledge about conditions later known as mental retardation (learning difficulities/disabilities) slowly accumulated with civil administrators, physicians, psychologists and teachers in East Bengal/Bangladesh. Factors in this growth of knowledge are reviewed. Most people with mental retardation and their families managed without professional advice. Some children with mental retardation were casually integrated in ordinary schools. Rooted in local cultures and concepts, the accumulated knowledge and experience of both families and professionals should be recognized, formulated and used in modern disability service planning. It risks being obscured by imported knowledge having greater prestige but less relevance.

Bangladesh↗

The genetics revolution. Ethical, legal, and insurance concerns.

Genetic researchers will soon complete a structural description of the human genome. Understanding of the detailed function and interactions of the genes will soon follow, as will the ability to manipulate genes and use them for our own purposes. This knowledge will force us to rethink our basic philosophy of life and fundamental ethics. The accumulating body of knowledge will have profound effects on the view of human beings in the cosmos and on human interactions and institutions. Although change will be gradual, primary care physicians should be prepared to deal with this process, even in today's practice. The crucial concerns are proper patient education and consent for genetic testing, maintenance of confidentiality, and awareness of a patient's right to access health insurance and specialty care. The unprecedented control of the genetic makeup of human beings will affect society's concepts of race, equality, disability, and social responsibility.

Confidentiality↗

Flow cytometric immunophenotyping of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and related disorders.

More than two decades have past since the recognition of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) as neoplasms of the immune system. During that time, a vast literature and knowledge base regarding the immunophenotypic and functional characteristics of neoplastic lymphocytes has been developed. Despite the accumulated wealth of knowledge, there remains no consensus as to the exact role of immunotypic and genotypic ancillary procedures in the evaluation of a lymph node biopsy. We review selected literature in this regard and provide an overview of the role of multicolor flow cytometry in establishing the diagnosis of specific NHL and related disorders.

B-Lymphocytes↗

Mucins in gastrointestinal cancers.

The mucin family has been under study by molecular biologists, biochemists, pathologists and immunologists interested in cancer because of the role these molecules can play in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Immense knowledge has been accumulated, but the high speed of progress in the laboratory has not been matched by the progress towards applying this knowledge in the clinic. For example, specific knowledge of cancer-associated changes in the expression and glycosylation of various mucins, which can aid in the diagnosis as well as prognosis of GI cancers, has not yet led to the use of a panel of anti-mucin antibodies as a standard diagnostic tool. Similarly, many more opportunities exist for using mucin-based therapies than are currently being considered in the clinic. This chapter aimed to highlight some of these opportunities and to interest clinician scientists in exploring them in the near future.

Cancer Vaccines↗

Sharing neuroimaging studies of human cognition.

After more than a decade of collecting large neuroimaging datasets, neuroscientists are now working to archive these studies in publicly accessible databases. In particular, the fMRI Data Center (fMRIDC), a high-performance computing center managed by computer and brain scientists, seeks to catalogue and openly disseminate the data from published fMRI studies to the community. This repository enables experimental validation and allows researchers to combine and examine patterns of brain activity beyond that of any single study. As with some biological databases, early scientific, technical and sociological concerns hindered initial acceptance of the fMRIDC. However, with the continued growth of this and other neuroscience archives, researchers are recognizing the potential of such resources for identifying new knowledge about cognitive and neural activity. Thus, the field of neuroimaging is following the lead of biology and chemistry, mining its accumulating body of knowledge and moving toward a 'discovery science' of brain function.

Brain↗

[The historical problem of skull morphology--several scientific theoretical aspects].

The morphology of the skull is considered in a historical and gnosological context. The development of corresponding knowledge and methods is characterized by several paradigmatic changes from the classical vertebral theory to consideration of the skull as a biotic system. The accumulation of empirical knowledge was accompanied by increasing divergence between studies concerning the suborganistic structural plane and approaches to the description of the skull in its entirety as a functional system. The latter calls for a methodologically ambitious synthesis of results obtained from studies concerning the embryology, phylogenesis and biomechanics of the vertebrate skull.

Animals↗

Uptake and accumulation of dissolved, radiolabeled nodularin in Baltic Sea zooplankton.

The mass occurrence of toxic cyanobacteria is a recurrent phenomenon in the Baltic Sea. Grazers may obtain toxins either through ingestion or by direct exposure to dissolved toxins. Despite this, there is little knowledge about the accumulation of cyanobacterial toxins in planktonic organisms present during these blooms. Toxin analyses of tissue samples are complicated to carry out and, because of the small size of microscopic planktonic organisms, often difficult to execute. Therefore, we wanted to use a precise and sensitive method to study toxin uptake and accumulation in zooplankton. We used chemically tritiated nodularin, (3)H-dihydronodularin, to study the uptake of dissolved nodularin, a cyanobacterial hepatotoxin produced by Nodularia spumigena. Cultures of the calanoid copepods Acartia tonsa and Eurytemora affinis, and an oligotrich ciliate Strombidium sulcatum were exposed to (3)H-dihydronodularin in filtered seawater, using naturally occurring concentrations of dissolved nodularin (5 microg L(-1)). All three species took up measurable amounts of radiolabeled nodularin. After 48 h we detected 0.37 +/- 0.22 microg toxin g C(-1) (mean +/- sd) in A. tonsa and 0.60 +/- 0.15 microg toxin g C(-1) in E. affinis, whereas 1.55 +/- 0.50 microg toxin g C(-1) was detected in S. sulcatum after 24 h. The minimum bioconcentration factor (BCF) of (3)H-dihydronodularin was 12 for A. tonsa and 18 for E. affinis. For S. sulcatum our results indicate a maximum BCF of 22. However, because the uptake studies for this species were done in the presence of bacteria, possible particulate transfer cannot be excluded. Nevertheless, our results indicate that dissolved nodularin can be taken up by planktonic organisms. Therefore, the vectorial transport of dissolved toxins to higher trophic levels seems possible, even if some planktonic grazers would avoid feeding on toxic cyanobacteria filaments.

Animals↗