University of Pittsburgh

About: University of Pittsburgh is a education organization based out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 87042 authors who have published 201012 publications receiving 9656783 citations. The organization is also known as: Pitt & Western University of Pennsylvania.

A Useful Four-Valued Logic

Abstract: It is argued that a sophisticated question-answering machine that has the capability of making inferences from its data base should employ a certain four-valued logic, the motivating consideration being that minor inconsistencies in its data should not be allowed to lead (as in classical logic) to irrelevant conclusions. The actual form of the four-valued logic is ‘deduced’ from an interplay of this motivating consideration with certain ideas of Dana Scott concerning ‘approximation lattices.’

New use of BCG for recombinant vaccines.

Abstract: BCG, a live attenuated tubercle bacillus, is the most widely used vaccine in the world and is also a useful vaccine vehicle for delivering protective antigens of multiple pathogens. Extrachromosomal and integrative expression vectors carrying the regulatory sequences for major BCG heat-shock proteins have been developed to allow expression of foreign antigens in BCG. These recombinant BCG strains can elicit long-lasting humoral and cellular immune responses to foreign antigens in mice.

American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American Diabetes Association Consensus Statement on Inpatient Glycemic Control

Abstract: People with diabetes are more likely to be hospitalized and to have longer durations of hospital stay than those without diabetes. A recent survey estimated that 22% of all hospital inpatient days were incurred by people with diabetes and that hospital inpatient care accounted for half of the 174 billion USD total U.S. medical expenditures for this disease (1). These findings are due, in part, to the continued expansion of the worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes. In the U.S. alone, there are ∼1.6 million new cases of diabetes each year, with an over all prevalence of 23.6 million people (7.8% of the population, with one-fourth of the cases remaining undiagnosed). An additional 57 million American adults are at high risk for type 2 diabetes (2). Although the costs of illness-related stress hyperglycemia are not known, they are likely to be considerable in light of the poor prognosis of such patients (3–6). There is substantial observational evidence linking hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients (with or without diabetes) to poor outcomes. Cohort studies as well as a few early randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have suggested that intensive treatment of hyperglycemia improved hospital outcomes (5–8). In 2004, this evidence led the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), in collaboration with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and other medical organizations, to develop recommendations for treatment of inpatient hyperglycemia (9). In 2005, the ADA added recommendations for treatment of hyperglycemia in the hospitalto itsannual Standards of Medical Care (10). Recommendations from the ACE and the ADA generally endorsed tight glycemic control in critical care units. For patients in general medical and surgical units, where RCT evidence regarding treatment targets was lacking, glycemic goals similar to those advised for outpatients were advocated (9, …

Hereditary pancreatitis is caused by a mutation in the cationic trypsinogen gene.

Abstract: Hereditary pancreatitis (HP) is a rare, early-onset genetic disorder characterized by epigastric pain and often more serious complications. We now report that an Arg–His substitution at residue 117 of the cationic trypsinogen gene is associated with the HP phenotype. This mutation was observed in all HP affected individuals and obligate carriers from five kindreds, but not in individuals who married into the families nor in 140 unrelated individuals. X-ray crystal structure analysis, molecular modelling, and protein digest data indicate that the Arg 117 residue is a trypsin-sensitive site. Cleavage at this site is probably part of a fail-safe mechanism by which trypsin, which is activated within the pancreas, may be inactivated; loss of this cleavage site would permit autodigestion resulting in pancreatitis.