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Biomedical subjects

A Castello

Publications and source records attributed to A Castello.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Functional striated sphincter component at the bladder neck: clinical implications.

Anatomical proximal extension of the striated urethral sphincter muscle towards the bladder neck was assessed functionally in normal male subjects and in patients with upper motor neuron lesions. Synchronous cystosphincterometric studies were performed and urethral pressure responses were studied (contraction complexes) at the vesicourethral junction, the supramontane prostatic urethra and the membranous urethra to repeated bulbocavernosus stimuli. All subjects demonstrated positive responses at the membranous urethra. Contraction complexes with amplitudes of less magnitude were elicited at the vesicourethral junction and at the supramontane prostatic urethra in 48 and 71 per cent of the total number of subjects, respectively. The functional significance of the striated muscle component at the bladder neck in patients with detrusor-striated sphincter dyssynergia is described.

Adolescent↗

Cytochemistry of cultured fibroblasts in myotonic muscular dystrophy.

The cytoplasm of cultured skin fibroblasts derived from four unrelated and from three related patients with myotonic muscular dystrophy exhibits high amounts of metachromatic granular material and of alcianophilic material with Alcian blue containing 0.1 M MgCl2. Alcianophilia disappears when the staining solution contains 0.3 M MgCl2, i.e. is probably due only to carboxyl group of glycosaminoglycans.

Adolescent↗

Paraneoplastic marrow alterations in patients with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow abnormalities may be found in patients with cancers even without marrow metastases. We have seen that patients with non-hematologic neoplasias may show bone remodelling, stromal modifications, reactive changes and myelodysplastic alterations of erythro-, granulo- and megakaryocytic series comparable to those found in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs). METHODS AND RESULTS: At the beginning of the study 58 bone marrow biopsies (BMBs), performed in 40 patients with previously diagnosed cancer from different primary sites but without marrow metastasis (group A), were evaluated. Osseous and stromal modifications, marked reactive changes, quantitative and qualitative alterations of erythro-, granulo- and megakaryopoiesis were observed. Afterwards, 30 BMBs from 20 patients without a previous diagnosis of neoplasia (group B) were found to have features similar to those discovered in group A. Further investigations detected malignant tumors in all these cases. The findings of the two groups were compared with our former observations on myelodysplastic syndromes. The main differences between groups A-B and MDSs regarded bone remodelling, stromal modifications and reactive changes. CONCLUSION: These marrow alterations linked to a neoplasia may be considered paraneoplastic. They may cause problems for a differential diagnosis with some proliferative diseases and, above all, with primary MDSs. The reported features should prompt the pathologist to suggest a search for possible occult cancer.

Bone Marrow↗

Bone marrow morphology and proliferative activity in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Peripheral cytopenia has been reported in a number of patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), but the mechanism of bone marrow (BM) failure is unclear. We have examined the BM morphology and cytokinetics of 16 untreated HIV-positive patients whose clinical condition ranged from asymptomatic (stage 1 WR and II CDC classifications) to overt AIDS (stage 6 WR and IV CDC classifications). BM aspirates and iliac crest threphine biopsies were obtained for myelogram and histologic examination, as well as for propidium iodide flow cytometric (FMC) DNA analysis. FCM data were compared with those from the BM of patients with solid tumors without BM involvement. Four patients had normal peripheral blood counts, 2 were anemic, 2 had granulocytopenia, 2 thrombocytopenia, 4 bicytopenia and 2 pancytopenia. BM cellularity was normal or increased, but only 2/16 patients had normal BM morphology. Ten patients had atypical lymphoid aggregates, relative plasmacytosis and eosinophilia, and 4 had typical myelodysplastic changes. There was no correlation between morphology and WR or CDC grade. The mean proliferative fraction (i.e. the percentage of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle) of the HIV-positive patients was 11% (range 5.5-18.3%). The mean value for the control patients was 15.1% (range 7.7-26.9%) (p less than 0.05). All patients had modal diploid DNA content without aneuploid clones. These data suggest that the mechanism of BM failure in HIV-positive patients lies in a reduced proliferative activity whose exact cause is still unclear.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗