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Biomedical subjects

A M Martinelli

Publications and source records attributed to A M Martinelli.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

An explanatory model of variables influencing health promotion behaviors in smoking and nonsmoking college students.

College students can establish healthy lifestyle practices that can have lifelong implications. Many students, however, continue to engage in risky behaviors such as active and passive smoking. The purpose of this study was to test an explanatory model of variables which can influence health promotion behaviors in smoking and nonsmoking college students. Pender's Health Promotion Model provided the framework for the study. Health promotion behaviors were found to be most effective when students: had an increased self-efficacy, avoided environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), perceived themselves as healthy, were female, and had a powerful external and internal health locus of control. College students may benefit from health promotion interventions designed to influence the avoidance of ETS and alter perceptions of self-efficacy, control of health, and health status. Such interventions may result in a decrease in both active and passive smoking.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Testing a model of avoiding environmental tobacco smoke in young adults.

PURPOSE: To test an explanatory model of gender, self-efficacy, situational influences, and other health-promoting behaviors on the avoidance of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in young adults. ETS is a cause of lung cancer, pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular disease. Although young adults are at increased risk for ETS exposure, there are few behavioral studies of ETS exposure and no reported studies of ETS exposure in young adults. Although college students are often exposed to ETS, the college environment offers a setting in which the opportunities for change are substantial. DESIGN: Model-testing. Data are reported on a convenience sample of 136 nonsmoking 18- to 25-year old students in one mid-atlantic U.S. university. This sample of nonsmokers was drawn from a larger sample of 241 smokers and nonsmokers in 1995. Model constructs were based on Pender's health promotion model (HPM). METHODS: The General Self-efficacy Scale, Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile, and ETS Avoidance Scale were used along with items measuring ETS-avoidance efficacy and Living with Smoke. Path analysis was used to test the model. FINDINGS: The trimmed explanatory model showed that 26% of the variance in avoiding ETS was accounted for by gender, having self-efficacy, and ETS-avoidance efficacy, not living with people who smoke, and performing other healthy behaviors. Being female and general self-efficacy indirectly influenced ETS avoidance through their effects on related health promoting behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The explanatory model of ETS avoidance can provide useful information for the development of interventions to prevent exposure to passive smoke. Given the occurrence of ETS exposure in young adults, longitudinal research using this explanatory model is yielding promising results. Enhancing the self-efficacy of young adults and encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviors may be an important factor in their avoidance of ETS.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

A theoretical model for the study of active and passive smoking in military women: an at-risk population.

This paper presents a model designed for the study of active and passive smoking in military women with children. Some constructs have been adapted from a transtheoretical model of behavior change. Transtheoretical model constructs of relevance to this model include (1) stages of behavior change, (2) decisional balance, and (3) self-efficacy. Other model constructs include (1) personal and situational factors, (2) a mother's self-efficacy to reduce the child's smoke exposure, (3) a mother's expectation for the child's smoke exposure, (4) smoke avoidance, (5) nicotine dependence, and (6) social support for quitting smoking. The occurrence of health problems associated with smoking is the outcome variable. The results of a study under way at present may support the use of this model and may make data available to substantiate the need for behavior-specific interventions designed to prevent and reduce active and passive smoking among military personnel.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

p120 and AgNOR nucleolar protein expression: a comparison with nuclear proliferation markers in oral pathology.

To find a better method for predicting the biological behavior of certain oral cavity lesions, the expression of nucleolar protein p120 and nucleolar organizer region counts (AgNOR) was compared with that of nuclear proliferation markers MIB-1 and PCNA in 10 cases of keratotic epithelial hyperplasia (KEH), 10 cases of epithelial dysplasia (ED), and 15 cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Significant differences in p120 and AgNOR mean area values and PCNA labeling index (LI) were recorded between KEH and ED, as well as ED and SCC (Student-Neumann-Keuls test). All markers significantly differed between SCC grades I and III. Significant differences were also noted in AgNOR mean area values between grade I and II SCC and in p120 mean area values. MIB-1 and PCNA LI differed significantly when grade II and III SCC were compared (SNK test). There were significant correlations between p120 and AgNOR (Pearson correlation coefficients) and between both of them and the proliferative indexes. AgNOR correlated with tumor grade, stage, and lymph node status (Spearman correlation coefficients), suggesting a prognostic role for that marker.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1998

Development and validation of the avoidance of environmental tobacco smoke scale.

The Avoidance of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) scale is a self-report measure of the avoidance of ETS by young adults. Initial use of the scale with 30 undergraduate students showed an internal consistency of .84 across 40 items and .90 in a refined 28-item instrument. In a sample of 241 students, a 20-item scale had an internal consistency reliability of .94 and a refined 10-item scale had an internal consistency of .86. In a sample of 95 mothers with a mean age of 36, the 10-item scale had an internal consistency of .81. In three distinct samples, significant known groups' discrimination was found between smokers and nonsmokers. Psychometric analysis indicates that the scale merits further testing using a more heterogeneous sample from community and clinical populations to ensure its usefulness by clinicians and researchers interested in explaining, predicting, and preventing exposure to ETS.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Immunohistochemical detection of nucleolar protein p120 in paraffin-embedded tissues.

The monoclonal antibody FB-2 recognizes the antigen p120-kDa protein (p120), associated with the nucleolar matrix. p120 has originally been reported as expressed and detectable in malignant and non-neoplastic proliferating cells, but not in most normal resting tissues and benign tumours. In the present study, a reliable immunostaining method was used to detect p120 on formalin-fixed, paraffin wax-embedded tissue, testing it on 148 samples from different neoplastic and non-neoplastic tissues from different organs (breast, colon, lung, prostate, bladder, lymph nodes, skin, tongue and liver). The immunostaining was performed after the application of a specific antigen-unmasking protocol based on six consecutive cycles of microwave oven heating. Under these retrieval conditions, p120 antigen was clearly detectable, not only in hyperplastic and malignant cells, but also in stromal and normal non-proliferating cells of all the tissues evaluated. Our results show that the nucleolar protein p120 can be detected by routine immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue and is expressed in all nucleated cells under any biological condition.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗
PubMed1996

Experimental acute infectious pancreatitis in rats: histological observations.

Microbic contamination has been shown to be a secondary pathogenetic factor in different models of acute pancreatitis. In this paper, we developed an experimental bacterial model of necrotizing acute pancreatitis (NAP). Forty rats were treated by direct inoculation of a suspension of a clinically isolated strain of Escherichia coli, with three different single 0.33 ml injections, into the head, body and tail of the pancreas. Twenty five rats were sham operated and injected with saline. All animals were sacrificed at 48 hours, 4, 6, and 12 days. This experimental model appeared easy to execute without evidence of mortality. Histomorphologically, haemorrhagic NAP was observed, with its final recovery and minimal residual and focal fibrosis of the gland. As reported in the literature, our data underline the relevance of the bacterial component on pathogenesis of NAP, especially as an aggravating factor.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1995

Experimental acute hepatic vein occlusion: histological observations in the rat.

The histological consequences of hepatic venous outflow obstruction were studied in the rat. Circulatory changes as venous congestion and interstitial fluid accumulation are followed by signs of cellular damage progressing till hemorrhagic infiltration and focal necrosis. These are quite completely reversible in a period of 15 days.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1993

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen/cyclin in incidental carcinoma of the prostate.

Monoclonal antibody to proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) has been used to identify the growth fraction in ten cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), in 20 prostatic microcarcinomas (PMC) and in 30 cases of infiltrating prostatic carcinoma (PC). Ten year follow-up was available on all cases by means of clinical, serological, radiological and echographic examinations. The percentage of PCNA-staining nuclei was independently counted by two observers. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between PCNA/cyclin score of BPH and PMC without recurrences with respect to those of PMC with progression and of PC. PCNA immunostaining may represent a reliable method for assessing cellular proliferative activity. It may be used as a more powerful diagnostic hallmark of PMC than patterns of non-malignant microglandular proliferation and is also a useful additional test for assigning histological grades to PMC and PC. Statistical analysis indicated that PCNA/cyclin index was an independent significant prognostic indicator of predicting malignant progression (P < or = 0.01) and survival rates (P < or = 0.05) of PC and PMC (> 5 mm diameter).

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Prognostic significance of nucleolar organizer regions in ovarian epithelial tumors.

Recent studies have shown that the silver-stained nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) score is related to the cell growth rate in several neoplasms. In the work presented here, we tested the AgNOR technique in 79 ovarian epithelial tumors (13 benign, 10 borderline, 56 malignant) to evaluate the diagnostic potential of AgNOR count in distinguishing between ovarian borderline tumors and carcinomas and to assess its prognostic value in carcinomas. Ovarian carcinomas exhibited higher mean AgNOR values than borderline and benign tumors, but statistically significant differences were found only in the serous type. Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation of higher AgNOR score, advanced tumor stage, and adverse prognosis. On the contrary, low AgNOR counts identified stages I and II carcinomas with disease-free follow-up. These results suggest that the AgNOR count may improve the prognostic evaluation of ovarian epithelial tumors by representing a reliable indicator of survival.

Cell Division↗
PubMed1992

Sclerosing adenosis of the prostate. Report of three cases with electronmicroscopy and immunohistochemical study.

Three cases of rare variant of prostatic adenosis with the features of sclerosing adenosis, an uncommon lesion sometimes confused with prostatic carcinoma, are reported. The lesions consisted of a small, single nodule in prostates otherwise showing typical adenomatous and fibromuscular hyperplasia. The lesions were composed of crowded small glands, small solid nests and individual cells embedded in a cellular stroma. Immunohistochemistry showed that the glands were lined by basal cells positive for the high-weight keratins (EAB-903 and AE-3), a finding which confirms the benign nature of the lesion. S-100 protein and smooth muscle actin were also positive in the same basal cells suggesting myoepithelial differentiation, a character not found in basal cells outside this lesion. This finding was confirmed at ultrastructural level by the finding of numerous thin filaments in the cytoplasm of basal cells. It is important to recognize this lesion in order to avoid confusion with well-differentiated prostatic carcinoma.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Glaucoma. Classifications, treatment options, patient care.

Advances in pharmacology, cell biology, and laser and fiberoptic technology are providing many opportunities in glaucoma research. As researchers increasingly understand the physiology of the eye, they develop new therapies. A wide variety of new drugs including dopaminergics, calcium channel blockers, and prostaglandins are under investigation for glaucoma treatment. The THC:YAG laser is being developed to perform thermal sclerotomy and may eliminate much of the risk associated with standard filtering surgery. Biologic, anatomic, and biochemical studies of the trabecular meshwork are leading to greater understanding of aqueous humor formation, aqueous humor outflow in the normal eye, and aqueous humor flow resistance in the glaucomatous eye--knowledge that eventually could provide preventive measures or eliminate glaucoma entirely.

Drug Therapy↗