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Biomedical subjects

A Mascolo

Publications and source records attributed to A Mascolo.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Prevalence of HSV-1 LAT in human trigeminal, geniculate, and vestibular ganglia and its implication for cranial nerve syndromes.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) enters sensory neurons and can remain latent there until reactivation. During latency restricted HSV-1 gene expression takes place in the form of latency-associated transcripts (LAT). LAT has been demonstrated to be important not only for latency but also for reactivation, which may cause cranial nerve disorders. Tissue sections of the trigeminal ganglia (TG), geniculate ganglia (GG), and the vestibular ganglia (VG) from seven subjects were examined for the presence of LAT using the in situ hybridization technique. LAT was found on both sides in allTG (100%), on both sides of five subjects (70%) in the GG, and in none of the VG. Using a second more sensitive detection method (RT-PCR), we found LAT in the VG of seven of ten other persons (70%). This is the first study to demonstrate viral latency in the VG, a finding that supports the hypothesis that vestibular neuritis is caused by HSV-1 reactivation. The distribution of LAT in the cranial nerve ganglia indicates that primary infection occurs in the TG and GG and subsequently spreads along the faciovestibular anastomosis to the VG.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Opsoclonus in a patient with cerebellar dysfunction.

After two days of malaise, headache, nausea, and vomiting, a 26-year-old man suddenly developed opsoclonus and stance and gait ataxia, without myoclonus. Having excluded a paraneoplastic etiology, we assumed that the disorder was probably related to a viral infection. Spontaneous resolution occurred in about two months. Opsoclonus became flutter dysmetria and then resolved. Saccadic eye movement recording disclosed the occurrence of hypermetria, increased velocity, and delayed latency, which also resolved. In this patient, the correspondence between clinical and ocular motor abnormality courses suggests a transient cerebellar dysfunction as the possible pathophysiologic mechanism for opsoclonus.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The Union Health Center: a working model of clinical care linked to preventive occupational health services.

As health care provision in the United States shifts to primary care settings, it is vital that new models of occupational health services be developed that link clinical care to prevention. The model program described in this paper was developed at the Union Health Center (UHC), a comprehensive health care center supported by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (now the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) serving a population of approximately 50,000 primarily minority, female garment workers in New York City. The objective of this paper is to describe a model occupational medicine program in a union-based comprehensive health center linking accessible clinical care with primary and secondary disease prevention efforts. To assess the presence of symptoms suggestive of occupational disease, a health status questionnaire was administered to female workers attending the UHC for routine health maintenance. Based on the results of this survey, an occupational medicine clinic was developed that integrated direct clinical care with worker and employer education and workplace hazard abatement. To assess the success of this new approach, selected cases of sentinel health events were tracked and a chart review was conducted after 3 years of clinic operation. Prior to initiation of the occupational medicine clinic, 64% (648) of the workers surveyed reported symptoms indicative of occupational illnesses. However, only 42 (4%) reported having been told by a physician that they had an occupational illness and only 4 (.4%) reported having field a workers' compensation claim for an occupational disease. In the occupational medicine clinic established at the UHC, a health and safety specialist acts as a case manager, coordinating worker and employer education as well as workplace hazard abatement focused on disease prevention, ensuring that every case of occupational disease is treated as a potential sentinel health event. As examples of the success of this approach, index cases of rotator cuff tendonitis, lead poisoning, and formaldehyde overexposure in three patients and their preventative workplace follow-up, affecting approximately 150 workers at three worksites, are described. Work-related conditions diagnosed during the first 3 years of clinic operation included cumulative trauma disorders (141 cases), carpal tunnel syndrome (47 cases), low back disorders (33 cases), lead poisoning (20 cases), and respiratory disease (9 cases). This pilot project represents a new model for effective integration of clinical care and occupational disease prevention efforts within a primary care center. It could serve as a prototype for development of such services in other managed and primary care settings.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
PubMed1982

An immuno-enzymatic assay for herpes simplex virus tumour associated antigen in gynecological oncology.

The authors studied the HSV-TAA (Herpes Simplex Virus Tumor Associated Antigen) in patients affected by female genitale tract tumors, using the immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA). They found a positive frequence of 65% in sera of patients affected by uterine cervical carcinoma and of the 80% in sera of patients affected by vulvar carcinoma. The authors suggest that this enzymatic method has a real value and propose its use in the early diagnosis of the female genital tract neoplasms.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗
PubMed1981

Perspectives and limits of an immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA) for herpes simplex virus (HSV) tumor-associated antigen (TAA).

An ELISA has been developed to detect specific antibodies for HSV-TAA in sera of patients with head, neck and urogenital tract carcinomas (Cancer, 45:1980). Further studies have shown that 64/800 controls (8.12%), i.e. healthy people, are positive against 312/425 patients with herpes associated tumors (73.41%). People with herpes recurrens show 18% positivity, precancerous lesions 44% and other cancers 6%. Immunodepression, chemo- and radio-therapy play an inhibitory role on the ELISA positivity for TAA. Radical surgery of the HSV-TAA positive cancers results in lack of specific antibody whereas relapse or metastasis of the tumor yields positive results. The reproducibility of the test is very good and the standard error is low (1.0655). The conclusions allow us to foresee the use of this ELISA for early detection of the HSV-TAA antibodies in certain human carcinomas.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

HSV-1 not only in human vestibular ganglia but also in the vestibular labyrinth.

Reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in the vestibular ganglion (VG) is the suspected cause of vestibular neuritis (VN). Recent studies reported the presence of HSV-1 DNA not only in human VGs but also in vestibular nuclei, a finding that indicates the possibility of viral migration to the human vestibular labyrinth. Distribution of HSV-1 DNA was determined in geniculate ganglia, VGs, semicircular canals, and macula organs of 21 randomly obtained human temporal bones by nested PCR. Viral DNA was detected in 48% of the labyrinths, 62% of the VGs, and 57% of the geniculate ganglia. The potential significance of this finding is twofold: (1) Inflammation in VN could also involve the labyrinth and thereby cause acute unilateral vestibular deafferentation. (2) As benign paroxysmal positional vertigo often occurs in patients who have had VN, it could also be a sequel of viral labyrinthitis.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Rationalization of transfusional therapy in elective surgery. Our experience].

The paper reports the authors' experience regarding the rationalisation of transfusional therapy. The high risks of infection or damage to the immune system have highlighted the need to review the approach used by the anesthetist, surgeon or hematologist resulting in major cultural changes and the development of methods for the use of autologous blood. The study was carried out by comparing 2 similar periods of surgical activity in which the sole variant was the different attitude of the anesthetist who utilised blood transfusion on the basis of pre, intra and postoperative hematocrit values; in addition, the Authors report the results obtained in a group of patients enrolled for EIN. They observed that by using simple rationalisation a 30% saving, equivalent to 101 blood units, was achieved; EIN was performed in 20 patients out of the 32 enrolled with an effective 20% saving equivalent to 40 units; calculating the theoretical saving which could be obtained by total EIN and rationalisation, a saving of as much as 58% equivalent to 198 units could be achieved. Even if many aspects still require definition, good rationalisation, even using simple techniques, coupled with the availability of autologous blood certainly makes blood transfusion safer and less expensive.

Blood Transfusion↗