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Biomedical subjects

A Premoli

Publications and source records attributed to A Premoli.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Type I autoimmune hepatitis: clinical course and outcome in an Italian multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: Many reports of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) were written in the 'pre-Hepatitis C era' and data on the natural history are still incomplete. AIM: To evaluate the clinical presentation and the natural history of type I AIH. METHODS: Seventy-three consecutive patients with a regular follow-up of at least 2 years were prospectively included in the study. The mean follow-up was 91 +/- 61 months. RESULTS: Patients with 'acute' onset at presentation were significantly older than patients with 'chronic' onset (P < 0.05) and had significantly higher serum levels of transaminase, gamma-glutamyltransferase and bilirubin; Prothrombin time was significantly lower in the said group compared with AIH patients with 'chronic' onset. In 4 of 63 (6.3%) female patients, AIH had the onset during pregnancy; in all of them the outcome of pregnancy was favourable. The major events during the follow-up included oesophageal varices (n = 9) and ascites (n = 4), and 60 patients remained in remission while receiving immunosuppression. None of the patients died during the follow-up, but seven patients were transplanted. The cumulative transplant-free probability of survival was 73.5% at 280 months. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly patients have more frequently an acute onset at presentation. Survival in AIH is apparently good; with early diagnosis, and improved medical therapy, liver transplantation for AIH will become a rare event in future.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

[Autoimmune hepatitis: present knowledge].

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a rare and chronic disease which may lead to liver cirrhosis if not correctly treated. Its etiology is unknown, but some progresses have been obtained in the knowledge of damage pathogenesis, its immune mechanisms and genetic predisposition (female gender, presence of HLA DR3 and HLA DR4). It seems that such predisposition favours some agents (e.g. drugs or viruses) to trigger the pathological process. Patients present with variable, often few and unspecific symptoms. Diagnosis is made on the basis of anamnestic (absence of other causes, such as virus infections or alcohol abuse), serological (autoantibodies, high levels of aminotransferases, hypergammaglobulinemia), and histological data (piecemeal necrosis further to bridging necrosis, panlobular and multilobular necrosis); these data are processed by a scoring system which is helpful for the diagnostic definition. Therapy is founded in immunosuppressor drugs, mainly steroids and azathioprine, but a lot of other drugs have been studies for cases of recurrence and of intolerance to the standard treatment.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed2002

The esophageal chest pain. An update for clinicians.

Chest pain is a common symptom and even when there is evidence of only minor obstructive coronary artery disease on angiography, it leads to disability and imposes a substantial economic burden on health care system. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and esophageal dysmotility disorders are thought to play an important role in the genesis of non-cardiac chest pain. Its pathogenetic mechanism remains unclear. The esophageal origin of the symptom may be identified by an aggressive trial of high-dose antisecretory drugs or an abnormal prolonged ambulatory pH monitoring study. Endoscopy is often normal and less useful in this population than in those with heartburn as presenting symptom. The use of manometry, with provocative testing to evaluate for esophageal motility abnormalities or esophageal sensitivity, allows optimal evaluation of those who do not have GERD. Patients with non-cardiac chest pain of unknown origin should be carefully screened for the occurrence of esophageal disorders but further research is needed to clarify the role of the latter on the pathogenesis of this symptom.

Chest Pain↗
PubMed2001

[Variant syndromes in autoimmune hepatic diseases].

Some autoimmune hepatic diseases patterns can be of difficult classification, sometimes as overlap of autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and chronic viral hepatitis. The recognition of these forms is not so easy, but it is necessary for an effective therapeutic approach. At present, the specificity in these cases of the score system done and revised by the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group is being discussed. Patients showing such diseases have different modalities of presentation of their hepatic disease and different courses. The role of histology appears to be important, but often the overlap of more manifestations is not helpful to a correct diagnostic definition. The variant syndromes could be classified as intermediate patterns of cholestatic forms and of autoimmune hepatic diseases or cholestatic forms of autoimmune hepatitis or hepatitic forms of cholestatic syndromes.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1999

Genetic variation in Fitzroya cupressoides (alerce), a threatened South American conifer.

Fitzroya cupressoides (alerce, Cupressaceae) is a large and exceptionally long-lived conifer, endemic to a restricted area of southern Chile and neighbouring areas of Argentina. As a result of its high economic value, the species has been severely exploited for timber, and remnant populations are fragmented and often highly disturbed. The species is thought to have undergone a major range contraction during the last glaciation. In order to assess the extent of genetic variation using DNA markers within and between populations of this species, samples were obtained from throughout the natural range and analysed for random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) variation. Eight 10-mer and three 15-mer primers were used to produce a total of 54 polymorphic bands. Shannon's diversity estimates were calculated to provide an estimate of the degree of variation within each population. Values varied from 0.343 to 0.636 with only the lowest value differing significantly from the others (Spop = 0.547). This indicated that there is a significant degree of variation within each population, and did not provide evidence for genetic 'bottle-neck' effects within the species. A pairwise distance measure calculated from the RAPD data was used as an input for principal coordinate (PCO) and AMOVA analyses. The first three principal coordinates of RAPD distances described 8.3, 5.9 and 5.4% of the total variance, respectively, and a degree of clustering of samples according to their geographical origin was detectable. AMOVA analysis indicated that although most of the variation (85.6%) was found within populations, a significant proportion (P < 0.002) was attributable to differences between populations. An UPGMA dendrogram constructed using phi ST values derived from AMOVA produced a pattern broadly similar to that produced by the PCO, highlighting differences between three main groups of populations within Chile: those from the northern Coastal Range, the southern Coastal Range and Central Depression, and the Andes. Populations from Argentina also emerged as significantly different from those in Chile. These results are interpreted in the context of the postglacial history of the species, and their implications for the development of conservation strategies for Fitzroya are discussed.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗