[New pathogenetic hypothesis of bronchial asthma].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Sebastiani.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A microplate method of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was adapted for the demonstration of antibodies to influenza A and B in 25 paired acute and convalescent sera taken from patients with influenza A infection, in 11 single convalescent sera collected from patients with acute respiratory infection and serological evidence of influenza B infection, in 14 paired sera collected from volunteers who were vaccinated with an aqueous inactivated influenza A and B vaccine, and in 15 serum samples from normal subjects. Comparison showed that ELISA was more sensitive than the hemagglutination-inhibition test. The enzyme-immunoassay gave equally reliable and reproducible results and requires very small amounts of antigen and sera. This simple test may be suitable for use in large seroepidemiological surveys.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The intestinal helminth status of an age-stratified sample (6 to 20 years old) from a Somalian community has been assessed and the typical pattern of highly aggregated parasite distribution found. A reinfection study on a sample of 40 children (treated and untreated with a pentapeptide identical to the active site of the thymic hormone thymopoietin) seemed to indicate that immunological factors play a significant role in modulating the population dynamics of infection in endemic communities.
We have assessed the prevalence of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection in people with histologically proven chronic liver disease living in Somalia. Among 104 patients studied (14 with chronic persistent hepatitis, 74 with chronic active hepatitis, and 16 with active cirrhosis), 52 were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen; of these, 26 (50%) carried anti-delta antibodies. HDV infection was detected more frequently in sera from hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negative patients (60.9%) than in HBeAg positive patients (9.1%). Using the dot-blot hybridization technique, serum hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid was revealed in 73.1% of patients without HDV infection, while it was detected in only 7.7% of anti-delta positive patients. It is concluded that HDV is strongly associated with chronic liver disease in Somalia.
An uncommon case of a 25-year-old woman affected by bilateral idiopathic multiple serous detachments of the macular retinal pigment epithelium is described. During the fluorescein angiography follow-up, in either macular area one of these detachments resulted in a typical central serous chorioretinopathy active leakage point. These findings detail that idiopathic serous detachments of the retinal pigment epithelium may represent predisposing changes for the development of macular neurosensory retinal detachment.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae was isolated from 53 young females (6-14 years old) in a Somali orphanage. A male guardian was found to be the effective transmitter having sexually abused the children. All the bacterial isolates were of the same serogroup WI and the same serovar Aedih. This presents an unusual example of a tight geographic cluster of infected people which is often characteristic of gonorrhoea epidemics.
PURPOSE: To describe the concomitant occurrence of systemic cortico-steroid treatment and the development of bilateral central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC), which promptly regressed after the reduction of the drug dosage, up to its scheduled withdrawal. METHODS: Case report. RESULTS: A 46-year-old white male, with a history of monolateral CSC, had a non-Hodgkin lymphoma on his right cheek. Soon after surgical excision of the tumoral lesion, he received a standard post-operative regimen of decreasing intramuscular betamethasone for 25 days, followed by 10 day's withdrawal, then cycles of intravenous cyclophosphamide and vincristine, followed by 7-day oral prednisone, repeated monthly for three months. Fluorescein angiographies at the end of the first oral cortico-steroid cycle and before starting the second, documented the occurrence of bilateral CSC and its regression, which were chronologically related respectively to the cortico-steroid administration and withdrawal. CONCLUSIONS: This case further demonstrates that systemic cortico-steroids can be responsible for the occurrence of CSC. The patient's history should always be checked for any previous CSC episodes. In these subjects, periodical ophthalmoscopic examination is essential to discover early or asymptomatic steroid-related CSC patterns, to prevent complications of the disease.
PURPOSE: To report a case of monolateral preretinal fibrovascularproliferations in a young adult woman, who had suffered from incontinentia pigmenti (IP) during her first month of life. METHODS: Case report. RESULTS: Circumscribed preretinal fibrovascular proliferations, adjacent to a mid-peripheral area of snail track degeneration, were occasionally diagnosed in the left eye of an asymptomatic 18-year-old white female. Careful ocular examination did not reveal any cause of the monolateral vascular abnormalities observed in the posterior segment. A detailed medical history brought to light that the patient has suffered infantile IP, like four other females in her family. The patient did not present any evident malformation of teeth, nails, skeleton or hair. A cytogenetic linkage study documented a chromosomal aberration in the Xq28 band, which confirmed the diagnosis of familial IP (type 2). The fluorescein angiography findings clearly illustrated the minimal retinal involvement in the course of IP. CONCLUSIONS: This case shows that a wide range of etiologies must be considered in patients presenting monolateral preretinal fibrovascular proliferations. To correctly manage these uncommon, inherited or acquired, retinal diseases it is better to do a mid-term follow-up, rather than operate immediately, and this enabled us to observe the natural course of the lesion, while awaiting a definitive diagnosis.
PURPOSE: To describe further findings in the Parry-Romberg syndrome that might contribute towards a better understanding of the disease. DESIGN: Case report. METHODS: The clinical history of a patient with the Parry-Romberg syndrome was studied, and fluorangiography and echography were carried out. RESULTS: Clinical observation revealed classic hemifacial atrophy; fluorescein angiography showed telangiectasis, light staining of the retina, and leakage from the largest telangiectasis and the optic disc vessels; echography showed shrinkage of the eyeball and thinning of the extraocular muscles. CONCLUSIONS: Enophthalmos in this disease is caused not only by progressive fat atrophy but also by shrinkage of the eyeball and thinning of the extraocular muscles; the shrinkage of the eyeball helps explain the presence of choroidal and retinal folding and hyperopia, confirming the primary involvement of connective tissue in this disease.