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Biomedical subjects

A Spinelli

Publications and source records attributed to A Spinelli.

137 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Control of breathing in normal subjects and in patients with chronic airflow obstruction.

In order to assess ventilatory control in patients with chronic airflow obstruction (CAO), the present study was carried out in nine patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), eight asthmatics and nine normal subjects. We analysed the components of the respiratory control system at three levels: neural, assessed by diaphragmatic electromyography (EMGd), muscular, assessed by mouth occlusion pressure (P0.1), and ventilatory, assessed by mean inspiratory flow (VT/TI). EMGd was recorded by surface electrodes. During a CO2 rebreathing test, patients showed a normal or greater EMGd response slope (EMGdS), while for a given degree of EMGdS, P0.1 response slope (P0.1S) was found to be significantly reduced; in contrast, for a given degree of P0.1S, VT/TI response slope (VT/TIS) was found to be significantly reduced in COPD patients only. These data show that, compared to normal subjects, patients with CAO have a normal or increased neural component of the respiratory activity (EMGdS) and a relatively lower neuromuscular coupling (P0.1S/EMGdS). Probably due to different parenchymal and airway involvement, musculoventilatory transfer (VT/TIS/P0.1S) was found to be reduced in COPD patients but not in asthmatics. A complementary study, showing a good agreement between surface and oesophageal EMGd seems to confirm that surface EMGd is a useful and promising tool for clinical investigation.

Asthma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Legal abortion in Italy: 1980-1981.

In 1980 and 1981, there were 446,430 legal abortions performed in Italy. There were about 345 legal abortions per 1,000 live births in 1980 and 363 in 1981. About 1.6 percent of women aged 15-49 obtained abortions in both years. An analysis of the characteristics of Italian women who obtained abortions indicates that most were married (about 70 percent), aged 18-36 (74 percent), had had less than a high school education (74 percent) and had had at least one previous live birth (70-75 percent). In 1981, 88 percent of abortions were obtained in public hospitals; 58 percent were carried out at eight or fewer weeks of gestation; and 78 percent were performed under general anesthesia. Only 20 percent were performed without an overnight stay in the hospital; and over 40 percent of women were hospitalized for two days or longer. Infection after the abortion was reported in only 0.03 percent of cases in 1981, and hemorrhage was reported in only 0.27 percent. In 1981, between 43 percent and 84 percent of gynecologists (depending on the region of the country) declined to perform abortions on grounds of conscience.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Amniotic fluid and blood coagulation].

A study was made of the incidence and activity of coagulation factors in normal amniotic fluids. According to the results, two groups of amniotic fluid can be distinguished. To group A belong those that are transparent, showing an activity similar to Russell's viper venom. To group B belong the fluids that are milky and translucent. In this second category, factor VIII seems to be a necessary component in order to obtain maximal coagulation activity. The clinical consequences of these facts are discussed.

Amniotic Fluid↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Nuclear medicine approach for the detection and characterization of liver metastasis].

Nuclear Medicine procedures include in vitro techniques able to detect and characterize liver metastases. Among the in vitro applications, circulating tumour markers level determination provides information about the response to therapy and the presence of active disease. While after a successful antineoplastic treatment the serum biological marker level usually falls, a progressive increase represents an alarm signal of occult/residual tumour or metastatic dissemination. However, this method is not able to identify the site of the lesion, therefore complementary imaging techniques are needed to confirm or exclude the diagnostic suspicion. The main advantages of the in vitro methods are the low cost and, consequently, the possibility of periodically checking of tumour activity. The in vivo nuclear medicine techniques are usually performed as second level test. In fact, they can play a role in detecting and characterizing hepatic metastases when radiological methods are inconclusive or when selected tumour seeking agents (i.e. radiolabelled antibodies, radioiodinated mIBG, Octreotide, etc.) can be used. Moreover, the introduction of PET procedures has provided physicians with a useful tool for the evaluation of tumour behaviour (glucose consumption, proteic, synthesis, receptor expression). A further significant diagnostic improvement is represented by the recent introduction of the multimodality co-registration of images (including CT scan, MRI, SPET, PET). The fusion imaging allows a superimposition of the functional and metabolic information to the morphological one.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗