PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Volpe

Publications and source records attributed to A Volpe.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Long-term immunogenicity safety and efficacy of a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine in healthy adults.

Two hundred healthy adults seronegative for HBV markers received three 10 or 20 mcg injections of a vaccine formulated from HBsAg produced by a recombinant strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The vaccine was administered intramuscularly at 0, 1, and 6 months in the deltoid region. The seroconversion rates, expressed in GMT/IU/1 were determined at 1, 2, 6, 7, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months following the initial injection. No severe or serious adverse reactions attributable to the HB vaccines were observed in any subject. The seroconversion rates following the 20 mcg dose of recombinant vaccine were always higher than those observed after the 10 mcg dose, but the differences were not statistically significant. Also the GMT values were lower after the 10 mcg dose of vaccine. Females showed a higher anti-HBs response than males; an age-dependent effect was observed in the anti-HBs response as regards both the percentage of responders and the antibody concentrations in the serum. No adverse reactions to the vaccine were observed. The rDNA vaccine did not induce a response to yeast-derived impurities and did not increase anti-yeast IgE antibody titres. The results of this study have shown that the Amgen rDNA vaccine is safe and clinically well tolerated, and that it provides protection against infection and disease. A vaccination dose of 20 mcg appears more advantageous for healthy adult subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Efficacy of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women with oral discomfort.

The increase in incidence of oral discomfort among women in a menopause is probably due to hormone modifications. This study evaluated the efficacy of hormone replacement therapy in 27 postmenopausal patients, aged 48 to 58 years, with oral discomfort and no local irritants and in 47 postmenopausal women with no oral discomfort. Patients were treated with conjugated estrogens for 21 days and medroxyprogesterone acetate from day 12 through day 21. Hormone-replacement therapy had no effect on oral cytology in the 40 symptom-free postmenopausal women compared with a group of 47 postmenopausal women who had no oral symptoms and were not treated. Hormone-replacement therapy relieved symptoms and improved oral cytohormonal features in 15 of 27 patients with symptoms. Nuclear estrogen receptors were found by immunohistochemical assay in 8 of 10 randomly selected patients with symptoms who responded to hormone-replacement therapy, but not in 2 patients who did not benefit from hormone-replacement therapy. Estrogen receptors were also found in 6 of 10 fertile women with no oral disease. Our results suggest that oral discomfort may be related to steroid hormone withdrawal only in some postmenopausal women and that replacement therapy may improve the clinical picture and cytologic features in this group of patients. Immunohistochemical identification of estrogen receptors may help to identify patients for whom hormone-replacement therapy may be beneficial.

Burning Mouth Syndrome↗
PubMed1992

Studies on direct intraperitoneal insemination in the management of male factor, cervical factor, unexplained and immunological infertility.

One-hundred-and-twenty couples with male factor, cervical factor, unexplained or immunological infertility underwent direct intraperitoneal insemination (DIPI) of capacitated spermatozoa, combined with ovarian stimulation for a total of 254 cycles. Pregnancy occurred in 47 cycles, resulting in an overall pregnancy rate of 40.5% per patient (two pregnancies occurred in two patients) and a cycle fecundity of 18.5%. Of the patients, 23 have delivered live infants (one twins, 22 singletons), 15 (32%) miscarried and 9 have ongoing pregnancies. The cycle fecundity rates increased with increasing sperm concentration and total progressive motile count, both before and after sperm preparation (r = 0.8161, r = 0.8717 and r = 0.759, r = 0.795, respectively). However, there were two pregnancies where the inseminates had a count of 0.1 x 10(6) total motile spermatozoa. DIPI as an outpatient, in-vivo conception procedure offers encouraging results and is recommended before attempting more costly and invasive assisted reproduction techniques.

Female↗
PubMed1992

Effects of growth hormone administration in addition to gonadotrophins in normally ovulating women and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO) patients.

Follicular fluid sex-steroids, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), IGF-I binding protein (IGF-I-BP) and epidermal growth factor were investigated in patients with polycystic ovaries and normally ovulating women, following ovulation induction with gonadotrophins or growth hormone plus gonadotrophins. Growth hormone supplementation enhanced the ovarian response to gonadotrophins, and significantly increased follicular fluid IGF-I in both groups, without affecting follicular fluid epidermal growth factor; growth hormone supplementation significantly decreased follicular fluid androstenedione in both groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Hepatitis C virus in hemodialysis patients.

Anti-HCV prevalence in 284 hemodialysis patients was assessed using the Abbott HCV-EIA test. Anti-HCV positivity was found in 19.4% of patients, was higher in males than in females and progressively increased with age. A correlation between time of dialysis treatment, transfusions and ALT course was found. These data suggest that HCV infection is a very important risk in dialysis units.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Immunogenicity and efficacy of anti-hepatitis B vaccines in hemodialysis patients.

The 7-year follow-up with plasma-derived and 2-year follow-up with r-DNA vaccines have indicated the safety, immunogenicity and persistence of a vaccine-induced antibody response in hemodialysis patients. The results of our study indicate that these subjects have a lower and often inadequate immunogenic response to the HB vaccine and that the r-DNA vaccine gives a better seroconversion rate than the plasma-derived vaccines.

Hepatitis B↗
PubMed1992

[A comparison between intraurethral echography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance in the staging of bladder tumors].

The purpose of our study was to assess the utility of CT and MRI in the staging of bladder carcinoma. The overall accuracy of MR is in the range of 66 to 85%. T2 weighted and post-Gadolinium T1 weighted images allow one to differentiate T1-T2 from T3a type of neoplasms. Perivesical fat invasion is well shown with T1w images while pelvic wall invasion is better seen on T2w--images. The overall accuracy of CT ranges from 64 to 92%. CT cannot distinguish stage T1 from stage T3a tumors CT is accurate for demonstrating perivesical fat invasion. In the assessment of lymph node metastases CT and MRI have low sensitivity but high accuracy. Trans-urethral sonography is more accurate than CT and MRI in the staging of parietal invasion and it permits the differentiation between T1, T2 and T3a stages even though the distinction between T2 and T3a type of tumors is not always possible. Trans-urethral sonography is not useful in assessing extravesical extension and lymph node metastases. In summary, trans-urethral sonography is the method of choice for evaluating parietal invasion. CT and MR are very accurate for evaluating perivesical fat invasion and are also quite accurate for evaluating lymph nodes. MRI is superior to CT in distinguishing tumors limited to superficial muscle from those that invade deep muscle. MRI can also be helpful in distinguishing the tumor from fibrosis and edema.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1992

[Computed tomography and magnetic resonance in the TNM staging of pulmonary carcinoma].

On the basis of a review of the literature and of the authors' personal experience, the usefulness was evaluated of CT and MR for the staging of lung carcinoma. Neither method was found to be useful for diagnosis; as to staging, neither is capable to distinguish between simple adhesion and infiltration of adjacent structures by the tumor. As compared to CT, MR has the advantage of showing many layers and better contrast resolution but spatial resolution is poorer. MR was superior to CT for the study of hilar lesions (easily differentiated from vessels) and for those involving the upper pulmonary sulcus. The accuracy of evaluation of the N parameter was the same for both methods whereas for the M parameter RM was more accurate than CT. Considering the wide margins for technological improvement of MR, a more important role for this method compared to CT can be hypothesized.

Carcinoma↗
PubMed1992

Prevalence and incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in hemodialysis patients: study of risk factors.

The prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV) was assessed in 246 hemodialysis patients who attended a dialysis unit in Bari, using a recombinant enzyme immunoassay test (Abbot Lab.). Fifty-six (22.8%) sera were reactive to anti-HCV. The reactivity was confirmed in 46 specimens (18.7%) using the Abbott EIA HCV neutralization test. The anti-HCV prevalence was higher in males than in females and increased with age, duration of dialysis and number of transfusions. Moreover, a correlation between the presence of anti-HCV and the persistent increase of ALT was noted. The HCV-infection attack rate was calculated using the frozen sera collected from 1984 to 1990: the incidence of infection in the first year was 6.1%, and in following years 4.6%, 4.9%, 3.1%, 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Sperm retrieval for direct intraperitoneal insemination in a diabetic with retrograde ejaculation. A case report.

Retrograde ejaculation is an uncommon form of male infertility. It may occur in diabetics from neuropathy involving the sympathetic fibers innervating the bladder neck. Treatment of infertility in these cases is with artificial homologous insemination. Several techniques for semen recovery from the bladder have been proposed. This paper describes a case of twin pregnancy following direct intraperitoneal insemination (DIPI) of semen retrieved from a diabetic man with retrograde ejaculation. Retrieval of semen was performed in this case by spontaneous voiding of urine after the introduction of a suitable medium into the bladder and before ejaculation. The quality of the semen was examined after spontaneous urination before DIPI. The poor quality of the spermatozoa induced us to introduce into the bladder a suitable medium before ejaculation and sperm recovery.

Administration, Intravesical↗
PubMed1991

Follicular fluid steroid and epidermal growth factor content, and in vitro estrogen release by granulosa-luteal cells from patients with polycystic ovaries in an IVF/ET program.

The follicular fluid (FF) content of androgens, estrogens and epidermal growth factor (EGF) has been evaluated in a group of patients with policystic ovary disease (PCO) and in one of normally-ovulating infertile women (NOW) in an IVF/ET program. The in vitro response to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) has been also evaluated in granulosa luteal cells from the same patients. PCO patients showed significantly higher FF androstenedione (delta 4) and testosterone (T) and similar FF estrone (E1) and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) levels compared to controls. In vitro production of E1 and E2 by granulosa luteal cells from PCO patients and from controls were overlapping and their response to FSH was similar. These data indicate a normal intrinsic potential aromatase activity in ovaries from PCO patients stimulated with gonadotropins and suggest that PCOs do not derive from inherent ovarian aromatase deficiency. Increased FF androgen content following gonadotropin stimulation may result from theca cell hyperactivity and androgen accumulation in the follicular antrum of rescued hyperandrogenic follicles as well as from inhibitory factors that may inhibit aromatase activation in vivo, partially counteracting the effect of gonadotropins. FF EGF levels were significantly higher in the group of PCO patients compared to those of NOW. EGF may play a role in blunting the in vivo response of granulosa cells to gonadotropins.

Androstenedione↗
PubMed1991

Pregnancy following regression of uterine submucosal leiomyoma with GnRH therapy; a case report.

A patient with a history of two spontaneous abortions, at the 16th and 20th week, respectively, and one intra-uterine fetal death at the 26th week of gestation was investigated. The sole abnormal condition that could be evidenced was a submucosal leiomyoma of 56 mm in diameter in the uterine fundus. Administration of gonadotropin/releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) for 10 months resulted in complete disappearance of myoma. Direct intraperitoneal insemination following induction of ovulation resulted in pregnancy. In a patient harboring uterine leiomyomas, adversely affecting conception and pregnancy outcome, GnRHa treatment may be an initial approach allowing to avoid pelvic surgery. As the beneficial effect of GnRHa might be temporary, assisted reproduction procedures might anticipate conception.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1991

Root dentine transparency: age determination of human teeth using computerized densitometric analysis.

Root dentine transparency (RDT) was used to estimate the ages of human subjects from 152 intact teeth. Teeth were from 134 subjects, both historical and recent, of known age and sex. The aims of this work are 1) to compare two methods of using RDT to estimate age; 2) to test the applicability of the regression formulae for estimating age obtained from a recent sample on an historical sample; and 3) to estimate the suitability of RDT to determine age at death of 100-year-old skeletons. RDT was measured by two techniques: 1) computerized densitometric analysis and 2) vernier caliper. Age estimations based on computerized densitometric analysis were no more accurate than were those determined by caliper measurement; both give a predictive success of +/- 5 years in about 45-48% of cases for premolars. The television-based digitization system has some disadvantages: It is expensive, not portable, and requires some training to use. However, it furnishes a more standardized method, a rapid graphic illustration of the results, and an immediate storage of statistical information for future use.

Age Determination by Teeth↗
PubMed1991

Follicular fluid lipoproteins in preovulatory period and their relationship with follicular maturation and progesterone production by human granulosa-luteal cells in vivo and in vitro.

Follicular fluid (FF) lipoprotein content was evaluated in an in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer and gamete--intrafallopian--transfer program and correlated to follicular and oocyte maturation. Moreover, the in vitro progesterone response of granulosa-luteal cells from 10 patients to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was assessed. Most FFs contained only HDL. Sixteen out of 97 FFs contained also very low levels of LDL and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). The presence of LDL was associated to features of follicle and oocyte hypermaturity. LDL alone induced a much more potent increase of progesterone (P) release by granulosa-luteal cells than HDL alone, and the HDL partially reversed the potent effect of LDL. It is concluded that in late follicular phase HDL maintains P release by granulosa cells at a low rate and prevents a potent stimulation of P production by LDL which might cross the maturating blood-follicle barrier, until increasing passage of LDL in FF decreases the HDL:LDL ratio and the action of LDL becomes prominent.

Female↗
PubMed1991

Hepatitis B virus infection in hospital staff: epidemiology and persistence of vaccine-induced antibodies.

To establish the epidemiology of viral hepatitis B (HBV) infection in hospital staff the sera of 2462 workers and 176 professional nursing students were examined. The prevalences of HBsAg and anti-HBs among the workers were 4.5 and 42.2% and among the students were 2.3 and 15.3%, respectively. The risk of infection showed a correlation with the profession of the hospital workers, the various jobs carried out in different departments, age, and the number of working years. The anti-hepatitis vaccination with HBVax and HEVAC-B vaccines was used on 142 professional students and 996 hospital workers. Five years after the beginning of the vaccine cycle the percentage of responders observed among the students was 75 (HBVax) and 79% (HEVAC-B). Among the hospital staff the response registered was 66 and 71%, respectively. The best recorded response among the youngest subjects suggests that the anti-hepatitis vaccination should be obligatory for hospital workers at the beginning of their working period or professional training.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Oral discomfort and hormone replacement therapy in the post-menopause.

We evaluated the incidence of oral discomfort in post-menopausal women and the efficacy of hormone replacement therapy in patients complaining of such symptoms. Two studies were performed. In the first, we compared oral discomfort and oral mucosa smears in 47 patients receiving replacement therapy and in 40 untreated post-menopausal women. In the second, the efficacy of hormone replacement therapy with oestriol vaginal cream (22 patients) or conjugated oestrogens plus norethisterone acetate (10 patients) was evaluated. In the first study, oral exfoliative cytology showed a similar maturation index and volume in both groups. In the second, hormone replacement therapy improved subjective and objective symptoms in 12 out of 22 patients treated with oestriol and in 7 out of 10 patients treated with conjugated oestrogens plus norethisterone. These data suggest that oestrogen deficiency can be considered a possible cause of oral discomfort in some post-menopausal patients and that oestrogen replacement therapy may improve subjective symptoms.

Cytodiagnosis↗
PubMed1991

Clinical use of growth hormone-releasing factor for induction of superovulation.

A consistent body of in vivo and in vitro evidence suggests that insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and possibly growth hormone (GH) play a stimulatory role in the regulation of the ovarian follicular cycle. Administration of GH in protocols of induction of superovulation gave promising results. In the present study, 10 patients with a previously normal response to gonadotrophins were administered s.c. GH-releasing factor (GRF) combined with gonadotrophins for superovulation induction in an in-vitro fertilization/embryo transfer-gamete intra-Fallopian transfer (IVF/ET-GIFT) programme. Administration of GRF was followed by shortening of the stimulatory cycle and reduction of the total number of gonadotrophin ampoules utilized per patient relative to a previous stimulatory cycle with gonadotrophins alone. A significant increase of both follicular fluid IGF-I levels (compared to the previous cycle) and plasma GH levels immediately following GRF administration throughout the GRF cycle suggest that GRF supported the ovarian response to gonadotrophins through stimulation of the GH-IGF-I axis. A possible direct effect of GRF is discussed. Before employing GRF for superovulation in infertile patients, the pituitary GH response to provocative stimuli should be evaluated on an individual basis.

Adult↗