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Biomedical subjects

B De Luca

Publications and source records attributed to B De Luca.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

The influence of high blood levels of urea on the presence of Campylobacter pylori in the stomach: a clinical study.

In order to determine whether urea influences the presence of Campylobacter pylori (Cp) in the stomach, the incidence of this infection was determined in patients with chronic renal failure who received no treatment (group A) or underwent regular hemodialysis (group B). A third group was examined as control. Biopsies from the gastric antrum were taken for histological investigation and for Cp detection. No significant differences among the 3 groups of patients were found with regards to the incidence of Campylobacter pylori. Urea can be considered as a preferred metabolite but no proof that high levels influence the occurrence of the organism in the stomach was found.

Gastric Mucosa↗
PubMed1989

Heat production and motor deficit in rats lesioned in globus pallidus, entopeduncular nucleus and lateral hypothalamus.

Oxygen consumption, colonic and interscapular brown adipose tissue temperature were evaluated in four groups of male and four groups of female rats both before and after lesions in different brain regions, and following beta-blocker propranolol administration. Recovery of body weight with varying difficulties in reaching food was also recorded in the injured animals. Groups consisted of rats with bilateral lesions in the entopeduncular nucleus (group EN), rats with bilateral lesions in the globus pallidus (group GP), rats with lateral hypothalamic lesions in the left side and entopeduncular lesion in the right side (group EN-LH), and rats with bilateral lesions in the lateral hypothalamus (group LH). Colonic and brown adipose tissue temperature and oxygen consumption were significantly increased after lesions in rats of groups EN, LH and EN-LH, but not in animals of the GP groups. Similarly, propranolol administration blocked the rise in heat production only in EN, LH and EN-LH animals. No differences were found between sexes. The survival rate was the same in all groups. GP rats recovered body weight earlier than animals injured in the other regions. The difficulty in reaching food was an important factor only in rats damaged in the EN. The results suggest that lateral hypothalamus and entopeduncular nucleus share a common regulatory function of the energy metabolism, while EN lesions induce a motor deficit in addition.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗
PubMed1989

Lack of diet-induced thermogenesis following lesions of paraventricular nucleus in rats.

The effects of electrolytic lesions in the hypothalamus paraventricular nucleus were studied in adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats, fed different diets, consisting of either palatable human food plus chow (cafeteria diet) or chow alone. The results showed that both cafeteria diet and lesions induced an increase in energy intake and weight gain in rats of both sexes. Oxygen consumption rate and colonic temperature were significantly decreased by lesions, while cafeteria diet increased the same parameters only in intact animals. The lesion decreased weight, protein and DNA, and temperature of brown adipose tissue, while cafeteria diet increased the values considered in brown adipose tissue of sham-injured rats, but not in lesioned animals. The response to norepinephrine administration was significantly greater in intact rats and those fed cafeteria diet. The results suggest that the larger body weight gain observed in lesioned rats, particularly evident in rats fed cafeteria diet, is partly due to the disappearance of diet-induced thermogenesis that depends on the reduced mass and functional activity of brown adipose tissue.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗
PubMed1989

Thermogenetic changes following frontal neocortex stimulation.

Heat production changes were recorded in anesthetized female Sprague-Dawley rats after stimulation of orbital frontal neocortex. The results obtained show that orbital frontal neocortex stimulation significantly increases oxygen consumption, and core and brown adipose tissue temperature. The increase was more substantial after stimulation of left than right cortex. Administration of the beta-blocker propranolol abolished the increase in O2 consumption, core and brown adipose tissue temperature following cortical stimulation. These results are in agreement with our previous research showing that functional ablation of cerebral cortex blocked the increase in thermogenesis following lateral hypothalamic lesion. These findings also show that the orbital frontal neocortex in rats is specifically involved in the control of thermogenesis.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1987

Phase II double-blind randomized study of lonidamine and radiotherapy in epidermoid carcinoma of the lung.

Patients with non metastatic squamous cell lung cancer were treated with radiotherapy (RT) plus lonidamine (LND) or placebo (PLAC), according to a randomized double-blind study design. Treatment with lonidamine 150 mg t.i.d. (27 patients) or placebo (23 patients) started 3 days before RT, lasted up to 7 months. Partial responses were observed in 14 and 6 patients respectively in the LND + RT and PLAC + RT groups. Statistical analysis of the survival curves showed no significant difference between the LND + RT (median 311 days) and PLAC + RT (median 193 days) groups. Stage III patients survived significantly longer (p less than 0.05) when treated with LND + RT (median 318 days) than with PLAC + RT (median 163 days). No synergistic toxic effects between radiation and LND were noted. To confirm these data a new and larger multicentric study is now in progress.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Cortical control of thermogenesis induced by lateral hypothalamic lesion and overeating.

Increased O2 consumption was found in rats after bilateral lesions of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) or during voluntary overeating. This phenomenon appears to be mediated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in both conditions, since it is blocked by the beta-blocker propranolol administration. In the first experiment we showed that the brain cortex is involved in the thermogenesis induced by LH lesion and this effect is mediated by SNS, since bilateral functional decortication induced by cortical-spreading depression (CSD) impaired the increase of O2 consumption to the same extent as administration of propranolol. In the second experiment the role played by the cerebral cortex on thermogenesis in rats during voluntary overeating of "cafeteria" diet and in control rats was investigated. Cafeteria rats showed a significantly higher colonic temperature, brown adipose tissue temperature (Tbat), and rate of O2 consumption than control animals. CSD led to a significant decrease of Tbat and O2 consumption in cafeteria rats but not in controls. On the basis of the results obtained in the two experiments, the possibility that the cerebral cortex could be involved in the metabolic responses for reduction of body weight to the "set-point" is hypothesized.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗
PubMed1987

[Ectrodactyly].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Neophobia, conditioned taste aversion and EEG arousal after globus pallidus lesion.

Rats with unilateral or bilateral electrolytic lesions in the globus pallidus (GP) became aphagic and adipsic. Aphagia and adipsia lasted 2-3 days in rats with unilateral lesion, but were more persistent in animals with bilateral lesions. EEG arousal induced by nociceptive stimuli applied to the side of the body contralateral to the unilateral pallidal lesion was of shorter duration than that induced by ipsilateral stimulation; no difference was found between rats injured in left or right (GP). Total exploratory activity of rats with symmetrical or asymmetrical lesions, exposed to a novel environment for ten min, was not different from that of the control group, but the exploratory activity measured in a 60 sec block showed trends in the two injured groups being different than those in the controls. Rats with unilateral right or bilateral lesions showed a lower level of neophobia for saccharin than controls. Acquisition of conditioned taste aversion was similar in lesioned rats and controls, but extinction of the conditioned taste aversion was slower in the intact than in the injured animals.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Radiology of thalassemic syndrome in the transition from the old to the new therapeutic transfusion regimen].

The authors have evaluated the skull, thorax, wrist and hand standard radiographs of 29 patients affected by Cooley's disease who were treated up to 1983 with a low transfusion regimen, rather with a high transfusion regimen (Hb level greater than 9.5 g/dl). The patients have been divided into two groups, according to the prevalence of the first or the second transfusion regimen. Almost all the changes described in the literature have been found in the radiographs, but completely modified; some of these, like rib notchings, in higher percentage than known. In the youngest patients the most significant appearances were ribs and hand changes, that can be considered the most important feature in their radiological monitoring. However this new transitional radiological syndrome will rapidly modify with the establishment "ab initio" of the high transfusional regimen.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cortical control of hypoxic suppression of thermogenesis induced by lateral hypothalamic lesion.

Acute hypoxic hypoxia is reported to suppress both diet- and cold-induced components of metabolism. In the present experiment the effects of hypoxic hypoxia on the oxygen consumption and on colonic and brown adipose tissue temperature were studied in rats with lesion of the lateral hypothalamus. The electroencephalographic activity, slow potential changes and cortical extracellular potassium concentration were also recorded. The results showed that acute hypoxic hypoxia blocked the thermogenesis induced by lateral hypothalamic lesion and the changes in temperatures were always preceded by modification of the cerebral cortex activity.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗