Biomedical subjects

C Cannella

Publications and source records attributed to C Cannella.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Orthorexia nervosa: validation of a diagnosis questionnaire.

AIM: To validate a questionnaire for the diagnosis of orhorexia oervosa, an eating disorder defined as "maniacal obsession for healthy food". MATERIALS AND METHODS: 525 subjects were enrolled. Then they were randomized into two samples (sample of 404 subjects for the construction of the test for the diagnosis of orthorexia ORTO-15; sample of 121 subjects for the validation of the test). The ORTO-15 questionnaire, validated for the diagnosis of orthorexia, is made-up of 15 multiple-choice items. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The test we proposed for the diagnosis of orthorexia (ORTO 15) showed a good predictive capability at a threshold value of 40 (efficacy 73.8%, sensitivity 55.6% and specificity 75.8%) also on verification with a control sample. However, it has a limit in identifying the obsessive disorder. For this reason we maintain that further investigation is necessary and that new questions useful for the evaluation of the obsessive-compulsive behavior should be added to the ORTO-15 questionnaire.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Orthorexia nervosa: a preliminary study with a proposal for diagnosis and an attempt to measure the dimension of the phenomenon.

AIM: To propose a diagnostic proceeding and to try to verify the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa (ON), an eating disorder defined as "a maniacal obsession for healthy foods". MATERIALS AND METHODS: 404 subjects were enrolled. Diagnosis of ON was based on both the presence of a disorder with obsessive-compulsive personality features and an exaggerated healthy eating behaviour pattern. RESULTS: Of the 404 subjects examined, 28 were found to suffer from ON (prevalence of 6.9%). The analysis of the physiological characteristics, the social-cultural and the psychological behaviour that characterises subjects suffering from ON shows a higher prevalence in men and in those with a lower level of education. The orthorexic subjects attribute characteristics that show their specific "feelings" towards food ("dangerous" to describe a conserved product, "artificial" for industrially produced products, "healthy" for biological produce) and demonstrate a strong or uncontrollable desire to eat when feeling nervous, excited, happy or guilty.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

MNA predictive value in the follow-up of geriatric patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to verify, in a sample of elderly subjects admitted to long-term care, the impact of malnutrition, according to the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), on mortality and on the occurrence of Adverse Clinical Events in a 3-12 months follow-up study. SUBJECTS: The survey included all patients admitted to a geriatric hospital--"Villa delle Querce", Nemi (Rome, Italy)--between January 1997 and April 2000, whose nutritional status we were able to monitor for over 3 months. The study comprised 167 elderly subjects, of which 125 women (74.9%) aged 83.3 8 years (60-95 years), and 42 men (25.1%) aged 79.6 9 years with an average follow-up period of 7.5 months. METHODS: Upon admission and at every check we evaluated each subject's cognitive functions, functional status, co-morbidity, frailty, nutritional status (anthropometric and biochemical indices; MNA). During the follow-up we recorded Adverse Clinical Events. We calculated the predictive value of MNA, we correlated variations in MNA scores with variations of nutritional parameters. RESULTS: MNA's predictive ability both upon admission and upon discharge was found to be excellent. The MNA score was found to be correlated-although not to a very high degree-with variations nutritional parameters. Even more than malnutrition, a low MNA score was found to be predictive of a greater incidence of Adverse Clinical Events during hospitalisation and of higher mortality.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Administering the "AHSP Questionnaire" (appetite, hunger, sensory perception) in a geriatric rehabilitation care.

BACKGROUND: Frail elderly people, living in nursing homes, usually show a malnutrition state caused by an increased need of energy or an inadequate food intake. Among the causes leading to reduction of food intake in elderly people and consequently to malnutrition, is the loss of appetite, often marker of depression and alterations of taste and smell perception. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research is to verify the application of the AHSP Questionnaire and relate its score to nutritional state of a frail elderly population hospitalized in a geriatric rehabilitation care. SETTING AND SUBJECTS: All patients of the "3rd Rehabilitation Department" of the Istituto Geriatrico "Villa delle Querce" Nemi (Rome-Italy). METHODS: Informations, number and type of medical conditions, prescribed drugs, other parameters that can affect taste, smell, hunger and nutritional status, mood, cognitive and nutritional status have been collected from the clinical folders. To assess appetite, hunger smell and taste perception had been submitted the AHSP Questionnaire. RESULTS: The AHSP Questionnaire had been administered only to 44 of the 103 patients present at the survey because of the high prevalence of cognitive impairment. AHSP score is lower in presence of malnutrition assessed with MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment). MNA, expressed as proportional score, seems to present a clear correlation with AHSP's (r=0.59; p=0.000). CONCLUSION: The results achieved show the scarce adaptability of the AHSP Questionnaire to frail elderly people living in geriatric rehabilitation care. MNA is at the moment the most reliable tool to single out dietary deficiency on geriatrics population.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Eating behavior of ballet dancers.

Ballet dancers are frequently regarded as having a higher risk of developing eating disorders (ED). This paper describes the eating habits and prevalence of ED in a group of female students from a dance academy in Rome, Italy. Participants were assessed with an array of measures conventionally employed (usually singly) in epidemiological studies of ED, namely: an anthropometrical-nutritional evaluation, the EAT, EDI, and BUT questionnaires, and the EDE interview. The 160 students who agreed to participate were evaluated anthropometrically, nutritionally and psychometrically and 83 underwent the EDE structured interview. Their calorie intake was insufficient in all age groups in terms of the nutritional standards required by their daily physical activity. EAT, EDI and BUT enhanced concerns about dieting, food intake control and body image. The significance of the correlations between calorie intake and the EAT Dieting and the EDI Perfectionism and Interceptive Awareness scores increased in function of age. Food, weight and body image concerns increased with age and length of time in the ballet environment The reduced calorie intake was not necessarily linked to the presence of psychopathological signs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

A "proportional and objective score" for the mini nutritional assessment in long-term geriatric care.

BACKGROUND: In a previous study we tested the predictive value of the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) in an Italian population of frail elderly in long-term hospital care. The results of our study confirmed the MNA's excellent overall predictive value and sensitivity. Unfortunately we had a large number of false positive judgments, hence our study's low specificity, which we think was caused by two factors: 1. in most cases it was impossible to conduct a reliable subjective assessment of the patients' nutritional and health status. 2. most patients failed to respond to some of the MNA questions, which as a consequence received a "0" score. The result was an artificially low global MNA score even in well-nourished patients. OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: We tried to neutralize the effects of the defective answers by modifying the total score and the cut-off points of the test. Thus, we: 1. replaced the subjective assessment of health and nutritional status with an objective evaluation; 2. replaced the total score of MNA with the ratio of this value with the maximum of points that each subject can obtain without including the items for which we could not have a response. Similarly, the cut-off points (17 and 24) were replaced with the ratio of these values with the maximum of points obtainable by a complete MNA (30). Patients are classified as "malnourished" below 0.56, "at risk of malnutrition" between 0.56 and 0.79, and "well-nourished" from 0.8 up. RESULTS: This way, the overall predictive value of MNA is increased from 80.3 to 85.4% and the specificity from 12.8 to 25%, whereas the sensitivity increase is modest (from 98 to 98.1%).

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2000

Enzymatic assay for the determination of olive oil polyphenol content: assay conditions and validation of the method.

A new spectrophotometric assay for the determination of the polyphenolic content of olive oil is presented. It is a substrate-recycling assay for phenolic compounds that employs tyrosinase in the presence of excess NADH. The reaction of various phenols with the enzyme produces an o-quinone, which is detected by recycling between reactions with the enzyme and NADH. The method offers some advantages over the classical methods employed to determine the polyphenolic content of olive oil, that is, ease and reproducibility of the analysis, highly increased sensitivity, and selectivity toward phenolic compounds. The amount of total polyphenols was determined in virgin olive oils both with the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and with the proposed enzymatic method. The results suggest a better estimation of the polyphenol content, as compared with the colorimetric method. This has to be attributed to the different reactivities of the two methods toward phenols and catechols. Finally, the enzymatic method demonstrates that there is a linear relationship between the olive oil phenolic content and the antioxidative capacity of oil extracts.

Flavonoids↗

PubMed2000

Prediction of stature in the Italian elderly.

Adequate quantification of weight and stature is essential in order to determine levels of nutritional support and to monitor the effects of nutritional intervention. Traditional anthropometric techniques are difficult to apply in elderly or handicapped patients chair or bed-bound. The purpose of the present study is to elaborate regression equations for the estimation of stature in the italian elderly population from other anthropometric measures that can be more easily determined. We have found a single model valid for both sexes (in which the value of the variable "sex" equals 0 if woman and 1 if man) to predict stature in italian elderly: Stature = 94.87 + 1.58 knee-height - 0.23 age + 4.8 sex. Cross validation on a control sample of 30 males and 54 females yielded pure errors of 3.1 cm for men and 2.74 cm for women.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Body weight estimation in the Italian elderly.

We have developed two different equations, for each sex of the elderly italian population to predict weight from selected measures of recumbent anthropometry, using data of 172 females (72.8 +/- 8 years old) and 113 males (73.4 +/- 8 years old). The independent variables for both sexes were knee stature. subscapular skinfold, arm and calf circumferences. Cross validation was conducted on a free-living sample of 54 females and 30 males. The recommended equations have a 95% probability of predicting the weight of an elderly man or woman to be within plus or minus 4.9 or 6.1 Kg respectively.

Aged↗

PubMed1997

Lifestyle and dietary differences in smokers and non-smokers from an Italian employee population.

In a sample of 200 subjects, representative of a population of 1936 civil servants, we tested differences in life style, dietary habits and distribution of risk factors for CHD between smokers and nonsmokers. The two groups (79 smokers) and (121 non-smokers) did not differ significantly by age or sex. The percentage of sedentary subjects, of hypercholesterolaemics and of hypertensives was found to be particularly high among smokers: 67%, 33% and 30% respectively (vs 59%, 27% and 19% in non-smokers). More smokers were obese (11% vs 5%) but mean BMI was the same in smokers/non-smokers but showed a higher fat mass; the association of CHD risk factors indicates only one significant correlation (P < 0.05) between obesity and hypertension. In male smokers, higher values of LDL and triglycerides and lower intake of energy, vitamins C and A are observed and these values are significantly different than those for non-smokers. In women HDL values are higher in non-smokers whereas, in female smokers, the food cholesterol intake is particularly high 271 +/- 295 mg. There are also correlations both for the anthropometric and clinical parameters and for energy and nutrients, indicating that the lifestyle of smokers is less healthy than that of non-smokers. Smokers cat vegetables and fruits less frequently and consume more alcohol than non-smokers, who prefer sweet foods.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Seasonal changes in the activity of rhodanese in frog (Rana temporaria) liver.

1. The investigators studied annual changes in rhodanese activity in mitochondria and cytosol of frog liver cells (Rana temporaria) and found that the value of the enzyme-specific activity was higher in mitochondria than in cytosol, showing significant seasonal fluctuations. 2. The character of changes in the rhodanese activity in mitochondria, regardless of the sex of the studied animal, was demonstrated to be dependent upon the seasonal changes in frog thyroid gland function. 3. In the supernatant fraction of R. temporaria liver homogenate, seasonal changes of rhodanese specific activity seemed to be related to changes in hepatic function.

Acclimatization↗

PubMed1991

Cloning and sequence analysis of the human liver rhodanese: comparison with the bovine and chicken enzymes.

The cDNA for the human rhodanese (thiosulfate: cyanide sulfurtransferase, EC 2.8.1.1), a nuclearly encoded protein of the mitochondrial matrix, was isolated from a human fetal liver cDNA library. Nucleotide sequence revealed an open reading frame coding for a polypeptide of 295 amino acids, which presented a 57% and 58% identity with the bovine and avian rhodanese, respectively. The analysis of the 5'-ends of the coding region gave no evidence for the presence of a cleavable signal sequence as found in other mitochondrial proteins. A comparison with two available amino acid sequences (cow and chicken) showed that sequence similarity is not restricted to the alpha-helices and beta-structures motifs which are remarkably superimposable in the two halves of bovine rhodanese, but extends to adjacent regions.

Adrenal Glands↗

PubMed1991

Chemical modification of rhodanese with sulphite.

The essential sulphydryl group of bovine liver rhodanese (thiosulphate: cyanide sulphurtrasferase, E.C. 2.8.1.1.) is modified by sulphite produced during the enzymatic reaction or added to the fully active enzyme. The enzyme treated with labelled reagent incorporates 1 equivalent of SO3(2-) and loses one -SH group with the formation of a S-sulphonate group at the active site. Mercaptoethanol is effective in both restoring enzyme activity and removing bound sulphite from protein. The inactivation process is dependent on the presence of oxygen and is antagonized by chelation of metal ions, that catalyze sulphite autoxidation, or by scavenging free radicals with mannitol or benzoate. Since the presence of superoxide dismutase and/or catalase protects the enzyme only to a small extent, the inactivation process should be attributed to sulphite radicals rather than intermediates of oxygen reduction.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

Synthesis of rhodanese in Hep 3B cells.

The biosynthesis of rhodanese was studied in human hepatoma cell lines by immunoblotting and pulse-labeling experiments using polyclonal antibodies raised against the bovine liver enzyme. Rhodanese, partially purified from human liver, showed an apparent molecular weight of 33,000 daltons, coincident with that of rhodanese from Hep 3B cells. After pulse labeling of Hep 3B cells both at 37 degrees C and 25 degrees C, rhodanese in the cytosol fraction exhibited the same molecular weight as the enzyme isolated from the particulate fraction containing mitochondria. Moreover, newly synthesized rhodanese from total Hep 3B RNA translation products showed the same electrophoretic mobility as rhodanese from Hep 3B cells. These results suggest that rhodanese, unlike most mitochondrial proteins, is not synthesized as a higher molecular weight precursor.

Antibodies↗

PubMed1986

Active site modifications quench intrinsic fluorescence of rhodanese by different mechanisms.

Beef liver rhodanese can be modified covalently at the active site (Cys-247) either reversibly or irreversibly by sulfur, selenium, iodoacetate, and hydrogen peroxide. Each derivative shows an intrinsic fluorescence lower than that of the free enzyme. The reaction of rhodanese with iodoacetate or hydrogen peroxide is time-dependent and accompanied by enzyme inactivation, by the loss of one or two sulfhydryl groups, respectively, by quenching and bathochromic shift of fluorescence, and by an absorbance perturbation in the near UV. The latter findings are indicative for a displacement of some tryptophyl side chains from hydrophobic to hydrophilic environment. The fluorescence decays of the various rhodanese derivatives can be fitted by a double-exponential function with two lifetimes: a shorter one of 1-1.7 ns and a longer one of 2.8-4.6 ns. The S-loaded and Se-loaded rhodanese samples have proportionally shorter lifetimes and lower quantum yields. No such proportionality was observed for the iodoacetate-treated and for the hydrogen peroxide treated enzyme. These findings indicate that two different quenching mechanisms are operating in rhodanese derivatives, a long-range energy transfer from tryptophan to persulfide (or sulfoselenide) group and a static quenching accompanying a conformational change of the protein after modification of the active site.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

New crystalline derivatives of bovine liver rhodanese.

Mitochondrial bovine liver rhodanese (thiosulfate:cyanide sulfurtransferase) has been crystallized in the form deprived of the transferable sulfur. The essential condition for crystallization was the removal of oxygen. Crystals of the sulfur-free enzyme are isomorphous with the previously characterized crystals of the sulfur-substituted enzyme. The new crystal species can react with either thiosulfate or selenosulfate to form the catalytic intermediate and, subsequently, with cyanide to form the corresponding product. Furthermore, the enzyme active site can be alkylated by iodoacetic acid.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Determination of rhodanese activity by tetrazolium reduction.

A colorimetric method for the assay of rhodanese activity based on the continuous determination of the sulfite product is described. 5-Ethylphenazinium ethyl sulfate is used as the intermediate electron carrier between sulfite and nitroblue tetrazolium to produce the colored reduced species. The present method is more sensitive than the usual procedure based on the colorimetric determination of thiocyanate. Furthermore, the color developed by nitroblue tetrazolium reduction affords a straightforward means to locate rhodanese activity in polyacrylamide gels.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Continuous spectrophotometric assay of pantetheinase activity.

A continuous spectrophotometric assay for pantetheinase determination using S-pantetheine-3-pyruvate as substrate is described. The enzymatic hydrolysis of this new substrate leads to the formation of S-cysteamine-3-pyruvate, which cyclizes in a non-rate-limiting step to give 2H-1,4-thiazin-5,6-dihydro-3-carboxylic acid (aminoethylcysteine ketimine), a compound exhibiting a strong absorption at 296 nm. The assay is optimized with respect to pH, buffer, and substrate concentration. Prereduction of the enzyme and some properties of the reaction are also studied. The assay is simple, rapid, very sensitive, and specific.

Amidohydrolases↗