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Biomedical subjects

D Gaburro

Publications and source records attributed to D Gaburro.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Surfactant-like material in the antral gastric mucosa of children.

It has been proposed that the hydrophobicity of the gastric mucosa is due to surfactant-like material (SLM), mainly composed of phospholipid, adsorbed to the mucosal surface. Biochemical and physiological studies have been performed in different mammals but morphological data on children are lacking. In the present work, the presence of SLM on the antral gastric mucosa of children has been studied by electron microscopy. The results demonstrate that SLM is present and shows two different forms, lamellar bodies and lamellar layers. In the mucosae without endoscopic, histologic, and ultrastructural alterations we have found SLM when the tannic acid method has been used but not when the tissue has been fixed only in glutaraldehyde. Our results suggest that in children with ultrastructural alterations of the epithelium, the amount of gastric SLM is increased in respect to children with a normal mucosa and that the amount of SLM on the surface of the gastric antral mucosa is modified in pathologic conditions.

Adolescent

Peptic disease in paediatric patients: a diagnostic and therapeutic contribution.

A retrospective clinical study was conducted in 267 children referred to the Verona University Institute of Paediatrics over the period from June 1985 to May 1989 for peptic symptoms. The aim was to obtain data on the incidence of peptic disease in paediatric patients and on the efficacy of various types of pharmacological active principles in treatment of the acute phase and of relapses. All cases observed were subjected to endoscopy (also combined with biopsy in cases presenting signs of inflammatory ulcer disease), which revealed the presence of mucosal abnormalities in 125 patients (46.8%), diagnosed as follows: oesophagitis (44 cases), gastritis and duodenitis (73 cases) and peptic ulcer (8 cases). Among the drugs used, ranitidine proved highly effective, producing healing in all cases reporting for follow-up, and showed excellent tolerability.

Adolescent

Efficacy and duration of action of placebo responses in the prevention of exercise-induced asthma in children.

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, a common phenomenon in asthmatic children, may be prevented by the administration of appropriate drugs. In this study we evaluated the effect and duration of action of placebo (Freon gasses) administered to the patients as a protective drug. The maximum decrease in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) after exercise testing was 40.3% +/- 3.10 at the initial screening session and, on different study days, 23.3% +/- 3.57, 28.8% +/- 3.86, and 33.7% +/- 3.71 30, 120, and 240 minutes, respectively, after the administration of Freon gasses. There was a linear trend indicating a reduction in protection with time. The placebo effect was marked 30-120 minutes after treatment (p less than 0.01) and completely disappeared after 4 hours. The placebo effect should always be considered in the evaluation of any new antiasthmatic drug.

Adolescent

Salbutamol and ipratropium bromide solution in the treatment of bronchospasm in asthmatic children.

The effects of the beta 2-adrenergic agonist salbutamol (0.02 mL/kg of a 0.5% solution) and the cholinergic antagonist ipratropium bromide (2 mL of a 0.025% solution), administered alone or in combination at different doses, were evaluated in 48 asthmatic children using a single-dose, double-blind, crossover design. Spirometric measurements were taken before and 10, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, 300, and 360 minutes after administration of the drugs. All regimens produced significant bronchodilatation 10 to 30 minutes after administration. The improvement began to decline three to four hours after inhalation, particularly when ipratropium bromide was administered alone. The administration of the salbutamol plus ipratropium combination did not significantly improve pulmonary function values as compared to salbutamol alone. The effects of salbutamol and ipratropium bromide in half-dose or full-dose combinations were indistinguishable. No significant adverse effects on blood pressure or heart rate were observed.

Adolescent

Synthetic growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH 1-44) in the differential diagnosis between hypothalamic and pituitary GH deficiency.

GH response to an iv bolus of growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH 1-44, 2 micrograms/kg iv) was evaluated in 17 prepubertal children with total GH deficiency (GHD), 6 with partial GHD and in 7 prepubertal normal but short children tested as control. GH response to conventional pharmacological (insulin and arginine or L-Dopa) and physiological stimuli (sleep test) and to GHRH test was also compared. GHRH-induced GH peak occurred at variable times and marked heterogeneity in magnitude of the individual responses to this peptide was observed in GHD patients and in controls. GH increases after GHRH with a peak greater than 10 ng/ml suggested an hypothalamic origin of the GHD in 12 patients (8 with total GHD and 4 with partial GHD). A significant difference (p less than 0.025) of GH peak mean following GHRH administration between total GHD children and normal short children was found. GH response to GHRH injection was usually higher than to conventional stimuli. Nevertheless GH peak following GHRH administration was lower than GH peak following conventional stimuli in 6 children (2 partial GHD children and 4 normal ones). A normal short child failed to respond to GHRH test performed twice. GHRH test is an important diagnostic tool in order to point out hypothalamic GHD.

Adolescent

Preliminary report on histamine release, circulating immune complexes, and complement activation in children with atopic dermatitis after oral challenge with milk and egg antigens.

The effects of dietary restriction and food challenge were evaluated in five children with atopic dermatitis, as a possible predictive marker for the dietary management of this clinically perplexing disease. Two of the five showed significant elevation of plasma histamine; an additional two demonstrated the presence of immune complexes and in the fifth no change was described. The results of these study lend further support to the causal relationship between food allergy and atopic dermatitis, and suggest that the use of these immunologic parameters may be useful in the clinical assessment and management of these patients.

Administration, Oral

Unilateral cryptorchidism with compensatory hypertrophy of descended testicle in prepubertal boys.

5 prepubertal boys with unilateral cryptorchidism and compensatory hypertrophy of the descended testicle, 22 prepubertal boys with unilateral cryptorchidism and without CTH, and 14 prepubertal normal boys were submitted to LH-RH and to HCG tests in order to study the hormonal behaviour in CTH phenomenon before puberty. High but normal peaks of plasma LH and FSH were observed after LH-RH in CTH boys who showed a significant increase of testosterone after HCG stimulation. On the contrary the LH response to LH-RH and the testosterone response to HCG of the boys with unilateral cryptorchidism and without CTH were, as expected, significantly lower than in the control ones.

Child, Preschool

A simplified method for the evaluation of human faecal flora in clinical practice.

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of aerobic and anaerobic faecal flora was determined by a new and easy method. 10 microliter of 12 ten-fold dilutions in saline of samples of faeces were plated on the surface of culture media solidified in wells of sterile virology plexiglass plates (diameter 16 mm; 0.5 ml culture media) and incubated at 37 degrees C for 24 h. The same dilutions and the same plexiglass plates were used under anaerobic conditions for analysis of anaerobic flora (under atmosphere of N2 85%, CO2 10%, H2 5%, negative pressure, at 37 degrees C for 48 h). The analysis was performed on 35 healthy breast-fed newborn infants, 1--6 days old. After birth, the meconium in sterile; already at 25 h of life some bacterial species (Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria, Bacteroides) show the maximal concentration in faeces and do not grow afterwards; other bacterial species (Coliforms, aerobic and anaerobic Streptococci) increase gradually during the first week of life. This method gives the same results as the conventional techniques (i.e. Petri dishes), but in an easier and quicker way; therefore it seems useful in clinical practice.

Bacteria

Persistent post-enteritis diarrhoea.

Clinical, biochemical, and gastroenterological data have been examined im 48 patients in two age groups, one under 12 months of age, the other between 12 and 30 months with persistent post-enteritis diarrhoea. In these patients, the illness consisted of chronic diarrhoea which followed acute enteritis. It brought about a mild malabsorption syndrome with impairment of growth, particularly in infants under one year of age. Chronic inflammation with mucosal damage due to alteration of the intestinal microflora by inappropriate diets and therapy seemed to be the cause of persistent diarrhoea in these patients.

Acute Disease

Biotin-responsive infantile encephalopathy: EEG-polygraphic study of a case.

A case of an infant suffering from progressive lethargy, sparse scalp hair, autistic-like behavior, myoclonias, and drug-resistant generalized seizures is reported. Laboratory investigations revealed, in the absence of metabolic acidosis, an increased urinary excretion of 2-ketoglutaric acid and a small peak of 3-hydroxyisovaleric acid. The serum biotinidase activity was 0.15 nmol min-1 ml-1 (normal range 5.2 +/- 0.9) in the propositus and 0.310 and 0.420 in her father and mother, respectively. The interictal EEG showed multifocal abnormalities; numerous seizures were recorded, with the pattern of true tonic-clonic fits, exceptional in infancy. Also myoclonias, auditory myoclonus, and repetitive startles were documented. Because of dramatic improvement of all symptoms and signs after starting biotin (5 mg twice daily), the authors suggest a therapeutical trial in all drug-resistant infantile seizures.

Amidohydrolases