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Biomedical subjects

E Cacciari

Publications and source records attributed to E Cacciari.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Growth and growth factors in diabetes mellitus.

Growth of 79 children with diabetes was analysed at diagnosis and again after one to 10.7 years of treatment with insulin. Both sexes were tall at onset, whereas at the last observation boys alone showed significant growth retardation. Height standard deviation score (SDS), however, showed no significant fall either in 32 subjects reassessed after five years of disease or in 18 subjects examined at full stature. Skeletal maturity was not significantly impaired after treatment. Pubertal growth spurt was reduced, especially in girls and in subjects with onset of disease at or around puberty. We found no significant correlation between height and height velocity SDS and glycosylated haemoglobin values or secretion of growth hormone during the arginine test. Somatomedin C values were correlated with height velocity SDS in prepubertal boys. The results of this study suggest that there are interferences in the growth of children with diabetes but that they do not seem to have a significant influence on adult height.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Hormones and handedness: left-hand bias in female congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients.

An excess of left-handers among males has been attributed to early androgen exposure. This theory was supported by our observation that girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are more left-biased than their normal sisters. Male CAH patients, with prenatal androgen exposure similar to that of unaffected brothers, had typical male-handedness patterns.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Somatomedin C in pediatric pathophysiology.

Human beings have essentially two peptides with somatomedinic effect: insulin-like growth factor I (IGF I), somatomedin C (SmC) and IGF II. IGF II does not seem to play a significant role in postnatal growth. IGF I/SmC assay has been used in an attempt to identify GH-deficient subjects. A significant overlap in IGF I/SmC values between subjects with GH deficiency and normal children does not permit screening of pituitary patients. In addition to GH deficiency, low SmC values have been found in some short children with normal GH release to pharmacologic tests. It has been hypothesized that insufficient GH release in these subjects is not detected by the traditional tests. Replacement therapy has been suggested but the results are indefinite. IGF I/SmC assay is highly useful in the diagnosis and monitoring treatment for acromegaly.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Somatomedin-C levels related to gestational age, birth weight and day of life.

Capillary blood samples on filter paper were assayed by means of an RIA method (Kit Nichols Institute USA) from 1096 newborns divided into full term, preterm and small-for-date infants. The somatomedin-C (Sm-C) mean value, which did not differ in the three groups, was 0.15 +/- 0.09 IU/ml. One hundred and ten (10%) showed Sm-C disc values less than or equal to 0.075 IU/ml, the minimum value measurable by our method. The day of life and birth weight had a significant influence on Sm-C levels. Gestational age did not have any significant effect. No significant interaction was found among the parameters considered. All the groups presented a progressive increase of Sm-C. Unlike preterm and small-for-date infants, in full term infants the latter increase seemed already to be evident from 5th day of life and reached higher levels from the 7th day of life onwards. In conclusion, Sm-C rates were reduced in the neonatal phase of life, but showed a tendency to rise later.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1986

Blood coagulation changes in homocystinuria: effects of pyridoxine and other specific therapy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the blood coagulation changes in three patients with homocystinuria, in baseline condition and during therapy. At baseline, antithrombin III activity and factor VII levels were reduced in all three patients; antithrombin III protein and protein C antigen were also slightly lowered in one patient, and factor X in another. beta-Thromboglobulin, a measure of platelet activation, was increased in one case. During pyridoxine treatment, antithrombin III activity was rapidly restored to normal; factor VII increased and beta-thromboglobulin decreased. These data suggest that, in addition to platelet activation, abnormalities of blood clotting, and particularly reduction of antithrombin III, may play a role in the thrombotic tendency associated with homocystinuria. The nature of these clotting alterations is still uncertain, but their improvement during active metabolic treatment suggests that the defect in amino acid transsulfuration of homocystinuria may directly affect synthesis or activity of some liver-dependent clotting factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Adrenocortical tumours in children: our experience with nine cases.

Nine cases of adrenocortical tumor are presented, six were males. Four were less than three years and five were between 5 and 10 years of age. Clinical virilization was found in 8 children, one had only signs of hypercortisolism and another showed signs of virilization and hypercortisolism simultaneously. Urinary 17-KS and 17-OHCS were high in all patients. Plasma levels of testosterone and of the other adrenal androgens were high in all the cases tested. Plasma level of cortisol was elevated only in few cases. In two out of five cases steroids were only partially suppressed by dexamethasone. Computed tomography and abdominal sonography have been useful tools for the localization of the tumour. The resection of the tumour, independent of histopathological diagnosis, led to a complete normalization of the clinical and hormonal picture in eight cases evaluated at a distance of 2 months 10 years after surgery. In one case a hepatic metastasis was observed and removed three years after surgery.

17-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗
PubMed1986

Relationships between growth factors (somatomedin-C and growth hormone) and body development, metabolic control, and retinal changes in children and adolescents with IDDM.

We used the radioimmunoassay (RIA) method to determine somatomedin-C (SmC) basal values in 59 diabetic children and adolescents (20 prepubertal and 39 pubertal subjects; age range 2.75-20.16 yr; duration of diabetes 0.08-15.83 yr) and in 274 control subjects. In comparing diabetic subjects with controls, we considered only those 50 diabetic subjects who were age matched with the controls, i.e., those not over 16 yr chronological age. SmC basal levels in pubertal diabetic patients were no different from those of pubertal age-matched control children, whereas in prepubertal diabetic patients SmC was significantly lower than in the respective control children (P less than .001). No correlation was found between the z score for SmC (i.e., the number of standard deviations each SmC level is from the age- and sex-normalized mean) and duration of disease, velocity standard deviation score, severity of fluoroangiographic retinal changes, basal C-peptide values and HbA1 levels. No differences were encountered in mean SmC and SmC z-score values in the separate groups of poorly, fairly, and well-controlled diabetic children, in the groups with and without residual pancreatic activity, and in the group with and without retinal changes. In 16 of the pubertal diabetics and in 15 pubertal controls, serum glucose, growth hormone (GH), and SmC concentrations were determined during the night. The integrated nocturnal secretion of SmC was no different in diabetics than in controls, whereas the integrated nocturnal secretion of GH was significantly (P less than .025) higher in diabetics than in controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Can antigliadin antibody detect symptomless coeliac disease in children with short stature?

Duodenal biopsy and tests for antigliadin antibodies were done in 108 children with short stature unassociated with gastrointestinal symptoms. Other investigations for causes of growth failure were also carried out. In 88 patients, the cause of short stature could not be determined (group I). In 9 patients (8.3%) biopsy showed total villous atrophy, indicating probable coeliac disease (group II), while 7 patients had mild partial villous atrophy (group III). 4 patients (3.7%) had complete growth hormone deficiency. Antigliadin antibodies detected by immunofluorescence (IFL-AGA) were positive in 8 of the 9 group II patients. Symptomless coeliac disease is therefore a commoner cause of short stature than is hypopituitarism; by use of the IFL-AGA test it is possible to select patients for biopsy, thereby identifying most of the coeliac patients. If duodenal biopsies had been limited to IFL-AGA positive patients, 18 biopsies would have been carried out and coeliac disease would have been diagnosed in 8 of the 9 patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Differences in somatomedin-C between short-normal subjects and those of normal height.

We evaluated basal somatomedin-C (SmC) levels in 98 subjects 2 to 16.6 years of age, with height less than 3rd centile (Tanner), and in 274 healthy controls 2 to 15.8 years, with height greater than 10th centile. Growth-retarded subjects were defined as short-normal when they had normal GH release (greater than 8 ng/ml) in at least one of three tests: arginine, L-dopa, and sleep. In control subjects, there was a significant positive correlation between SmC levels and chronologic age, bone age, and pubertal stage (pubic hair, breast or testicular volume). The same correlations were present in short-normal subjects, but SmC levels were significantly lower than in normal children. The percentage of subjects with very low SmC values (less than or equal to 0.25 IU/ml in those older than 6 years, and less than 0.1 IU/ml in those younger than 6 years) was higher in the short-normal group of children older than 6 years. In growth-retarded subjects, SmC values were significantly higher (P less than 0.005) in subjects with normal GH response in at least one of the two pharmacologic tests, compared with those with normal GH response only during sleep. We conclude that short-normal subjects have, on average, low SmC values, which might indicate insufficient GH release. Therefore, current criteria to define GH deficiency and children needing treatment may be too restrictive.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Pelvic ultrasonography in premenarcheal girls: relation to puberty and sex hormone concentrations.

Real time ultrasonography of the pelvic organs was performed on 114 normal premenarcheal girls aged between 2 years and 13 years 11 months. Values were obtained for total uterine length, anteroposterior diameters of the corpus and cervix, corpus/cervix ratio, and uterine and ovarian volumes and the resultant data were grouped according to age. It was concluded that there is no change in uterine size until approximately 7 years of age. Then the uterus begins to enlarge, both in prepubertal girls, in whom this is an age related function, and in pubertal girls, whose uterine growth is influenced not only by age but also by size and, independently of these two factors, by oestradiol concentrations. The onset of a modification in uterine morphology with a greater enlargement of the corpus than the cervix is also seen at age 7 years. Ovarian maturation begins in the very first years of life and, even in pubertal girls, seems to be influenced by age only and not by hormonal stimuli.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Diabetes mellitus and skin diseases in childhood.

The skin diseases observed in 41 children affected by type-1 diabetes and in 1,273 children unaffected by diabetes were compared to evaluate the dermatoses that are associated to type-1 diabetes. A high prevalence of vitiligo, psoriasis and herpes simplex infections was found in diabetics. These data are confirmed by statistical comparison.

Child↗
PubMed1985

Hormonal and metabolic changes induced by flunarizine therapy: preliminary results.

The effect of 30-days of flunarizine (5 mg/day) therapy on pituitary, B-pancreatic, gonadic and adrenal function was studied in five adolescents with common migraine. Baseline concentration of growth hormone was significantly reduced after flunarizine therapy. The response of prolactin to thyrotrophin-releasing hormone was significantly increased after flunarizine therapy. The percentages of HbA1 and HbA1c were significantly higher after flunarizine therapy. The drug had no apparent effect on gonadic and adrenal function. Further studies are needed to confirm the effect of flunarizine on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis and glucose tolerance.

Adolescent↗