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E Calappi

Publications and source records attributed to E Calappi.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Further studies on the gangliosidic nature of the cholinergic-specific antigen, Chol-1.

The antigen designated as Chol-1 beta, detected by an antiserum specific for cholinergic neurons, has been purified to homogeneity from ganglioside mixtures extracted from Torpedo electric organ and pig brain. The final products from the two sources behaved identically in a wide range of tests and gave coincident immunopositive and Ehrlich-positive spots after thin layer chromatography in seven different solvent systems; they were thus considered to be identical and to constitute a single, pure chemical species. Gas-chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of long-chain bases, glucose, galactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, and sialic acid in integral molar ratios of 1:1:2:1:3; the compound's reactivity to cholera toxin after Vibrio cholerae sialidase treatment on thin layer chromatography and the recovery of GM1 as sole product of exhaustive sialidase treatment identified it as a member of the gangliotetrahexosyl series. From the products of partial enzymatic desialylation and treatment with beta-galactosidase and a comparison of the compound's immunoreactivity to anti-Chol-1 antisera with that of other trisialogangliosides of defined molecular structure, we were able to assign a disialosyl residue alpha-Neu5Ac-(2----8)-alpha-Neu5Ac-(2----3)- to the inner galactose, and we suggest GalNAc as a possible site of linkage of the third sialic acid.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

[Cervical vertebral and spinal cord injury in intensive therapy].

24 of 184 patients with vertebro-medullary trauma admitted to the Neurosurgery Clinic of Milan University in the years 1976-1988 have been examined. A common feature of these was a myelic lesion (transverse, complete or incomplete) at cervical level in which respiratory problems had made a period of intensive care indispensable. The purpose of the research was to assess the reliability of certain parameters in establishing patient prognosis. The following parameters were compared: clinical, objective and instrumental examination for a strictly neurological evaluation and for an evaluation of general condition, quantification of the same clinical examination through two scales, the Sunnybrook Cord Injury Scale (SCIS) for the neurological factor and the APACHE II for general condition, the type of treatment, with the same basic medical-resuscitation treatment. The result of the surgery or non-surgery was considered a posteriori. It is concluded that, in the case of the patients considered (high myelic lesion) the prognosis must be split into two different moments that the patient goes through in succession: the acute phase and the stabilisation phase. In the first phase, in which the vital functions are involved, the SCIS and APACHE II scales (with their sum) have great prognostic value; in the second phase, certain values, already considered on the APACHE II scale, are comparable in all patients and the prognostic problem is based on the other scale (SCIS) and on the adjuvant neurophysiological techniques. The very distinction between the two different phases that the patient traverses appears important also for the purposes of surgical indication.2

Abbreviated Injury Scale↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fluctuations in levels of various gangliosides in the different tracts of the oviduct of the frog (Rana esculenta) during the reproductive cycle.

The ganglioside content and pattern have been followed in the different tracts (rectus, convoluted and uterine) of the frog oviduct during the reproductive cycle. The main variations we observed are: a) average higher levels of ganglioside sialic acid in the preovulatory phase, with two peaks in March and April for the convoluted and rectus tract, respectively, and a more homogenous behaviour for the uterine tract; in all three tracts of the oviduct a minimum coincident with the ovulation has been found; b) a balanced presence of sulfolipids and gangliosides in the uterine tract: in fact sulfolipids, whose variations have been determined in a previous work, are higher when gangliosides are lower and vice versa, maintaining nearly constant the total negative charge due to these glycolipids; c) an alternate fluctuation of monosialo- and disialo-gangliosides in the preovulatory phase and a net trend toward the increase of monosialo- and the decrease of disialogangliosides in the postovulatory phase; trisialo-gangliosides are in general less represented and show less marked variations; d) the presence of particular gangliosides in particular moments of the reproductive cycle: Fuc-GM1, a fucosylated ganglioside, is higher than the more represented GM1 during the ovulation, while GD1 alpha, a ganglioside with a sialic acid residue linked to GalNAc, is steadily present in all three tracts after ovulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗