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Biomedical subjects

F A Bevelaqua

Publications and source records attributed to F A Bevelaqua.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. A rare tumor with variable prognosis presenting as a pleural effusion.

The chest x-ray film a 22-year-old man showed a large right-sided pleural effusion that was grossly hemorrhagic when aspirated. A computerized tomographic scan showed a complex mass with cystic components contiguous with the diaphragm. On thoracotomy the mass was found to be arising from the diaphragm and had the consistency of an organizing hematoma. Pathologic studies showed the mass to be an epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. This rare tumor has never been reported previously as arising from the diaphragm. It has a variable prognosis, but surgery remains the treatment of choice. In this report, we review the clinical and pathologic characteristics of this unusual tumor, as well as the distinctive roentgenographic findings with which it presented.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The role of open lung biopsy in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

To assess the role of open lung biopsy in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), we retrospectively reviewed the cases of 42 patients with AIDS who underwent this procedure for the diagnosis of pulmonary infiltrates. Four patients had no preceding bronchoscopy because the severity of the respiratory failure or abnormalities of coagulation precluded the safe performance of this procedure. Twenty-nine cases had a preceding nondiagnostic bronchoscopic procedure, and nine others underwent open lung biopsy because of progressive deterioration despite treatment for diseases diagnosed bronchoscopically. We found that open lung biopsy was likely to be useful diagnostically when bronchoscopy could not be safely performed or when a preceding bronchoscopic procedure was not diagnostic. Open lung biopsies done on patients whose condition continued to deteriorate despite treatment for disorders established bronchoscopically were not likely to yield information therapeutically useful. In only one of nine such cases was a new treatable diagnosis obtained (Legionella). The others showed either severe pulmonary fibrosis or persistence of the initial disease process diagnosed at the time of bronchoscopy.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1983

Transbronchial biopsy culture in pulmonary tuberculosis.

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy is well established as a useful tool in the diagnosis of suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis that are sputum smear-negative. However, little attention has been focused on the role of transbronchial biopsy culture in the bacteriologic diagnosis of the disease. In this series of 12 patients with culture-proven pulmonary tuberculosis, we reviewed the results of transbronchial biopsy culture in comparison to the culture of prebronchoscopy sputa, postbronchoscopy sputa and bronchial washings. We found that transbronchial biopsy culture yielded positive cultures in only 16 percent (2/12) of these cases of proven tuberculosis and that transbronchial biopsy culture was not an exclusive source of culture-positive material in any of the patients studied. Although fiberoptic bronchoscopy may be quite helpful in establishing the diagnosis of tuberculosis in patients that are sputum smear-negative, our findings indicate that culture of transbronchial biopsy specimens contribute little to the bacteriologic diagnosis.

Bacteriological Techniques↗
PubMed1982

Management of spontaneous pneumothorax with small lumen catheter manual aspiration.

We reviewed the case histories and roentgenograms of 50 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax who underwent small lumen catheter aspiration. The results were analyzed with regard to the presence or absence of preexisting lung disease. Patients with no history of previous lung disease and no roentgenogram abnormality other than the pneumothorax had a 66 percent chance of successful reinflation using the technique of manual aspiration described here. Patients with evidence of tension pneumothorax, bullae, pleural adhesions, and active tuberculosis were treated unsuccessfully. None of the patients experienced any complication from this procedure. Our results indicate that many patients with spontaneous pneumothorax may be quickly and successfully treated with small lumen catheter manual aspiration.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Scurvy and hemarthrosis.

Scurvy developed in a 56-year-old man with poor dietary intake and was associated with knee hemarthroses and synovial thickening. The synovial membrane showed interstitial hemorrhage and many large fibroblasts but little collagen and some disarray of vascular basement membrane. Hemarthroses and all knee symptoms completely resolved on a normal diet. To our knowledge, these are the first electron-microscopic studies of synovial membrane in human scurvy, and our findings support a defect in collagen synthesis as a factor in etiology.

Ascorbic Acid↗
PubMed1975

Isolation and characterization of acetylcholinesterase and other particulate proteins in the hemolymph of Aplysia californica.

Hemolymph of the marine mollusc, Aplysia californica, contains four large particles: acetylcholinesterase, hemocyanin, a hemagglutinin, and a structure tentatively identified as erythrocurorin. We purified the acetylcholinesterase 20-fold by differential centrifugation and filtration through a column of 4% agarose. The freshly isolated esterase complex was found to have a sedimentation coefficient of 69, but the negatively stained enzyme lacked a definite structure in the electron microscope, and appeared as irregular aggregates of a 60 A subunit. The complex was unstable below pH 5 or during storage at 7 degrees. Under these conditions, enzymatic activity remained essentially unchanged. Treatment of the purified enzyme with trichloroacetic acid, organic solvents, and sodium dodecyl sulfate broke the complex down into two major subunits with molecular weights of about 70,000. Exposure of the enzyme to [3H]diisopropylfluorophosphate resulted in the labeling of one of these subunits. Although similar in specificity, the cholinesterase of the blood differed from the enzyme in Aplysia nervous tissue, which is associated with membrane. Treatment with sodium deoxycholate activated the membrane-associated enzyme but inhibited slightly that of the hemolymph; tyrocidine inhibited the hemolymph enzyme but not the enzyme of nervous tissue; and mild digestion with trypsin released the membrane-bound enzyme in an active, soluble form, but inactivated the enzyme of hemolymph. The other particulates of Aplysia hemolymph were partially characterized. Aplysia hemocyanin was similar in structure to other molluscan hemocyanins. When negatively stained, the unit particle appeared to be a disc with a diameter of 280 A and a width of 45 A. These discs were stacked to form long cylindrical arrays. The purified hemocyanin was found to contain 0.26% copper (dry weight). Using differential centrifugation and gel filtration we also obtained a 9-fold purification of Aplysia hemagglutinin. This particle was 120 A in diameter with a dark staining central core of 40 A consisting of 6 subunits. The particle tentatively identified as erythrocurorin appeared as a structure 200 A in diameter consisting of 5 V-shaped subunits.

Acetylcholinesterase↗