Biomedical subjects

F Balli

Publications and source records attributed to F Balli.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1995

[Experimentation and clinical analysis of the interrelationships between dental damage and celiac disease].

Celiac disease is characterized by gluten-dependent atrophy of the intestinal tufts. Aetiologically the genetic "habitus" of the subject has particular importance and, as rear as the pathogenesis is concerned, many theories, among which the most accredited one is "immunopathological", exist. According to what this last one provides, the cell-mediated immunity component is to be considered the true mediator of intestinal injury, whereas the antibody-mediated component and, in particular, anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) and anti-endomysium antibodies (EMA), has a particular and pre-eminent diagnostic role. Just from this point of view the celiac disease appeared, with the progress of the studies, to be more and more fleeting, because of growing symptomatologic diversification. It is then interesting to take into account that the celiac disease seems to be able to maintain itself asymptomatic for the greatest part of life, perhaps, forever, configuring the appearance of silent celiac disease and contributing to specify the outline of the above-mentioned celiac "habitus". Recently, besides, close associations have been found between many different diseases and celiac disease. Even for such reasons we relied upon the indication of the ESPGAN in order to achieve a sure and standardized diagnosis of celiac disease. Early diagnosis of celiac disease is very important because it allows a normal psychophysical development and it avoids the strong incidence of lymphomas and other neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tractus which can characterize the natural story of celiac patients. From a more specifically odontological point of view, interesting manifestations exist in the ambit of celiac disease. This last may in fact appear associated particular signs, such as recurrent aphthae or plainly autoimmune diseases with even oral verification. There, however, a more frequent association between celiac disease and some lesions of the tooth enamel which occur in the period of the two stages of histodifferentiation and mineralisation, and they are, respectively, hypoplasias and opacities. Alteration of the enamel, in such stages, both in deciduous and in permanent sets of teeth may be caused by different "noxae"; hence it will be necessary to know how to distinguish between the dental lesions typical of celiac disease and the others. It is helpful the fact that the dental lesion, observed in the course of celiac disease, remembers conceptually the Chronologic Hypoplasia of the enamel. This pathologic form damages the enamel which is depositing, and evolving contemporaneously to the local or systemic "noxa" which is its remote cause.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Long-term outcome of chronic type B hepatitis in childhood.

The course of hepatitis B was followed in 35 children. Various prognostic factors are evaluated. The long-term outcome of the disease is poor, often progressing to cirrhosis.

Child↗

PubMed1989

Cimetidine treatment of reflux esophagitis in children: an Italian multicentric study.

The effectiveness of cimetidine (30-40 mg/kg/day) was evaluated in 32 children with gastroesophageal reflux disease complicated by esophagitis who entered a random double-blind trial for 12 weeks. Esophagitis was diagnosed in all patients by endoscopy with biopsy. Seventeen patients (age, mean +/- SD: 21.7 +/- 37.65 months) received cimetidine (c-pts), and 15 (age, mean +/- SD: 29.03 +/- 39.73 months) received a placebo (p-pts). All patients received intensive postural therapy. Based on clinical and endoscopic (and histologic) data, 12 c-pts and three p-pts were healed (p less than 0.01), the condition of four c-pts and three p-pts had improved (not statistically significant), and the condition of one c-pt and nine p-pts had worsened (p less than 0.01). Both clinical and esophagitis scores significantly decreased only in the c-pt group, as compared with p-pts. Improvement of esophagitis was seen in all (100%) of c-pts with mild or moderate esophagitis versus 57.14% of p-pts (p less than 0.01) and in 87.5% of c-pts with severe esophagitis as compared with 25% of the p-pt group (p less than 0.01). We conclude that cimetidine is an effective agent for treatment of reflux esophagitis in children. Although gastroesophageal reflux disease in infancy has a naturally self-limited course with conservative care (thickened feedings and posture adjustment), extensive pharmacologic therapy is needed in the presence of esophagitis.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1987

Fecal neutral steroids in normal conditions and in patients with polyps or cancer of the large bowel.

There is evidence suggesting that the excretion and conversion of neutral sterols in the human large bowel might be somewhat related to the development of colorectal cancer. Therefore, our objectives were: to characterize the excretion and the major pattern of sterol degradation in normal conditions, both in children and in adults; and to investigate if abnormalities of these parameters are frequent in patients with colorectal cancer or polyps. The study has been carried out in: 38 adult volunteers; 29 children divided into 4 age groups; 22 patients with colorectal cancer; 16 members of 6 families with adenomatosis coli; 15 members of 2 families with a high prevalence of multiple polyps or cancer of the large bowel; 12 subjects with colorectal polyps without familiality. With the subjects kept under metabolic control, fecal samples were collected for at least 3 days and analyzed by thin layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography. Total neutral steroid excretion was lower in children than in adult volunteers; in contrast, there was no significant difference between the latter and the other investigated group of patients with cancer or polyps, with values ranging between 230 and 680 mg/day. All the adult volunteers were "high converters" of cholesterol to its intestinal metabolites coprostanol and coprostanone [89 +/- 10% (SE) of degradation]. Children less than 1 year old degraded little or no cholesterol (10.4 +/- 6% of total neutral sterols), whereas with increasing age the fraction of conversion became more similar to that of adults. In patients with colorectal tumors 2 populations could be defined, one characterized by a large degradation of cholesterol and the other by little or no conversion. Low degradation of cholesterol was found in 3 of 6 families with adenomatosis coli. In conclusion, we did not find any significant difference in total neutral sterol excretion among controls, colorectal cancer patients, or subjects at risk. In adult volunteers the normal pattern of cholesterol degradation is characterized by a large conversion of cholesterol to its intestinal metabolites. In children this process changes with increasing age from an absolute "nonconverter" state (after birth) to the pattern typical of adults. Finally, in a minority of patients with either polyps or cancer of the large bowel and of their first-degree relatives, cholesterol is poorly degraded and represents the most abundant fecal sterol.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1984

BT-Paba test in the diagnosis of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency in cystic fibrosis: urinary and serum determinations compared.

Urinary recovery and serum determination of Paba were carried out in 48 control children (C) and 53 paediatric patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) divided into three classes by age. Ninety and 120 min after the ingestion of 15 mg/kg of BT-Paba and of a standard meal, serum Paba was determined. In the same subjects the percentage Paba recovery was measured in the urine collected during an 8 h period after the same administration of BT-Paba. Correlation between urinary and serum Paba values was higher in the older children in respect to the 0-2-year-old infants. A urinary Paba test was less sensitive and specific than a serum Paba test in the evaluation of exocrine pancreatic function. The best discrimination between C and children with CF, using the maximal value of serum Paba at 90 or 120 min (peak), was obtained in the younger infants (0-2 years old). BT-Paba test with serum Paba peak determination is recommended as a substitute for the classical urinary Paba test in the evaluation of exocrine pancreatic function in paediatric patients, especially in the younger infants.

4-Aminobenzoic Acid↗

PubMed1984

Coproporphyrin excretion in healthy newborn babies.

The urinary and fecal coproporphyrins (CP) undergo significant changes in cholestatic diseases of both adults and infants and their determination may provide a diagnostic tool. Little is known about CP excretion in the first days of life. The authors have studied the daily urinary and fecal excretion of CP as well as the I and III isomer distribution in 10 healthy newborn babies from 1 to 10 days old. CP were determined by the solvent partition method and the isomer distribution by thin-layer chromatographic technique. Preliminary studies on urinary porphyrin pattern were performed using a personal high-performance liquid chromatographic method. CP excretion was almost 10 times higher on the 1st day than on the 10th, when expressed by adult standards. The isomer I accounted for almost 80% of the total amount on the first days, whereas at the end of the study, both the CP total amount and isomer distribution overlapped the infant and adult pattern. The authors propose a personal interpretation based on a possible transient enzymatic defect in the metabolic chain of heme synthesis.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

PubMed1980