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F Davi

Publications and source records attributed to F Davi.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

AIDS-related primary lymphoma of the pleural cavity. A case report.

BACKGROUND: Pleural effusions are common in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Their most frequent causes are Kaposi's sarcoma and mycobacterial infections. We report cytologic, immunophenotypic and molecular features of a primary pleural non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) that represent an uncommon cause of isolated pleural effusion in patients with AIDS. CASE: A 66-year-old, human immunodeficiency virus-positive male presented with chest pain and dyspnea. He had no history of opportunistic infections or Kaposi's sarcoma. A chest radiography displayed a right-sided pleural effusion. Cytology of pleural fluid revealed lymphomatous cells with markedly irregular nuclei. Their immunophenotype was indeterminate. Computed tomography of the thorax and abdomen did not show any tumor mass. Molecular analysis demonstrated that the lymphomatous cells had a B-cell genotype and contained Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA sequences. CONCLUSION: This case belongs to a new subgroup of AIDS-related NHL that is characterized by unusual morphology, null immunophenotype, B-cell genotype and association with both KSHV and EBV.

Aged↗

A multicentric study of 41 cases of B-prolymphocytic leukemia: two evolutive forms.

B-prolymphocytic leukemia (B-PLL) is an infrequent disease with a poor prognosis. We present the clinical and biological features of 41 patients. Median age was 67 years [42-89] and male-female sex ratio was 2.4. The immunophenotyping revealed B-cell phenotype, with a high level expression of surface IgM and/or IgD in all cases, FMC7+ in 76 % of cases and CD5+ in 67%. Marked spontaneous in-vitro apoptosis was observed in most cases tested (n = 12). The median overall survival time was 5 years and the event-free survival time was 37 months. As detected by univariate and multivariate analysis, the only variables associated with a poor prognosis were advanced age and anemia. No significant difference was observed between de novo PLL (n = 27) and prolymphocytoid transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (n = 14). Two groups of patients were individualized according to their clinical course: patients who died within one year of diagnosis (n = 14) and patients who had a prolonged survival (n = 23) without any treatment in some cases. The comparison between the 2 groups showed that they differed in age (p = 0.01) and anemia (p = 0.02). We also observed that the patients with p53 mutations had a worse clinical outcome. Taken together these data confirm that B-PLL should be regarded as a distinct form of chronic lymphoproliferative disorder and suggest the existence of two patterns of clinical evolution.

Adult↗

[Learning plans: experience with an innovative approach to nursing education].

According to the literature, self-learning plans represent an helpful and very flexible method in order to individualize the nursing students' learning activities, to develop the students' autonomy and responsibility together with the skills required for continuing nursing education. The educational experience of the implementation of the self learning plans in the practical training of the nursing students of the Pediatric Nursing School of Trieste, during 1996-97, is described. The 9 third year students produced 27 learning plans. According to the mentors and the students, the overall experience had a positive impact. The presentation and evaluation of the learning plans spurred the students' initiative, the adoption of innovative learning and research strategies and allowed to replace the traditional classroom teaching lectures. The main problems related to the implementation of this method lay in the increase of mentors' workload and in the difficulties in matching the high flexibility of the method with the inflexibility and constraints of both the organization and teaching programs and paces.

Curriculum↗