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G Baldi

Publications and source records attributed to G Baldi.

72 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
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Cardiovascular effects induced by the injection of a new nonionic contrast medium (Iopamidol): experimental study in dogs.

The hemodynamic effects induced by the injection in the pulmonary artery of the new nonionic water soluble contrast medium Iopamidol were compared with those obtained by the injection of two other currently used contrast media (meglumine diatrizoate and sodium iothalamate). The experiments were carried out in nine mongrel dogs. Hemodynamic variables were continuously measured prior to, during, and for 8 minutes after injection of the contrast media. Injections of iopamidol produced significantly smaller decreases in aortic pressure (p less than 0.01), contractile indices (p less than 0.01), and peripheral resistances (p less than 0.01), and changes in heart rate and in cardiac output were less pronounced. At 3-4 minutes after injection, an increase in Vmaxd was observed with all three contrast media, but it was significantly lower after injecting Iopamidol. The role of hyperosmolality in causing cardiovascular changes is discussed. The less significant changes induced by Iopamidol appear to be the result of its lower osmolality, which is about a third that of meglumine diatrizoate or sodium iothalamate.

Animals↗
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Effect of prenalterol on contractility, relaxation, and filling phase in coronary artery disease patients with previous myocardial infarction.

Twelve postmyocardial infarction patients, with angiographically proven asynergic areas, but without overt cardiac failure, were treated with prenalterol intravenously, (a new cardioselective inotropic agent) at a dose of 30 micrograms/kg. The aim of this study was to test the usefulness and safety of this new drug in postmyocardial infarction patients, monitoring systolic and diastolic acute hemodynamic changes. Significant improvement in cardiac contractility was demonstrated by the increase of ejection fraction (+23%), stroke volume index (+22%), cardiac output (+41%), positive dp/dt (+82%), and Vmaxd (+39%). Left ventricular systolic, mean aortic, and mean right atrial pressure remained unchanged; a slight decrease in end-diastolic volume index (-2%) occurred. A significant increase in heart rate (from 66 +/- 7 to 85 +/- 14 beats/min), without electrocardiographic changes or subjective complaints of angina pectoris, was observed. Segmental wall motion analysis showed an improved systolic shortening in normal (from 34 to 44%) and in asynergic areas (from 10 to 18%), whereas no changes were observed in dyskinetic areas. The relaxation and filling phase also improved, as tested by negative dp/dt (+39%), time constant of relaxation (-36%), and by indices of ventricular compliance. Side effects consisted of a slight feeling of tension in two patients and a short episode of ventricular tachycardia (5 beats) in another patients. No episode of angina pectoris was observed. These results, with special emphasis on lack of exacerbation of pre-existing ischemia (although obtained in patients without evident heart failure), suggest the potential usefulness of prenalterol in acute cardiac failure, as well as postmyocardial infarction low-output syndrome.

Adrenergic beta-Agonists↗
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Atypical fibroxanthoma with osteoclast-like multinucleated giant cells.

Atypical fibroxanthoma (AF) is generally considered as a low grade superficial variant of fibrohistiocytic neoplasm. In this report we present an unusual variant of this neoplasm arising from actinic damaged skin of an elderly individual. The case was characterized by numerous multinucleated osteoclast-like giant cells uniformly scattered through a pleomorfic cellular proliferation. The osteoclasts giant cell observed represent multinucleated histiocytes rather than true osteoclasts.

Actins↗
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Detection of circulating malignant cells by RT-PCR in long-term clinically disease-free I stage melanoma patients.

Recently, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the detection of circulating tumor cells has been suggested as a potential technique for staging cancer. In this report, 43 melanoma patients (including 4 in situ melanoma patients) were tested for tyrosinase mRNA in blood by RT-PCR. All patients had melanoma thinner than 1.5 mm (stage I). Circulating melanoma cells were detected in 8 (18.6%) out of 43 MM patients tested: 5 (16.1%) of 31 patients with melanoma thinner than 0.76 mm and 3 (42.8%) out of 7 patients with melanoma thicker than 0.76 mm. Moreover, in the tyrosinase-negative group we found only 4/31 patients (13%) with histologic signs of regression, but in the tyrosinase-positive group, 3 out of 8 patients (37.5%) showed, at histologic examination, signs of regression. At the time of this analysis all the patients enrolled (tyrosinase-negative and tyrosinase-positive ones) were free of disease, probably due to the short median time of follow-up after the inclusion in the study. The presence of regression is an important cause of melanoma understaging and the tyrosinase test could represent an effective tool in order to achieve a realistic staging in this subgroup of melanoma patients. Probably, maximum sensitivity of the diagnostic RT-PCR approach to monitor MM patients with either localized or advanced disease could be achieved by using additional markers expressed with high frequencies in melanoma. We propose that one such marker could be the sign of regression.

Adolescent↗
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History, Ancient↗
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A model of BAX gene delivery to human lung cancer.

In this report we have investigated the effects of BAX in enhancing apoptosis in two primary non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. A count of the apoptotic cells by TUNEL staining revealed that almost 70% of BAX over-expressing cells died, while very few apoptotic cells were detectable in the wildtype cells or in the cells transfected with an empty vector. These findings suggest that de-regulated expression of BAX may provide a novel mechanism for initiating cell death in non-small cell lung cancer cells. Further studies are needed to better define the involvement of this protein in the complex mechanism of lung carcinogenesis and to definitely demonstrate the therapeutic utility of targeting this pathway.

Apoptosis↗
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Chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL) with karyotypic abnormalities associated with plasma cell dyscrasia: a case report.

A case of chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL), a rare myeloproliferative syndrome associated with monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS-Type IgGk), is reported. Karyotypic study, carried out on bone marrow, excluded Philadelphia-pos. chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and showed Y loss (45 XO). Only a few cases of CNL with paraproteinemia have been reported, but no case of associated karyotypic abnormalities and paraproteinemia has so far been described.

Aged↗
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Cost/benefit relationship in 46 cases of myelodysplastic syndrome (RAEB and RAEB-T): a quality assurance analysis in clinical haematology.

BACKGROUND: Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) are common and severe haematologic diseases. Clinicians still have no standard therapies surely able to obtain a better result in the different MDS (RAEB and RAEB-t in particular). Moreover, the costs due to the specific drug, to its clinical complications and to the days spent in hospital can be influenced by the chosen therapeutic regime. There are no published studies regarding a cost-benefit relationship of the different drugs commonly used today for MDS patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study refers to 46 patients with RAEB or RAEB-t, followed in our Division from 1986 up to December 1992. The authors reviewed specific therapies (ARA-C vs other drugs, in particular), the costs supported by the National Health Service and the effects of the same therapies in terms of survival. The results have been worked out by statistical analysis. RESULTS: Some interesting data are presented in this study: chemotherapy does not improve survival and causes higher costs; the length of stay in hospital is not influenced by using chemotherapy or not; RAEB patients cause as high costs as RAEB-t ones. CONCLUSIONS: Although the study regards only a limited number of cases, it shows that the therapeutic efforts made so far in order to improve MDS patients' prognosis cannot be considered satisfying and their social cost is very high. Our report can be a useful starting-point for a QA analysis concerning the rational use of new drugs such as growth factors and interleukins.

Aged↗