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Biomedical subjects

G Biasco

Publications and source records attributed to G Biasco.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Effect of sulglycotide treatment on cell kinetics alterations induced by aspirin in humans.

The effect on gastric epithelial cell proliferation of small doses of aspirin was evaluated in 9 healthy volunteers, with or without administration of sulglycotide, a sulfated glycopeptide with cytoprotective properties. Cell kinetics study was performed by incubation of gastric biopsies with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and immunohistochemistry. A decrease of BrdU-labeling index and a shortening of the height of gastric columns were observed after treatment with aspirin and placebo. No variations were observed after treatment with aspirin and sulglycotide. A decrease of the epithelial cell renewal could be one of the damaging effects of aspirin on the gastric mucosa. The treatment with sulglycotide seems to be effective to prevent this alteration.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Reversibility of gastrointestinal motor abnormalities in chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.

A 43-year-old man with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction is presented. He had undergone two laparotomies in an attempt to eliminate the cause of repeated episodes suggestive of obstruction. Gastrointestinal manometry showed severe abnormalities compatible with the diagnosis of chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Laboratory tests indicated the presence of intestinal malabsorption and villous atrophy. A gluten-free diet accompanied by 10 days of treatment with tetracycline and 2 short periods of treatment with cisapride led to gradual, but apparently complete, resolution of the pseudo-obstructive syndrome. Repeated manometric studies showed progressive normalization of both the fasting and postprandial upper gastrointestinal motor pattern.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Rectal cell proliferation and colorectal cancer risk level in patients with nonfamilial adenomatous polyps of the large bowel.

The authors evaluated cell kinetics of apparently normal rectal mucosa in the following subjects: 25 with single small adenoma (smaller than 10 mm) of the large bowel, 12 with multiple small adenomas, 28 with a single large adenoma (larger than 10 mm), 22 bearing multiple adenomas among which at least one was larger than 10 mm, 32 with cancer of the large intestine, and 32 controls without colorectal diseases. The study was performed by means of incubation of biopsy specimens with tritiated thymidine and autoradiography. The labeling index was similar in all of the groups. However, patients with one or more large adenomas showed a shift of the proliferative compartment toward the top of the crypts similar to that observed in patients with cancer. This abnormal proliferative pattern was not noticed in patients with one or more small adenomas and was not related to the number of adenomas of each subject. The presence of defects of cell growth in the normal rectal mucosa of patients with large adenomas may indicate that subjects with this abnormality are at high risk of adenoma growth and progression to cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

What will be the adult height of coeliac patients?

We studied three groups of patients with coeliac disease: group 1 = 95 adult patients with gastro-intestinal symptoms diagnosed after reaching adult height, 41 of whom had had symptoms during childhood; group 2 = 23 adult patients with classic coeliac disease treated before or during puberty; group 3 = 11 coeliac children with short stature and no gastro-intestinal symptoms diagnosed and treated before or during puberty. We evaluated the adult height in groups 1 and 2 and the growth during the first years of diet in group 3. Our study leads us to the following conclusions. Dieting leads to a modest increase (on average not more than 3 cm) of the final height of coeliac patients. Subjects with gastro-intestinal symptoms who have been treated before adulthood reach a mean height similar to the normal population and have a slightly better adult height than non-treated subjects. This difference seems to exist only in men and this might be related to puberty evolving more rapidly in women receiving treatment. Subjects without symptoms during childhood reach a normal final height even without treatment. In our patients, early treatment seemed to have no great effect on adult height.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Correlation between bromodeoxyuridine labelling and ornithine decarboxylase levels in normal rectal mucosa of patients with colorectal adenoma.

We studied rectal cell proliferation by means of bromodeoxyuridine labelling and ornithine decarboxylase activity assay in 16 patients with colorectal adenoma. In each patient, three rectal biopsy specimens taken from normal-appearing mucosa were incubated with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), fixed in ethanol and stained with avidin-biotin peroxidase complex using a monoclonal antibody against BrdU. In addition, two biopsies were homogenized and incubated with [1-14C]-ornithine for ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) assay. A direct, significant correlation was found between BrdU-labelling index and ODC levels in the mucosa (r = 0.6511, P less than 0.01). We conclude that BrdU labelling and ODC activity assay give comparable results in the analysis of cell proliferation rate of rectal mucosa. These methods are useful to investigate rectal cell proliferation pattern of patients with increased risk of colorectal cancer.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1991

Patients with duodenitis have gastric secretory and motor functions like those of duodenal ulcer patients: results of a short-term treatment with ranitidine.

Gastric acid secretion, gastric emptying of solids, and the effects of short-term treatment with 300 mg ranitidine at bedtime were evaluated in symptomatic patients with endoscopically and histologically proven duodenitis. The patients investigated had basal and pentagastrin-stimulated gastric acid hypersecretion, but normal gastric emptying times. Ranitidine brought about a significant improvement of endoscopic and histological features compared with the pretreatment findings. Endoscopic but not histological improvement was significantly better than with placebo. Furthermore, ranitidine brought about a significant reduction of weekly antacid consumption compared with placebo. Both ranitidine and placebo induced significant symptomatic improvement over basal conditions, but the difference between the two treatments did not reach statistical significance. Gastric secretory and motor functions, as well as the response to therapy, were similar in duodenitis patients with and without previous history of duodenal ulcer; the only exception was in antacid consumption, which was higher in the placebo group in those with past evidence of ulcer disease. Our results suggest that duodenitis patients have secretory and motor functions similar to those of duodenal ulcer patients. Therefore, further trials on large populations of duodenitis patients with antisecretory drugs are justified.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Cell proliferation kinetics as a marker of gastric cancer risk.

Although cell proliferation studies on gastric mucosa are relatively few compared to the results obtained in the large bowel, they brought important contributions to our knowledge of the mechanisms involved in the development and progression of neoplasia. In normal gastric mucosa, the proliferative zone is limited to the neck region of the glands. In diseases at risk for gastric cancer, such as chronic atrophic gastritis, two main features have been observed: an increased cell proliferation rate and expansion or upward displacement of the proliferative compartment. However, while a high cell turnover rate can be due to many stimuli such as inflammation or the effect of hormones (i. e. gastrin), the expansion of the proliferative compartment is more evident with the development and progression of neoplasia. It could be due to an error in the control of cell proliferation and maturation. This kinetic pattern is probably a marker of gastric cancer risk. Application of these observations in clinical investigations are the search for proliferative abnormalities and other phenotypical markers in order to define an individual profile of cancer risk, and to evaluate the effects of xenobiotics or dietary intervention in controlled trials.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed1991

[Invasive hemodynamic assessment and interventional therapy].

Cardiovascular diseases are the main reason for hospitalization and usually followed by a conservative therapeutic approach. Due to the improvement over the last few years in the results of surgery in the elderly, the number of hemodynamic studies has increased. Hemodynamic studies are generally performed in elderly patients with symptomatic valvular heart disease and acute myocardial infarction with complications. The incidence of complications in the elderly during catheterization and coronarography is higher than in younger but still low. Cardiovascular hemodynamics in the elderly is determined by a combination of lifestyle, the presence of cardiac diseases that increase in prevalence with advancing age (e.g., coronary artery disease) and age-related changes in cardiovascular hemodynamic per se. With age, the tunica media of major blood vessels stiffens. This produces a elevation of systolic blood pressure (afterload) in many elderly patients which in turn increases left ventricular (LV) wall stress and results in mild compensatory LV hypertrophy. This compensatory hypertrophy normalizes wall stress, but produces pertubations in diastolic function such as: a reduction in the rate of both diastolic and LV peak filling, a diminished diastolic compliance associated with LV hypertrophy and a greater dependence upon left atrial contraction to maintain cardiac output. Recently the proportion of these patients who have percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is growing. PTCA can be performed with a high rate of clinical success. Complete revascularization is low, particularly in patients with trivessel disease. The most common reasons for incomplete revascularization were: vessels with chronic total occlusion and vessels with diffuse disease. The rate of major cardiac complications was high among patients at high-risk in the presence of trivessel disease and low left ejection fraction. Long-term results were encouraging. For 90% of patients who had clinical success after PTCA, the end results continued to be beneficial. In conclusion, PTCA is a valid therapeutic alternative in elderly patients with coronary artery disease. In subsets of patients with single and bivessel disease, the short- and long-term outcome is very favourable. In patients with triple vessel disease, early clinical success rate is low but the long-term success rate is, however, acceptable.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

[The role of metabolic therapy in myocardial infarct].

During acute myocardial ischemia the metabolism of free fatty acids is impaired. Since the rate of beta-oxidation is reduced, the levels of acil-CoA and long-chain acyl-carnitine increase. The activity of carnitine, which permits the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria, is reduced both by its transformation in acyl-carnitine and by its release from the cells induced by acute ischemia. The accumulation of fatty acids induces a deterioration of hemodynamic parameters and some impulse formation and conduction disturbances. Since in experimental studies L-carnitine prevents the occurrence of hemodynamic and arrhythmic complications, clinical studies with this compound have been performed during acute ischemia in man. In patients with acute myocardial infarction high doses of L-carnitine induce: a statistically significant increase in urinary concentrations of long- and short-chain carnitine esters; a statistically significant reduction of ventricular arrhythmias during the second day after the onset of symptoms; a reduction of the necrotic area as assessed by electrocardiographic and enzymatic methods.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1990

Epithelial cell kinetics in the remaining colorectal mucosa after surgery for cancer of the large bowel.

We used microautoradiography in order to evaluate cell replication of the remaining colorectal mucosa in 20 patients previously operated on for cancer of the large bowel. The results were compared to those of 24 controls without neoplasms or other relevant colorectal disease. Samples of colorectal mucosa were taken during endoscopy. At histological examination each labeled intestinal hemicrypt was divided into 5 longitudinal compartments, from the base to the surface, and S-phase cells in each compartment were counted. Total labeling index (LI, ratio of labeled to total cells x 100) and labeling index per crypt compartment were similar in surgical patients and in controls. In contrast, both total LI and labeling index in the upper portions of the crypt (compartments 3, 4, and 5) were significantly higher in the 9 patients who showed recurrence of polyps than in those (n = 11) without recurrence. The LI in compartments 4 and 5 (the "high crypt region") was 4.37 +/- 0.95 (SEM) in patients with recurrence versus 0.88 +/- 0.21 (P less than 0.001) in patients with negative endoscopy finding and 1.47 +/- 0.22 in controls. Moreover, the fifth compartment was labeled in 8 of 9 individuals in whom polyps recurred but in only 2 of 11 patients without recurrence and 3 of 24 controls. In conclusion, after resection for large bowel cancer colonic epithelial cell proliferation tends to become more quiescent and similar to that of controls. However, in the subgroup of patients in whom polyps reappear, the colorectal mucosa maintains a hyperproliferative state with an expansion of the replicative zone to the most superficial portions of the crypt. These findings support the sequence adenoma-carcinoma and suggest that the evaluation of cell proliferation might be useful in the identification of subjects at increased risk for multiple tumors of the large bowel.

Cell Division↗
PubMed1990

Rectal cell proliferation and colon cancer risk in ulcerative colitis.

Cell proliferation kinetics of 30 patients affected by extensive ulcerative colitis in remission have been studied with autoradiography of rectal biopsies incubated with tritiated thymidine. The results have been compared with those of 20 control subjects without evidence of colonic diseases, and of 16 patients with multiple nonfamilial colonic adenomas. The labeling index was similar in the three groups (P = NS). On the contrary, the labeling frequency (SEM) in the upper 40% of the crypt (phi h value) was 0.04 +/- 0.01 in controls, 0.16 +/- 0.02 in ulcerative colitis, and 0.10 +/- 0.01 in adenoma patients (P less than 0.001 ulcerative colitis versus controls, P less than 0.01 adenomas versus controls, P = NS ulcerative colitis versus adenomas). The distribution of phi h values in ulcerative colitis showed a bimodal trend with 22 patients having mean phi h values similar to adenoma patients (0.10 +/- 0.01) and 8 with higher values (0.30 +/- 0.02). No relationship was found between phi h values and duration of colitis, age of patients, or age at onset of symptoms. These data show that cell kinetics studies can detect patients at particularly high risk of colon cancer, and that additional factors should determine colon cancer risk level in ulcerative colitis.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1990

Effect of sex and age on rectal cell renewal in humans.

We evaluated the influence of age and sex on rectal cell proliferation of 69 hospital controls and 66 patients with colorectal adenomas, by means of incubation of rectal biopsies with tritiated thymidine and autoradiography. In particular, we evaluated the labeling frequency in the upper 40% of rectal crypts (0 h), actually considered as a reliable kinetic marker of colon cancer risk. A direct correlation between 0h and age was found in control subjects (P less than 0.02) but not in adenomas patients (P = NS). Moreover, control subjects over 65 years of age showed a shift of the proliferative compartment similar to that observed in the adenomas group. After adjusting for the age, we did not observe any significant effect of the sex of patients or controls on their cell kinetics parameters. Our results are in agreement with those previously reported on smaller series and with epidemiological studies which indicate a high risk for developing colorectal neoplasia in the elderly subjects.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1990

Ano-rectal lesions in patients taking suppositories containing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID).

We report on 3 cases in which ano-rectal lesions were associated with chronic administration of suppositories containing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). Lesions were characterized by erosions or ulcer in the rectum and by stenosis of the anal verge. Erosions or ulcers were observed in patients taking the drugs for a relatively short time. The lesions remitted after suspension of the treatment. The cases observed indicate that suppositories containing NSAID could induce ano-rectal lesions similar to those observed after the use of suppositories containing ergotamine.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Long-term treatment with anti-secretory drugs: could it affect morphology and cell kinetics of gastric mucosa?

Drugs reducing gastric acid output are widely used and commonly considered free from relevant side effects. However, our knowledge on the consequences of long-term anti-secretory treatment is still lacking. Several observations both, in animal models and in man, indicate that a decreased gastric acid output may lead modifications of several features of epithelial gastric cells. These alterations can be determined by different mechanisms. The drugs can raise plasma levels of gastrin, which possibly cause a proliferative stimulus on fundic mucosa. Moreover, some drugs showed a direct effect on cell proliferation. Finally, hypochlorhydria reduces the antibacterial power of gastric juice. In this environment, bacterial flora can overgrow and synthesize also the N-nitrosocompounds. These observations suggest that prolonged treatments with powerful anti-secretory drugs should be carried out taking into account the hypothetical biological risk on gastric mucosa.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Effects of sucralfate and sulglycotide treatment on active gastritis and Helicobacter pylori colonization of the gastric mucosa in non-ulcer dyspepsia patients.

We conducted a double-blind randomized treatment study on patients affects by non-ulcer dyspepsia in whom multiple biopsy specimens showed active gastritis. Patients were given either 3 g/day of sucralfate (n = 39) or 600 mg/day of sulglycotide (n = 50) for 6 wk, a glycopeptide isolated from pig duodenum constituents. Endoscopy was carried out at baseline and at the end of treatment. We took biopsies from the gastric body (twice) and antrum (six times) at each endoscopy in order to determine grade and extent of gastritis and Helicobacter pylori colonization. Both treatments induced a marked regression of active gastritis (sucralfate group: p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.0001, respectively, in body and in antrum; sulglycotide group: p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.001, respectively). Conversely, Helicobacter pylori colonization remained unchanged at the end of the treatments. At baseline, a close relationship was found between grade of active inflammation in each biopsy and Helicobacter pylori density. After therapy, the association was lost in each treatment group. These results suggest that there can be a remission of active gastritis in patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia even without changes in Helicobacter pylori colonization. This result can be achieved by enhancing the protective properties of the gastric mucosa.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

High doses of L-carnitine in acute myocardial infarction: metabolic and antiarrhythmic effects.

Fatty acids accumulate in the muscle cells in some carnitine deficiency syndromes due to a variety of genetic defects in intermediary metabolism. L-Carnitine administration may relieve this excess by transporting acyl compounds out of the cell as acylcarnitine. Similar fatty acid accumulation occurs during myocardial ischaemia because of the decreased rate of beta-oxidation, and this has been put forward as a cause of ventricular arrhythmias. This study was carried out to investigate whether administration of high doses of i.v. L-carnitine in patients with acute myocardial infarction could increase urinary excretion of acylcarnitine and reduce early ventricular arrhythmias. Fifty-six patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction, admitted to the Coronary Unit between 3 and 12 h after the onset of symptoms, were included in the study. The design of the study was double blind, parallel and placebo controlled. Allocation of treatment to patients was done randomly after stratification (time from onset of pain and site of infarction). The first group (28 patients) received intravenous L-carnitine at a dose of 100 mg kg-1 b.w. every 12 h for 36 h while the second group (28 patients) received placebo intravenously. Immediately before starting treatment two blood samples were taken (at 5-min intervals) and a further 16 samples were taken at regular intervals over the following 48 h. Patients' urine was collected over the same period of time. Concentrations of free carnitine, short chain acylcarnitine esters and long chain acylcarnitine esters in serum and urine were measured.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗