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Biomedical subjects

G Chiappino

Publications and source records attributed to G Chiappino.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Hard metal disease: clinical aspects.

On the basis of the data available in the literature and of our experience, the clinical patterns of respiratory troubles which can be observed in workers exposed to inhalation of hard metal dusts can be schematized as follows: Irritation forms, mild and transient, or severe up to pulmonary oedema, dose-correlated, which occur in all subjects exposed to sufficiently high atmospheric concentrations; Asthmatic forms, either reversible after cessation of exposure or persistent after stopping the exposure, which occur in a relatively low percentage of exposed subjects and also apply to the states quoted below; Dyspnoic patterns due to alveolitis (lymphocytic alveolitis with inverted helper/suppressor ratio, or giant cell-eosinophilic alveolitis, with or without fibrotic changes of pulmonary interstitium); Interstitial sclerotic lung disease, associated with or without an alveolitic component. The present diagnostic potentialities, particularly bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), have helped in defining the clinical patterns and have confirmed the fundamental role of individual susceptibility in the occurrence of clinical manifestations (with the exception of the irritation forms), but so far have not yet enabled us to clarify whether the different clinical patterns are the results of a single pathogenetic mechanism or constitute pathogenetically distinct entities.

Asthma↗
PubMed1990

[Structural and ultrastructural study of an isolated case of pili annulati].

A case of pili annulati in an eighteen year old woman is described. The hairs show bright spots along hair shafts when viewed in daylight. The transmission and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the bright spots are due to small cavities into the cortex. The plasmatic measurement of copper, zinc and of the most important hormone, such as the dosage of plasmatic, urinary and hair aminoacids, allowed the Authors to exclude any influence of metabolic systemic alterations on the pathogenesis of pili annulati. Neither cutaneous nor internal anomalies were detected.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Effectiveness of cyclosporine treatment in severe psoriasis: a clinical and immunologic study.

The effectiveness of low doses of cyclosporine (3 to 5 mg/kg/day) for short-term treatment in 13 patients with severe psoriasis was studied. The psoriasis cleared in 12 of 13 patients within 3 to 4 weeks of treatment, and there was appreciable improvement in the thirteenth patient. No major side effects were observed: two patients showed biochemical evidence of slight transient renal dysfunction and three others had cutaneous infections (two viral and one mycotic). An immunohistologic study showed that the psoriatic plaques contained an infiltrate composed mainly of activated helper T lymphocytes. After 15 days of cyclosporine treatment, CD4+ cells were significantly fewer in the epidermis and dermis, and Langerhans cells were more regularly distributed in the epidermis. Our studies of neutrophil chemotaxis showed that it is not significantly influenced by cyclosporine in vitro but is decreased in vivo.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Alveolar and lung fibre levels in non-occupationally exposed subjects.

Mineral fibre concentrations and characteristics were evaluated by the same electron microscope methods in 15 bronchoalveolar lavage samples and in 40 surgical lung tissue samples of subjects with no occupational exposure to asbestos. Both fibre alveolar load and lung burden evaluated by transmission electron microscopy were higher in the groups of industrial workers with no specific asbestos exposure than in the groups of individuals exposed only to general environmental pollution. In both types of samples, the fibre burden consisted of extremely small fibres (mean length less than 2 microns, mean diameter less than 0.1 micron), with a trend towards a further reduction in mean length in the lung tissue as compared with the alveolar load. These data suggest that there is a need for a critical reconsideration of the methods of evaluating environmental fibre pollution and of those for assessing exposure-effect relationships.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Alveolar fiber load in asbestos workers and in subjects with no occupational asbestos exposure: an electron microscopy study.

The alveolar fiber load was evaluated by bronchoalveolar lavage and by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) in 50 subjects with or without occupational exposure to asbestos. The concentration of asbestos fibers in bronchoalveolar lavage was significantly higher in the groups of people currently and formerly occupationally exposed, compared to the concentration found in people only exposed environmentally, despite wide interindividual variation within the groups. Nonasbestos inorganic fibers were present in all groups, but the concentrations did not differ significantly. Both in people occupationally exposed and in those only environmentally exposed, the alveolar load consisted mainly of ultrashort and ultrathin fibers, which can be studied only with TEM. In fact, the percentage of fibers greater than 5 micron long was only around 15% in the occupationally exposed and was minimal in those only environmentally exposed. The geometric mean diameters of asbestos fibers retained in the alveoli ranged from 0.05 micron for chrysotile to 0.15 micron for amphiboles.

Asbestos↗
PubMed1988

[Talcosis-asbestosis: an unusual risk in a food industry].

In a 37 years-old female worker, who had undergone surgical excision of a segment of the right lower lobe for a chronic aspecific pleuropneumonitis, the histological examination of the excised lung tissue showed asbestos alveolitis with diffuse interstitial fibrosis, and multiple granulomata containing talc particles. An investigation at the work site showed that the worker had been engaged for 22 years in dusting salami with a mixture of rice flour and talc contaminated with chrysotile asbestos. Thirteen work-mates engaged in the same job were studied. In two of them, with chest X-rays negative for pneumoconiosis, a functional ventilatory impairment, restrictive in type, associated with a reduced pulmonary diffusion of gases, was demonstrated. In these two cases, bronchoalveolar lavage showed signs of severe exposure to asbestos (which at TEM evaluation resulted to be amphibolic) talc and other fibres, with presence of iron-laden macrophages, indicators of haemorrhagic alveolitis. Moreover, in one of them, a severe macrophagic-lymphocytic alveolitis, with inverted T helper/T suppressor ratio, was presented, possible expression of a hypersensitivity pulmonary reaction. Taking into consideration the length and modality of work, with exposure to talc powder contaminated with asbestos, for the three cases the diagnosis of "pre-radiologic talcosis-asbestosis" was made. Since the occupational risk was not known in this industry, no ambient and personal preventive and protective measures had been taken; anyway, such type of work has now been stopped. The exposed workers shall be kept under control in the future for surveillance directed towards early diagnosis of possible further asbestos effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Role of infective, immunological, and chronic irritative factors in the development of silicosis.

The effect of infective, immunological, and irritative factors on the onset and development of silicosis after intratracheal inoculation with 50 mg of tridymite was investigated on 220 specific pathogen free (SPF) female Sprague-Dawley rats. Even after 12 months the rats, always kept in SPF conditions after intratracheal injection of the dust, showed mainly granulomas with little tendency to confluence or to fibrohyalinosis. Chronic infective stimulation was obtained by keeping groups of SPF animals injected with tridymite for three, six, or 12 months in a conventional animal house, where they were exposed to the endemic bacterial flora. In these animal silicosis developed much more rapidly and produced much more severe confluent lesions than in rats always kept in SPF conditions. Horseradish peroxidase and ferritin given by intratracheal injection and by inhalation were histochemically shown mainly in the dust granulomas but did not accelerate the development of silicosis. Exposure to ozone increased the prevalence of lung infections and thus enhanced the silicosis in conventionally kept animals, without modifying the evolution of silicosis in SPF animals. These experiments showed that the presence of bacterial flora, and particularly bronchopulmonary infections, accelerated the development of silicosis and led to the suggestion that individuals subject to frequent bronchopulmonary infections are unfit for occupations necessitating exposure to silica dust.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed1981

Hemodynamics of pulmonary circulation in asbestosis: study of 16 cases.

Pulmonary circulation hemodynamics was studied by microcatheterization at rest and during exercise in 16 workers with asbestosis. There was pulmonary arterial hypertension owing to increased total pulmonary resistance even in the early stages of pneumoconiosis, sometimes without impairment of lung function. In two cases, a partial reduction in pulmonary hypertension and total pulmonary resistance was obtained with aminophylline. The pathogenesis of pulmonary circulation impairment has been attributed in previous work to periarteriolar fibrosis originating in the lymphatic vessels, until now insufficiently emphasized as the anatomical basis of these physiological alterations.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

The value of nonradiological indicators in the early diagnosis of asbestosis.

The early pulmonary lesions due to long and to short asbestos fibres are described. The signs that such preradiological 'asbestosis' present can be used as nonradiological indicators. These are: asbestos bodies in the sputum, siderocytes in the sputum, crepitating basal rales, restrictive ventilatory insufficiency and impairment of alveolar-capillary diffusion of gases. The predictive value of combinations of these indicators was studied in 182 moderately and heavily exposed asbestos workers. The results show that the presence of pulmonary lesions due to asbestos can be diagnosed in 80-90% of cases, independently of the results of radiological examination.

Asbestosis↗