PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Grillo

Publications and source records attributed to G Grillo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Alteration of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and soluble IL-2 receptor secretion in the sera and urine of patients with rickettsial boutonneuse fever.

Sera and urine samples from 115 Sicilian patients with boutonneuse fever (BF), obtained at the time of diagnosis and after clinical recovery, were analyzed for concentrations of interleukin (IL)-2 and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R). There were significantly high levels of sIL-2R in the urine and sera of patients with acute BF compared with healthy controls, and the values returned to normal following successful chemotherapy. The data indicate that the sIL-2R urine concentrations correlated directly with the sIL-2R sera levels. In contrast, in all tested sera and urine samples, IL-2 levels were normal. Furthermore, a reduction in IL-2 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from acute BF patients was also observed. sIL-2R represents an unspecific marker useful to monitor the evolution of BF.

Boutonneuse Fever↗
PubMed1997

Prevalence and clinical correlates of microalbuminuria in essential hypertension: the MAGIC Study. Microalbuminuria: A Genoa Investigation on Complications.

The prevalence of microalbuminuria and its relationship with several cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage were evaluated in a cohort of 787 untreated patients with essential hypertension. Albuminuria was measured as the albumin-to-creatinine ratio in three nonconsecutive, first morning urine samples. The prevalence of microalbuminuria was 6.7%. Albuminuric patients were more likely to be men and to be characterized by higher blood pressure, body mass index, and uric acid levels and lower HDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol-to-LDL cholesterol ratio. Piecewise linear regression analysis demonstrated that uric acid and diastolic blood pressure significantly influence albuminuria and together account for a large part of its variations. K-means cluster analysis performed on the entire cohort of patients confirmed that microalbuminuria is associated with a worse cardiovascular risk profile. Furthermore, microalbuminuria was associated with the presence of target organ damage (eg, electrocardiographic [ECG] abnormalities and retinal vascular changes). Age and the presence of microalbuminuria act as independent risk factors for the development of ECG abnormalities and retinal vascular changes. Cluster analysis allowed us to identify three subgroups of patients who differed in the presence or absence of microalbuminuria, retinopathy, and ECG abnormalities. We conclude that the prevalence of microalbuminuria in essential hypertension is lower than previously reported. Increased urinary albumin excretion is associated with a worse cardiovascular risk profile and is a concomitant indicator of early target organ damage.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Databases of mRNA untranslated regions for metazoa.

The important role that untranslated regions of mRNAs (UTR) may play in gene regulation and expression is now widely accepted. For this reason we developed UTRDB, a specialized database of 5'- and 3'-UTR of eukaryotic mRNAs cleaned of redundancy. This paper describes the composition and the general feature of UTRDB. The analysis of UTRDB by using suitable statistical methods could provide useful information for guiding the experimental work aimed at delucidating the role of UTR sequences in gene regulation and expression.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1996

CLEANUP: a fast computer program for removing redundancies from nucleotide sequence databases.

A key concept in comparing sequence collections is the issue of redundancy. The production of sequence collections free from redundancy is undoubtedly very useful, both in performing statistical analyses and accelerating extensive database searching on nucleotide sequences. Indeed, publicly available databases contain multiple entries of identical or almost identical sequences. Performing statistical analysis on such biased data makes the risk of assigning high significance to non-significant patterns very high. In order to carry out unbiased statistical analysis as well as more efficient database searching it is thus necessary to analyse sequence data that have been purged of redundancy. Given that a unambiguous definition of redundancy is impracticable for biological sequence data, in the present program a quantitative description of redundancy will be used, based on the measure of sequence similarity. A sequence is considered redundant if it shows a degree of similarity and overlapping with a longer sequence in the database greater than a threshold fixed by the user. In this paper we present a new algorithm based on an "approximate string matching' procedure, which is able to determine the overall degree of similarity between each pair of sequences contained in a nucleotide sequence database and to generate automatically nucleotide sequence collections free from redundancies.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1996

Early detection of lung involvement in lysinuric protein intolerance: role of high-resolution computed tomography and radioisotopic methods.

Pulmonary disease of unknown etiology is a potentially fatal complication in patients with lysinuric protein intolerance (LPI), an autosomal recessive disorder caused by the defective transport of cationic amino acids. Lung involvement was investigated in nine Italian LPI patients through pulmonary function tests and lung imaging studies consisting of conventional chest radiography, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and perfusion and ventilation scintigraphy. One 10-yr-old patient died of severe respiratory insufficiency from alveolar proteinosis. All of the remaining patients were asymptomatic at the time of the study, although HRCT scans revealed signs of lung involvement defined by the presence of acinar nodules, inter- and/or intralobular thickening of the interstitial septa, and subpleural cysts in five of the patients. Radioisotope studies showed an uneven distribution of perfusion and ventilation, and confirmed the presence of segmental and/or diffuse pulmonary functional defects. No abnormalities of pulmonary function were evident, and answers to a questionnaire excluded primary coexisting lung disease. In patients with LPI, including those without clinical and functional impairment, HRCT and radioisotopic studies appear to be the most sensitive methods for the early diagnosis of lung disease and correct assessment of its progression.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Iron status in breast-fed infants.

Iron status of 30 infants who had been breast fed until their first birthday and who had never received cow milk, medicinal iron, or iron-enriched formula and cereals was investigated; 30% were anemic at 12 months of age. The duration of exclusive breast-feeding was significantly longer among nonanemic infants (6.5 vs 5.5 months). None of the infants who were exclusively breast fed for 7 months or more and 43% of those who were breast fed for a shorter time were anemic. Infants who were exclusively breast fed for a prolonged period had a good iron status at 12 and 24 months.

Aging↗
PubMed1994

BAEP and E.M.G. changes from whiplash injuries.

The frequent negativity of neuroradiological changes after neck injury despite the constant complaints (neck pain and stiffness, limited neck movements, arm pains) experienced after a motor vehicle crash has led us to verify the diagnostic and prognostic validity of different neurophysiological tests in these patients. To this aim 120 young patients (67 females and 53 males) referred for a whiplash syndrome aged 18-31 years without neuroradiological abnormalities have been submitted to EMG and BAEP studies immediately after the traffic accident and after six months. Constant slowing of median MNCV and SNCV and ulnar SNCV without changes in morphology, amplitude and duration of MAP and SAP have been observed in 92 patients, with persistent abnormalities in 64 cases after six months. Increase in I-III or I-V interpeak interval of BAEP have been observed unilaterally in 45 patients and bilaterally in 32 ones without changes in absolute latencies and V/I amplitude ratio, with persistence of such abnormalities in 31 and 16 patients respectively after six months. Simultaneous abnormalities of all neurophysiological tests have been observed in 31 patients, with unmodified recordings after six months in 24 patients. The above findings could be accounted for subtle cerebral lesions and a possible damage to brain stem structures as claimed by Ettlin et al. (1992). The usefulness of the above proposed neurophysiological tests in assessment of asymptomatic dysfunction of central motor and sensory pathways in whiplash injuries is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Infant feeding and idiopathic intussusception.

A case-control study showed that, compared with infants who had never been fed human milk, breast-fed infants had a relative risk of intussusception of 6.0 (95% confidence interval, 1.8 to 20.4) when breast-feeding at admission was exclusive and of 2.3 (95% confidence interval, 0.8 to 6.6) when it was partial. Exclusive breast-feeding may be a risk factor for intussusception in infancy.

Bottle Feeding↗
PubMed1990

[An anatomicoclinical analysis of the synovial plica syndrome].

The authors describe embryology and anatomy of synovial plica of the knee joint. They propose a clinic and pathogenic classification and after examining the diagnostic problem of plica syndrome, analyze their long-term results after surgical treatment.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

[Cutaneous tuberculosis with multifocal visceral involvement].

The case of a young Senegalese man who developed a form of cutaneous tuberculosis associated with a disseminated disease, successfully treated with appropriate antitubercular chemotherapy is reported. We found Mycobacterium Microti in the cutaneous ulcers, the only organism isolated after many cultural and microscopical examinations of different exudates and tissues. This mycobacterium was considered up to now to be pathogenic to rodents, but not man. Its possible pathogenicity to man (under certain situations) is also suggested, and it is expected that this possibility will be supported by other reports in the near future. In addition, stress is laid on the problems of diagnosis and classification of the cutaneous tuberculosis, so uncommon in the Western Hemisphere, and its possible association with leprosy.

Antitubercular Agents↗
PubMed1986

[Nonketotic hyperosmolar coma. Clinical aspects and treatment in 12 cases].

Non-ketotic hyperosmolar diabetic coma is a complication of diabetes characterised by extreme dehydration, plasmatic hyperosmolarity and the absence of ketosis. The mortality rate is very high, especially in elderly subjects with type II diabetes. A personal series of 12 cases is reported with an assessment of general features, triggering factors, biochemical parameters at onset and treatment given. The data confirm reports in the literature and the results show the therapeutic superiority of continuous endovenous infusions of insulin at 3-10 mu/hour over other treatment protocols.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

[Neurotransmitter control of pupillary motoricity in man].

The pupillary responses to different agonists and antagonists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems have been studied in normal volunteers. The eyedrops were instilled unilaterally and the responses were evaluated by measuring the changes in diameter of the pupils (in millimeters). All the eyedrops induced an unilateral response on the instilled side. The mydriatic substances (phenylephrine, thropamide, tyramine) showed an evident and lasting action. Phenylephrine 1% was found to be a threshold dose to acquire the mydriatic effect. The beta blocking agent (timolol) induced a short mydriatic response, while methaproterenol did not change the pupillary diameter. Clonidine caused an unilateral mydriasis. The alpha blocking agent and the parasympathetic system stimulation agent induced miotic effects The results are discussed with particular reference to the possible mechanism of the pupillary response to timolol and clonidine.

Clonidine↗
PubMed1984

[Evaluation of the effect of cloxacillin on human lymphocyte chromosomes through the study of karyotypic changes and sister chromatid exchanges].

The aim of this work was the evaluation of the possible mutagenic effect of an antibiotic, the Cloxacillin. Therefore the authors have performed the analysis of the chromosomal alterations and the study of the SCE (Sister Chromatid Exchanges) induced with the exposition of cultures of lymphocytes to different concentrations of this drug. The work reveals that Cloxacillin induces chromosomal alterations at high concentrations, while at concentrations similar to its therapeutic levels the drug does not seem to interfere with human DNA.

Chromosome Aberrations↗