Biomedical subjects

G Marani

Publications and source records attributed to G Marani.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Hyperthyroidism and pulmonary hypertension.

In recent years, many authors have described several cases revealing an association between hyperthyroidism and pulmonary hypertension (PH). This observational study was designed to evaluate the incidence of PH in hyperthyroidism and was set in a department of internal medicine and pulmonary diseases with an out-patients department of endocrinology. Thirty-four patients, 25 women and nine men, with a mean age of 38 +/- 15 SD years participated. Twenty had Graves' disease and 14 had a nodular goitre. The patients were divided into two equally matched groups: those with a recently diagnosed hyperthyroidism, taking no drugs (group 1; n = 17) and those in a euthyroid state taking methimazole (group 2; n= 17). Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography was performed and systolic pulmonary artery pressurements of (PAPs) was determined by the tricuspid regurgitation method using the Bernoulli equation. Measurements of triiodothyronine, tetraiodothyronine, free thyroxine (Ft4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and antithyroglobulin and antimicrosomal antibodies were also taken. We found a mild PH in seven patients of group 1 and in none of group 2. The mean +/- SD systolic pulmonaryartery pressurewas 28.88 +/- 6.41 in group 1 and 22.53 +/- 1.84 ingroup 2 (P<0.0001). A correlation was found between the TSH value and PAPs (r = -082;P < 0.001) and Ft4 and PAPs (r = 0 85; P < 0.001) in group 1. These findings indicate the presence of a frequent association between PH and hyperthyroidism. We suggest that hyperthyroidism be included in the differential diagnosis of PH.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Pulmonary function in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: In type I diabetes mellitus, lung function has been investigated in several clinical studies, but there are few data concerning pulmonary function abnormalities in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the presence of pulmonary function abnormalities in patients with NIDDM and to verify the possible associations between diabetic renal microangiopathy, retinopathy and diabetes control. METHOD AND PATIENTS: Thirty patients with NIDDM were collected and divided into two similar groups: subjects with retinopathy and/or diabetic glomerulopathy (group 1, n = 15) and patients without any complications (group 2, n = 15). 17 were males and 13 females, aged from 45 to 81 years. They had had diabetes for 3-23 years and were studied at the Division of Internal Medicine, with an outpatient service for diabetic patients. All patients were non-smokers. The presence of diabetic glomerulopathy was determined by measuring the 24-hour protein excretion rate using the nephelometric method. The presence of retinopathy was determined by using ophthalmoscopy. Glycosylated hemoglobin was measured as an indicator of glycemic control. We performed a global spirometry and measured pulmonary diffusion capacity by the single-breath method corrected by alveolar volume. RESULTS: We found a significant reduction in lung diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DL(CO)) in the group of patients with other signs of diabetic microangiopathy (p < 0.005) and a significative correlation between DL(CO )and the grade of albuminuria (r = -0.83, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary function abnormalities, in particular a reduction in diffusion capacity, are common in patients with NIDDM and signs of diabetic microangiopathy. A possible explanation is related to an impaired pulmonary microvasculature and alveolar epithelial basal lamina.

Aged↗

PubMed2000

Changes in the carbon monoxide diffusing capacity of the lung in ulcerative colitis.

The aim of this study was to investigate lung function in patients with ulcerative colitis and to assess the incidence of latent pulmonary involvement in subjects with active and inactive disease. After full colonscopic assessment with multiple mucosal biopsy, the clinical disease activity of each patient was quantified, using the simple index of Harvey and Bradshaw. The patients were divided into 2 equal groups: subjects with active disease (group 1; n=16); and those with inactive disease (group 2; n=16). Global spirometry was then performed. A latent pulmonary involvement was found in 17 of 32 patients (53%), the incidence was higher in the group 1 patients (81%). The majority of patients presented a reduction in the carbon monoxide diffusing capacity of the lungs (DL,CO). The mean DL,CO value was 73.87+/-14.87 in group 1 and 87.31+/-11.23 in group 2. The DL,CO and KCO reduction correlated significantly with intestinal histopathological grading in the group of patients with active disease (r=0.87, p<0.001; r=0.603, p=0.015). To conclude, a high incidence of pulmonary function abnormalities were identified, despite the lack of radiological alterations (High Resolution Computed Tomography) and pulmonary symptoms, in ulcerative colitis patients. These alterations were more common in patients with active disease. The strong correlation between DL,CO values and histopathological grading suggests that this test may reflect bowel disease activity.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

[Pulmonary complications in diabetes mellitus].

The lung is not considered a target organ in diabetes mellitus. In English language literature there are many papers showing the opposite. Many studies demonstrated a thickened alveolar epithelial and pulmonary capillary basal lamina and a reduced lung elasticity, others showed that these histopathological alterations developed into functional abnormalities: reduced lung volumes, reduced pulmonary diffusion capacity and elastic recoil. The pathogenesis is currently thought to involve the nonenzymatic glycosylation (NEG) of tissue proteins inducing an alteration in connective tissue. In patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy there is an abnormal basal airway tone due to an alteration in vagal pathways: these patients have a reduced bronchial reactivity and bronchodilatation. Diabetic patients have an increased propensity to acquire infections, in particular tuberculosis and pulmonary fungal diseases (coccidioidomycosis, aspergillosis and mucormycosis). The frequency of occurrence of tuberculosis is reported to be four times than in non diabetics, there is a predilection for the lower lobes and the disease is more aggressive in poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. Pulmonary mucormycosis is an infection caused by Phycomycetes, the fungus has the propensity to invade vascular structures giving hemoptysis and leading to a high mortality unless diagnosed promptly. The mechanism for the increased susceptibility to infection is due to an alteration in chemotactic, phagocytic and bactericidal activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Diabetes Complications↗

PubMed1991

Linkage of biopsy, cancer, and population records aimed at the estimation of family risks in neoplasia: a pilot study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to link individual demographic and medical records into sibships to obtain the sibling distribution of biopsies and cancers, and thereby calculate heritability and recurrence risks in families, thus aiding early diagnosis and prevention of cancers. DESIGN: The 157,823 individual records of the inhabitants of the town of Ferrara in Italy were automatically linked into 106,821 sibships. A 10% sample (10,842 sibships) was then extracted from the distribution of sibships and tabulated, for linkage to medical records. PATIENTS: The biopsy records at the Institute of Pathological Anatomy of the University of Ferrara were manually linked to cancer records and then to sibships. It was possible to construct the distribution of 2062 biopsies and of 829 cancers in sibships. RESULTS: From the distribution of biopsies and tumours in sibships, it was possible to estimate the incidence of tumours in the population (0.052) and in siblings of affected (0.083), and to apply to such distributions current methods for the estimate of heritability (h2 = 0.246) and of recurrence risks of tumours in sibships, age independent. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that the procedure resulting in the estimation of incidences and recurrence risks for tumours could be completely automated, and extended to whole populations and homogeneous subgroups in post industrial cultures.

Biopsy↗