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J M Ghirlanda

Publications and source records attributed to J M Ghirlanda.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

[Staghorn renal lithiasis treated with shock waves. Bacteriologic aspects].

Struvite renal stones are caused by infection of the urine with bacteria that synthesize the enzyme urease. Ammonium is released by the breakdown of urea by urease, the urine becomes highly alkaline, and magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) and carbonate apatite crystallize. Incorporation of the infecting bacteria within the developing stone, results in a focus of infection that is resistant to conventional antimicrobial therapy, and which is manifested clinically by repeated urinary tract infection caused by persistent bacteriuria. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) currently is accepted as the election treatment for most renal calculi. This trial examines the bacteriologic aspects pre and post-ESWL. Eighty adult patients, 47 females and 33 males, without clinical signs of urinary tract infections (UTI) were submitted to urine cultures pre and post-ESWL. The first 50 patients underwent during and post-ESWL, 150 blood cultures, which all proved to be negative, confirming very low risk of generalized sepsis. No patient presented fever, chills or rigors pre or postprocedures. With respect to urine cultures 43 patients (52.5%) had a pre-ESWL UTI, in comparison to 49 (60%) who had a UTI post-ESWL. The distribution of organisms pre and post-ESWL was as follows: Proteus mirabilis (22/22), Escherichia coli (11/11), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4/5), Klebsiella pneumoniae (2/2), Enterobacter cloacae (0/1), Alcaligenes odorans (1/2) Enterococcus faecalis (1/3), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (1/2) and Candida albicans (1/1). In this study 6 patients presented bacteriuria post-ESWL probably due to bacteria from inside the calculi. According to these results, the risk of bacteremia seems to be very low. In 60% of staghorn renal stones we could demonstrate a bacterial infection.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Uptake and metabolism of androgen by the human epididymis in vitro.

Uptake and metabolism of [3H]testosterone, mainly to 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (5 alpha-DHT and 5 alpha-androstanediol were higher in the caput than in the cauda epididymidis in vitro. The metabolites represented 57, 49 and 47% of the total radioactivity in the caput, corpus and cauda epididymidis, respectively; subcellular distributions of the metabolites in each segment showed 67% of total radioactivity in cytosol and 18% in the nuclei. In both fractions, the amount of 5 alpha-DHT was greater than that of androstanediol while the reverse was true for the mitochondria and microsomes. The distribution of 5 alpha-reductase activity in subcellular fractions was similar to that of the microsomal marker enzyme NADPH: cytochrome C reductase, whilst 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase was found mainly in the cytosol. Maximal 5 alpha-reductase activity was at pH 5.3, apparent Km values in the microsomal and nuclear fractions were 1.65 +/- 0.7 and 1.75 +/- 0.36 x 10(-6) M respectively, and the Vmax in these preparations was 5.28 +/- 1.19 and 3.1 +/- 0.52 pmol/mg protein/min, respectively. The activity of 5 alpha-reductase was inhibited by Zn2+, Cu2+, Ba2+ and Cd2+ and by epitestosterone, progesterone and 4-androstene-3-one 17 beta-carboxylic acid.

3-Oxo-5-alpha-Steroid 4-Dehydrogenase↗