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Biomedical subjects

J Pecori-Giraldi

Publications and source records attributed to J Pecori-Giraldi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Video color perimetry: impairment in glaucoma suspects.

PURPOSE: To detect mild visual field impairment in asymptomatic glaucoma suspect patients. METHODS: Color perception within the visual field was tested with customized color video perimetry. The key features of the system were stimuli color desaturation, low-level luminance and equiluminant gray background. Twenty patients with asymptomatic glaucoma were tested and compared with a group of age-matched control subjects. RESULTS: Automated perimetry test findings differed significantly in the two groups, particularly for short-wavelength sensitivity (blue). The severity of color impairment correlated directly with intraocular pressure. CONCLUSION: Desaturated low-luminance video perimetry will reliably detect and quantify asymptomatic visual field defects. A previous work on multiple sclerosis has detected a mild long-wavelength (red) impairment in asymptomatic patients after an episode of optic neuritis, even in clinically unaffected fellow eyes. Our findings in glaucoma suspect patients indicate that a mild blue impairment could be the initial sign of this disease.

Adult↗

Comparison of apraclonidine and timolol in chronic open-angle glaucoma. A three-month study.

PURPOSE: To compare the safety and efficacy of apraclonidine ophthalmic solution 0.25% and 0.5% (both given 3 times daily) to timolol maleate (0.5%) given twice daily, in primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. METHODS: This study was a 90-day prospective, multicenter, double-masked, randomized, parallel group trial. Intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements were made between 8:00 and 10:00 AM before the morning dose (i.e., up to 12 hours after the evening dose of glaucoma medication) and at 4:00 PM (i.e., 8 hours after the morning dose of glaucoma medication). Patients with off-therapy IOP of greater than 22 mmHg and less than 35 mmHg were entered into the study and were assessed 14, 30, and 90 days after treatment. RESULTS: Sixty-nine patients were enrolled; there were no significant demographic differences among the three study groups. All three treatments significantly reduced IOP over 90 days (P < 0.011). For apraclonidine 0.5%, IOP reductions from 25.8 +/- 3.2 mmHg (pretreatment) to 20.4 +/- 4.00 mmHg (day 90) were observed; for apraclonidine 0.25%, from 25.7 +/- 3.05 mmHg (pretreatment) to 22.1 +/- 4.24 mmHg (day 90); and for timolol 0.5% from 26.1 +/- 3.79 mmHg to 21.1 +/- 5.91 mmHg (day 90). The 90-day period of therapy was completed by 12 patients treated with apraclonidine 0.5%, 21 patients treated with apraclonidine 0.25%, and 23 patients treated with timolol 0.5%. There were no serious adverse events. Fourteen of 22 patients (0.5% apraclonidine) and 21 of 23 patients (0.25% apraclonidine) tolerated the drug well; ocular allergy developed in the remaining patients treated with apraclonidine, which resolved upon discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS: Apraclonidine effectively lowers IOP associated with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension; these pilot results will need to be confirmed by a larger pivotal study. Long-term therapy for some patients may be inhibited by ocular allergy for which there was a higher incidence to the 0.5% apraclonidine solution than to the 0.25% solution in this study. Apraclonidine may be of value as an additional therapy for open-angle glaucoma in selected patients.

Adult↗

Brain oedema and intracranial hypertension treatment by GLIAS.

The authors present their results regarding the use of a buffered solution of glycerol 30%-sodium ascorbate 20% (GLIAS) for the treatment of brain oedema and intracranial hypertension. GLIAS was perfused intravenously in 80 patients with several types of brain oedema. In every patients serum and urinary osmolarity, diuresis, main blood and urine parameters, and ICP were monitored. Following GLIAS infusion an increase in plasma osmolarity was observed, changing the average basal value plus 13.4% after 15 min., 10.5% after 30'. At the same time there was a reduction of ICP and improvement in cerebral compliance. In each case there was a decrease in intracranial hypertension and brain oedema without significant collateral effects.

Adolescent↗

[The mechanism of cholinergic effects on lowering intraocular pressure].

The relationship between vasomotoric activity and blood vessel permeability was studied in the course of discovering the ocular hypotonising mechanism of cholinergic drug activity (pilocarpin and carbamylcholin). The authors found, in experimental conditions, that the vasomotoric activity (vasodilatation) of the two cholinergic drugs is expressed in the increased permeability of the blood-aqueour barrier. In the presence of an elevated extracirculatory pressure (IOP), as in glaucoma, vasodilatation under the influence of cholinergic drugs, is converted to passive vasoconstriction which leads to reduced aqueous humor production. Carbamilcholin reduces aqueous humor production in a greater extent than pilocarpin.

Animals↗

[The alpha-adrenergic effect of thymoxamine on the vessels of the ciliary body].

The effects of epinephrine on the permeability of the blood-aqueous barrier, stimulated by paracentesis of the anterior chamber, were studied in rabbits following alpha-adrenergic blocking by means of topical or systemic thymoxamine. The alpha-adrenergic block was tested by continuous recording of the systemic arterial blood pressure. The reversal of the vascular effects of epinephrine after administration of thymoxamine was demonstrated at the bloodaqueous barrier. The miotic property of thymoxamine is believed to have had no influence on our results.

Animals↗

[Vascular effects of adrenergic drugs and their action on intraocular pressure (author's transl)].

By means of the continuous contemporary recording of arterial blood pressure and intraocular pressure, the relationship between the two parameters was analyzed following the intravenous administration of adrenergic drugs. The aim was that of determining if during a change in systemic blood pressure the behaviour of intraocular pressure may indicate an active or passive participation to such a change. In the present studies the most important representatives of the different adrenergic groups (adrenalin, dibenamin, ergotamin, propranolol and isoproterenol) were taken in consideration. The results in normal eyes and in eyes with experimental hypertension showed that the adrenergic drugs affect the intraocular presure through a primary vasomotorial effect. An active vasodilatation of the intraocular vessels could not be demonstrated, whereas an active (adrenalin, ergotamin) as well as a passive (propranolol, isoproterenol) vasoconstriction was evidenced. The present studies allow an interpretation of the ocular hypotonizing mechanism of action of adrenergic drugs.

Animals↗

[Experimental triethyltin ocular hypertension. Pharmacological and histopathological studies (author's transl)].

The experiments were prompted by the need felt in pharmacology of eyes with hypertension of easy availability, rather long duration and fairly constant levels, to allow observation of the effects of hypotensive agents and to study their mechanism of action. Single doses of 1 mg Triethyltin, a substance producing a hydrodynamic compromission of the brain, were injected into the anterior chamber of rabbit eyes. A rise in ocular tension, beginning within 24 hours and lasting seven to ten days is obtained in about 70% of eyes. The pressure increase ranged from 12 to 30 mm Hg. Biomicroscopic and histologic examinations evidenced an uveitis-like reaction in the first week after treatment. Neoprene casts evidenced an impaired vascularization in the ciliary processes and choroid. Topical and parenteral administration of the most commonly used antiglaucomatous drugs showed how well this hypertension responded to hypotonizing agents. The occurrence of producing an ocular hypertension in the untreated fellow eye following repeated intra-cameral injections of small dosage (1 microgram) of Triethyltin, every two days for more than one month, in the other eye is described. Hypertension resulted in 40% of eyes.

Animals↗