The amino-oxidase and collagen content of dermal tissue was evaluated in 10 patients with severe idiopathic scoliosis and in a control group of 7 patients with poliomyelitic scoliosis, that were to undergo surgical correction of their skeletal deformity. A greater dermal content of neutral salt souble collagen was found in the patients with idiopathic scoliosis, compared with the control group. Statistically the difference was highly significant. Mono-amino-oxidase activity, however, was found to be significantly decreased in dermal extracts obtained from patients affected by idiopathic scoliosis in comparison with controls. The involvement of mono-amino-oxidase in the crosslinking of collagen and the possible classification of idiopathic scoliosis as a systemic disease of connective tissue are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Collagen, elastin and sugar content in primary varicose veins.

The collagen, elastin and total sugar content was evaluated in 32 samples of saphenous varicose veins and in 34 controls. A significantly lower collagen and elastin content was found in the varicose samples. In addition, the total sugars and the soluble non-scleroproteins were found to be increased in varicose samples. The results are more significant when expressed as mg per unit surface of endothelium. Our findings support the hypothesis that the decrease in collagen and elastin content is a primary rather than a secondary change.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effective treatment of osteoarthritis with a 150 mg prolonged-release of diclofenac sodium.

A new oral dosage form of diclofenac sodium, enabling the single administration of the daily dose of 150 mg, has been tested for treatment of 20 patients suffering from osteoarthritis of the spine. A control group of 20 patients with the same diagnosis instead received 3 enteric-coated tablets/day, each containing 50 mg of the drug. Treatments lasted in both groups one month. Clinical efficacy was monitored by evaluating the changes in the disease's symptoms and signs (pain, cramps, alterations of function capacity, morning stiffness) and in some laboratory parameters (ESR, C-reactive protein, Rheuma test). Treatment tolerability was evaluated through the routine laboratory blood and urine tests, and by registering any complaint at the gastrointestinal level, as well as any adverse event. The two posology schemes were equally effective in favourably reducing the disease's clinical and laboratory manifestations. Also systemic and local tolerability were superimposable and on the whole good: only a few episodes of mild epigastralgia were reported (3 cases in each group), as expected during a treatment course with NSAIDs.

Adult↗