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Biomedical subjects

L Loffredo

Publications and source records attributed to L Loffredo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Enhanced soluble CD40L in patients with the metabolic syndrome: Relationship with in vivo thrombin generation.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The metabolic syndrome is associated with proinflammatory and prothrombotic states. This study was designed to assess the behaviour of soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) and prothrombin fragment F (1+2), a marker of thrombin generation, in patients with the metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We investigated 106 patients with the metabolic syndrome, diagnosed according to the ATPIII report, and 104 subjects without the metabolic syndrome. RESULTS: Plasma values of sCD40L and F (1+2) were higher in patients with the metabolic syndrome (4.11+/-1.64 vs 2.61+/-0.89 ng/ml and 1.54+/-0.49 vs 0.87+/-0.21 nmol/l, respectively; p < 0.001) and were significantly correlated (r = 0.925, p < 0.001). Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that sCD40L was significantly associated with F (1+2), female sex and waist circumference. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Patients with the metabolic syndrome have enhanced values of plasma sCD40L and F (1+2). The study provides further insight into the relationship between metabolic syndrome, inflammation and thrombosis.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Should antioxidant status be considered in interventional trials with antioxidants?

The last decade has seen many trials with antioxidants in patients with cardiovascular disease, with equivocal results. One possible explanation for the disappointing findings is the lack of identification criteria of patients who are potential candidates for antioxidant treatment. Several studies have been carried out in patients at risk of cardiovascular disease, indicating that enhanced oxidative stress is associated with the presence of diabetes, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertension, and smoking. This review analyses the data reported so far to determine whether they clearly support the premise that patients at risk of cardiovascular events may be candidates for antioxidant treatment.

Antioxidants↗
PubMed2004

Antioxidants in peripheral arterial disease.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an important manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis that is characterized by obstruction of the arteries in the lower limbs. Experimental and epidemiological studies suggest a key role for oxidative stress in initiation and progression of the atherosclerotic process. The results of these studies provided a good basis for interventional trials with antioxidants, particularly with vitamin E, but the findings were conflicting. In this paper we review the observational and interventional studies with antioxidants, and ask whether vitamin supplementation should be recommended for PAD patients.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Antioxidants in peripheral arterial disease.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an important manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis that is characterized by obstruction of the arteries in the lower limbs. Experimental and epidemiological studies suggested a key role for oxidative stress in initiation and progression of the atherosclerotic process. The results of these studies provided a good basis for interventional trials with antioxidants, particularly with vitamin E, but the findings were conflicting. In this paper we review the observational and interventional studies with antioxidants, and ask whether vitamins supplementation should or should be not be recommended for PAD patients.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Relationship between visual acuity and eye position variability during foveations in congenital nystagmus.

Visual acuity in congenital nystagmus has proven to be primarily related to the duration of foveation periods, during which the image of a target falls onto the fovea and eye velocity slows down. It was found that the longer the foveation time the higher the visual acuity. However, the cycle-to-cycle variability of the eye position and velocity during foveation periods also contribute to visual acuity. A high variability of the eye position during the foveations hinders a stable placement of the target image on the centralmost fovea and consequently decreases visual acuity. To investigate the relationship between different nystagmus features and visual acuity, infrared- oculographic and electro-oculographic eye position recordings of 20 patients affected by congenital nystagmus were analysed in different gaze positions. In several patients' recordings, a high variability of the eye position during foveations (i.e. greater than 0.5 degrees) was detected. Correspondingly, low visual acuity was measured, in spite of sufficiently long foveation periods. The standard deviation of eye positions during foveation periods was used to measure this variability and it was found to be correlated to visual acuity, in conjunction with the mean duration of the foveation periods. On the basis of the data analysis, an exponential relationship is proposed to relate visual acuity and the standard deviation of the eye position during foveations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Visual dysfunction in patients with mitochondrial myopathies. I. Electrophysiologic impairments.

Seventeen patients with biopsy-confirmed mitochondrial progressive external ophthalmoplegia underwent electroretinography and visual evoked potential testing to checkerboard-reversal stimuli to investigate subclinical visual dysfunction. Seven patients (41%) had impaired Snellen visual acuity that was never less than 0.6. Thirteen patients (76%) showed electroretinographic and/or visual evoked potential alterations, whereas six (35%) showed impairment on both tests. Two patients showed delayed VEP P100 latency without fundus, electroretinographic or visual acuity anomalies. Visual dysfunctions were not related to age at onset and course of the disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Visual dysfunction in patients with mitochondrial myopathies. II. Contrast sensitivity function.

Contrast sensitivity function with stationary and temporally modulated (8 Hz) black and white vertical sinusoidal gratings was investigated in 11 patients with biopsy-confirmed mitochondrial progressive external ophthalmoplegia. To evaluate contrast sensitivity function results, the contrast sensitivity versus spatial frequency experimental data for each subject were fitted with a second-order polynomial, and the coefficients of the best-fitting function from normal and patient groups were compared. Patients with progressive external ophthalmoplegia, as a group, showed a decreased sensitivity at the intermediate spatial frequencies (i.e., around 1.4 c/deg) with stationary gratings and through a wider range of spatial frequencies with temporally modulated gratings. These findings were confirmed by analyzing contrast sensitivity functions from each individual. The study showed that contrast sensitivity function detects visual function abnormalities noninvasively in a number of patients with mitochondrial progressive external ophthalmoplegia with unaffected Snellen visual acuity.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Functional and morphological abnormalities in the retina of albino rats fed with a low protein diet after weaning.

Previously, we have reported a morphological study of the retina in albino rats fed with a low protein diet. The aim of this study is to verify our previous data and to obtain further informations about morphological and functional damages of the retina following low protein diet in albino rats. For this purpose the retinas of a group of weanling albino rats fed with a hypoproteic diet were studied with Light Microscopy (LM), Electron Microscopy (EM) and Electroretinography (ERG). Our results pointed out a correlation between the anatomic and functional ocular damages and proteinic malnutrition. LM showed a vacuolar degeneration of the optic fiber layer; the EM confirmed these results showing an optic fiber cytoskeleton modification together with glial proliferation. The functional damage as well seems to be correlated to the nutritional imbalance: the scotopic ERG in the experimental group shows a significant decrease (p less than 0.001) of the b-wave amplitude.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

[Ataxia-telangiectasia: an optic and electron morphocytologic study of a conjunctival biopsy].

The authors present a case of ataxia-telangiectasia also known as Louis-Bar Syndrome. The rarity of the disease and the dearth of extensive literature about the subject submitting this particular case to optic and electronic study and to report the results. The description, that comes out from our histologic and submicroscope study of the conjunctiva, attests the change of the conduct, of the diameter and conjunctival flow of the microvessels. This, in turn touches upon the cytological question behind the cause of changes in the relationships of vessels and surrounding tissues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome with multiple keloids].

The authors report an unusual case of Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, in which alterations such as blepharoptosis, unilateral microphthalmia, bilateral and inferior iris, lens, and choroidal colobomas and unilateral optic nerve pit are present in addition to apparently spontaneous multiple keloids. A histopathological study of the skin and a culture of fibroblasts have pointed out a reduction of the cell duplication time.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nitric oxide and its role in lipid peroxidation.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical with an unpaired electron in the highest orbital. This is why it behaves as a potential antioxidant agent by virtue of its ability to reduce other molecules. In vitro experiments support this concept inasmuch as NO is able to inhibit lipid peroxidation. However, NO is rapidly inactivated by the superoxide anion (O(*2) to form peroxynitrite (ONOO-), which is a potent oxidant. Therefore, in the presence of O(*2), NO behaves as a potent pro-oxidant. This is the mechanism that accounts for the low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation that occurs when NO and O(*2) are simultaneously present in the medium. As NO and O(*2) are simultaneously released by cells such as endothelial cells, the balance between these two radicals is crucial in understanding the net effect of NO on lipid peroxidation. Thus an excess of NO will favour lipid peroxidation inhibition, while an excess of O(*2) or equimolar concentration of NO and O(*2) will induce lipid peroxidation. Modulation of this balance may have important clinical implications, particularly in the atherosclerotic process in which oxidant stress seems to play a pivotal role in the onset and progression of vascular lesions.

Antioxidants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The future prospects of antithrombotic therapy in peripheral vasculopathy].

Peripheral vascular disease is characterized by progressive atherosclerotic deterioration of peripheral arteries and coronary and cerebral vascular complications. Antiplatelet treatment retards the progression of peripheral atherosclerosis but it is still unclear if this is associated with a reduced risk of amputation. Vasodilator prostaglandins have been administered in critical ischemia but the results have been disappointing. An alternative approach to enhance peripheral vasodilation is to increase nitric oxide production, which is reduced in peripheral vascular disease, particularly in the case of severe ischemia. Critical ischemia secondary to thromboembolism has been treated with thrombolysis within 7 days of the acute episode, but this approach is no more effective than vascular surgery in reducing amputation; earlier treatment should be planned to further investigate its clinical efficacy. The effect of antiplatelet treatment in preventing cardiovascular events was investigated in three randomized trials with negative results. A post-hoc analysis of the CAPRIE study demonstrated that clopidogrel is superior to aspirin in preventing cardiovascular disease. This suggests that antiplatelet treatment may be efficacious in this setting; future study should assess if its combination with other drugs, such as statins, that retard coronary atherosclerotic progression, could further reduce cardiovascular complications in peripheral vascular disease.

Disease Progression↗