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L Quintiliani

Publications and source records attributed to L Quintiliani.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Alzheimer's disease: factors affecting caregivers' workload].

The aim of this study was to investigate which factors could play a role on the work-load of the Alzheimer patients' caregivers. The work-load was measured by means of Zarit's scale and inserted as dependent variable in a regression model, where the following independent variables were considered: education and MMSE of patients, age, sex of both patients and caregivers. The relevant factors resulted patient's age and MMSE, being significantly (p < 0.05) inversely associated with work-load. This score reached his maximum when patient's MMSE ranged between 14 and 16 (medium impairment). However, a large variability was found in this interval, suggesting a possible effect of other factors. In addition, we observed a decrement of work-load when patients were older, being higher at 50 and lower after 72. This effect might be explained by the significant change (especially in terms of social and familial life) due to the illness when the patient is relatively young. When the patient is older, Alzheimer' disease had smaller effect on the caregiver's work-load.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Analysis of growth, phenotype and cytotoxic activity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes expanded in vitro with interleukin-2 and interleukin-4: preliminary results].

Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) play an important role in the host immune response to cancer. When these cells are reinfused into cancer patients after in vitro expansion with lymphokines such as interleukin 2 (rIL-2), they often induce regression of tumor metastases. We obtained TIL of enzymatic digestion of 7 human solid tumors and then cultured them with rIL-2 and interleukin 4 (IL-4) at different concentrations for about 36 days. Immunophenotypic analysis was performed at the end of the second and fourth week; cytotoxic activity against autologous and heterologous targets was assessed on the 30th day of culture. The best lymphocytic growth was observed when we used rIL-2 and IL-4 for the first two weeks of culturing and then continued with rIL-2 alone. CD3 and CD56 cells formed the majority of TIL in all cultures. In 4 cases CD4 cells predominated at the initial stage of culturing, with CD8 cells gradually increasing and finally inverting the CD4/CD8 ratio. Autologous cytotoxicity (3/4 cases) appeared to be better in those patients in whom the CD4/CD8 ratio was inverted. These data enable identification of the combination of lymphokines that will will best provide expansion of live TIL active against tumoral cells. This procedure must be followed before in vivo reinfusion of expanded lymphocytes is carried out.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Functional analysis of lymphocytes from two patients affected by common variable immunodeficiency (CVI).

Two patients affected by severe hypogammaglobulinemia classified as CVI were studied. Both patients showed an increase in peripheral T cells and a normal or elevated number of surface immunoglobulin-bearing cells (sIg+); the T cell subsets showed a decrease of CD4 and an increment of CD8 cells with an inversion of the CD4/CD8 ratio. Patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) did not proliferate after Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SAC) activation. Moreover, patient PBMC were not able to differentiate into plaque - forming cells (PFC) either spontaneously or after pokeweed mitogen (PWM) stimulation. The immunoglobulin synthesis from patient PBMC stimulated in vitro by PWM was very little as compared to controls. When isolated patient B cells were cultured in the presence of exogenous B cell growth factor (BCGF) and BCGF plus anti-mu and anti-delta antibodies, no proliferation was observed. Taken together the results concerning B cell function of our CVI patients indicate the presence of an intrinsic defect of B cells. These cells are normal in number, but they are not able to leave the resting state, enter the activation state, proliferate and differentiate into Ig secreting cells. Moreover the alteration of the T cell subset proportions seems to suggest an impaired cooperation between B and T cells.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Relationship of blood transfusion, post-operative infections and immunoreactivity in patients undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The immunosuppression induced by perioperative blood transfusion (BT) and its effect on the incidence of post-surgical infectious complications remains controversial. In this study, the relationship between BT and postoperative infections was investigated in 136 gastrointestinal cancer patients submitted to curative surgery. METHODS: Clinical and laboratory variables, data on postoperative infections, infection risk factors and types of transfusion were analyzed. Immune function was evaluated in 76 patients and compared before and after surgery. RESULTS: The overall postoperative infection rate was 28% for the transfused and 4.6% for the untransfused patients. The univariate analysis of investigated variables indicated that BT, progressive cancer stage, duration of surgery, drains, all had significant association with infection. The multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed BT (p = 0.0028) and advanced cancer stage (p < 0.001) as significant risk factors for the postoperative infections. The results of immunological tests showed no significant differences between transfused and untransfused patient groups, after surgery. Comparing pre- and postoperative data from individual patients, an impairment of natural killer (NK) activity was observed in all patients regardless of their transfusional status; the synthesis of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) was also decreased respectively in the untransfused and in the transfused patients. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that other factors, beside BT, can induce immunosuppressive effects in these patients and thus increase their susceptibility to postoperative infections.

Adenocarcinoma↗