PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L Targa

Publications and source records attributed to L Targa.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

[Colchicine in the treatment of idiopathic recurrent pericarditis. Report of a case].

Treatment of recurrence, which is one of the major complications of pericarditis, is often difficult. After three recurrences of idiopathic acute pericarditis, over a period of four months, despite therapy with acetylsalicylic acid, indomethacin and methilprednisolone, a patient, 37 years old, responded favorably to colchine treatment. No recurrences, no side effects were observed, after a prolonged low dose treatment. Our report suggests, therefore, that colchinine may be beneficial in acute attacks of idiopathic pericarditis and may be useful in avoiding recurrent episodes of pericarditis.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Plasma glutathione peroxidase activity as an index of renal function.

The kidney is a major source of the plasma enzyme glutathione peroxidase. We measured plasma glutathione peroxidase activity in 130 patients affected with different renal diseases at various stages, and compared it with the following indices of kidney function: serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, and urinary excretion of alpha 1-microglobulin, beta 2-microglobulin, albumin and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase. Plasma glutathione peroxidase activity appeared significantly reduced in most of the renal diseases considered, and showed a significant correlation with most of the renal function indices. Linear discriminant analysis showed that the set of indices composed of plasma glutathione peroxidase activity, serum creatinine and creatinine clearance allowed the best classification of renal diseases. During treatment with the nephrotoxic aminoglycoside, tobramycin, plasma glutathione peroxidase activity showed an early and progressive decrease. We suggest the measurement of plasma glutathione peroxidase activity as an adjunctive index for the assessment of kidney alterations.

Acetylglucosaminidase↗
PubMed1991

Rhabdomyolysis and operating position.

Rhabdomyolysis during routine surgery was studied in three groups of patients who had surgery, with limited trauma to muscle, in the lateral and supine positions, and prone on the spinal frame. A range of blood tests was performed (before surgery, and on the first, third and seventh day after operation). These showed that a creatine kinase increase in the 24 hours and the early appearance of myoglobin in the serum were the best indicators. Rhabdomyolysis was associated with the lateral position and long lasting surgery. No blood test before surgery was of any predictive value.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[Stress hormones liberated by fangotherapy. ACTH and beta-endorphin levels under heat stress].

In 6 healthy subjects submitted to fango therapy in the Euganean thermal baths (Italy), the plasma concentrations of beta-endorphin and ACTH increased transitorily but significantly. These results correlate with the release of these peptides by the pituitary in response to thermal stressing. The analgesic and hypothermic action responsible for good toleration of thermal stress induced by fango therapy, can be explained by this increase in plasma beta-endorphin. The repeated brief increases in plasma beta-endorphin during thermal treatment result in progressive improvement in articular and muscular symptomatology. The results of our study on plasma levels of ACTH confirm that the thermal stress associated with fango therapy activates the pituitary gland. Immunomodulatory effects are discussed.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1990

Acute poisoning with methidathion: a case.

An acute poisoning in a 50-year-old man who ingested approximately 6.2 g of the phosphorus ester methidathion is described. The patient was treated with three haemoperfusions 23, 44 and 115 h after ingestion, with continuous gastric lavage, atropine and pralidoxime administration and with prolonged mechanical ventilation. Haemoperfusion was an ineffective epuration technique since it removed only 0.22% of the ingested methidathion. The clinical course wavered because of a probable redistribution of phosphorus ester from fat to blood. A plasma level higher than 100 micrograms l-1 was associated with the most serious phases. Methidathion was present in the plasma until the sixth day, in the urine until the seventh and in the gastric juice until the eighth. Its absence in the fat biopsy made on the tenth day was an aid to therapy. The phosphorus ester did not inhibit lymphocyte neuropathy target esterase (NTE), neither did it induce development of delayed polyneuropathy.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1990

[Electrocardiographic disorders in diverse clinical variations of scleroderma].

The electrocardiograms of 130 patients affected by scleroderma, 117 with systemic sclerosis (67 with diffuse and 50 with limited form) and 13 with localized scleroderma were analyzed. ECG was normal in 44.6% of cases, respectively in 39.3% with systemic sclerosis and in 92.3% with localized scleroderma. The more frequent electrocardiographic abnormalities were supraventricular and ventricular premature beats, right bundle branch block, left anterior hemiblock, low QRS voltages, ST-T wave abnormalities and Q or QS aspects. All the abnormalities above resulted to be more frequent in the patients with diffuse systemic sclerosis in comparison to the patients with limited systemic sclerosis. Our results confirm that the cardiac involvement appears to be much more serious in the diffuse systemic sclerosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

[Mathematical approach to the study of the capnographic curve].

An application of Hill's formula in the interpretation of slope of second phase of capnographic curve is suggested. This method can be used to demonstrate an acute rising of airway resistances, but failed to discriminate between normal and chronically broncho-pulmonary obstructed subjects. We suggest that a study of modifications of second phase slope and Q angle can give more information about airway resistances.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Pharmacologic data and technical feasibility of intraperitoneal doxorubicin administration.

Seventy intraperitoneal administrations of doxorubicin were performed in 12 patients with malignant disease in the abdominopelvic space. Peritoneal and hematologic drug levels were measured by fluorimetric assay. A first-order decline in the peritoneal level was determined (T 1/2 96 +/- 18 min), with a mean drug absorption of 84% in 4 h (range 40-96%) and a mean ratio of a peak dialysate/peak serum level of 111 (range 12-390). Gastrointestinal toxicity was common and peritoneal phlogosis occurred twice. The doxorubicin level and the time of peritoneal exposure seem to be critical factors for major local toxicity. At a moderate concentration doxorubicin can be intraperitoneally administered, but its usefulness is probably confined to patients with minimal abdominal disease.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Do different dialytic techniques have different atherosclerotic and antioxidant activities?

To compare the chronic effect of several dialytic techniques (bicarbonate dialysis, BHD; acetate free biofiltration, AFB; hemodiafiltration, HDF; paired filtration dialysis, PFD) on atherosclerosis and antioxidant activity, three different indices were created. The first (atherosclerotic index = AI) is formed using the sum of three plasma substances: MDA, Hcy, and Cys (malondialdehyde, homocysteine, cysteine). The second (antioxidant activity index = AOAI) is the sum of five erythrocyte (E) parameters: E-GSH, GPx, CAT, SOD, GR (E-glutathione, E-glutathione peroxidase, E-catalase, E-superoxide dismutase, E-glutathione reductase). The third (defense index = DI) is derived from the previous two: (AOAI - AI). The indices were so expressed as AI in mmol/L, AOAI in U/g hemoglobin (Hb), and DI in arbitrary units. These indices were calculated in 20 controls and 51 chronic HD patients (26 female, 25 male) before, during, and after the first session of the week. HD patients were divided according to their dialytic technique: BHD, n = 35; AFB, n = 5 patients; HDF, n = 7 patients; or PFD = 4 patients. All patients had been treated with a given technique for at least 12 months, before entering the study. As expected, HD patients had AI values higher than controls, both before and after the session, with a mean value of 541 (before) and 331 (after), whereas controls had a mean value of 205. The AOAI was lower than controls, both before and after the session, the mean value being 1,122 (before) and 1,582 (after), that of controls being 2,424. In all cases, PFD gave the best "acute" results; at the end of a PFD session, near normal values of AI, AOAI, and DI (defensive index = AOAI - AI) were obtained.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[An electro- and vectorcardiographic study of ventricular activation in scleroderma].

Electrical ventricular activation was studied by means of electrocardiogram and vectorcardiogram in 62 patients, 55 women and 7 men, affected by systemic sclerosis of average disease duration of 10.3 years. 45% of the patients showed the "diffused form" of the disease and 55% the "limited form". The vectorcardiogram showed some alterations of the ventricular activation in 55% of the recorded cases. The previous electrocardiogram found only 18%. The alterations, which are more frequent in the diffuse form than in the limited one, are the presence of loss of forces in septal, lateral or inferior or combined areas and intraventricular conduction disorders as complete and incomplete right bundle branch block, left anterior subdivision block, left posterior subdivision block, or combination between incomplete right bundle branch block and left anterior or posterior subdivision block. The vectorcardiogram was more sensitive than the electrocardiogram in showing loss of forces, also in patients with the limited form of systemic sclerosis, when the electrocardiogram was normal. Moreover the vectorcardiogram is helpful to identify left posterior subdivision block. The vectorcardiographic investigation seems to be a useful complement of the electrocardiogram especially for the identification of cases with myocardial involvement that is clinically silent.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical value of a peculiar nuclear fluorescence staining in systemic sclerosis.

Using unfixed rat liver sections as substrate for the detection of antinuclear antibodies, distinct nuclear staining was observed in the sera of patients with systemic sclerosis. Its reaction differed from previously described fluorescence patterns and was characterized by numerous fine speckles throughout the nucleus associated with one or more coarse lines. These lines were more evident in diluted sera, when fine speckled fluorescence faded. This picture "fine speckles with lines" (FLS) was defined. The FLS pattern was present in 35% of 91 patients with systemic sclerosis, while it was absent in 517 patients with rheumatic and non-rheumatic disorders and in 100 matched healthy subjects. Moreover, the FSL pattern was significantly associated with the diffuse subset of systemic sclerosis (50% of cases) and was related to the presence of anti-Scl-70 antibody. These results indicate that this fluorescent pattern of antinuclear antibodies may be considered a simple and very useful aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of systemic sclerosis.

Adult↗