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Biomedical subjects

M Altomare

Publications and source records attributed to M Altomare.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Delayed decrease in serum ferritin in polytransfused children with thalassemia major after continuous subcutaneous infusions of desferrioxamine.

A longitudinal study has been conducted on serum ferritin concentrations in children with thalassemia major treated with desferrioxamine (DFO), both intramuscularly and by continuous subcutaneous infusion, in order to evaluate the time interval after which iron chelation becomes effective. In a first group of 19 children, treated intramuscularly with DFO at a dose of 20 mg/kg for 20 days a month, ferritin levels were followed for 739 days and a progressive increase with a significant linear correlation with time was seen. The daily increase was calculated to be 8.53 +/- 1.95 ng/ml. In the second group of 12 children treated with DFO by continuous subcutaneous infusion (greater than or equal to 20 mg/kg/day for 6 days a week), the increase in ferritin was markedly lower, the mean daily value being 4.77 +/- 3.30 ng/ml. Only after the first 360 days of treatment did the serum ferritin decrease, by 1.95 +/- 3.32 ng/ml/day, in spite of a mean daily iron contribution from blood transfusions of 7.09 +/- 2.69 mg/day. These changes in serum ferritin led us to conclude that one can only expect to obtain a decrease in the body's iron overload after more than a year of treatment with subcutaneous DFO.

Blood Transfusion

Post-natal development of factor IX.

Post-natal development of clotting activity and of antigen level of Factor IX was evaluated in 111 healthy, breastfed, newborn infants, aged 1-30 days. Of these, 80 had received at birth 2 mg of vitamin K1 orally. Factor IX clotting activity was determined by one-stage assay and antigen level by electroimmunoassay. On the 1st day both antigen level and clotting activity were low and the ratio was 1.01. There was a significant postnatal increase of the two activities of Factor IX during the first three days of life; thereafter both remained constant. No statistical difference inFactor IX activity was found with oral administration of vitamin K1 after the birth. During the first month of life both clotting activity and antigen level of Factor IX were low as compared to adult values. There was no correlation with age. The Factor IX protein of newborns did not show molecular heterogeneity by crossed-immunoelectrophoresis.

Antigens

Post-natal development of factor II (pre-prothrombin and prothrombin) in man.

Postnatal development of factor II molecule has been evaluated by three different methods in infants and children from 15 days to 7 years of age. The immunochemical determination of factor II showed that the plasma levels of this factor reached the lowest adult values between 4-7 months of age and rose slowly for all the first year; after this age the plasma concentration was steady. The adult range was reached from 15 to 120 days of age when the factor II was evaluated by the method of Owren and Aas (19) and by staphylocoagulase reagent.

Age Factors

Postnatal development of prekallikrein (Fletcher factor) in man.

The aim of the present study was to determine the concentration of plasma prekallikrein in healthy infants during the first year of life. Prekallikrein levels evaluated by a chromogenic substrate assay were low in the first 15 days of life and increased progressively from the third week of life, reaching normal adult values after the third month of life. The low levels of prekallikrein during the neonatal age reflect the impaired ability of liver cells to synthesize proteins.

Adult

[Buprenorphine in the analgesic treatment of patients subjected to bladder mapping].

Experience with 20 patients suffering from prior papillary neoplasia of the bladder, already treated with TUR and then subjected to control vesical mapping exploiting the analgesic effect of a new drug buprenorphine hydrochloride administered i.v. is reported. Changes in cardiorespiratory variables are examined. The data show that buprenorphine offers good pain tolerance; the absence of respiratory depression suggests that it could be used on a larger scale in patients suffering from cardiorespiratory pathology undergoing multiple vesical biopsies.

Aged