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M C Gori

Publications and source records attributed to M C Gori.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Preserved blood pressure and heart rate circadian rhythm in early stage Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the blood pressure (BP) values over the day-night period in 11 noninstitutionalized patients affected by probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) in its early stage. The scientific aim was to detect whether the BP circadian rhythm (CR) was preserved, given the fact that CR disruption was observed in advanced or institutionalized AD patients. METHODS: The BP within-day values were gathered via noninvasive ambulatory monitoring. The BP time series were analyzed according to the chronobiological procedure, called Cosinor method with three harmonic components. RESULTS: The biometric analysis was able to document that BP changes over the 24-h scale in AD patients as a function of a significant CR. Such a preserved circadian regulation is, however, compromised in the second and third harmonic component, suggesting that the BP within-day variability is desynchronized by the environmental clues that act as synchronizers during the diurnal part of the day. CONCLUSIONS: The preservation of the BP CR in the early stage of AD suggests using such a finding as a clinical tool for confirming the recent onset of the disease. As a matter of fact, it is presumed that the disease is not evolved enough to reach the suprachiasmatic nuclei, wherein is located the BP circadian pacemaker. The abolition of the ultradian components is another precocious sign that, in turn, indicates early-stage AD patients to be particularly compromised in their synchronization to diurnal cues, such as social routines, meal timing schedule, psycho-physical activity, and occupational schemes.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Thrombolysis acute ischemic stroke.

Thrombolysis is an attractive but potentially dangerous they for cerebral ischemia: it is capable of dissolving an arterial thrombus, but can also transform a pale infarct into a hematoma and/or may cause severe oedema and herniation. The safety and efficacy of the treatment critically depend on the timing of intervention ad on patient selection. In recent studies on ischemic stroke, spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation of an infarct seems to be related to the size of the lesion, and can be reliably predicted as early as five hours from stroke onset by the presence of focal hypodensity in the CT scan. That is why in the European Co-operative Acute Stroke (ECASS), a randomised, double blind trial on intravenous rt-PA in hemispheric stroke, patients showing, on the admission CT scan, extended early hypodensity, involving more than one third of the territory of the middle cerebral artery, were excluded from the day. Other ongoing trials on thrombolytic agents are expected to provide further indications on how to identify those patients most likely to benefit and least likely to experience adverse effects from this treatment.

Brain↗
PubMed1995

Prediction of long-term outcome in the early hours following acute ischemic stroke. Italian Acute Stroke Study Group.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a model for predicting outcome in the first few hours after the onset of an ischemic stroke on the basis of the clinical findings obtained during a rapid bedside examination. DESIGN: Clinical records were retrieved from the data bank of a randomized multicenter trial. The resulting case series was split into two subgroups that served as a "training set" and a "test set." Logistic regression was applied to the training set to select the prognostic predictors among baseline clinical findings. The performances of the model based on independent prognostic predictors were then validated in the test set. SETTING: Eleven primary care institutions (either hospitals or university clinics) participating in the Italian Acute Stroke Study on the efficacy of hemodilution and monosialoganglioside in acute ischemic stroke. PATIENTS: Consecutive noncomatose patients (N = 300) observed within the first 6 hours after the onset of a first supratentorial ischemic stroke. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Death or disablement 4 months after the index stroke. Disablement was defined as a score of 3 or higher on the Rankin Scale. RESULTS: Age and CNS score defined six risk groups with a predicted 4-month poor outcome rate ranging from 10% (patients aged 70 years or younger and with an initial CNS score of 7 or higher) to 89% (patients older than 70 years and with a CNS score of 4.5 or lower). When a risk of poor outcome of 60% was taken as a cutoff, the accuracy of the prediction was 78% +/- 6% in the training set and 72% +/- 9% in the test set. CONCLUSION: Long-term outcome can be predicted in the first few hours following an acute ischemic stroke by means of a simple model based on age and CNS score.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1989

Enzyme polymorphism and clinical variability of diseases: a study of diabetes mellitus.

We investigated possible relations among four common neonatal manifestations of diabetic pregnancy (macrosomia, hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia, jaundice) and four enzyme polymorphisms (PGM1, ADA, AK1, ACP1 in a sample of infants born of diabetic mothers. The pattern of associations observed between the two sets of variables is consistent with known differences in enzymatic activity within phenotypes of each system, suggesting that low enzymatic activity may have unfavorable effects on fetal development and on adaptability of the neonate to the extrauterine environment, Some of the polymorphic enzymes studied influence fetal growth in normal pregnancy as well. Analysis of relations between genetic polymorphisms and the clinical pattern of common diseases may provide a better understanding of the genetic basis of the clinical variability of diseases within and between human populations.

Diabetes Mellitus↗
PubMed1987

Foetal macrosomia in diabetic pregnancy. Further data on the association with maternal PGM1 genotype.

The pattern of associations between maternal phosphoglucomutase locus 1 (PGM1) and foetal macrosomia in diabetic pregnancy has been compared with that observed in normal pregnancy. In diabetic pregnancy a substantial increase of macrosomic infants, as compared to normal pregnancy, is observed only among women homozygous for PGM1(1) allele. Also neonatal hypoglycemia is much more frequent in newborns from PGM1(-1) mothers than in newborns from other mothers. Since enzymatic activity of PGM1(-1) phenotype is lower as compared to other PGM1 phenotypes, this may influence glycaemic level and/or its stability in diabetic pregnant women with unfavourable effects on the metabolic and developmental patterns of the foetus.

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Foetal macrosomia and erythrocyte acid phosphatase (ACP1) polymorphism in diabetic and normal pregnancy.

Both in diabetic and in normal pregnancy the proportion of macrosomic fetuses is much lower among newborns carrying Pc allele of erythrocyte acid phosphatase (ACP1) than among other ACP1 genotypes. In diabetic pregnancy the well known increased incidence of fetal macrosomia has been observed only among fetuses which do not carry this allele. ACP1 probably functions as a flavin-mononucleotide phosphatase. Since Pc allele is associated with the highest enzymatic activity it is likely that subjects carrying this gene may have a relatively lower concentration of flavin-mononucleotide cofactors and in turn a reduced rate of metabolic activities controlled by flavoenzymes. It is possible that in fetuses carrying Pc, flavo-enzyme activities are regulated at a level that does not allow a full response to stimuli (both genetic and/or environmental) aimed to maximize fetal growth.

Acid Phosphatase↗