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Biomedical subjects

M Maldini

Publications and source records attributed to M Maldini.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

A foodborne outbreak of gastroenteritis involving Listeria monocytogenes.

An outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in Italy among 39 persons who had attended a private supper. All guests were previously healthy, young, non-pregnant adults; 18 (46%) had symptoms, mostly gastrointestinal (78%), with a short incubation period. Four were hospitalized with acute febrile gastroenteritis, two of whom had blood cultures positive for Listeria monocytogenes. No other microorganisms were recovered from the hospitalized patients' specimens. Epidemiological investigation identified rice salad as the most likely vehicle of the food-borne outbreak. L. monocytogenes was isolated from three leftover foods, the kitchen freezer and blender. Isolates from the patients, the foods and the freezer were indistinguishable: serotype 1/2b, same phage type and multilocus enzyme electrophoretic type. Eight (36%) of 22 guests tested were found to have antibodies against L. monocytogenes, compared with none of 11 controls from the general population. This point source outbreak was probably caused by infection with L. monocytogenes. Unusual features included the high attack rate among immunocompetent adults and the predominance of gastrointestinal symptoms.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Circulating lymphocyte subsets in human acute pancreatitis.

We investigated peripheral lymphocyte subsets in 34 consecutive acute pancreatitis patients (21 males, 13 females; mean age, 57 years; range, 16-85 years) studied within 48 h of pain onset and for 5 consecutive days to understand better the immunological response during the course of the disease. The diagnosis was based on characteristic abdominal pain associated with a twofold increase in serum lipase and confirmed by imaging techniques in all patients. Acute pancreatitis was of biliary origin in 25 patients, due to alcohol abuse in 5, due to pancreas divisum in 1, and of unknown origin in 3. Fifteen patients had severe illness and 19 had mild disease. In all patients, total lymphocyte and lymphocyte subset counts were carried out on admission, as well as on the third and fifth day of hospitalization, using a flow cytometric analysis. Twenty-three patients (13 with severe illness and 10 with mild disease) also had a repeat count 1 month after recovery. Twenty-five healthy subjects and 27 patients with nonpancreatic acute abdomen comparable for sex and age were studied as controls. On the first day of the study, the leukocyte number was significantly higher in patients with acute pancreatitis and in those with nonpancreatic acute abdomen with respect to healthy subjects, whereas the number of total and CD4+, CD8+, CD3+ DR-, and CD3- DR+ lymphocytes was significantly lower in acute pancreatitis patients than in healthy subjects or in patients with nonpancreatic acute abdomen. These subject counts persisted on the third and fifth days of the study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1994

Behavior of serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor, soluble CD8 and soluble CD4 in the early phases of acute pancreatitis.

When activated, lymphocytes secrete glycoproteins related to particular surface proteins, including soluble forms of the interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and of the surface proteins CD4 (sCD4) and CD8 (sCD8). We evaluated the release of these glycoproteins in order to assess the activation of the cellular immune system during the course of acute pancreatitis. Thirty-five patients with acute pancreatitis (22 M, 13 F, mean age 64 years, range 16-97) were studied. The diagnosis was based on typical abdominal pain associated with a twofold increase of serum lipase as well as morphological abnormalities compatible with acute pancreatitis seen at computed tomography and/or ultrasonography. The pancreatitis was of biliary origin in 22 patients, due to alcohol abuse in 8, due to pancreas divisum in 1, due to type IV hyperlipoproteinemia in 1 and of unknown origin in 3. Based on clinical outcome, 22 patients had mild pancreatitis, whereas 13 had severe disease. In all patients serum sIL-2R, sCD4 and sCD8 were determined on admission and daily for the following 5 days using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) techniques. Serum concentrations of sIL-2R and sCD8 were significantly higher in acute pancreatitis patients relative to healthy controls during the entire observation period, whereas sCD4 levels were significantly lower in acute pancreatitis patients than in the control group from the 2nd to the 6th day of observation. Serum sIL-2R concentrations were significantly higher in patients with severe pancreatitis than in those with the mild form of the disease, whereas no differences in serum concentrations of sCD8 and sCD4 were found between patients with mild pancreatitis and those with severe disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1990

Urinary red blood cell volume analysis in the investigation of haematuria.

The mean cellular volume (MCV) of urinary red blood cells was measured with an autoanalyser in 85 patients with definite causes of haematuria (31 had glomerulonephritis, 54 urological disorders). We found that red blood cells of glomerular origin had a smaller volume than non-glomerular cells (59.4 +/- 10.23 vs 87.35 +/- 11.17 fl; P less than 0.001). If an MCV equal to 70 fl was taken as the cut-off value between glomerular and non-glomerular haematuria, a correct assessment of the site of bleeding was made in 78 (91.7%) of the 85 patients studied. 'Microcytic' haematuria (i.e., MCV less than 70 fl) was present in 34 patients and correlated strongly with the diagnosis of glomerulonephritis (five false positives, specificity 90.7%; two false negatives, sensitivity 93.5%). Conversely, the presence of larger red blood cells in the urine coincided with the diagnosis of urological disorders in 96.1% (49/51) of the cases.

Diagnostic Errors↗
PubMed1989

The source of Campylobacter pylori.

Sera from 98 abattoir workers were tested for IgG as well as for IgA to Campylobacter pylori, C. jejuni and Klebsiella. Clerical workers had significantly lower C. pylori and C. jejuni antibody levels than any of the groups in direct contact with freshly cut animal parts. No difference was found for antibodies to Klebsiella. Twenty-nine non-clerical workers with high IgG antibody levels against C. pylori consented to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. C. pylori associated gastritis was found in all 29, and 4 weeks of colloidal bismuth subcitrate (240 mg/twice daily) was prescribed. On repeat testing at 3 months, all showed a decrease in IgG antibody levels to C. pylori but not to C. jejuni, whereas 18 untreated non-endoscoped workers showed no change. These findings raise the possibility that C. pylori infection is a zoonosis.

Abattoirs↗
PubMed1989

[Thymopentin in the treatment of recurrent condylomata acuminata].

Twelve patients who had been suffering from genital and/or perianal recurrent condyloma acuminatum for a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 24 months, in spite of treatment, were studied from the immunological viewpoint and treated with 50 mg s.c. Thymopentin three times a week for 4 or 6 weeks. Six of the patients were cured at the end of treatment, five after 5 months, and one was not cured. Analysis of the clinico-laboratory data shows a significant agreement between the course of clinical signs and the immunological picture. The various cure stages are probably attributable to the basic immune arrangement which was more impaired in the 5 patients who were cured more slowly and in the non-cured case. In the latter too, however, Thymopentin permitted correcting the balance of the relationship between the various lymphocyte subpopulations.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed1981

Interference of glucosamine and other aminosugars on blast transformation.

The effect of exogenous glucosamine and other aminosugars on the incorporation of 3H-leucine 3H-uridine and 3H-thymidine into mitogen induced lymphocytes was studied. D-glucosamine D-galactosamine and D-mannosamine inhibit the incorporation of these precursors into protein. RNA and DNA of blast cells. Glucose and pyruvate did not reverse this inhibition. Glucosamine - 6P, acetylglucosamine and acetylglucosamine and have shown a considerably lower inhibition in the uptake of these labeled precursors.

Glucosamine↗