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Biomedical subjects

M Medici

Publications and source records attributed to M Medici.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

A double-blind, long-term study of tizanidine ('Sirdalud') in spasticity due to cerebrovascular lesions.

A double-blind study was carried out in 30 patients suffering from spasticity due to cerebrovascular lesions to compare the long-term efficacy and tolerability of tizanidine hydrochloride with that of baclofen. A 2-week titration phase identified the optimum dose of tizanidine (max. 20 mg/day) or baclofen (max. 50 mg/day) in each patient. Patients were then treated with this dose for a 50-week maintenance phase. Efficacy and tolerability parameters were evaluated first on a monthly and then on a bimonthly basis. Both tizanidine and baclofen caused an improvement in the symptoms associated with spasticity. In end-point analysis, 87% of patients showed an improvement (p less than 0.01) in excessive muscle tone - the major efficacy parameter in this study - in the tizanidine group, while 79% improved (p less than 0.01) in the baclofen group. Side-effects in the tizanidine group were mild and transient and no patients discontinued the study; in the baclofen group, 3 patients discontinued the study due to severe side-effects. However, both drugs were assessed as effective and fairly well tolerated in the long-term. Although there were no statistically significant differences between the two drugs, the global assessment of antispastic efficacy revealed a nearly significant difference (p = 0.057) in favour of tizanidine and the global assessment of tolerability was also in favour of tizanidine.

Adult

Significance of the presence of bovine milk beta-glucuronidase in mastitis detection.

The presence of beta-glucuronidase enzyme in bovine milk was related both to the existence of major and minor pathogens and to somatic cell counts. The detection of this enzyme in whole milk was made possible by the use of p-nitrophenyl-beta-glucuronide as a substrate. This detection allowed us to determine abnormal udder secretions with a high degree of specificity and sensitivity. The particular method of enzyme determination was considered important for mastitis detection because beta-D-glucuronidase, the most significant enzyme in inflammatory processes, is released selectively. The relationship between enzyme, presence of pathogens, and somatic cell counts was established in 220 milk samples obtained at random from individual quarters of apparently healthy udders of cows from four local dairy farms (Santiago del Estero and Tucuman, Argentina). Four of these samples were from cows of recent parturition and two from cows with severe clinical mastitis. Only 17% of the milk samples were normal with somatic cell counts 500,000 cells/ml or less. This ratio is the usual one throughout the area, and the remaining 83% showed higher somatic cell counts. Taking the latter as 100%, the presence of beta-glucuronidase and the positive bacteriological analyses represented 76 and 74%, respectively.

Animals

[Visual and auditory evoked potentials in latent syphilis].

The evoked potentials visual and auditory are studied in 43 patients with latent syphilis without previous mucocutaneous lesions. Twenty nine of them had not received treatment, and 14 due to their positive serology were treated with benzathine penicillin. At the visual potential evoked there were no abnormalities but in 20 cases evoked auditive potential were abnormal. This findings suppose the existence of subclinical neurological indicates the existence of lesions in almost 50% of the cases of this period of syphilis. All these patients had positive circulate immune complexes and normal cerebro-spinal fluid. The neurological alteration consists in a lesion of the cerebral trunk. According to these results the auditory potential evoked test is very important. The authors doubt on the efficacity of the benzathine penicillin in this period of syphilis.

Adult

Cerebral hematomas.

One hundred patients with primary cerebral hemorrhage were studied to evaluate previously established guidelines for surgical treatment. Sixty two patients were not operated upon and 38 were. The mortality in the 100 cases was 51%. It appears that the mortality can be lowered if a careful selection of surgical cases is made.

Aged

[Heterochronia of nerve fibers in man. Diagnostic value: initial results].

A classical physiological observation not usually apparent with methods used for detecting nerve potential in man, heterochronia of the nerve fibres is often found in extraordinary circumstances with considerably higher than normal frequence : mainly in muscular disorders, in particular myotonic dystrophy ; more incidentally in disorders of muscle tone. The authors draw attention to certain sources of error which could lead to wrong diagnosis of heterochronia and emphasize that these are only the initial results of research which needs to be pursued further.

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