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Biomedical subjects

M Terzaghi

Publications and source records attributed to M Terzaghi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Non-convulsive status epilepticus and generalised tonic-clonic seizures persisting in old age in a patient with idiopathic generalised epilepsy: a long-term observation.

Persisting non-convulsive status epilepticus in a man with idiopathic generalised epilepsy is reported. After a first generalised tonic/clonic seizure on awakening one day at the age of 20, the patient experienced rare non-convulsive status epilepticus until the age of 73, when the frequency of the episodes increased, in spite of the initiation of treatment with antiepileptic drugs. No significant cognitive decline was documented when the patient was 83. The existence of such conditions in the context of idiopathic generalised epilepsy shows the problems of syndromic diagnosis and of age dependency of some epileptic phenomena over the course of life with potential bidirectional influences between epileptic manifestations and senile processes.

Aged, 80 and over↗
PubMed2005

Rhythmic movements during sleep: a physiological and pathological profile.

Rhythmic movement disorder (RMD) consists of rhythmic movements (RMs) that occur on falling asleep or during sleep, can involve any part of the body and have a reported frequency ranging from 0.5 to 2 Hz. RMs have been reported to occur in a high proportion of normal children as a self-limiting phenomenon starting and remitting within early infancy. However, there have also been descriptions of forms of RMD occurring against a background of mental retardation or persisting beyond childhood, or having onset in adulthood. So, the occurrence of RMs can be regarded as both a physiological and a pathological phenomenon. The few polysomnographic studies conducted in this field have shown that, in some forms of RMD, RMs are highly linked to arousal fluctuations. However, the mechanisms that underlie the genesis of RMs and are capable of leading to both physiological and pathological patterns of RMs are not fully understood. Here we emphasise the possibility that the central motor pattern generator, recently hypothesised to play a role in the genesis of motor phenomena during sleep in the cases of parasomnia and epileptic seizures, might account for the occurrence of RMs in both physiological and pathological conditions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Intracerebral recordings of minor motor events, paroxysmal arousals and major seizures in nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy.

The clinical features of nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE) consist of a spectrum of paroxysmal motor manifestations ranging from minor motor events (MMEs) to paroxysmal arousals (PAs) and major seizures. During MMEs and PAs scalp EEG generally does not show definite ictal abnormalities. We describe the clinical and electrophysiological features of three patients affected by drug-resistant NFLE studied with intracerebral electrodes during a presurgical evaluation. The stereo-EEG (SEEG) investigation revealed that MMEs can be fragments of the major seizure and occur during a brief epileptic discharge or on the following arousal. PAs, in the same subject, do not show a definite stereotypy despite the morphological and topographic similarity of the epileptic discharges, thus indicating that other variables may influence the clinical features of PAs.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Hypnic headache: PSG evidence of both REM- and NREM-related attacks.

Hypnic headache (HH) occurs exclusively during sleep. Six attacks were recorded during nocturnal polysomnographic (PSG) monitoring of 10 HH patients. The PSG data obtained indicate that the attacks arose directly from sleep: four from non-REM and two from REM sleep. In no patient were the HH attacks found to show any close temporal relationship with sleep-related breathing abnormalities.

Age of Onset↗
PubMed2003

Sleep attacks in Parkinson's disease: a clinical and polysomnographic study.

The objective of the study was to evaluate daytime sleepiness, (the features of episodes of sudden sleep onset), i. e., so-called sleep attacks (SAs), in three male Parkinson's disease (PD) patients (mean age 66 years) on chronic therapy with ropirinole or pramipexole. A structured clinical interview, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and continuous 24-h ambulatory polysomnography were used to assess the features of SAs occurring in the patients in their normal home environments. The polysomnographic patterns characterizing SAs (sleep occurring against a background of wakefulness, and not preceded by a feeling of sleepiness or by other heralding symptoms) were analyzed. The results showed that SAs can be clearly documented through polysomnographic monitoring and really, but rarely, occur in PD. SAs seem to represent the extreme of the continuum of daytime sleepiness observed in PD patients.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Hallucinations and sleep-wake cycle in PD: a 24-hour continuous polysomnographic study.

Twenty-four-hour ambulatory polysomnography was performed in 20 patients with PD who were having visual hallucinations (12 men and 8 women, mean age 70 +/- 6 years). Visual hallucinations were clearly related to daytime NREM sleep or nocturnal REM sleep in 33% of the instances. The data reinforce the hypothesis that neural mechanisms implicated in generating sleep and, in particular, in dream imagery play a role in the occurrence of visual hallucinations in PD.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Heterotopic tracheal transplants: techniques and applications.

Heterotopic tracheal transplants, placed subcutaneously in syngeneic rats have been extensively used in our laboratory. The objective of these experiments was to study the toxic and/or carcinogenic effect of several compounds on the respiratory tract mucosa. This was attained by exposing the transplants to an intraluminal pettet containing the toxicant or carcinogen mixed with an adequate matrix (gelatin, beeswax, stearyl alcohol, silastic, etc.). By varying the concentration of the test chemicals, it is possible to study dose-response relationships, and by changing the pellet matrix, the effects of release rate (dose rate) can be analyzed. Several end points can be studied, such as histological changes in the mucociliary epithelium, changes in mucus secretion, tumor induction and changes in the in vitro behavior of the epithelial cells after in vivo exposure. In addition, by de-epithelializing the tracheal transplants and reseeding them with another cell population, e.g., from previously treated cell cultures or from human specimens and transplanting them subcutaneously in nude mice, completely new vistas on the effect of chemicals can be opened.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Propagation of normal human epithelial cell populations using an in vivo culture system. Description and applications.

A new model using xenotransplanted human epithelia was developed for the study of toxic and carcinogenic effects of chemicals. Epithelial cells from the respiratory tract of 4 male and 3 female premature and fullterm fetuses were enzymatically removed and inoculated into deepithelialized rat tracheas. These were sealed at both ends and transplanted subcutaneously into nude mice. After 3-4 weeks, a normal mucociliary epithelium covered the tracheal lumen. At this stage the epithelial cells could be isolated again and transplanted into new denuded rat tracheas. This passaging could be repeated up to six times, each permitting an amplification factor of approximately 3. Tracheal transplants containing cells of human origin (in vivo Passages 2-4) were treated with 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. Hyperplasias, squamous metaplasias, and dysplasias were seen 1-8 weeks after initiation of treatment, indicating that the responses of human and rodent epithelial cells to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are similar. Initial experiments with skin and esophageal epithelia suggest that other covering epithelia could also be used in this fashion for evaluation of toxicants and carcinogens that are likely to come into contact with these tissues.

9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene↗
PubMed1981

Studies of neoplastic development in respiratory tract epithelium.

The dynamics of neoplastic development in conducting airways were studied in an animal model using morphologic and tissue culture techniques. Evidence for the regression of many metaplastic-dysplastic lesions, including advanced "preneoplastic" lesions, was provided. This regression of lesions is not synonymous with reversion of the neoplastic process. The number of "carcinogen-altered" cells and the number of cells with neoplastic potential continued to increase as a function of time after carcinogen exposure. With the cell culture methods developed for these studies, it is possible to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the progression of the neoplastic process as it takes place in vivo and to detect and enumerate the progenitor cells of later-appearing cancers. The investigations also provide strong evidence suggesting that carcinogen-exposed organs contain many more cells with neoplastic potential. This expression may, however, be sharply enhanced when permissive or promoting conditions prevail. The investigations open up new avenues to develop means for detection of preneoplastic cell populations and for therapeutic intervention during early phases of the neoplastic disease process.

9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene↗
PubMed1981

Epithelial focus assay for early detection of carcinogen-altered cells in various organs of rats exposed in situ to N-nitrosoheptamethyleneimine.

The purpose of these studies was to determine a) whether epithelial cells with altered in vitro growth capacity occur not only after topical application of 7-12-dimethylbenz [a]-anthracene but also after systemic administration of a carcinogenic nitrosamine, and b) whether such cells can be isolated from tissues other than tracheal mucosa. AT 3 and 20 weeks following intragastric administration of 150, 300, or 600 mg N-nitrosohepatamethyleneimine (NHMI)/kg, cells were harvested from tracheas, esophagi, and lungs (target tissues for NHMI) of inbred F344 rats and seeded into culture dishes. Normal cells from nonexposed organs produced no proliferative epithelial foci (EF). Of those tracheas sampled 3 weeks following exposure to 150 and 300 mg/kg 10 and 20%, respectively, contained one or more EF that could be subcultured. Of these tracheas harvested 3 weeks post exposure to 600 mg/kg or 20 weeks post exposure to 150-600 mg/kg, 80-100% contained EF that could be subcultured. Twenty weeks after 600 mg NHMI/kg, the incidence of tracheas harboring cell populations with neoplastic potential (agarose-positive EF) was 80%, whereas the tracheal tumor incidence determined at 24 months was only 29%. Epithelial focus-forming units with various abnormal in vitro growth potentials were also detected in esophagi and lungs of NHMI-exposed rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Differentiation of normal and cultured preneoplastic tracheal epithelial cells in rats: importance of epithelial mesenchymal interactions.

Changes in the dependence on mesenchymal tissues for survival and differentiation in inbred F344 female rats were investigated in tracheal epithelial cells exposed to 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). Fresh suspensions of normal tracheal epithelium or cultured preneoplastic cells were inoculated into isolated organ segments (trachea, esophagus, bladder, or small intestine) or into Dacron containers that were then implanted subdermally into isogenic recipients. At various times after cell inoculation and implantation, tissues were removed for histologic evaluation. Normal cells inoculated into frozen-thawed trachea, esophagus, bladder, and intestine yielded a regular mucociliary epithelium. Normal cell inocula did not, however, survive in tracheae previously heated (100 degrees C), fixed in ethanol, or digested with collagenase; nor did normal cells survive in Dacron containers unless tracheal fibroblasts plus epithelial cells were inoculated together. DMBA- and TPA-exposed cell populations with increased growth capacity in vitro survived and differentiated on all of the above substrates. Our observations were consistent with those of other investigators in that normal cell survival and differentiation depend to some extent on interaction with extracellular material(s) present in various organs. The essential elements were not supplied by subdermal fibroblasts alone. For survival and differentiation in vivo, preneoplastic cells appeared to have less stringent substrate requirements than did normal cells. Application of the described techniques to the study of changes occurring early in the development of neoplastic disease is discussed.

9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene↗
PubMed1978

Morphometric and histological analysis of the lungs of Syrian golden hamsters.

Hamster lung morphometry and histology have been studied in an attempt to determine differences between hamster and human lungs which may have relevance for lung carcinogenesis studies. Morphometric measurements were made on fresh lungs, lung casts, and histological sections. Cell type and frequency measurements were determined from frozen, paraffin, 1 micron plastic (glycol methacrylate) and electron microscopic sections. A standard terminology for hamster lung histology is established, and differences between hamster and human lung morphometry and histology are discussed.

Animals↗