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Biomedical subjects

M Testa

Publications and source records attributed to M Testa.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

[Choledocholithotomy and papillosphincterotomy in surgery of the bile ducts].

The Authors argue about the different surgical choices feasible in case of CBD stones. They consider a case-record of 74 patients that underwent, from January 1988 to June 1990, choledocholithotomy or transduodenal sphincterotomy for non-neoplastic pathology of the CBD in the I Divisione di Chirurgia Generale OO.RR. Bergamo. Analysis of the data shows a significant pre-operative alteration of the gamma-GT plasmatic levels. That represent a risk-index useful to suspect a silent CBD lithiasis. The good results attained with the choledocholithotomy and with the transduodenal sphincterotomy show the efficacy of both methods, that keep up different indications. The Authors point out the efficacy of the antibiotic prophylaxis in the prevention of the operative infections.

Common Bile Duct↗
PubMed1992

The moderating impact of social support following childhood sexual abuse.

The role of social support in moderating the impact of childhood sexual abuse on adult psychological adjustment was examined. Subjects included 475 women, age 18-45, some of whom were currently receiving treatment, others who were not. Women in the treatment group were receiving therapy for either alcoholism, for being battered, or for mental health problems. The comparison group was drawn from two sources: a random household sample and a sample of women attending drinking driver classes. Among both groups, women who had been sexually abused exhibited more psychological symptoms and lower self-esteem compared to those who were not abused. Latency of disclosure of childhood sexual abuse had no impact on long-term consequences of the abuse for either the treatment or the comparison group. However, among women in the comparison group, those who experienced supportive reactions following disclosure of sexual abuse had fewer psychological symptoms and somewhat higher self-esteem relative to those who did not receive support. Social support had no apparent effect on the long-term adjustment of women in the treatment group. Possible explanations for this pattern and directions for future research are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

[Transcutaneous oximetry in symptomatic diabetics].

In a group of 33 patients affected by diabetes mellitus transcutaneous oxygen tension (PtcO2) was measured by means of a Clark polarographic electrode. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the symptoms and/or to the clinical findings: group A: paresthesia (22 limbs); group B: claudication (6 limbs); group C: rest pain and/or necrosis (13 limbs). Moreover, group C was divided into: C1 trophic neuropathy lesion (7 limbs) and C2 trophic ischemic lesion (6 limbs). Our data point out that there is a statistically significant difference between mean PtcO2 values in limbs with trophic ischemic lesions versus the other 3 groups. Therefore, PtcO2 is particularly indicated and useful in the study of diabetic patients with peripheral vascular disease where integrates the other instrumental noninvasive techniques.

Arterial Occlusive Diseases↗
PubMed1991

Abuse potential and pharmacological comparison of tramadol and morphine.

The purpose of the study was to assess the abuse potential of the opioid analgesic tramadol. Tramadol (75, 150 and 300 mg), morphine (15 and 30 mg) and placebo were tested intramuscularly in volunteer non-dependent opiate abusers. Subjective, behavioral and miotic changes were assessed prior to dosing and intermittently for 12 h after drug administration. Morphine produced typical subjective effects, opiate identifications and miosis. Tramadol 75 and 150 mg were not different from placebo. Although tramadol 300 mg was identified as an opiate, it produced no other morphine-like effects. These findings suggest that tramadol has a low abuse potential by the parenteral route.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Anomalous coronary arteries: a report of 2 cases of single coronary artery.

One patient with chronic exertional angina, not significant electrocardiographic signs of myocardial ischemia at exercise stress test and recent onset of angina at rest underwent coronary arteriography. A second one with known severe aortic stenosis underwent cardiac catheterization and coronary arteriography because of effort chest pain and syncope. A single coronary artery originating respectively from the right and from the left sinus of Valsalva but without significant coronary stenosis was detected in both patients. This entity is a quite uncommon finding of relevant interest if surgical treatment is required and good prognosis if not associated with additional cardiac anomalies.

Cardiac Catheterization↗
PubMed1990

Perceived social support, self-efficacy, and adjustment to abortion.

Prior to their having a 1st trimester abortion, women's perceptions of social support from their partner, family, and friends and self-efficacy for coping were assessed. Depression, mood, physical complaints, and anticipation of negative consequences were measured after the 30-min recovery period. As predicted, perceived social support enhanced adjustment indirectly through its effects on self-efficacy. Women who perceived high support from their family, friends, and partners had higher self-efficacy for coping. Higher self-efficacy, in turn, predicted better adjustment on the psychological measures but not on the physical complaint measure. No direct path between social support and adjustment was observed. In addition, women who told close others of their abortion but perceived them as less than completely supportive had poorer postabortion psychological adjustment than either women who did not tell or women who told and perceived complete support.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1990

Efficacy, safety, and quality-of-life assessment of captopril antihypertensive therapy in clinical practice.

Successful long-term treatment of hypertension must include consideration of individual patients' life-style interfaced with the potential for adverse drug events. In a postmarketing surveillance study, 30,515 patients received captopril monotherapy and were evaluated by 7792 physicians. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were reduced 17 and 11 mm Hg, respectively. Mean diastolic blood pressure was reduced 10% for patients with mild hypertension; larger mean reductions were noted for patients with moderate (16.5%) and severe (21.5%) hypertension. Captopril therapy was equally effective in all races (white, Hispanic, and black patients), age groups, and in isolated instances of systolic hypertension. Only 4.9% of patients reporting an adverse event required discontinuation of therapy. Headache (1.8%) and dizziness (1.6%) were the most frequently reported adverse events. Quality-of-life measures improved.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Topical benzyl alcohol reduces cataract surgery need: two long-term double blind studies.

Substances derived from biotransformation of non-steroid antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) produced by patients responsive to the biological liquid oxidant activity (BLOA) test, have been shown to have anticataract activity. They are all aromatic alcohols with physico-chemical properties similar to benzyl alcohols (BA); they were very efficacious in preventing in vitro (cyanate, heat) cataracts and in vivo (uveitis, radiation, selenite) cataracts but had no effect on sugar cataracts. The mechanism underlying this effect seems to be mainly antioxidant together with a stabilizing effect on lens membrane integrity and a stimulating effect on Na-K ATPase and membrane sodium pump. The well balanced lipo- and hydro-solubility of these compounds makes them very suitable for topical application to the eye as lipid solubility is the major factor governing transcorneal penetration of drugs. In the two long-term double blind studies on humans described here, comparing BA, placebo and Catalin in the topical treatment of progressive cataract rapid (2-3 weeks treatment) reversal of incipient cataract was obtained accompanied by a marked improvement of vision and by a significantly lower percentage of eyes requiring surgery after 22 months treatment with BA than with placebo and Catalin. In conclusion, further studies on the effect on the eye of BA and similar compounds such as phenyl-ethanol are advisable especially because they are already used as preservatives in eye-drop formulations.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1986

Bendazac and benzydamine for treatment of cataract: individualized therapy by the "BLOA test".

It was found that two chemically very close Non-Steroid Antiinflammatory Drugs (NSAID), bendazac and benzydamine, were able to reduce the Biological Liquid Oxidant Activity (BLOA) in vitro (bendezac) and in vivo (bendazac and benzydamine). Four hundred and seven patients were treated with bendazac and 599 with benzydamine. After a single dose oral administration they effected a BLOA Reducing Activity (BRA) ranging from 5% to over 20% in about 40% of cataractous patients. When these drugs were able to reduce the BLOA, they showed anticataract activity in about 50% and about 90% of patients according to the extent of BRA, i.e., less than 20% and greater than or equal to 20% of the basal value. This fact suggests that the anticataract agent is not the original NSAID (prodrug) but a NSAID metabolite or an elicited endogenous compound which produced the BLOA reduction. Individual BLOA could be reduced in vivo by benzydamine or bendazac, by both or by neither of them. This finding may be accounted for by selective biotransformation of each patient's original NSAID into the antioxidant anticataract compound. However, other possible mechanisms of the anticataract activity beside antioxidant activity might take place, such as protein and membrane stabilization, together with a not yet defined activation of enzymes within the lens effecting the reversal of cataractous opacity. Several side effects were apparent in short and long term treatments. The final conclusion of our study is that bendazac at a dosage ten-fold lower than that used in the clinics is anticataract drug when orally administered to "BLOA test selected" patients, at least for short term treatment of young, otherwise healthy humans with cortical cataract.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Monoclonal antibody DF3 correlates with tumor differentiation and hormone receptor status in breast cancer patients.

The murine monoclonal antibody (MAb) designated DF3, reacts with a 300-kd human mammary epithelial antigen which is expressed on apical borders of secretory mammary epithelial cells and in the cytosol of less differentiated malignant cells. Human mammary tumors have been evaluated for the level of DF3 antigen as a correlate to clinicopathologic parameters related to degree of tumor differentiation: nuclear grade (NG), histologic grade (HG), and estrogen receptor status (ER). More DF3 antigen was present in breast carcinomas with NG 1 and 2 as compared to tumors with NG 3 (p = .002). Similarly DF3 antigen presence was greater in HG 1 and 2 tumors than in HG 3 (p less than .001). The results also demonstrate that quantitative differences in the presence of the DF3 differentiation antigen correlate with estrogen receptor status. Twenty-two of 23 ER positive tumors were also DF3 positive. Only 6 of 23 ER negative tumors were reactive to MAb DF3 (p less than .001). There was, however, no correlation between DF3 reactivity and absolute levels of estrogen or progesterone receptor. These findings confirm our hypothesis that MAb DF3 reacts to a differentiation antigen present in some human breast carcinomas. The DF3 antigen phenotype can serve as an independent phenotypic marker with correlations to standard indicators of degree of differentiation and estrogen receptor status of infiltrating ductal carcinomas of the breast, and should thus be evaluated as a prognostic indicator in breast cancer patients. The data also suggests that DF3 histochemistry may be a useful alternative in assessing estrogen receptor status of small breast cancers where there is an insufficient amount of tumor present for biochemical assay of hormone receptor levels.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1985

Conference on insulin pump therapy in diabetes. Multicenter study of effect on microvascular disease. Assessment of fluorescein angiograms.

Quantitation of the earliest changes in abnormal retinal morphology using fluorescein angiography is potentially superior to retinal photography. However, the critical importance of flawless technique, limitations in the size of the field available for detailed study, and observer variability constitute major disadvantages. A protocol describing standards of photography and of injection was developed. Methodology for counting microaneurysms (Ma) was developed at a central laboratory and applied in suitable photographs obtained at 0 (baseline), 4, and 8 mo in 68 patients. Counts of "definite" or "possible" Ma were made on films projected under standard conditions by two observers known to achieve consistently reproducible results. Semiquantitative assessment of diffusibility of fluorescein reflecting capillary leakage was performed in 61 patients. Leakage was graded according to three degrees of severity permitting study of observer variation, concordance of change in pairs of eyes, and treatment effects. The average number of Ma at baseline was slightly higher in the continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) group than in the conventional insulin treatment (CIT) group, but the difference was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. At both 4 and 8 mo, definite Ma were more prevalent in the CSII group, and the difference was statistically significant at the 0.05 level using both parametric and nonparametric tests. In 27 CSII and 23 CIT patients having complete sets of 0, 4, and 8-mo photographs, Ma counts increased during the 0-4-mo interval. During the 4-8 mo interval, a further increase occurred in the CSII group but contrasted with a decrement observed in the CIT group, which showed no net change from baseline.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aneurysm↗
PubMed1985

[Hemorrhagic erosive gastritis. Therapeutic options].

There were analyzed 68 cases of erosional hemorrhagic gastritis and there incidence on sex and age and it was proofed that the most frequent etiologic causes are alcohol and acetyl salicylic acid. The employed diagnostical methods were evaluated, as well as radiology and endoscopy, which have shown the value of there precocity within the first 24 hours. The medical treatment was analysed in 90% of the cases with good results. The applied surgical treatment was checked about its morbidness an mortality, thus demonstrating the poor results of conservative surgery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

[The peripheral component during dynamic muscular exertion: study of a group of basketball players].

The peripheral factor (PF), i.e. the ratio: artero-venous oxygen extraction to total peripheral resistences, has been studied in a total of 8 professional basket players under controlled work-load conditions. The results obtained by continuous monitoring heart rate, oxygen consumption, pulmonary ventilation, arterial blood pressure etc, have shown that from 0 to 150 watt work-load, the PF increases linearly showing a slope of 83 degrees, whereas from 150 to 200 watt the pendence reduces up to 45 degrees. The absolute value of PF from a resting value of 3.83 mlo2 X min-1 X mmHg-1 increases up to 21,64 (at 150 watt) and to a maximum of 23.45 mlo2 X min-1 X mmHg-1 at 200 watt. The slope of the first range of load (83 degrees) is quite similar to what previously observed in endurance athletes (cyclists) whereas the 45 degrees angular coefficient indicates that the increased energy demand in basket-players can be obtained only with a large cardiac load.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1984

Quality-specific taste changes in multiple sclerosis.

Taste sensitivity in 79 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 65 age- and sex-matched control subjects was measured with a sip-and-spit, suprathreshold scaling, magnitude estimation procedure using six concentrations each of sodium chloride, sucrose, citric acid, and quinine hydrochloride. Results were analyzed with a taste scoring system and by plotting psychophysical functions (log concentration versus log magnitude estimate) normalized to 1.0 M sucrose. Gender did not affect taste scores, but age was inversely related, so the results were analyzed by an analysis of covariance with age as the covariant. There was a significant alteration in taste sensitivity in the subjects with MS for sodium chloride and quinine hydrochloride stimuli but not for sucrose and citric acid; these results were confirmed by a separate analysis of the psychophysical functions. Some of the MS taste scores correlated with MS functional and physical disability scores. Taste sensitivity was not correlated with clinical history or presence of facial symptoms.

Humans↗