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Biomedical subjects

M Tronci

Publications and source records attributed to M Tronci.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Mycobacterial testing in hospital laboratories: results from a questionnaire survey in Italy.

Between 1999 and 2001, 355 hospital laboratories in Italy were asked to complete a questionnaire addressing mycobacterial test methods, 1-year workloads and laboratory safety features. Analysis of the data showed that rapid methods for mycobacterial testing were being used by most larger laboratories; however, sub-optimal methods were still in use in small and medium-size laboratories. In a country such as Italy, which has a low prevalence of tuberculosis cases, implementation of rapid technologies, combined with regionalisation of mycobacterial diagnostic services, seems to be the most reasonable and cost-effective strategy.

Bacteriological Techniques↗
PubMed1999

Multicenter evaluation of two commercial amplification kits (Amplicor, Roche and LCx, Abbott) for direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pulmonary and extrapulmonary specimens.

Direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was performed in parallel with the Amplicor M. tuberculosis test (Roche Diagnostic System, USA) and the LCx M. tuberculosis (Abbott Diagnostic Division, USA) on 697 samples, collected from 481 patients, in three different Italian laboratories. Though both systems are licensed only for pulmonary specimens, 113 extrapulmonary specimens (represented mainly by pleural fluids, cerebrospinal fluids and urines) were included in the study. Amplification results were compared with acid-fast microscopy, culture, and identification of isolates. Final clinical diagnosis was used to resolve discrepant results. M. tuberculosis was detected in 105 specimens by both assays, whereas 561 were agreeing negatives; 21 and 6 of the remaining true-positive samples scored positive with LCx only and with Amplicor only, respectively. There were three false-positives with LCx and one false-positive with Amplicor. The diagnostic sensitivity of both methods was significantly better when only respiratory specimens were considered (78% versus 59% in nonrespiratory samples with Amplicor, and 88% versus 65% with LCx). Our data reveal a significantly better sensitivity of the LCx (p = 0.026) and a slight better specificity of the Amplicor assay. It is noteworthy that 16 of the 21 Amplicor-negative specimens in which LCx detected M. tuberculosis were culture negative, thus suggesting that the higher diagnostic sensitivity of the latter assay is attributable to its better analytical sensitivity. However, the majority of such samples originated from patients under antimicrobial treatment, which makes uncertain the clinical significance of such increased sensitivity. Considering true-positive for LCx and true-negative for Amplicor, the 16 culture-negative/LCx-positive/Amplicor-negative specimens resulted true-positives after the resolution of discrepancies, the final overall sensitivity and specificity values of the LCx assay were not significantly different from the ones of the Amplicor assay.

Culture Media↗
PubMed1999

Activity of 16 antimicrobial agents against drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The in vitro activity of 16 antimicrobial agents against 46 drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis recently isolated from Italian patients was determined. As for first-line antituberculosis drugs, while isoniazid was ineffective against all the strains tested, resistance to streptomycin, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol was 80.4%, 71.7%, 39.1%, and 8.7%, respectively. Among second-line antituberculous drugs, resistance to ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and sparfloxacin and to amikacin and kanamycin was around 20%. About 10% of the strains were resistant to capreomycin and cycloserine and 4.3% were resistant to ethionamide; no strain was found to be resistant to thiacetazone, para-aminosalicylic acid, and viomycin. Although all strains displayed a rather continuous distribution of minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), a bimodal distribution was observed for rifampicin, amikacin, and kanamicin, with very high MIC values for resistant strains; relatively low MICs were found for fluoroquinolone-resistant strains. Among the small number of strains resistant to second-line agents, low resistant levels were observed. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed few strain clusters with resistance to first-line antituberculous drugs and aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, or both. Altogether, these results showed that second-line agents were still active against the isoniazid-resistant and multiply first-line resistant strains tested, with none or low resistance levels; these observations can be of importance for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Italy.

Antitubercular Agents↗
PubMed1996

Drug resistance patterns among tuberculosis patients in Rome, 1990-1992.

Prevalence of, and risk factors for, drug-resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were assessed among 407 hospitalized patients with tuberculosis in Rome, Italy, during the period 1990-1992. Resistance to 1 or more drugs was detected in 106 isolates (26%). Resistance to streptomycin was the most common (18.4%), followed by isoniazid (10.3%) and rifampin (7.9%). 23 isolates (5.7%) were resistant to both isoniazid and rifampin. Resistance to at least 1 drug and resistance to both isoniazid and rifampin were significantly more common among recurrent cases (40.7% vs. 22.1%, p < 0.001; and 22.1% vs. 1.2%, p < 0.001). Sex, country of origin and HIV infection were not significantly associated with prevalence of drug resistance. Among recurrent cases, prevalence of resistance to at least 1 drug and of resistance to both isoniazid and rifampin, was higher in subjects who had had a previous episode of tuberculosis later than 1969. In the population studied the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis was high, although the risk of initially becoming infected with a multidrug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis in this area appears to be low. This study suggests the need for enhanced surveillance of drug-resistance of tuberculosis in our country and for implementation of intervention aimed to ensure adequate and complete therapy for patients with tuberculosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

[EDTA-induced pseudothrombocytopenia].

EDTA-induced pseudothrombocytopenia is a laboratory artifact caused in vitro by platelet aggregation, due to IgG or IgM class antibodies reacting with antigenic binding site of the GP IIb glycoprotein. Pseudothrombocytopenia is rarely found (about 1% of platelets counts), but must be considered in the differential diagnosis of thrombocytopenia, since it could lead to useless investigations and therapies. We report three patients with pseudothrombocytopenia, one of whom underwent bone marrow biopsy and danazol treatment, before establishing the correct diagnosis. The absence of hemorrhagic manifestations with persisting low platelets counts led to a re-examination of peripheral blood smear and to the diagnosis of pseudothrombocytopenia. Therefore a morphological platelets evaluation and their count on citrate-anticoagulated blood must be performed in every patient under assessment for thrombocytopenia.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Alterations in thyroid function induced by chronic administration of amiodarone.

Thyroid function alterations induced by amiodarone treatment (200-400 mg/day for 5 days/week) were studied in 50 patients with heart disease (age 34-75 years, mean age 55.5 +/- 11.8) for 25.6 +/- 15.0 months. Statistical analysis was made of the results obtained from the 14 patients who underwent all of the schedule examinations during the same 16-month period. A reduction in T3 was observed after 7 days' treatment; this became statistically significant at 12 and 16 months. FT3 fell significantly only after 7 days; rT3 showed an opposite trend to that of T3 (low T3 syndrome), with significant increases at all observation times. TSH rose at 7 days, then fell gradually to below baseline values after 12 months. No evidence of clinical hyperthyroidism accompanied the significant increases of T4 and FT4 observed at 1, 3, 6, and 16 months; when this complication occurred (in 6% of the cases) it was associated with a rise or lack of reduction in T3 levels. In these cases treatment was withdrawn. Amiodarone was also discontinued in 2 other cases (4%) with elevated thyroid function indices but without clinical symptoms. Seven patients who showed an isolated increase of FT3 were carefully monitored; only in one case did clinical hyperthyroidism develop with a simultaneous rise in the T3 level. A diagnosis of hypothyroidism may be considered only if there is a reduction in T4 levels, since an isolated increase in TSH is not as reliable; treatment had to be suspended for this reason in 2 cases (4%), both without clinical symptoms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early detection of the anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. A non-invasive haemodynamic study.

Anthracyclines are the most frequent cause of iatrogenic congestive heart failure ranging from acute reversible minor, irreversible reduction in the left ventricular ejection fraction and death despite preventive measures. Sensitive methods are needed to detect earliest preclinical cardiotoxicity along with the development of new protective agents. Thirty breast cancer patients were randomly treated with q 21 120 mg/m2 Epirubicin (EPI) x 3, alone (10 patients), or + ICRF-187 (1000 mg/m2) (10 patients) or + C0Q10 (50 mg/day) (10 patients) and monitored by Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEB) cardiography before (T0) and at the end of chemotherapy (T1), then at 1, 3, 6 months of follow up (F1, F2, F3). a) The group treated with EPI alone showed, between F1-F2, a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in Stroke Index (S1). Acceleration Index (ACI) and a significant (p < 0.05) increase in Systemic Vascular Resistance Index (SVRI), while between F2 and F3 it showed a significant (p < 0.05) recovery in S1 and ACI. b) The group treated with EPI + ICRF-187 showed, between F1 and F2 a significant decrease in S1 and ACI (p < 0.05, p < 0.01 respectively) and a significant (p < 0.05) increase in SVRI: between F2-F3 ACI had a significant (p < 0.05) recovery: c) The group treated with EPI +C0Q10 showed no modification in Sl, ACI, and SVRI during the study. The ejection Fraction (EF) remained unchanged during the study in all the groups. C0Q10 seems to prevent early decreases in cardiac performance and contractiling, thus avoiding an SVRI increase, while ICRF-187 did not. Since ICRF-187 acts by binding iron, we deem that the earliest cardiac involvement, may occur before iron overload; therefore the role of ICRF-187 and C0Q10 in acute or chronic heart toxicity was correlated with high-dose anthracycline and needs to be further investigated.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Venous thromboembolism after laparoscopic surgery: two case reports and review of the literature.

Two cases of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in patients who had undergone laparoscopic surgery (cholecystectomy and inguinal hernioplasty in the first and crural hernioplasty in the second) are described. These cases suggest that prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism should also be given to patients who undergo relatively noninvasive surgery such as laparoscopic intervention. The presentation concludes with a review of the last 7 years' literature on this topic.

Aged↗