Biomedical subjects

N Bello

Publications and source records attributed to N Bello.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Laparoscopic pericystectomy for liver hydatid cysts.

BACKGROUND: The laparoscopic approach for managing of liver echinococcosis is a controversial issue because of scarce experience worldwide. The aim of this report is to describe the technical details of our laparoscopic method and present our results. METHODS: Consecutive cases of liver echinococcosis managed by laparoscopic surgery are reported. Thoracic x-ray and abdominal ultrasound had been performed previously. The following aspects were considered as selection criteria: unique cyst located in segments III, IV, V, VI, and VIII; diameter less than 7 cm; and no evidence of infection or calcification. An evacuating puncture was performed, germinative membrane removed, and pericystectomy performed, which extirpated the pericystic structure with the surrounding liver parenchyma. Specimens were removed in a plastic bag through one of the ports. Surgical morbidity, hospital stay, time until return to work, and evidences of hydatid recurrence were measured. RESULTS: Surgery was performed on eight patients (5 women and 3 men) with a mean age of 44.9 years (range, 22-83 years) who had a liver hydatid cyst with a mean diameter of 6.6 cm (range, 5-7 cm). During a mean follow-up period of 30 months (range, 23-44 months), no morbidity or hydatid recurrence were verified. Hospital stay was 2 days in all cases, and return to work was within 15 days. CONCLUSION: This laparoscopic technique, applied with selective criteria, can be a useful alternative for treating patients with liver hydatidosis because its results are comparable with those for open surgery studies involving similar follow-up time.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Vitamin A controls epithelial/mesenchymal interactions through Ret expression.

Mutations or rearrangements in the gene encoding the receptor tyrosine kinase RET result in Hirschsprung disease, cancer and renal malformations. The standard model of renal development involves reciprocal signaling between the ureteric bud epithelium, inducing metanephric mesenchyme to differentiate into nephrons, and metanephric mesenchyme, inducing the ureteric bud to grow and branch. RET and GDNF (a RET ligand) are essential mediators of these epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. Vitamin A deficiency has been associated with widespread embryonic abnormalities, including renal malformations. The vitamin A signal is transduced by nuclear retinoic acid receptors (RARs). We previously showed that two RAR genes, Rara and Rarb2, were colocalized in stromal mesenchyme, a third renal cell type, where their deletion led to altered stromal cell patterning, impaired ureteric bud growth and downregulation of Ret in the ureteric bud. Here we demonstrate that forced expression of Ret in mice deficient for both Rara and Rarb2 (Rara(-/-)Rarb2(-/-)) genetically rescues renal development, restoring ureteric bud growth and stromal cell patterning. Our studies indicate the presence of a new reciprocal signaling loop between the ureteric bud epithelium and the stromal mesenchyme, dependent on Ret and vitamin A. In the first part of the loop, vitamin-A-dependent signals secreted by stromal cells control Ret expression in the ureteric bud. In the second part of the loop, ureteric bud signals dependent on Ret control stromal cell patterning.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Isolation of genomic DNA from feathers.

The use of feathers in veterinary clinical practice simplifies the sampling of avian genomic DNA, especially when blood extraction is difficult because of the age or the size of the bird. A rapid and accurate protocol was used to isolate high-quality genomic DNA from feathers. The technique includes a lysis step of the feather quill, which differs in temperature and time of incubation depending on the feather size. Purification of genomic DNA is performed with phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol extraction and ethanol precipitation. This protocol consistently provided significant amounts of high-quality genomic DNA from more than 800 birds belonging to 120 different species. Genomic DNA isolated with this method was used for Southern blotting and also in several polymerase chain reaction systems devoted to sex determination and paternity testing.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

The identification of a sex-specific DNA marker in the ostrich using a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay.

PCR-based techniques described to date for sex diagnosis in birds are not useful in ratites. We report here the identification of a W-linked marker in the ostrich (Struthio camelus) which allows gender diagnosis in chicks or juvenile birds. DNA from 10 females and 11 males was used to prepare two pools for each sex. Two-hundred different 10-mer primers of arbitrary sequence were used to screen those pools using a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay. One primer (D 10) generated a female-specific band. Sex specificity was confirmed by testing the 21 animals individually. The candidate DNA fragment was cloned and sequenced. Longer primers were designed to optimize a sex-specific PCR which will be useful in diagnosis.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

-Secondary cerebral stress of systemic origin in children with severe craniocerebral injuries-.

OBJECTIVE: To assess incidence of secondary brain insults of systemic origin (SBISOs) such as arterial hypotension, hypoxaemia, hypercarbia, and anaemia in severely head injured children; to assess their impact on mortality and morbidity in the short- and long-term. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, open study covering a 24-month period. PATIENTS: Seventy-one children, under 15 years of age, admitted to a trauma centre for severe brain injury. METHOD: Analysis of SBISOs and outcome. RESULTS: Twenty-five children were admitted with SBISOs. The mortality rate was 37%. After hospitalization, 84% of the children with SBISOs vs 46% without SBISOs had severe disability (Glasgow outcome score = 1, 2 and 3). After 1 year, 20 out of the 45 children still alive were contacted. One of the four with SBISOs communicated a bad recovery. Fifteen children without SBISOs presented good recovery: GOS = 4-5, paediatric overall performance category (POPC scale) = 1-2. CONCLUSION: Hypotension was associated with significant increase in mortality (x 3.6) in children with severe head injury. The consequences were worse when anaemia was associated.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

[Inhaled nitric oxide test for patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: value and feasibility].

Patients suffering from chronic lung disease (CLDP) often develop secondary pulmonary hypertension (HP), which contributes to right ventricular dysfunction and worsens their prognosis. In order to evaluate the severity of this HP, pharmacodynamics tests are periodically proposed to these patients. Therefore, the administration of vasodilators is limited by systemic and pulmonary side-effects. Inhaling nitric oxide gas (NO) has been reported to induce a selective pulmonary vasodilation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of an inhaled NO test perfected in our service. Sixteen CLDP were investigated in the absence of acute pulmonary failure. All had severe pre-capillary HP, confirmed after placement of a thermodilution pulmonary-artery catheter (mean pulmonary artery pressure >20 mmHg, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure >12 mmHg). Each subject breathed spontaneously NO in a concentration of 10 ppm for 15 minutes. They were connected through a facial mask and a one-way valve put on the inspiratory connection of a ventilator (Drager-Evita), to a tank of nitrogen with a NO concentration of 900 ppm. Hemodynamic variables and gas exchange were measured before, during and after gas inhalation. The inspired fractions of NO and NO2 were determined using a Polytron analyser (Drager). The methemoglobin levels were measured with spectrophotometry (OSM3). Inhaled NO acts as a selective pulmonary arterial vasodilator, without systemic effect. The action on the shunt is variable. Methemoglobin levels are remained <0.01%. All the patients were satisfied with the way of NO administration. In view of the lack of systemic effects, its seems that the NO inhaled test proposed in this study may be used accurately to evaluate the HP of chronic lung disease patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

[Lack of sensitivity to per-anesthetic malignant hyperthermia in 32 patients who developed neuroleptic malignant syndrome].

The aim of this study was to verify whether a relationship exists between neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) and anaesthetic-induced malignant hyperthermia (MH) or not. The in vitro halothane-caffeine tests were performed on muscle tissue obtained from 32 patients with documented NMS episodes. The diagnosis of NMS relied on Levenson's criteria. The results, expressed in accordance with the criteria of the European MH Group, defined 29 subjects as MH non-susceptible. Three patients were classified as MH equivocal. These findings demonstrate the lack of any link between NMS and MH. Therefore, patients with a history of NMS are not likely to be at risk of developing MH and special measures against MH are not required for anaesthesia in these patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Fiber-type caffeine sensitivities in skinned muscle fibers from humans susceptible to malignant hyperthermia.

BACKGROUND: The response to contracture tests may depend upon the relative proportion of muscle fiber types within the muscle specimen. To determine whether a difference in fiber-type caffeine sensitivities exists between malignant hyperthermia susceptible (MHS) and malignant hyperthermia-nonsusceptible (MHN) skeletal muscle, we compared the fiber-type caffeine sensitivities in chemically skinned muscle fibers dissected from vastus lateralis muscle from 15 MHS and 16 MHN patients. METHODS: Muscle fiber type was determined in each fiber by the difference in strontium-induced tension measurements and in 36 fibers, after contracture testing, by ATPase enzyme histochemistry. Caffeine sensitivity was defined as the threshold concentration inducing more than 10% of the maximal tension obtained with a calcium 1.6 x 10(-2) mM solution. RESULTS: Significant difference in the mean (+/- SD) caffeine sensitivity was found between type I MHS fibers (2.63 +/- 0.85 mM) versus type II MHS fibers (3.47 +/- 1.2 mM) and between type I MHN fibers (5.89 +/- 1.8 mM) versus type II MHN fibers (10.46 +/- 2.6 mM). The mean (+/- SD) caffeine sensitivities for a given muscle fiber type (I or II) were different between groups of MHS and MHN patients. Both type I and II MHS fibers had significantly lower caffeine sensitivities, and this increase in caffeine sensitivity was significantly smaller in type I than in type II fiber. CONCLUSIONS: The current study indicates that a truly MHS patient cannot have a false-negative result solely related to abnormal type II fibers contained in a given muscle strip. Although the occurrence of a very high proportion of type I fibers in MHN human muscle could result in a false-positive contracture outcome, such an occurrence is expected to be rare.

Caffeine↗

PubMed1992

Surgical correction of severe Peyronie's disease without plaque excision.

We report 7 cases of severe Peyronie's disease treated with a modified surgical technique of the one described in 1989. This second version consists of making only one I-shaped incision on the dorsal face of the penis, in order to relax and create a defect in the tunica albuginea, which is then covered with a patch of human lyophilized dura mater. The plastic and sexual results were identical to the ones described previously, but the operative time was shortened. This type of surgery is indicated to correct severe angulation and shortening of the penis in men with normal sexual lives.

Aged↗