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Biomedical subjects

P Mustacchi

Publications and source records attributed to P Mustacchi.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Stress and hypertension.

In susceptible persons emotional stress results in immediate sympathetic stimulation, with a vasomotor response that results in a high-output state and elevated blood pressure; the vasopressor response seems to be transient. There seems to be no longitudinal epidemiologic validation of the attractive hypothesis that transiently elevated blood pressures are the prelude to fixed hypertension, however. The acquisition of hypertension by populations abandoning their traditional mode of living has been attributed to the sociocultural stress inherent in westernization, but these studies usually have not taken into account concomitants of this type of acculturation, such as dietary changes and increased body weight. The inverse relationship of blood pressure levels to education could explain the development of hypertension when aspiration to upward mobility is thwarted. The severity of perceived occupational stress relates inversely to blood pressure, suggesting that familiarity with a job renders the demands made by the work environment more predictable and less threatening in terms of vasopressor response.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Risk factors in stroke.

In the United States, stroke accounts for 160,000 annual deaths; only 16% of the 1.8 million stroke survivors are fully independent. The incidence of stroke increases with age. Hemorrhagic strokes outnumber ischemic strokes before age 15. Japanese men in this country have a lower stroke mortality than their age peers in Japan. Excessive stroke mortality for US nonwhites may not be entirely due to the greater prevalence of hypertension among blacks. Hypertension emerges as the single most powerful and reversible risk factor in stroke and for survival after stroke. Impaired cardiac function is the second most important precursor of stroke. The recurrence of stroke in survivors is high. The frequency of completed stroke is high in persons with transient ischemic attacks, but not in those with asymptomatic carotid bruits. Other reversible risk factors are smoking, the use of oral contraceptives, alcoholic excess, a low level of physical activity, blood hyperviscosity and drug abuse.

Cerebral Hemorrhage↗
PubMed1980

Partial peroxidase deficiency in neutrophils and eosinophils associated with neurologic disease. Histochemical, cytochemical and biochemical studies.

Partial peroxidase deficiency was discovered by means of automated continuous-flow cytochemistry (Hemalog D) in the neutrophils and eosinophils of a patient admitted for evaluation of the gradual onset of intellectual deterioration. Wright's stain and routine benzidine peroxidase reaction on peripheral blood smears showed a normal differential count and peroxidase activity, respectively, but smears stained for peroxidase using 4-chloro-1-naphthol, the reagent used in Hemalog D, showed absence of enzymatic activity in neutrophils and eosinophils. Electron microscopy using the Graham-Karnovsky diamino-benzidine method confirmed these findings, demonstrating a new pattern of peroxidase deficiency in which a decreased number of peroxidase-positive granules were found in all neutrophils and, surprisingly, also in eosinophils. Bio-chemical studies also showed that the apparent deficiency is due to an abnormal proportion of "insoluble" peroxidase. These results and the clinical findings for the patient are consistent with the diagnosis of ceroid lipofuscinosis (Kuf's disease).

Bone Marrow↗
PubMed1977

Thyroid supplementation for hypothyroidism. An latrogenic cause of breast cancer?

In four subpopulations grouped by varying durations of thyroid supplementation (none, one to five years, six to 15 years, and 15 years of more), breast cancer frequency correlated positively with attained age. The cancer experience of persons in the same age-group was relatively stable regardless of how long women took thyroid supplements. The present data support the provisional inference that breast cancer and duration of thyroid therapy are both age-dependent and question the belief that pretreatment with thyroid supplements increases the risk of breast cancer development. Relationship of these two variables can only be determined by prospective studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Racial and occupational variations in cancer of the testis: San Francisco, 1956-65.

During 1956-65, white and nonwhite San Francisco male residents did not have equal risks of developing testicular cancer. The lower risk observed for nonwhites could not be attributed entirely to genetic factors, since among whites a risk gradient seemed to correlate directly with broad socioeconomic indices such as occupation and census tract of residence. Although incidence rates for testicular cancer have progressively increased in the United States and now parallel rates in Danish towns and rural areas, they are still lower than rates observed in Copenhagen, where a "technology" effect has been postulated. In this perspective, the San Francisco findings are compatible with a hypothesis that certain occupational groups may have become epidemiologic indicators of testicular carcinogens in a changing environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Arterial hypertension and the work environment: some considerations affecting its compensability.

Hypertension can be considered work-related and, therefore, compensable when it[occurs] causes cardiac disease in occupational groups for whom cardiac ailments are legislated as being work-incurred and in workers exposed to certain nitrate explosives. In legal circles job related stresses are often invoked as a cause of hypertension and judicial precedent has accepted the medically unproven theory that hypertension develops after an exposure for long hours over a period of several years to the exasperations, frustrations, pressures, strains, and stresses of work. Apportionment of liability between industrial and non-industrial factors is a legal concept with negotiations often open to forensic debate. This could be minimized if epidemiologic information permitting the calculation of attributable risk were available. Also desirable is a better understanding of the possible contributions of common physical hazards e.g., noise and vibration, to sustained hypertension.

Environmental Exposure↗