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Biomedical subjects

P Pasini

Publications and source records attributed to P Pasini.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Methylxanthine drug therapy in chronic heart failure associated with hypoxaemia: double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial of doxofylline versus theophylline and bamifylline.

The effects of the methylxanthine drugs doxofylline, theophylline and bamifylline were investigated on the basis of clinical and gasometric parameters in hypoxic patients with chronic heart failure. A parallel, double-blind, randomized study was conducted in 48 in-patients with NYHA II-IV chronic heart failure with normo- or hypercapnic hypoxaemia. They were divided into three groups and then submitted to a 4-day run-in with placebo. Either doxofylline 800 mg b.i.d., theophylline slow-release 400 mg b.i.d. or bamifylline 1200 mg b.i.d. were administered orally in each group of 16 patients for 10 days. Exercise capacity was estimated through NYHA class modification. Gasometric determinations, including arterial oxygen tension (PaO2), carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) and oxygen saturation (SaO2), were measured from arterial blood samples at the time of enrollment (T-4), at the onset of xanthine therapy (T0) and at the end of the trial (T9). After 10 days' treatment, the NYHA class was found to be diminished in 50% of the doxofylline group, 50% of the bamifylline group and 44% of the theophylline group. PaO2 showed a > 15% increase in 75% of the doxofylline group, 56% of the theophylline group and 43% of the bamifylline group (responders). In all three groups the responders presented a highly significant enhancement in PaO2 and SaO2 (p < 0.01 T0 vs T9). Doxofylline exhibited the highest percent increase in PaO2 and SaO2 with respect to T0. The effects on cardiac rhythm showed a progressive heart-rate reduction in the doxofylline group, whereas patients receiving theophylline presented an increase rate of beating. In conclusion, the use of methylxanthines in patients with chronic heart failure seems to be particularly effective especially when a significant ventilatory dysfunction is present. Doxofylline appears to be specially useful because of its ability not to interfere with cardiac rhythm.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

[Unique duodenal metastasis of malignant melanoma: diagnostic-therapeutic observations on a case].

The Authors report a case of solitary metastasis from malignant melanoma (unknown primary site) and analyze the most striking statistical, anatomo-pathologic and diagnostic problems related to this pathology. They also recommend a wider use of those methods which allow an early diagnosis and confirm the validity of those surgical measures in order to limit the most serious complications of this condition. Finally they stress the most recent collateral and/or alternative oncologic therapies available to improve the quality of life and increase patients survival.

Duodenal Neoplasms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Antioxidant properties of bile salt micelles evaluated with different chemiluminescent assays: a possible physiological role.

The antioxidant activity of a representative series of free, glycine- and taurine-conjugated bile acids was evaluated by two different chemiluminescent assays: (a) the enhanced chemiluminescence system based on horseradish peroxidase and luminol/oxidant/enhancer reagent, and (b) the hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase/Fe(2+)-EDTA/luminol system. Bile acids were studied at final concentrations ranging from 1 to 28 mmol/L. All of the bile acids studied inhibited the steady-state chemiluminescent reaction and the extent of inhibition depended upon the structure of the bile acids, whereas the duration was related to bile acid concentration. The mechanism of the light inhibition is probably due to trapping of oxygen free radicals generated in the chemiluminescent reactions, within bile acid micelles. The free radicals trapped into micelles reduced the formation of luminol radicals and consequently the light output; when the micelles were saturated, the oxygen free radicals in solution again produced luminol radicals. The micelle interaction with reactive oxygen species could be a physiological mechanism of defence against the toxicity of those species in the intestinal content. On the other hand, alterations in bile acid organ distribution, concentration and composition leads to a membrane damage caused by their detergent-like properties, which could be associated to oxygen free radical production.

Antioxidants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Role of prostaglandin E2 on defective interferon-gamma production during type B acute viral hepatitis.

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production was evaluated in cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells taken from patients with type B acute viral hepatitis at the onset of symptoms, at 1st and 2nd week of disease, and from healthy controls. Concanavalin A-stimulated cells cultured for 24, 48 and 72h showed significantly higher IFN-gamma levels compared to basal release in both groups, whereas no statistically significant differences were found in most experimental conditions as regard PGE2 synthesis. No differences were found in IFN-gamma production by comparing patients with acute viral hepatitis to the control group, whereas PGE2 was significantly increased during the disease. IFN-gamma and PGE2 levels did not show any significant change in acute viral hepatitis during the follow-up. A statistically significant correlation was found only in control group between IFN-gamma and PGE2 levels in unstimulated cultures. PGE2 seems to play a central role in regulating interferon production during viral infection. This may suggest a new therapeutic approach in viral hepatitis utilizing a combination of interferon and prostanoid inhibitory substances, above all in patients who do not respond to interferon therapy alone.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Bio- and chemiluminescence in bioanalysis.

Analytical chemiluminescence and bioluminescence represent a versatile, ultrasensitive tool with a wide range of applications in diverse fields such as biotechnology, pharmacology, molecular biology, clinical and environmental chemistry. Enzyme activities and enzyme substrates and inhibitors can be efficiently determined when directly involved in luminescent reactions, and also when they take part in a reaction suitable for coupling to a final light-emitting reaction. Chemiluminescence detection has been exploited in the fields of flow-injection analysis and column-liquid chromatographic and capillary-electrophoretic separative systems, due to its high sensitivity when compared with colorimetric detection. It has widely been used as an indicator of reactive oxygen species formation in cells and whole organs, thus allowing the study of a number of pathophysiological conditions related to oxidative stress. Chemiluminescence represents a sensitive and rapid alternative to radioactivity as a detection principle in immunoassays for the determination of a wide range of molecules (hormones, food additives, environmental pollutants) and in filter membrane biospecific reactions (Southern, Northern, Western, dot blot) for the determination of nucleic acids and proteins. Chemiluminescence has also been used for the sensitive and specific localization and quantitation of target analytes in tissue sections and single cells by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques. A relatively recent application regards the use of luminescent reporter genes for the development of bioassays based on genetically engineered microorganisms or mammalian cells able to emit visible light in response to specific inorganic and organic compounds. Finally, the high detectability and rapidity of bio- and chemiluminescent detection make it suitable for the development of microarray-based high throughput screening assays, in which simultaneous, multianalyte detection is performed on multiple samples.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Left ventricular hypertrophy in daily dialysis.

Cardiac hypertrophy, a well-known independent risk factor for cardiovascular death, is a very frequent complication in ESRD patients. Its frequency tends to be even higher in dialyzed patients due to the fact that the current dialytic treatments are unable to keep under a satisfactory control the various responsible factors and particularly the blood pressure, which is largely the most important. Daily hemodialysis, a more frequent schedule consisting of 6-7 sessions/week lasting 2 or more hours, has definitely proved its superiority in controlling blood pressure and in improving anemia, and thus has the requisites for positively influencing cardiac hypertrophy. In fact, a series of studies, both retrospective and prospective, performed during the last years by our group, have confirmed that this new, more frequent and thus more physiological schedule, is able not only to stop the progression of the cardiac hypertrophy in uremic patients but also to revert toward the normality, in a relatively short time. This appears to be essentially a consequence of the excellent blood pressure control, which in turn derives from the easier control of the true dry weight, achievable with this type of dialytic treatment.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Familial occurrence of multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in 5 siblings.

The etiology of monoclonal gammopathies remains unclear but familial occurrence of immunopathies seems to favor a possible hereditary background. In support of this view we report on a family in which five siblings had a monoclonal gammopathy. When MGUS was diagnosed in two of them, a family study was carried out: one sister died from multiple myeloma and four out of the seven living siblings were discovered to have a MGUS. The immunogenetic study (HLA) showed no direct correlation between haplotypes and the presence of the monoclonal protein. Nevertheless possible environmental exposure to viruses, chemicals and radiation was apparently excluded. This new report on familial involvement, the second ever reported for number of affected subjects, strongly supports the theory of genetic predisposition in the development of plasma cell dyscrasias.

Aged↗