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Biomedical subjects

P Rigato

Publications and source records attributed to P Rigato.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Clinical, histological, and virological features of hepatitis C virus carriers with persistently normal or abnormal alanine transaminase levels.

This study was aimed to evaluate demographic, clinical, histological, and virological characteristics of 46 hepatitis C virus (HCV) carriers with persistently normal alanine transaminase (ALT) levels and to compare the results with those obtained in a group of 52 HCV-RNA-positive patients with elevated ALT levels. Subjects with normal ALT were more often females (P < .001), were more likely to be asymptomatic (P < .001), and have a lower incidence of risk factors for HCV transmission (P < .01). All patients with normal ALT had significant histological liver damage. The mean grading and staging did not differ between patients with normal and those with raised ALT concentrations. Moderate to severe hepatitis was more frequently found among subjects with normal than with elevated ALT. HCV genotype 2a was far more common in subjects with normal (43%) than with abnormal ALT levels (6%; P < .002), genotype 1b being more frequent in these latter (50% vs. 17%; P < .001). Patients with normal ALT levels had similar serum HCV-RNA titers than subjects with raised ALT. Neither HCV genotype distribution nor viral load correlated with the severity of liver damage. We conclude that significant liver disease may occur irrespective of clinical symptoms, ALT levels, HCV genotypes, and viral load.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

PHA and ConA lymphocyte response in normal, hyperplastic and neoplastic human thymus: morphologic and functional correlations.

In the present work the in vitro response to PHA and ConA was determined for thymus lymphocytes from normal, hyperplastic, and neoplastic conditions as well as for peripheral blood lymphocytes from normal control donors. Our investigation has revealed these results: (1) lymphocytes from normal thymus are less responsive to both mitogens than lymphocytes from peripheral blood and abnormal thymus. (2) Lymphocytes from thymic benign lymphoid hyperplasia show an increased response only to PHA regardless of the extent of hyperplasia. (3) Lymphocytes from thymic neoplasia display an increased response to both mitogens regardless of the histologic pattern of the tumor studied. (4) Thymic lymphocytes from patients with myasthenia gravis have a mitogenic response higher than that from thymic lymphocytes from nonmyasthenic subjects. (5) In patients with myasthenia gravis, lymphocytes from neoplastic thymus show a response to PHA higher than that observed for lymphocytes from hyperplastic thymus. It seems clear that two conditions maximally enhance mitogenic response of thymus lymphocytes: thymomas and myasthenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

In vitro formation of eosinophil-like colonies by lymph node cells from a human lymphoma.

In vitro culturing of lymph node cells from a human non-Hodgkin lymphoma gave rise to several colonies of eosinophil-like cells. Eosinophil colonies originated from cells that during the first week of culture had a fibroblast appearance and were adherent to plastic. The tissue culture was sacrificed after 14 days. At that time each colony was formed by 20-50 cells with intracytoplasmic peroxidase-positive and eosinophilic granules. Cells comprising the colonies exhibited different degrees of differentiation. Some of the cells (26.6%) were mature eosinophils, the majority (66.8%) resembled eosinophil myelocytes, and some other (4.6%) had a fibroblast appearance. One or two multinucleated giant cells were often present in the center of most of the colonies. These cells contained up to 10 nuclei, which were arranged in a "ring form" or centrally located; giant cells with a single, central, large, multilobed nucleus were also observed. Cells belonging to other myelopoietic lines could not be identified in the tissue culture. Histological examination of the lymph node revealed extensive presence of eosinophils at various degrees of maturation but absence of other myelopoietic lines.

Cell Nucleus↗