Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Cecchi.
A case of suicide by harakiri is described. The position of the subject, the absence of the shirt and the abdominal L-shape cut agreed well with the formal procedure of harakiri. The characteristics of the stab wounds present on the right-hand side of the neck confirmed the assumption of self-infliction and excluded, from a legal point of view, murder by consent.
Acute toxicity of selenium as selenite in Zosterisessor ophiocephalus by ip injection was studied. The 50% lethal dose and 50% lethal time were measured to be 0.29 ppm and 96 h, respectively. Se concentrations in liver, gill, skin and muscle, and Cyt. P450 level, Se-GPx, and Total GPx enzyme activities in liver were also assessed at different doses and times after injection. Starting at 0.3 ppm injected dose, enzyme activities and Se concentration in tissues, but not in muscle, showed significant differences from the control group. A threshold behavior was inferred. Normal conditions of enzyme activities and Se concentration in tissues were restored about 1 wk after injection. Biological elimination half-lives were about 2 d for liver and gill, and 5 d for skin.
1. We have assessed the relative abilities of compounds belonging to the new aryloxypropanolaminotetralin (APAT) class and of the reference beta-adrenoceptor-blocking agent, alprenolol, to antagonize functional responses in vitro and in vivo involving atypical (beta 3) or conventional (beta 1 and beta 2) beta-adrenoceptors. 2. The range of pA2 values for three representative APATs against inhibition of spontaneous motility in the rat isolated colon by the selective beta 3-adrenoceptor agonist, SR 58611A (8.1-8.8), was well above similarly calculated values for non-competitive antagonism of guinea-pig trachea relaxation by salbutamol (beta 2, 6.5-6.9) and the atrial chronotropic response by isoprenaline (beta 1, 6.7-7.3). Alprenolol, however, was substantially more potent in antagonizing atrial (pA2, 8.2) and tracheal (pA2, 8.9) responses than SR 58611A mediated inhibition of colonic motility (pA2, 6.8). 3. Several APAT isomers with different configurations at the chiral carbons, when tested on isolated organs, presented stringent stereochemical requirements for beta 3-selectivity, including high antagonist potency-ratios between active and inactive enantiomers. 4. In vivo, the inhibition of colonic motility and the thermogenic response of brown adipose tissue elicited in rats by the selective beta 3-adrenoceptor agonists SR 58611A and BRL 37344 respectively were substantially diminished by the representative APAT, SR 59230A, at oral doses (< or = 5 mg kg-1) well below those half maximally effective (ID50) for preventing beta 1-(isoprenaline tachycardia > or = 80 mg kg-1) or beta 2-(salbutamol bronchodilatation, 44 mg kg-1) mediated responses. Alprenolol, as expected, was a less potent and nonselective antagonist of the putative beta 3-responses. 5. These findings support APATs as the first potent, orally effective selective antagonists at beta 3-adrenoceptors, and provide final unambiguous evidence that beta 3-adrenoceptors underlie inhibition of colonic motility and brown adipose tissue thermogenesis in rats.
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A nested PCR approach has been developed especially for the detection of small amounts of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA in autopsy samples. Lung tissue and submandibular glands in 118 cases of infant death (92 SIDS cases, 13 natural deaths due to other defined causes and 13 unnatural deaths) were investigated by this technique and compared to the results obtained by other CMV detection methods (histology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and PCR). CMV-DNA could be detected in the lung tissue in 7 cases of SIDS using nested PCR. Compared to conventional PCR (3 positive cases in lung tissue) the nested approach always gave glear results and showed less additional bands. In all cases where CMV could be detected in the lungs, positive results were also obtained in the submandibular glands. The nested PCR method proved to be a more sensitive technique than the other detection methods including PCR and hot start, and even minimal amounts of target DNA could be detected in the presence of human and bacterial background DNA.
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Medical science needs to regulate the transplantation of organs, including the adoption of new guidelines concerning the diagnosis of brain death in patients less than five years old. In fact in the case of anencephalic infants the specific criteria are not the same as those used in subjects with normal physical development. The authors indicate the international medical point of view on what constitutes the diagnosis of brain death in anencephalic infants and discuss medicolegal and ethical aspects.
The authors analyse legislation and regulations concerning doping in force in Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, Greece, Switzerland, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Luxemburg, Sweden, Germany, Austria and Denmark and examine the causes and the definition of doping as well as problems surrounding education and information, the tracing of forbidden substances, the determination of their use, and the controls and the sanctions provided. Prominence is given to those provisions which, according to the authors, have to be adopted from each law or regulation in order to form a homogeneous European regulation.
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A 43-year-old man, affected with alopecia universalis and vitiligo since his childhood, developed erythrodermic pityriasis rubra pilaris followed then by lichen planus; chronic viral hepatitis C was diagnosed. This appears to be a unique constellation of cutaneous diseases implying both autoimmunity and hepatitis C virus.
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Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a heterogeneous disorder clinically characterized by the presence of neurofibromas, multiple café au lait spots, intertriginous freckles and Lisch nodules. We describe an unusual case of NF with cutaneous neurofibromas localized on the anterior chest, in a bilateral dermatomal distribution. No other signs were detected. The family history was negative for NF. The different subsets of NF are briefly discussed, with particular emphasis on the segmental type.
The increase in urinary albumin excretion rate (AER), a hallmark of both diabetic nephropathy and hypertension, has also been described in patients affected with diffuse psoriasis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether such an increase is independent of the coexistence of diabetes or hypertension and whether it may be related to the extension and severity of skin lesions. Median AER, determined by radioimmunoassay, was significantly higher in a group of 32 normotensive nondiabetic psoriatic patients than in 36 age- and sex-matched controls (9.6 vs. 5.3 micrograms/min; p = 0.0006). AER was related with grading of skin involvement (r = 0.65; p = 0.001); patients with the most widespread skin lesions (psoriasis area and severity index: PASI greater than 11) were characterized by a significantly raised median AER (14.9 micrograms/min) compared with those with PASI scores between 4 and 11 (9.8 micrograms/min) or less (5.6 micrograms/min) and controls (F = 10.58; p = 0.0001), independent of other covariates such as age, sex and blood pressure (p = 0.001). This latter finding was confirmed by the prevalence of microalbuminuria (AER greater than 10 micrograms/min) which was present in 2 out of 8 patients with PASI less than 4, 0 out of 12 patients with PASI ranging between 4 and 11 and in 5 out of 12 psoriatics with PASI greater than 11 (p = 0.038 by two-tailed Fisher's exact test).
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A patient, showing features of discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) of the face and of lichen planus (LP) on the arms, is reported. The histopathology showed a typical LP on the dorsum of the hand and a DLE on the face, but direct immunofluorescence in both cases was more suggestive of LP.
The new putative beta-adrenergic agonists SR 58306A, 2-[(7-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphth-2-yl)amino]-1-phenylethanol hydrochloride and SR 58339A, 2-[(7-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphth-2-yl)amino]-1- (3-chlorphenyl) ethanol hydrochloride, were studied in vitro in comparison with reference compounds. SR 58306A and SR 58339A, unlike isoprenaline and the beta2 selective adrenergic agonists salbutamol and ritodrine, potently inhibited rat colon spontaneous contractions (EC50 5.9 and 1.1 x 10(-7) M) without increasing guinea-pig atrium frequency or relaxing guinea-pig trachea. The nonselective beta-adrenergic antagonists alprenolol, pindolol and propranolol competitively antagonized the action of SR 58306A on the colon, which was not prevented by either of the selective antagonists atenolol (beta 1) and ICI 118551 (beta 2). In the same preparation only alprenolol competitively antagonized isoprenaline; antagonism by either pindolol or propranolol was not competitive. These results suggest that in the rat colon isoprenaline interacts with different beta-receptor subclasses, whereas our new gut-specific compounds such as SR 58306A inhibit colonic motility by selectively stimulating atypical beta-adrenoceptors.