Biomedical subjects

R Orefice

Publications and source records attributed to R Orefice.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Contrast-enhanced power doppler of the intestinal wall in the evaluation of patients with Crohn disease.

BACKGROUND: Crohn disease (CD) manifests with highly variable signs and symptoms, and assessment of the status of the disease in the single patient can be difficult. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of power colour Doppler ultrasonography, with and without echo-enhancement, in distinguishing active from quiescent CD. METHODS: Resistance Index (RI) of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), bowel thickness of the affected loops and the presence of colour signals at power Doppler analysis prior to and after ultrasonography contrast agent injection (Levovist) were evaluated in 48 patients with CD. RESULTS: In our series, 26/48 patients had active and 22/48 had quiescent CD. A CDAI score > or = 150 and a pathological (> 5 mg/dL) C reactive protein were significantly correlated with active disease (P < 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively). Intestinal wall thickness showed no significant correlation with disease status (7.5 +/- 1.3 mm in active disease versus 6.8 +/- 1.3 mm in quiescent disease; P = 0.11). Vascular signals in the affected loops were revealed in 11/22 patients (50%) with active disease and in 5/26 (20%) with quiescent disease (P = 0.052). After Levovist injection, colour signals were found in 22/22 with active and in 8/26 with quiescent CD (P < 0.001). SMA RI was significantly lower in active CD patients (0.81 +/- 0.01 versus 0.83 +/- 0.02; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that in patients with CD a finding of a SMA RI < or = 0.81, or the presence of a colour signal in the wall of the affected loops, at power Doppler sonography, is indicative of active disease. Utilization of echo-enhancer media can greatly improve the diagnostic sensitivity of intestinal wall power Doppler scan. A finding of intestinal wall thickening is not associated with active disease in our series.

C-Reactive Protein↗

PubMed1998

Retroviral-mediated transfer of the galactocerebrosidase gene in neural progenitor cells.

Globoid cell leukodystrophy (GCL or Krabbe disease) is a recessive disease caused by mutations of the lysosomal enzyme galactocerebrosidase (GALC) and twitcher is the murine model of GCL. We have prepared retroviral packaging cell lines to transduce the GALC gene. Retroviral transduction restored GALC activity in GCL fibroblasts and increased such activity to very high levels in immortalized neural progenitor cells (ST14A cells). GALC activity was also normalized in twitcher fibroblasts co-cultured with ST14A cells over-expressing GALC, demonstrating that this enzyme is secreted and can be imported efficiently by GALC-deficient cells. These results give the necessary background to evaluate the therapeutic effect in twitcher of brain grafting of neural progenitor cells engineered to release high levels of GALC.

3T3 Cells↗

PubMed1991

Maternal thyroid function in early and late pregnancy.

Thyroid function was investigated during and after pregnancy in 12 healthy euthyroid women. During pregnancy, serum total T4 (TT4) levels were significantly elevated and nearly stable, while thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) levels progressively increased till the 7th month. A slight elevation, though not significant, of free T4 (fT4) was recorded in early pregnancy. In the following months, fT4, free T3 (fT3) and the T4/TBG ratio progressively diminished, reaching a plateau at the 7th month. Serum TSH levels, measured by an ultrasensitive immunofluorometric assay, were comparable to postpartum values during the first trimester and showed a moderate upward trend with the progression of pregnancy. The evaluation of 24-hour TSH profiles was performed in 5 women during the first trimester of pregnancy. In all women, the circadian rhythm of TSH was present with a normal nocturnal surge, though anticipated in 1 case. In summary (1) during the first trimester of pregnancy, the increased thyroid activity does not seem to be only sustained by pituitary TSH which remains unmodified; the negative correlation between TSH and hCG levels might suggest that hCG also stimulates the gland to increase thyroid hormone output, and the presence of a normal TSH circadian rhythm indicates that the central mechanism of neuroregulation of the pituitary-thyroid axis is preserved in early pregnancy, and (2) in late pregnancy, a marked decrease in free thyroid hormone fractions is accompanied by serum TSH levels still in the normal range, indicating a modification of thyroid homeostasis which might recognize various etiological factors.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Size heterogeneity of circulating growth hormone in acromegaly. "Big-big" GH forms are associated with inappropriately low IGF-I levels.

UNLABELLED: Circulating GH consists of several molecular size species with different biological activity. A reduced sensitivity of some monoclonal antibodies towards high-molecular weight GH variants has been reported. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the molecular size species of circulating GH using Sephadex G-100 gel filtration chromatography in acromegalic patients and in normal subjects employing both RIA and an immunoradiometric assay for all GH determinations. In 6 normal subjects, studied under GHRH stimulation, little GH was 69.8 +/- 6% (mean +/- SD), big GH (44 kD) 26.4 +/- 6% and big-big GH (greater than 80 kD) 2.8 +/- 4%, in IRMA, with a good correspondence with RIA results (70.8 +/- 8, 27.0 +/- 4, and 3.2 +/- 2%, respectively). In 13 untreated acromegalic patients, studied in basal conditions, the little form constituted 76.2 +/- 7%, the big form 18.3 +/- 4%, which is significantly lower than in normals (p less than 0.05), and the big-big form 5.5 +/- 7%. Similar results were obtained with RIA. A clear elevation of big-big GH (21% for both in IRMA, and 15.7 and 27.8% in RIA) was found in 2 patients with IGF-I levels lower than expected on the basis of mean GH concentrations. The study was extended to an additional acromegalic patient, previously operated and irradiated on, characterized by discrepant serum GH levels in RIA (4.6 micrograms/l), and in IRMA (1.4 micrograms/l), and by normal IGF-I levels. Serum GH showed a lack of parallelism to standard GH in RIA, but not in IRMA. RIA immunoreactivity was almost completely composed (92%) of a high molecular weight GH form (greater than 90 kD), not recognized by IRMA. All IRMA immunoreactivity eluted with a Kav corresponding to 19-50 kD. IN CONCLUSION: a. the three main molecular size isomers of serum GH are similarly recognized by IRMA and RIA methods in normal subjects. b. in acromegaly, both quantitative and qualitative modifications of the GH chromatographic profile may be present. In particular, increased amounts of big-big forms, whether or not recognized by monoclonal antibodies, have been observed. Their lower bioactivity, suggested by the normal or lower than expected IGF-I levels, can account for the discrepancy between serum GH levels and the clinical picture or IGF-I levels sometimes observed in acromegaly.

Acromegaly↗