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S Battaglia

Publications and source records attributed to S Battaglia.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Effect of the direct nitric oxide donors linsidomine and molsidomine on angiographic restenosis after coronary balloon angioplasty. The ACCORD Study. Angioplastic Coronaire Corvasal Diltiazem.

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide (NO) donors, in addition to their vasodilator effect, decrease platelet aggregation and inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. These actions could have beneficial effects on restenosis after coronary balloon angioplasty. METHODS AND RESULTS: In a prospective multicenter, randomized trial, 700 stable coronary patients scheduled for angioplasty received direct NO donors (infusion of linsidomine followed by oral molsidomine) or oral diltiazem. Treatment was started before angioplasty and continued until 12 to 24 hours before follow-up angiography at 6 months. The primary study end point was minimal lumen diameter, assessed by quantitative coronary angiography, 6 months after balloon angioplasty. Clinical variables were well matched in both groups. However, despite intracoronary administration of isosorbide dinitrate, the reference diameter in the NO donor group was significantly greater than in the diltiazem group on the preangioplasty, postangioplasty, and follow-up angiograms. Pretreatment with an NO donor was associated with a modest improvement in the immediate angiographic result compared with pretreatment with diltiazem (minimum luminal diameter, 1.94 versus 1.81 mm; P = .001); this improvement was maintained at the 6-month angiographic follow-up (minimal lumen diameter, 1.54 versus 1.38 mm; P = .007). The extent of late luminal narrowing did not differ significantly between groups (loss index in the NO donor and diltiazam groups, 0.35 +/- 0.78 and 0.46 +/- 0.74, respectively; P = .103). Restenosis, defined as a binary variable (> or = 50% stenosis), occurred less often in the NO donor group (38.0% versus 46.5%; P = .026). Combined major clinical events (death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and coronary revascularization) were similar in the two groups (32.2% versus 32.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with linsidomine and molsidomine was associated with a modest improvement in the long-term angiographic result after angioplasty but had no effect on clinical outcome. The improved angiographic result related predominantly to a better immediate procedural result, because late luminal loss did not differ significantly between groups.

Aged

Genetic polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system and angiographic extent and severity of coronary artery disease: the CORGENE study.

Genetic polymorphisms of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) have been associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) but no relation between these polymorphisms and coronary atherosclerosis has yet been systematically evaluated. The CORGENE study is a cross-sectional study involving 463 Caucasians who underwent standardized coronary angiography for established or suspected CAD [156 patients with a previous myocardial infarction (MI), 307 without MI]. Four angiographic scores assessing the extent and severity of the coronary lesions were obtained from a double visual analysis of each angiogram, arbitration being achieved by a quantitative measurement. Three different genotypes were analyzed: the angiotensin I-converting enzyme insertion/deletion (ACE I/D) polymorphism, the Met to Thr change at position 235 of the angiotensinogen gene (AGT M235T) and the A to C transition at position 1166 of the angiotensin II type-1 receptor gene (AT1R A1166C). No significant association was observed between these polymorphisms and the clinical characteristics of MI and non-MI subjects. While most classical risk factors were positively correlated with the angiographic scores, no significant relationship could be established with the three genotypes (r ranging from -0.08 to 0.05). Only one significant correlation was observed: between the presence of the AGT 235T allele and the extent of the coronary lesions (r = -0.19, P = 0.04) in patients with low-risk status. These overall results are not in favor of a role of these RAS genetic polymorphisms in the development of coronary atherosclerosis.

Angiotensinogen

Age-related distribution of endocrine cells in the human prostate: a quantitative study.

A morphometric analysis was performed to obtain quantitative data on age-related changes in prostatic endocrine cell (PrEC) density. Sixty prostates from subjects aged 14-74 years were studied with a semi-automatic image analysis system (ASM 68K, Leitz) applied to sections immunostained for chromogranin A-reactive cells. The highest density of PrECs (0.366 cells/mm of epithelial length) was found in the 25-54 year age group, which was significantly different from that found in prostates of the younger (0.311 cells/mm) and the older (0.261 cells/mm) age groups. The data probably reflect the higher incidence of incompletely developed glandular units in the younger group and the formation of new alveoli related to the usual glandular hyperplasia that occurs with increasing age in the older group.

Adolescent

Itraconazole for experimental pulmonary aspergillosis: comparison with amphotericin B, interaction with cyclosporin A, and correlation between therapeutic response and itraconazole concentrations in plasma.

Itraconazole and amphotericin B were compared by using a newly developed model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in rabbits immunosuppressed with methylprednisolone and cyclosporin A (CsA). Both itraconazole at 40 mg/kg (given orally) and amphotericin B at 1 mg/kg (given intravenously) had in vivo antifungal activity in comparison with controls. At these dosages, amphotericin B was more effective than itraconazole in reducing the tissue burden (log10 CFU per gram) of Aspergillus fumigatus (P < 0.05) and the number of pulmonary lesions (P < 0.01). However, there was considerable variation in the near-peak concentrations of itraconazole in plasma (median, 4.15 micrograms/ml; range, < 0.5 to 16.8 micrograms/ml) and a strong inverse correlation between concentrations of itraconazole in plasma and the tissue burden of A. fumigatus. An inhibitory sigmoid maximum-effect model predicted a significant pharmacodynamic relationship (r = 0.87, P < 0.001) between itraconazole concentrations in plasma and antifungal activity as a function of the tissue burden of A. fumigatus. This model demonstrated that levels in plasma of greater than 6 micrograms/ml were associated with a significantly greater antifungal effect. Levels in plasma of less than 6 micrograms/ml were associated with a rapid decline in the antifungal effect. Itraconazole, in comparison with amphotericin B, caused a twofold elevation of CsA levels (P < 0.01) but was less nephrotoxic (P < 0.01). This study of experimental pulmonary aspergillosis demonstrated that amphotericin B at 1 mg/kg/day was more active but more nephrotoxic than itraconazole at 40 mg/kg/day, that itraconazole increased concentrations of CsA in plasma, and that the antifungal activity of itraconazole strongly correlated with concentrations in plasma in an inhibitory sigmoid maximum-effect model. These findings further indicate the importance of monitoring concentrations of itraconazole in plasma as a guide to increasing dosage, improving bioavailability, and optimizing antifungal efficacy in the treatment of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Amphotericin B

[Vector cardiography features of right ventricular activation delays: nosologic classification and clinical correlation].

Electrovectorcardiographic features of 150 patients showing right ventricular activation delays (RVAD) has been analyzed. This analysis of RAVD, especially for type I, which is the group with the widest morphologic variability, has permitted a more detailed classification: a type I with 5 subtypes, a type II with 1 subtype, a type III and an intermediate type between type II and III. Fifty-five per cent of the patients were included in type I and its variant and most were classified, often without cardiac disease, as belonging to the classic type I. Thirty per cent of RVAD were of type II; 12% of type III and the remaining were in the intermediate group between type II and III. The various morphologies, moreover, were correlated with the clinical picture: the classic type I was never seen in subjects with cardiac disease, while the others types and subtypes were present either in subjects with cardiac disease or in elderly subjects, also without relevant pathologies (senile heart, especially, the type IA") or in otherwise healthy subjects. In a medical-social context, checking for RVAD, in the absence of cardiac disease, might usefully avoid further investigation. It is underlined the usefulness of this correlation for clinical prognostic judgement.

Adolescent

[Dynamic ultrasonic hysteroscopy].

An attempt was made to establish Dynamic Echohysteroscopy (DEHS) diagnostic criteria for the study of female genital apparatus, as recently proposed. DEHS consists of a pelvic ultrasonography during and following an injection of physiological solution in the uterine cavity. Since this technique does not use X-rays, it has been proven useful to study female infertility. The authors have studied the normal and pathological aspects of 33 patients who underwent both DEHS and hysterosalpingography (HSG) (comparison diagnostic test). The results lead to the following conclusions: 1) DEHS can be considered a useful alternative to HSG, in the evaluation of uterine pathology; 2) in the evaluation of tubal pathology, DEHS has fewer diagnostic possibilities than HSG. Nevertheless, DEHS indirectly allows the patency of at least one tube.

Adult

Apoptotic amyloid: a study on prostatic amyloidosis with particular reference to corpora amylacea.

1 case of systemic immunocytic amyloid and 20 cases of apoptotic amyloid of the prostate are reported. The latter cases derive from apoptotic (dying) prostatic columnar cells with major protein fibrils identifiable with intermediate prekeratin filaments. The prostatic apoptotic amyloid is tryptophan-positive, permanganate-labile and pronase-resistant. The mean thickness of fibrils is 130 A.

Adult

Prostate cambial (stem)-zone and microcarcinoma: immunohistochemical and morphometric study approach.

30 surgically removed prostates were selected out of 200 for comparative histological, immunohistochemical and morphometric studies. The presence or the absence of keratin and the mean nuclear area of nuclear profiles are the main differential criteria in distinguishing atypical hyperplasia (cambial zone) from benign prostatic hyperplasia, microcarcinoma and other prostatic cancers.

Cell Nucleus

Early (stage A) prostatic cancer. V. Stereotopography.

In 67 prostates, collected at autopsy, besides length, the following measures were taken or calculated (Leitz, ASM): width, thickness (antero-posterior axis) and correlative half-diameters, mean area and ratio area/perimeter. When prostatic microcarcinoma was present, the angle to the antero-posterior axis and the mean percent distance from the urethral barycentre were calculated; over 74% of all cancer foci were in the lateral sextants between iso-distances 50-90.

Adult

Early (stage A) prostatic cancer. VI. A critical look at the follow-up.

The 4 year follow-up of an original series of 100 patients treated by subtotal prostatectomy and analysed on histopathological grounds is presented. 87 out of 100 were traced and were in the following groups: 37/45 A1, 27/29 A2, 10/12 A3, 13/14 benign prostatic hyperplasia. No therapy was performed. All three patients who died of prostatic carcinoma fitted into substage A3, all three patients living with metastases fitted into A1. The progression observed is significant when related to the brief interval of time, the size of the prostatic microcarcinoma and the histological grade (well differentiated tubular carcinomas in 5 out of 6 cases). Prostatectomy with capsulectomy is strongly recommended in order to prevent progression.

Adenocarcinoma