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Biomedical subjects

S Criscione

Publications and source records attributed to S Criscione.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Increased visceral adipose tissue is associated with increased circulating insulin and decreased sex hormone binding globulin levels in massively obese adolescent girls.

The current study was designed to examine the relationship between body fat distribution, as evaluated by anthropometry and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and circulating insulin, sex hormone and SHBG levels in obese adolescent girls. Twenty-nine obese adolescent girls, aged 12.6-16.9 years with a mean BMI of 30.51+/-1.86 participated in this study. All girls had breast stage B4-5 and pubic hair stage P4-5. Percent obesity and BMI as indices of being overweight were calculated; the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and the waist-to-thigh ratio (WTR) were calculated to obtain two anthropometric indices for the pattern of body fat distribution. The areas of visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were evaluated by MRI at the L4-L5 level. Serum concentrations of total T, DHEAS, 17beta-estradiol, progesterone and SHBG were measured. Plasma glucose and insulin concentrations were evaluated during an oral glucose tolerance test. WHR was the only anthropometric parameter that was significantly associated with the area of VAT. Insulin level showed correlation with both WHR and the area of VAT; no correlation was found between insulin levels and WTR. Both WHR and VAT were negatively correlated with serum DHEAS level and positively correlated with T level. There were strong negative correlations between serum SHBG level and the area of VAT and WHR. Inverse correlation was found between serum SHBG level and insulin. Serum 17beta-estradiol and progesterone levels showed no significant correlation with all the patterns of body fat distribution. SAT was not significantly correlated with both anthropometric parameters and any of the sex hormones evaluated. We can draw two main conclusions. Firstly, in massively obese adolescent girls, the WHR seems to be a good indicator for the accumulation of VAT, and abdominal obesity, rather than adiposity per se, appears to be related to biochemical complications. Secondly, increased upper body adiposity and, in particular, the intra-abdominal fat area are associated with increased insulin levels in massively obese adolescent girls. The associated reductions in SHBG and DHEAS levels represent an early general risk factor for the development of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in this population, as previously described for obese adult women.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1998

[Biliary lithiasis in childhood. A spectrum of diseases with different clinical significance during fetal life, childhood and adolescence].

On the basis of a research on fetal cholelithiasis, a review on the various form of cholelithiasis in pediatric age has been carried out. These include, in addition to fetal cholelithiasis, lithiasis in the first year of life and lithiasis in infancy and adolescence. These various expressions of the same pathology differ for incidence, predisposing factors, clinical situation, therapy and follow-up. The research conducted on fetal cholelithiasis showed an incidence of 0.39%, higher than expected. There isn't any maternal, obstetrical or fetal predisposing factor. The diagnosis is purely instrumental and is not correlated with known clinical or humoral data. The most frequent evolution is spontaneous resolution of the biliary echogenic images in absence of clinical manifestations; the complications are rare and not well documented. Cholelithiasis in the first years of life is correlated with malformative, pharmacologic or iatrogenic predisposing factors. The clinical situations include symptomless cases with spontaneous resolution and cases with serious complications. Therapy is to be chosen in each case in accordance with clinical features. Pediatric cholelithiasis beyond the first year of life, especially in the later childhood and adolescence, can be similar to cholelithiasis of adults for epidemiology, pathogenesis, symptomatology and therapy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Screening for coeliac disease: the meaning of low titers of anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) in non-coeliac children.

Coeliac disease is diagnosed by means of jejunal biopsy, an invasive procedure. Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) have therefore been used in the first screening of the disease. On the other hand, low titers of AGA are widely detected also in normal subjects. In order to investigate if low levels of AGA could be correlated with laboratory and clinical data, we performed a study on 167 subjects with various illnesses, such as recurrent abdominal pain, failure to thrive, short stature, diarrhoea or constipation, cow-milk protein intolerance and/or food allergy, recurrent vomiting or previous gastroenteritis, all non coeliac conditions which have been associated with AGA presence. Seventy coeliac children, all biopsied, were selected as a control group. Among the 167 cases we found 60 subjects positive for AGA (35.9%), a high proportion as compared with the general population. Only 33/167 patients, all IgG and IgA AGA positive, fulfil our laboratory and clinical criteria to perform a 'confirming' biopsy. For the 134 residual cases (14 IgA, 13 only IgG AGA positive, 107 AGA negative) a diagnosis of coeliac disease has been excluded by clinical criteria (scoring). As a whole, the patients with coeliac disease had significantly higher levels of AGA of both IgG and IgA classes (p < 0.01). On the other hand, no significant difference emerged for all the anamnestic and laboratory parameters considered between AGA+ and AGA- non-coeliac subjects. However, laboratory parameters of IgG-AGA and/or IgA-AGA positive patients were similar to those of coeliac children for ion, Xylose, total IgA count. As no biopsied case showed mucosal atrophy, it is suggested that the presence of even low AGA levels in non-coeliac children may represent a highly sensitive index of intestinal alteration causing an increased permeability to macromolecules, but it is very unlikely that one could detect coeliac children by means of Ig-AGA among such illnesses and normal subjects. Strong clinical diagnosis and laboratory parameters are required to justify intestinal biopsies. In fact, the production of AGA seems to be a merely immunological phenomenon linked to an increased and probably transient permeability to macromolecules of the intestinal mucosa.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Growth after recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) treatment in transplanted thalassemic patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment effects with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) in a group of patients after bone marrow transplantation for thalassemia major. At the end of treatment we divided the subjects into two groups according to the outcome of the therapy: responder and nonresponder. Responder group: after 24 months of rhGH administration, growth rate was still significantly higher in respect to start of treatment (P < 0.0001). Plasma levels of IGF-I rose significantly (P < 0.003). The serum levels of serum asparate aminotransferase (SGOT) and alanine aminotransferase (SGPT) were higher compared to normal values but improved in non-responder patients. There was no difference in the mean concentration of these parameters before and after treatment (P = NS). Non-responder group: these patients had a worsening of the growth rate during rhGH administration. There was no increase of the IGF-I levels. Single values of transaminase and ferritin levels were higher than in responder patients before and after treatment. There was a significant correlation between IGF-I, SGOT, SGPT and ferritin in all patients before and after therapy. It appears from these data that rhGH administration is worth serious consideration in patients after BMT for thalassemia major presenting impaired growth hormone secretion. This treatment can offer good results only in cases where the normal hepatic synthesis of IGF-I is conserved and where liver damage has not reached irreversible conditions, as we have seen in the responder group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Early wheezing and breast feeding.

There is uncertainty as to whether breast feeding protects against subsequent illnesses; it has been suggested that breast feeding may have some protective effects on the severity of long-term outcome of bronchiolitis and in reducing morbidity. We have assessed the effects of breast feeding in 266 patients and 199 controls, all patients were early wheezers (i.e., under 2 years old). Between these groups we found differences in socioeconomic, environmental, and atopic conditions, but there were no significant differences in the numbers who had been breastfed. However, within the group who had had early wheezing we found that infants who had been breastfed for at least one month subsequently had less severe wheezing. These results suggest that breast feeding may be a protective factor for early wheezing only during the first month of life, and a delaying factor in the following months.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1992

Atopy and environmental factors in upper respiratory infections: an epidemiological survey on 2304 school children.

Upper respiratory infections (URI) during the first years of life are mostly viral in origin. However, a number of observations suggest the influence of both predisposing and triggering factors. Atopy in particular seems to play an important role as do environmental factors. Many children with early symptoms such as blocked or runny nose are likely to become skin-positive later in life to antigens such as, e.g., D. pteronissinus. A standardized questionnaire was administered to 2304 schoolchildren in order to ascertain the URI frequency and to correlate it with family and environmental factors and with results of prick tests for main allergens in our climate (D. pteronissinus and Grasses). Results showed a wide overlapping of URI and lower respiratory illnesses (in particular, asthma), which are widely distributed in the families of patients. Passive smoking and the quality of housing are the main triggering environmental factors. In our sample, skin positivity for D. pteronissinus and Grasses largely exceeds the symptomatic portion of the whole population. It is therefore suggested that many asymptomatic children are "at risk" for allergic respiratory illness. The highest incidence of winter rhinitis in skin-negative subjects (71.7%) and the skin positivity for D. pteronissinus in patients with perennial symptoms, suggest the importance of both atopy and viral infections in the occurrence of URI. Nasal troubles are most frequent in asthmatic subjects and may be considered the actual additional symptom in asthma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Bronchiolitis in the history of the asthmatic child.

In a retrospective analysis of the history of 1,700 asthmatic children, 167 (9.8%) were found to have had bronchiolitis during the first 2 years of life. These 167 cases with asthma and bronchiolitis were matched against 215 selected cases of asthma without bronchiolitis. Both groups attended our Ambulatory Care Unit for Asthma. Data were collected from the clinical cards of the children. Asthmatics who had bronchiolitis were found to have an earlier onset of asthma (p less than 0.001), earlier resolution of symptoms (p less than 0.05 total; p less than 0.01 females), and less evidence of atopy (p less than 0.005). It is suggested therefore that the bronchial hyperreactivity in asthma following bronchiolitis may have different underlying mechanisms than in the typical atopic case, without preceding bronchiolitis. Long-term follow-up studies in infants with bronchiolitis are still necessary in order to clarify the process by which bronchiolitis predisposes to bronchial hyperreactivity and asthma. The consequences of the viral infection itself may lead to pathophysiological processes that promote bronchial hyperreactivity. On the contrary, an underlying condition of bronchial hyperreactivity could be the "primum movens" of the bronchiolitis itself.

Asthma↗
PubMed1989

Evaluating bronchial hyperreactivity tests in epidemiology.

The aim of this study is to assess the value of the most common tests which can be used in epidemiological surveys to identify asthmatic children. We reviewed anamnestic information from a self-administered questionnaire, bronchial reactivity by means of exercise-test, bronchodilation-test with trimethochinol, carbachol-test (PD20 FEV1 was reported), cutaneous reactivity monitored by prick-test. (Data from a polycentric epidemiological study). We conclude that, while these tests are very useful in the initial study and in the further follow-up of the asthmatic child, providing also information about the possibilities of management of bronchoconstriction and its pharmacologic prevention, they show a limited value in the absolute diagnosis of asthma.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1982

PiM subtypes in bronchiolitis.

Decreased alpha-1-antitrypsin (alpha 1AT) levels have been observed in children affected by bronchiolitis; however, variant alleles Pi (S, Z) which are usually associated with reduction of the inhibitor do not show a higher incidence in children affected by this disease. Subtypes M2 and M3 of alpha 1AT have recently been considered to play a role in the development of allergic states in children as well as in chronic obstructive lung disease in adults. In the present study we have investigated the incidence of PiM subtypes in 98 children affected by bronchiolitis. No greater incidence of subtypes M2 and M3 was observed in these children than in controls. These results rule out the hypothesis of a pathogenetic role of M subtypes in the development of bronchiolitis in children.

Alleles↗
PubMed1981

The role of IgE in childhood asthma.

The influence of age and sex has been in 208 asthmatic children on the basis of the following parameters: total serum IgE concentration (RIST), serum concentration of specific IgE antibodies (RAST), and positive prick tests against Dermatophagoides Pleronissynus, grasses, and Alternaria Tenuis. The results indicate that all these parameters are significantly influenced by age. Arithmetic values for RIST show a significant difference between the sexes which is obscured by logarithmic calculation. The data strongly suggest that IgE antibodies cannot be considered the main mechanism by which asthma is produced in small children.

Aging↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Modification of nonspecific bronchial reactivity in hypothyroid children under different regimens of substitutive opotherapy.

Although it has been experimentally proved that thyroid hormones stimulate beta 2 receptor activity and tissue responsiveness to catecholamines, previous studies have established that asthma and nonspecific bronchial reactivity (NSBR) can worsen if complicated by hyperthyroidism. Our study is an effort toward the analysis of this contradiction. In 20 congenitally hypothyroid children, substitutive opotherapy was completely withdrawn for 1 month, resumed in the original dosage for 2 months, and then increased by 20% from day 91 to day 110. Mean NSBR, expressed in carbachol-related PD20-FEV1 and PD25-V25, was significantly increased by day 30, remained significantly elevated by day 90, and returned to initial values by day 110. These results suggest that thyroid hormones per se in nonasthmatic subjects decrease bronchial reactivity. This observation should be taken into consideration when attempting to explain the worsening condition of asthmatics who became affected with hypothyroidism. Bronchial reactivity appears to be under the control of many factors (including thyroid hormone levels). Once it is altered, a period of time seems necessary to restore the original bronchomotor tone (2 months in our study).

Bronchi↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Hemicrania and photosensitive epilepsy in pediatric age].

OBJECTIVE: Photosensitive epilepsy is joined to headache. Aim of the present study was the follow up of children suffering from headaches in order to verify if headache can be the only symptom of epileptic photosensitivity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirteen children affected by headache were examined. They were screened on the basis of photosensitivity showed on the EEG. During following 6 patients had seizures. RESULTS: Antiepileptic drugs (VPA, CBZ, CZM) improved seizures and headache. In the others patients migraine therapy improved epileptic photosensitivity on the EEG. CONCLUSIONS: Headache can be the only symptom of epileptic photosensitivity. Migraine and photosensitive epilepsy in childhood are of particular interest because of growing features of occipital lobe. This has therapeutic significance.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Growth and chronic bronchopneumopathies].

The relationship between growth and pulmonary disease has been studied mainly in asthma and cystic fibrosis. In asthma, the most frequent chronic pulmonary disease in childhood, results were conflicting, until the degree of severity of the disease and growth phases were taken into account. Research on 683 children has shown that the percentage of underweight was higher in chronic than intermittent asthma. Moreover, the distribution of underweight patients by ages is different in the two types of asthma: uniform in intermittent asthma; two peaks below the age of 2 and above the age of 12 respectively in chronic asthma. Further data of 65 children treated with slow-releasing theophylline for approximately two years corroborates that puberty is a particularly vulnerable period. Indeed, in the most severe asthmatic males, theophylline is able to completely normalize the growth pattern in childhood but not in puberty. In cystic fibrosis malabsorption makes the study of the relationship between growth and pulmonary disease more complex. The pattern of growth in patients with cystic fibrosis is moving away from the normal pattern with ageing, hence the worsening of pulmonary disease is responsible for the worsening in the growth pattern. The growth pattern today is far better than that of 20 years ago. However, puberty, especially in female patients, is a critical period. Often the puberal spurt is delayed for a few years or is even completely absent. In a group of patients with chronic pulmonary disease due to different causes, weight is more implicated than height and the same pattern was observed in cystic fibrosis. Moreover, as in asthma, weight and height are more implicated in females than males. The entity of alteration observed is midway between the minimal in asthma and the maximal in cystic fibrosis.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Epidemiologic correlation between microhematuria in children and hypertension in their parents].

The significance of asymptomatic microhematuria in children is unknown. In 1976 Dodge et al. found a "surprising" high prevalence of proteinuria and haematuria in 12,000 healthy schoolchildren and, in the absence of knowledge of the natural history, this finding prompted them to postpone urinary mass screening. Nonetheless, the progressive course of most chronic renal disease in adulthood argues for investigation of microhematuria in children to uncover any sub-groups "at risk" of kidney diseases. The sensitivity of screening for microhematuria could be increased by a questionnaire on family medical history? We have investigated 1554 boys and 1484 girls aged 3-12 years, from the school population of a rural district near Rome. A self-administered questionnaire on renal disease and related symptoms in families was distributed to the parents. Urinalyses were done on all the children except for those with diseases or symptoms related to the urinary apparatus and girls who were menstruating. Haematuria was tested for by dipstick ("Combur 7"; Boehringer), children with microhematuria were retested 10 day and 1 year later. On the initial 3038 dipstick tests 175 (5.76%) were positive, and 52 children (1.71%) had haematuria in all three specimens. The questionnaires were used only if they had been filled in properly (1821/3038). Of the 1821 valid questionnaires 121 (6.64%) revealed a family history of hypertension, but the frequency of such a family history was significantly higher for the 128 children with haematuria (14.8%, p < 0.005) and the 52 with persistent haematuria (23.0%; p < 0.001).

Adult↗