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Biomedical subjects

S Magni

Publications and source records attributed to S Magni.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Evaluation of treatments for the vaccination against hepatitis B + thymopentine.

We have studied a series of 43 patients--who were suffering from uremia, subject to hemodialysis treatment, resulting seronegative to the test for HBV and who had never been vaccinated before--considering the HBS antibody as seroconversion index. We subdivided our patients into three groups, according to the treatment employed. First group: French vaccine; 2nd group: French vaccine+thymopenthine; 3rd group: recombining DNA vaccine+thymopentine. From a statistical point of view, in the 3rd group we obtained a significant seroconversion in terms of patients, if compared with the other groups.

Adult

Radial maze type as a determinant of the choice behavior of rats.

Spatial memory of rats was examined in two types of radial mazes in which animals had to obtain food from 6-, 8-, or 12-different arms without repeating choices. In Maze 1 with tubular channels closed at the far end rats returned to the central platform by backing out from the just visited alley. In Maze 2 the tubular channels were equipped with one-way doors at both ends and the central platform was raised 5 cm above the floor. Rats leaving the far end of the alley returned to the central platform through a circular hole in its center. Performance was almost perfect in both apparatuses, but rats preferred to enter adjacent alleys in Maze 1 and widely separated alleys in Maze 2. These behaviors were significantly different from computer-simulated random choice from the set of correct solutions of the task. It is concluded that Maze 2 is better suited for repeated experiments with the same animal because the obligatory return to the center of the platform precludes the simplification of the task by response chaining.

Animals

[Permanent endocardiac electric stimulation. Observations on 1125 patients (1 January 1966-31 August 1974)].

The authors report on nine years' experience with permanent endocardial pacing in the treatment of various conduction disturbances. Their experiences relate to 1125 patients; 2208 pacers were used. The age of the patients ranges from 60 to 80 (85%), 15% referring to the left decades, minimum 17 - maximum 94. Fixed rate pacers were used in 41% of cases, QRS synchronous or QRS inhibited pacers were used in 59%. Average life of pacers varies from 8.5 to 28.3 months; the average life of fixed rate pacers is higher. Complications and causes of failures, among which electrode dislodgement is the most relevant and frequent, as well as the relative therapeutical treatments, are described. Early mortality is about 1% and late mortality 8-9%: the survival rate calculated altogether after 9 years' treatment with implantable pervenous pacing is about 24%.

Adolescent

Activation of the complement system during immunotherapy of cancer with interleukin-2: a possible explanation of the capillary leak syndrome.

The capillary leak syndrome, responsible for fluid loss into the interstitial space, represents one of the major cardiovascular toxicities of IL-2 during the immunotherapy of cancer. The mechanisms involved in the increased vascular permeability have still to be better understood. The present study was carried out to investigate the role of the complement system in mediating the IL-2 vascular toxicity. The study was performed in metastatic renal cancer patients, treated with IL-2 through a 24-hour i.v. infusion at a daily dose of 3 x 10(6) U/m2 for 5 consecutive days, corresponding to one IL-2 course. Six IL-2 courses were evaluated. C3 and C4 were measured daily during IL-2 infusion, and 2 and 5 days after its interruption. IL-2 administration induced a significant decrease in both C3 and C4 mean levels, which became within the normal range 5 days after the end of IL-2 infusion. These results show that IL-2 administration may directly activate the complement system through the classical pathway, which might play a role in determining the increased vascular permeability.

Capillary Permeability