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S Valente

Publications and source records attributed to S Valente.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Associations between atopy, asthma history, respiratory function and non-specific bronchial hyperresponsiveness in unselected young asthmatics.

We evaluated the relationship between bronchial hyperresponsiveness and atopic status, clinical symptoms and airway calibre in a group of Italian conscripts who reported having bronchial asthma. 126 subjects were studied. Bronchial responsiveness was measured by the methacholine test, and atopic status was assessed by skin tests. A measurable PC20 was detected in 106 subjects. On the basis of the methacholine threshold concentration the sample was divided into four categories. Subjects with a low threshold response had an earlier onset of the disease and tended to take more drugs. The four categories also differed in lung function and skin reactivity towards Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus whereas no difference was found in skin reactivity towards grasses or the overall panel of tested allergen extracts. In conclusion, we found that bronchial hyperresponsiveness is related to both clinical history and lung function, whereas the relationship with atopic status seems to be allergen specific.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Handling criticism.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Electrical instability in patients undergoing surgery for atrioventricular septal defect.

Postoperative 24-hour Holter monitoring was performed in 106 patients with atrioventricular septal defect in order to identify the incidence of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Of the patients, 72 had separate atrioventricular orifices, including 13 with a small ventricular component to the defect, and 34 patients had a common atrioventricular orifice. Two groups of abnormal patients were found. First, patients with good electrical stability characterized by isolated atrial (9 patients) and ventricular (25 patients) extrasystoles falling in classes I and II of Lown. Second, patients with marked electrical instability characterized in one patient by repetitive atrial extrasystoles, in another by atrial flutter, in 2 by polymorphic ventricular extrasystole and in 8 by couplets or triplets. Electrical instability in individual patients was then compared, by means of logistic regression analysis, with operative, surgical and postoperative variables. There was no incidence of sudden death in our series. After surgical repair, ventricular arrhythmias were more frequent than atrial arrhythmias (33% vs. 10%) and were unrelated to the type of atrioventricular septal defect. Cardiac electrical instability after operation was significantly related to larger operative body size, higher postoperative end diastolic diameter of the right ventricle, larger size of the ventricular septal defect, coexistence of postoperative right bundle branch block and left anterior hemiblock. Conversely, the risk of arrhythmias was reduced by more recent operative data and by greater shortening fraction of the left ventricle.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
PubMed1991

[Marked hematic hypereosinophilia caused by Giardia Lamblia infestation in a subject with Churg-Strauss syndrome].

We report a Churg-Strauss syndrome case complicated by Giardia Lamblia infection which increased markedly the number of blood eosinophils with appearance of eosinophils able to form rosettes with unsensitized sheep red blood cells. Metronidazolo therapy reduces markedly the blood hypereosinophilia. The strong relationship between blood hypereosinophilia and Giardia Lamblia in this patient, suggests that there is an interaction between different eosinophilopoietic stimuli.

Churg-Strauss Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Unexpected sudden death during acute myocardial infarction: role of primary electromechanical dissociation.

The causes of death during the acute phase of myocardial infarction were studied in 128 patients. Forty-three of these, who had no clear signs of cardiocirculatory failure, were considered to be cases of sudden and unexpected death. Thirty-two of these patients (74%) had electromechanical dissociation, defined as a sudden disappearance of an effective arterial pressure in the presence of adequate electrocardiographic complexes. Twenty-three patients who had been given this diagnosis were males and 9 females; 53% presented with anterior infarction, 31% with infero-posterior infarction, 3.5% with both anterior and infero-posterior and 12.5% with non-Q wave infarction. A previous episode of infarction was recorded in 31.2% of patients with electromechanical dissociation. Autopsy was performed in 84 patients, 23 of whom died with electromechanical dissociation. Half of the latter cases revealed cardiac rupture (secondary electromechanical dissociation), whereas in the other half death was due to primary electromechanical dissociation. The study stresses the relatively high incidence of this cause of death and the need to differentiate between the two different forms. Although at present the pathophysiology of primary electromechanical dissociation is not completely understood, we believe that recurrence of global or local ischemia may play a more important role than cardiovascular inhibitory reflexes.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1989

Anterior spread of gynaecological neoplasias: reliability between some diagnostic procedures.

The Authors report their experience regarding the comparison between pre-surgical clinico-instrumental staging and intra-operative staging in 134 patients with gynaecological neoplasias, particularly considering the spread to the lower urinary tract. The analysis of the results shows the moderate reliability of the cystoscopy in routinely evaluating extension of gynaecologic malignant diseases. The association of cytological urinary sediment examination with cystoscopy improves the possibility of a better evaluation. On the contrary, vesical biopsy, performed on the indications of cystoscopy and urinary cytology, and standard excretory urography prove to be insensitive indicators in diagnosing the spread of gynaecological malignancies.

Cystoscopy↗
PubMed1988

Probit analysis applied to the allergen dose-response curve: a method for epidemiologic surveys.

The degree of skin sensitivity to five common allergens (grass, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, mugwort, birch, and Parietaria) was determined by the threshold dilution technique in all the skin test reactors of a random sample of 295 schoolchildren (142 male and 153 female subjects, age range 11 to 14 years), and the frequency distribution of responders at each concentration was analyzed by probit analysis. The potency of each allergen was presented in terms of median effective dose (ED50), and comparison between different allergens and between symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects was made by computing the relative potency. The ED50 of the allergens was found to be nearly identical (grass, 13.5; D. pteronyssinus, 12.3; mugwort, 9.6 activity units by RAST (AUR)/ml) with the exception of birch (22 AUR/ml). Grass and D. pteronyssinus demonstrated a lower ED50 in symptomatic subjects (3.3 and 2.8 AUR/ml, respectively) than in asymptomatic subjects (85 and 27 AUR/ml, respectively). The lower fiducial limits of ED50 in symptomatic subjects demonstrated to be a cutoff point, since they included only 5% and 12% of asymptomatic reactors to grass and D. pteronyssinus, respectively. We conclude that probit analysis applied to the distribution of threshold doses of allergen extracts is a useful method to evaluate skin sensitivity in epidemiologic surveys. We believe that the ED50 is a practical and reliable allergy index.

Allergens↗
PubMed1988

Airway responsiveness to exercise and ultrasonically nebulized distilled water in children: relationship to clinical and functional characteristics.

We studied the bronchial response to exercise and ultrasonically nebulized distilled water (UNDW) challenge in 19 normal controls (3 females and 16 males; age 6-13 years) and in 44 asthmatic children (12 females and 32 males; age 6-13 years) in order (1) to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the two challenges and (2) to evaluate the relationship between bronchial responses and clinical and functional characteristics. A 20% fall in FEV1 was regarded as a significant bronchial response. The specificity of both challenges was high (100%), whereas the sensitivity of exercise (77.3%) was twice that of UNDW (38.6%). The combination of the two challenges increased the sensitivity to 81.8%. There was no correlation between the magnitude of bronchial response to exercise and UNDW (rs = -0.03; p greater than 0.05). Exercise responders were not different from nonresponders in regard to gender, age, resting lung function, length of asthmatic history and treatment requirement to control symptoms. However, the UNDW responders were different from nonresponders in regard to age (p less than 0.05) and length of asthmatic history (p less than 0.001). Children younger than 9 years old are unlikely to show a bronchial response to UNDW inhalation, since only 9.5% of them developed a significant bronchoconstriction. We suggest that the two stimuli recognize some different pathways or subjects have basic biological differences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Urological problems and quality of life after treatment in early cervical cancer.

Urinary complications after treatment of gynaecological cancer are inevitable. Part of these complications have to be understood as the price in the balance cost/benefit of the treatment itself. Among these the functional vesical alterations are the most important because they compromise the quality of life. The Author reports the results of the urodynamic evaluation in pre- and post-operative phases in a case series of oncological patients treated with personalized radical surgery. The major functional alterations are noticed in the vesical dysfunction. The author concludes that a personalization of surgical therapy related to the surgical stage is necessary in order to prevent urological complications.

Female↗
PubMed1988

Electromyography of anal sphincters after radical gynecological surgery.

In this study, the Authors report their own experience in electromyography of anal sphincters. The clinical evaluation concerns a clinical series of 14 patients suffering from carcinoma of the uterine cervix at SPS stage A and B, and undergoing a personalized radical hysterectomy during 1986. The protocol included a preoperative electromyographic and urodynamic evaluation and a post-operative re-evaluation 30-60 days after surgery. The pre-operative evaluation in both the urodynamic test and the electromyographic test showed bladder-urethral function in all the cases examined. The post-operative electromyographic evaluation was considered normal and did not show alterations in the sphincteral function in 9 cases (64.3%). In the remaining 5 cases (35.7%) the presence of sphincteral incoordination was shown. The analysis of the results shows that the use of electromyography, connected with the usual urodynamic study in gynaecological oncology, objectively recognises the sphincter-detrusorial situations characterized by dysuria and retention from a clinical-anamnestic point of view.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Congenital vaginal malformation: clinical experiences on vaginal agenesia.

After having described, with brief allusions to the causes which determine vaginal malformations and the different surgical techniques which are generally used for treatment of such forms, the case series is examined of 53 patients who came under our observation in the Gynaecologic and Obstetric Clinics of Padua between 1965 and 1987, and of Verona, limited to the period from 1969 to 1974. We consider that the choice of the most suitable treatment for such pathology cannot be separated from the analyses of such diverse parameters as, for example: the age of the patient at the time of diagnosis, the type of malformation present, and other eventual associated malformations. This induces us to support the personalisation of the treatment of such pathology in each individual case.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

The usefulness of urodynamics in urogynaecological disorders.

286 patients are examined in this paper on the basis of urodynamic assessment. The relation between anamnestic-clinical and urodynamic assessment, the clinical evaluation of female urinary incontinence and the surgical protocol are discussed.

Female↗
PubMed1988

The measurement of the oral and vaginal electrolytes as a new method of predicting ovulation.

To be able to know with certainty the day of ovulation has always posed a major problem to the gynecologist, for various reasons. Today, knowing the day of ovulation and, still better, being able to forecast it with some assurance, is even more necessary for the various fecundation programs. The results are here presented of experimentation in a new method of prediction of ovulation which is based on the measuring of the electrolytes present in the saliva and in the cervical mucus in the first phase of the cycle, with the aim of being able to predict in advance the day of ovulation.

Calcium↗
PubMed1988

[Origin of the right pulmonary branch from the ascending aorta].

The AA report a case of newborn admitted to the hospital at the age of 12 days because of severe congestive heart failure, with electrocardiographical and radiological findings of right ventricular overload and increased pulmonary blood flow. Cardiac catheterization showed the origin of the right pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta in the presence of an intact ventricular septum. Surgical repair was performed on an emergency basis by deconnecting the anomalous right pulmonary artery from the aorta and reattaching it to the main pulmonary artery. Postoperative angiographic study, performed 12 months later, revealed excellent anatomical and functional result.

Aorta↗
PubMed1987

Effects of two doses of cromolyn on allergen-induced late asthmatic response and increased responsiveness.

We selected five atopic children with asthma with previously documented late asthmatic response (LAR) associated with increased hyperresponsiveness to methacholine after the inhalation of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. The children had four allergen inhalation tests on 4 different days, at least 14 days apart. On days 1 and 4, saline placebo was inhaled 1 hour before the expected onset of LAR, and FEV1 was measured hourly until FEV1 returned within 10% of baseline value; then methacholine challenge was performed. On days 2 and 3, 20 and 40 mg of cromolyn was inhaled double blind 1 hour before the expected onset of LAR. FEV1 and methacholine responsiveness were measured as on days 1 and 4. The two doses of cromolyn significantly delayed the LAR onset without altering the overall LAR magnitude and prevented the allergen-induced increase in methacholine responsiveness. Both these effects were greater at the maximal dose used. We conclude that cromolyn can prevent the allergen-induced increase in methacholine responsiveness and that this effect is not due to alteration in the magnitude of LAR. Our findings reveal a possible explanation of the effectiveness of this drug in the treatment of allergic asthma.

Adolescent↗