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Biomedical subjects

T Masini

Publications and source records attributed to T Masini.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Primary malignant rhabdoid tumours of the central nervous system: an immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study.

Three cases of primary rhabdoid tumour of the CNS (RT-CNS) are presented. In case 1 a hemispheric tumour developed in a 10.5 months old girl, who survived for 6 months after incomplete resection, radio- and polychemotherapy. Case 2 was a 4 years and 8 months old boy with a large IIIrd ventricle tumour, who died of leptomeningeal tumour dissemination 7 months after diagnosis despite radiotherapy. In case 3 a pineal mass occurring in a 14 month old female was radioresistant and totally exstirpated. The child died due to tumour recurrence two months later. Autopsy examination revealed widespread leptomeningeal dissemination. All three cases fulfilled light and electron microscopic criteria of RT-CNS including abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, vesicular nuclei with large nucleoli and conspicuous anti-vimentin positive filaments. Extensive immunohistochemical studies showed expression of epithelial (EMA, KL1), macrophage (alpha-1 antichymotrypsin), neuro-ectodermal (GFAP, NSE, beta-tubulin III) and myogenic markers (desmin, actin). Different stress proteins (alpha-B crystallin, HSP70) were also expressed. Tumour cells showed a proliferation (MIB1) index of 28.4% (case 1) and 33.4% (case 2). From our study it can be concluded that RT-CNS reveals significant immuno-morphological heterogeneity thus supporting the view that it is not a specific pathological entity but merely a phenotypic appearance of different neoplasms, some of which are linked to primitive neuro-ectodermal tumours.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed1997

[Ectopic neuroglial tissue associated with intrapulmonary congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation].

BACKGROUND: Few cases of ectopic neurological tissue have been reported in the lung. The aim of the present study was to give a brief overview of these cases and to examine an additional case of intrapulmonary neuroglial heterotopia. We have identified only sixteen similar cases in the literature. CASE DESCRIPTION: The object of our study was a male fetus of Asian parents at the 23rd week of gestation, in which ultrasound tests revealed the presence of anterior encephalocele. Routine postmortem examination of lung samples showed neuroglial tissue and a congenital adenomatoid cystic malformation of type II. The lesion was made up of multiple small cysts lined with columnar or ciliated cuboidal epithelium. A possible link between adenomatoid malformation and intrapulmonary neurological tissue has not so far been reported in the literature. Immunohistochemical analysis showed the presence in the pulmonary parenchyma of neuronal cells (neuron-specific enolase positive), astrocytes (glial fibrillary acidic protein positive) and intra-alveolar squamous cells (citokeratines positive), indicative of fetal aspiration of amniotic fluid. CONCLUSIONS: There are several possible explanations for the presence of intrapulmonary neuroglial heterotopia: fetal aspiration, neural crest migration defects or vascular embolization with implantation. However, in the view of the microscopic findings and at the same time recognizing the intrapulmonary aspiration of amniotic fluid, the authors maintain that the most likely explanation for the heterotopia is that of consequential multiple malformations. Moreover neuroglial ectopy and cystic adenomatoid congenital malformation of the lung could have appeared simultaneously, due to embryologic insult between the 4th and the 20th week of gestation.

Choristoma↗
PubMed1996

Clinical and pathological features in hydrocarbon-induced parkinsonism.

A neuropathological examination was performed on a patient with parkinsonism induced by prolonged exposure to a mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons, mainly n-hexane and halogenated compounds. The patient developed a rapid-course disease that progressed even after withdrawal from the toxic exposure. Pathological examination and immunohistochemical analysis of the brain revealed severe and widespread dopaminergic neuronal loss, associated with severe gliosis, in the substantia nigra, and almost complete loss of tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining in the striatum. No Lewy bodies were detected. Neuronal loss was also observed in the periaqueductal gray matter, locus ceruleus, and pedunculopontine nucleus. These changes, combined with the moderate anemia due to marrow suppression, and the mild axonal neuropathy observed in vivo, are suggestive of a hydrocarbon toxic insult.

Female↗
PubMed1993

Evidence of clonal progression in a case of Richter syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The debate continues as to whether Richter syndrome should be defined as non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) because of a more malignant clone of neoplastic cells superimposed on preexisting chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or as the chance occurrence of two unrelated tumors. The cellular characteristics of the neoplastic clone involved in the CLL phase and the subsequent NHL were investigated in a patient in whom Richter syndrome developed. METHODS: Cell analysis was performed with immunofluorescence, histologic analysis, DNA extraction, and Southern blot analysis. RESULTS: The separated CLL and NHL B-cells from blood and bone marrow, as well as the neoplastic cells in autopsy specimens of the organs affected by NHL, particularly the brain, were found to express the same light chain of surface immunoglobulin (SIg). The change MD-->M in the SIg heavy-chain expression and the appearance of cytoplasmic IgMk suggested isotype switching simulating that observed on the final phases of primary B-cell differentiation. This hypothesis was confirmed by Southern blot analysis of DNA from blood cells in the CLL phase and in Richter transformation, which showed that the two cell populations had identical Ig gene rearrangement. CONCLUSIONS: The NHL in the patient in this study represented a malignant progression of CLL, not a second lymphoid malignancy.

Antigens, Surface↗
PubMed1993

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A neuropathological autopsy study of 21 cases.

In a neuropathological autopsy study of 21 cases of AIDS-associated PML no fundamental morphological differences to non-AIDS PML were found. PML in AIDS often showed very large foci as well as necrotizing lesions. Partial involvement of cerebral cortex and deep gray matter were common findings; infratentorial lesions could be observed in more than three quarters of cases. Perivascular mononuclear infiltrates within PML foci were frequent and obviously not associated with a more benign clinical course. Possible reasons for these peculiarities of PML in AIDS are discussed. In 7 cases evidence of concomitant HIV encephalopathy was found; this may be one relevant factor contributing to severity of PML in AIDS. PML has to be regarded as a common complication of HIV infection, which may show atypical morphological and neuroradiological features.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1993

AIDS-myelopathy. A neuropathological study.

Vacuolar myelopathy belongs to the AIDS-associated diseases. It is characterized by vacuolation and infiltration of the long tracts of the spinal cord by macrophages. The clinical and morphological findings of 8 AIDS-patients with vacuolar myelopathy are reported here. The syndrome developed during the final stages of AIDS and was associated with HIV-encephalopathy in 5 cases. The vacuoles were mainly due to intramyelinic swelling and vacuolation. Vacuolated macrophages and axons contributed only to a minor degree. In one case only, HIV-antigens were detected immunohistochemically. The results are discussed in the light of modern pathogenetical concepts of HIV-related diseases.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗
PubMed1992

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and gliomas in a HIV-negative patient.

A case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is reported, detected at autopsy of a 30-year-old patient. The clinical picture was characterized by a progressive course of mental deterioration and ingravescent neurological symptoms. The patient was HIV-negative. He died of bronchopneumonia, after a clinical course of 13 months. Autopsy disclosed pulmonary tuberculosis with involvement of regional lymph nodes. In the brain, besides numerous PML-foci of varying age and structure, a pleomorphic astrocytoma was found in the white matter of the right parietal lobe. In the brain stem glial proliferation resembling diffuse gliomatosis was also present. In situ hybridization revealed Papova-virus (JCV) in oligoglial nuclei, but not in neoplastic astrocytes. This is the third report on the concomitant occurrence of PML and glioma in man.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[The CNS in AIDS and in asymptomatic HIV positive patients].

Neuropathological investigations were carried out on 166 autopsies of HIV-seropositive patients, with and without AIDS. Opportunistic infections and lymphomas were present in about 50% of cases; 65 patients were bearers of HIV-encephalopathy. HIV core protein p24 was detected in few mono- and multinucleated macrophages (HIV-cells), only in cases with HIV-encephalopathy. In the CNS of HIV-positive, asymptomatic patients no histological or immunohistochemical abnormalities were seen. These findings let suppose that AIDS-Dementia is a result of a late infiltration of HIV-infected macrophages from the bloodstream into the brain and not due to an impairment of neuronal or glial cells infected by HIV in the early stages of the disease.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗
PubMed1991

[Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in AIDS: morphological and topographical characteristics].

15 autopsy cases of PML in AIDS are presented. Frequent findings were: Very large, confluent PML-lesions (7 cases), lesions with prominent necrotic features (10 cases) and with marked perivascular mononuclear infiltrates (6 cases). In 9 cases additional PML-foci were seen in the cerebellum and/or the brain stem, and in 1 case there was even an exclusive involvement of those structures. Such characteristics regarding severity and topography of PML in AIDS, may be due to additional toxic factors. In 7 cases HIV-encephalopathy with multinucleated macrophages was present.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Cerebral listeriosis in adults. Three cases report.

The Authors describe three autoptic cases of meningoencephalitis in adults due to an emerging pathogen, the Gram-positive bacillus Listeria monocytogenes. Only one of these was an immunosuppressed patient (recurrent carcinoma of the larynx and bladder papillomas), while no severe cause of debilitation was detected in the other two cases, excluding colonic diverticulosis in both. The post-mortem examination revealed leptomeningitis and encephalitis. Lympho-monocytic tissue reaction with perivascular cuffing was present in all the cases. The etiologic agent, L. monocytogenes, was identified by cultures from clinical or autoptic specimens.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

[The morphology of HIV encephalopathy].

Reported in this paper are postmortem findings recorded from the central nervous system of 51 HIV carriers, among them 43 with clinically manifest AIDS. Opportunistic infections and tumours were established in 24 cases, including toxoplasmosis, cytomegaly, progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy, and lymphomas. Findings obtained from 5 patients were restricted to unspecific alterations. No pathological findings at all were recordable from 8 HIV carriers without AIDS. So-called subacute microglial encephalitis (SME) was detected in 26 cases. SME was found to provide for the morphological substrate of genuine HIV encephalopathy. It was characterised by occurrence of mononuclear and even multinucleated cells which were macrophages and obviously served as virus carriers. Multinucleated cells are pathognomonic of HIV encephalopathy. No unambiguous evidence has so far been produced to primary invasion of neurons or glial cells by HI viruses.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1988

Mycoses in immunocompromised patients. An histopathologic study of 61 cases.

The histopathologic pattern of secondary mycoses in 61 immunocompromised patients is presented. The underlying diseases were: neoplasms, organ transplants, AIDS and a variety of other debilitating diseases. Three patients with AIDS had a double fungal infection. Candida spp. accounted for the majority of deep-seated mycoses, with 27 cases (44.2%); disseminated candidiasis was responsible of 18.5% of these patients death. Aspergillosis was seen in 23 subjects (37.7%), 18 of them (78.2%) died for systemic infection. These patients were severely debilitated by disease and/or iatrogenic procedures. The other fungal infections were: actinomycosis (10 cases), gerotrichosis (2 cases), histoplasmosis (1 case) and cerebral phaeohyphomycosis (1 case).

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Autoptic findings in HIV-1 positive children.

The growing incidence of AIDS in children and newborns has been related to increasing incidence of AIDS in women. Case records were composed by 14 children with death occurring at different ages--from 1 hour to 12 years--and 1 female fetus, all with serological confirmation of AIDS. Brain and internal organs samples were collected at autopsy for morphological, immunohistochemical and "in situ" hybridization's technical examination. The prevailing extracerebral pathology observed at autopsy consisted of opportunistic infections. The cerebral findings were HIV-encephalopathy; cytomegalovirus encephalitis; vascular alterations such as necrosis and hemorrhage; calcifications and edema. Neurologic symptoms were reported in 3 children of intravenous drug-abuser mothers as drug withdrawal syndrome. HIV positivity in one or both the intravenous drug-abuser parents is the main risk factor of congenital AIDS. This factor means lack of care during the gestational stage and may determine relevant differences in the course of disease. The cerebral changes due to opportunistic infection must be differentiated from HIV-specific lesions; it has to be stressed that "diffuse" leukoencephalopathy is not AIDS-specific but can be found in every chronic encephalitis/encephalopathy especially in newborns and children. Chronologically, HIV encephalopathy appears as late manifestation of the disease, due to an infiltration of CNS of HIV-infected macrophages and not to an impairment of neuronal or glial cells infected by HIV in the early stages of the disease.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗