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Biomedical subjects

V Balsamo

Publications and source records attributed to V Balsamo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Local and segmental dynamics in homopolymer and triblock copolymers with one semicrystalline block.

Thermally stimulated depolarization currents, TSDC, experiments have been performed on a series of poly(styrene)-b-poly(butadiene)-b-poly(epsilon-caprolactone) triblock copolymers SBC with different proportions of the poly(epsilon-caprolactone) crystallizable block, PCL. The morphology of the segregated microphases varies with the PCL content and has been observed by transmission electron microscopy. The crystallinity of the PCL block is estimated by wide angle x-ray scattering, WAXS. The relaxation times distribution is extracted by a numerical decomposition of the TSDC spectra and it is shown that this distribution is not significantly changed on going from the homopolymer to the triblock copolymer with 16 wt % to 77 wt % of PCL in the original samples. Better segregation of the mesophase structure is reached when the samples are annealed at 413 K and important variations in the TSDC and WAXS spectra are observed as a result of the thermal treatment. For the S09B14C77 triblock copolymer the results obtained can be explained by postulating the existence of a rigid amorphous phase in the PCL block. Such rigid amorphous phase is located between the core-shell cylinders formed by the other blocks [with poly(styrene)(PS) as core and poly(butadiene)(PB) as shell] and is constrained by undulated lamellae of crystalline PCL material. In the case of S35B15C50 triblock copolymer, an important amount of diffuse PS-PCL interphase where the homopolymers are mixed must be present before annealing. The results for the material with the less abundant PCL block are explained as a result of the confinement in nanotubes of PCL surrounded by PB embedded in a vitreous PS matrix. Broadband dielectric experiments on these same materials confirm the results obtained by TSDC spectroscopy.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

[Food intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome of childhood: clinical efficacy of oral sodium cromoglycate and elimination diet].

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is recognized to be a common cause of chronic diarrhea without failure to thrive in childhood. Several studies stressed the role of food intolerance as a major factor in the pathogenesis of IBS. The aim of this multicenter study was to investigate the offending role of food in IBS and to compare the therapeutic role of oral sodium cromoglycate versus elimination diet. 153 patients (mean age 4 years) with diarrhea (> 3 stools per day for four days in a week) and abdominal pain for about 10 months were enrolled in this trial. About half of the patients had a family history positive for atopy and 70% of the cases complained of intestinal symptoms after food ingestion. In 17% of the patients Skin Prick test (SPT) resulted positive to at least one food allergen and 87% of positive reactions to SPT was provoked by common foodstuffs. 87% of patients treated with elimination diet (rice, lamb, turkey, lettuce, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, oil, tea, salt, mineral water, brown sugar) and 97% of patients treated with SCG (mean 63 mg/kg/day) for one month showed a significant improvement of intestinal symptoms. An elimination diet for several weeks can produce, beside a bad compliance (23% of patients admitted to our study didn't strictly follow diet regimen) also a nutritional deprivation. The results of this trial suggest that it's correct to investigate the role of food in children with diarrhea not due to organic diseases and diagnosed such as IBS and to use oral SCG to obtain the improvement of these symptoms.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Use of ass' milk in multiple food allergy.

We report a study of realimentation techniques in 9 unweaned infants with multiple food hypersensitivity. The patients had presented severe symptoms of cow's milk allergy and successive attempts using milk containing soy protein and/or a semielemental formula in their alimentation did not improve their clinical condition, due to the onset of hypersensitivity to these allergens as well. After a short period of parenteral alimentation the infants were refed per os with ass' milk (250 ml/kg/day) + medium chain triglycerides (40 ml/L milk). This food was well tolerated by all patients. No negative clinical reactions were recorded and during hospitalisation average weight increase was 39.8 g/day. The follow-up of the patients showed that ass' milk was tolerated without any problems up to an age ranging from 15 to 20 months, when cow's milk was reintroduced in some patients.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Ultrasonography and gastric emptying: evaluation in infants with gastroesophageal reflux.

We have applied ultrasonography to the evaluation of gastric emptying in children. Two different populations have been investigated: normal children and children with gastroesophageal reflux. All the patients were less than 6 months of age. The diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux was defined by 24-h pH measurement. The technique, used to measure gastric emptying, is the one described by Bolondi et al. In this research we used the simplified method. All children had been submitted to the examination after 4-h fasting. The standard meal was the usual milk formula, 300 ml/m2 body surface area (BSA). A cross-section area of the gastric antrum was determined before a meal and every 15 min for 2 h. The examination was concluded after two measurements were equal to the basal one. The normal gastric emptying curve was determined by a control group. Patients with gastroesophageal reflux showed three different kind of gastric emptying: (a) normal gastric emptying in 20% of cases, (b) abnormal gastric emptying in 15% of cases, and (c) intermediate cases in which the plateau curve is abnormal but the end time of gastric emptying is normal. We defined these three kinds of curves as type I or normal, type III or abnormal, and type II or intermediate. The estimate of frequency in patients with gastroesophageal reflux is similar to the reported data of the literature.

Gastric Emptying↗
PubMed1992

[Evaluation of the effectiveness of cisapride in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux].

To evaluate the effectiveness of administration of oral cisapride in patients with gastro-esophageal reflux, we studied 25 children, aged 1 month-7 years (mean 16.2 months) affected with GER. At the time of diagnosis and 8 weeks after treatment, patients were clinically evaluated and underwent a 24-hour continuous esophageal pH-monitoring. After treatment a complete regression of symptoms was observed in 20/25 patients. Moreover we recorded a significant reduction in the percentage of reflux time (p < 0.0001) and in the Jolley score (p < 0.0001), a very accurate scoring system to evaluate the pH-metric tracing, after treatment. It is concluded that cisapride is a useful agent both for the relief of symptoms and for the improvement of pH-metric parameters in children with GER disease.

Child↗
PubMed1992

[Effects of beta blocking agent iontophoresis by modulated sinusoidal current].

The action of the transcutaneous application of propranolol using modulated sinusoidal current iontophoresis was studied. When this way of administration is used, the drug, while maintaining its negative chronotropic effect, loses the negative inotropic one. Investigations were performed on 58 men aged 32 to 62 who underwent an aortocoronary bypass for myocardial ischemia. Thirty-four patients had already had myocardial infarction. The drug reduced the heart rate and increased cardiac contractility. Moreover, the study showed that only the levogyral isomer of propranolol (the only active one) passes through the skin.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1992

[The effect of the use of sinusoidal modulated currents on the recovery of athletes].

Modular sinusoidal currents were used to optimize the recovery process of the force of athletes' muscles. 113 elite athletes were analyzed. They were participants in rowing, cycling, tennis and Greco-Roman wrestling. In all cases the modular sinusoidal currents were applied to the dorso-cervical and lumbar regions. It was found that applications to the dorso-cervical regions normalize the altered parameters of the cardiovascular system and increase the capacity of the humeral muscles to contract. Furthermore they stabilize the adrenergic sympathetic zone and stimulate the immune system.

Bicycling↗
PubMed1992

[Meteoropathy: a syndrome continuously on the increase].

The authors describe the different kinds of meteoropathies, pointing out how these disorders are becoming ever more frequent in countries belonging to the consumer and welfare society due to the progressive lowering of body resistance and immunologic responses. These "unfavourable meteosyndromes", as meteoropathies should be called, develop when wave disturbances arrive, and are more manifest and persistent in subjects with neurologic disturbances, i.e. in the presence of anxiety, stress, hypertension, coronary artery disease, arthropathy, hyperthyroidism, etc. The different moments in which meteoropathies are more frequent and the possible therapies are also discussed.

Climate↗
PubMed1992

[Correction by physiotherapy of immune disorders in high-grade athletes].

It is well known that during intense training and competitions athletes show a remarkable reduction of their immunological responses. As a matter of fact, during these periods athletes very frequently (five to ten times more than average) fall ill. In order to correct this situation, in the USSR immunomodulator drugs are used together with high frequency electromagnetic waves which are applied on the body surface corresponding to the adrenal glands. In this way body desensitisation is accelerated. One hundred high-level athletes received an application of electromagnetic waves on the body surface corresponding to the thyroid gland and thymus, so as to lower glucocorticoid activity and activate lymphoid tissue. Indices of immunologic reactivity and hormonal levels after electromagnetic treatment were measured in all athletes.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed1991

Severe infantile colic and food intolerance: a long-term prospective study.

To determine the relationship between infantile colic and cow's milk protein intolerance (CMPI) in formula-fed infants, 70 infants (38 male, 32 female) were selected, with mean age 30.2 +/- 21.4 days, with severe colic (duration of crying greater than 4 h per day for 5 days per week). In 50 of the infants in the study group (71.4%) there was a remission of symptoms when cow's milk protein (CMP) was eliminated from the diet. Two successive challenges caused the return of symptoms in all these 50 infants. There was a positive anamnesis for atopy in 9 of 50 of the patients with CMP-related colic and in 1 of 20 of those with non-CMP-related colic (p greater than 0.05). A follow-up period of 18 months' mean duration showed that 22 of 50 (44%) of the infants with CMP-related colic and 1 of 20 (5%) of those with non-CMP-related colic developed an overt alimentary intolerance (p less than 0.02). We conclude that a considerable percentage of the infants with severe colic also have CMPI and that in these cases, dietetic treatment should be the first therapeutic approach.

Colic↗
PubMed1991

Transient gluten hypersensitivity.

We report a case of transient gluten hypersensitivity, demonstrated by jejunal histology at diagnosis, normalization after gluten-free diet, and acute clinical and histological relapse after a challenge with gluten powder at the age of 1 year, resembling that observed in cow's milk protein intolerance. Subsequent provocation tests did not show any alteration. Cases of supposed transient gluten hypersensitivity are rarely reported; our patient is characterized by the acute reaction to gluten challenge associated with a damaged histological picture and depressed levels of complement.

Duodenum↗
PubMed1991

Steatocrit test after a standard fatty meal: a new simple and sensitive test to detect malabsorption.

The steatocrit test, a simple semiquantitative method for determining fat content in stool, was performed after a standard fatty meal to detect malabsorption in patients with celiac disease. Thirty-seven children (mean age 2.6 +/- 2.1 years) with total atrophy of the intestinal villi and 79 controls (mean age 3.5 +/- 2.8 years) were studied. All subjects underwent a small-bowel biopsy, a D-xylose absorption test, a rapid triglyceride absorption test, and a steatocrit determination first on an uncontrolled diet and then again after a standard fatty meal. The steatocrit test after a fatty meal did not detect any false-positive or false-negative results, while the D-xylose test showed two false-negative and four false-positive results, and the rapid triglyceride absorption test found two false-negative and 23 false-positive results. We conclude that the determination of steatocrit after a standard fatty meal is a useful, simple, and noninvasive test to identify patients with total intestinal villous atrophy.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1991

Exocrine pancreatic function in children with coeliac disease before and after a gluten free diet.

This study was designed to determine the extent of pancreatic insufficiency in untreated coeliac disease and whether pancreatic secretion is impaired after a prolonged gluten free period. Three groups of patients were studied: group A comprised 44 patients, mean (SD) age 4.0 (3.1) years, with coeliac disease and total or subtotal atrophy of the intestinal mucosa; group B comprised 67 patients, mean age 4.4 (3.0) years, with coeliac disease but with normal morphology of the intestinal villi (after 12.9 months of a gluten free diet); group C comprised 49 control subjects, mean age 3.2 (3.0) years, with normal jejunal histology. In all subjects exocrine pancreatic function was determined by the secretin-caerulein test; bicarbonate concentration and lipase, phospholipase, and chymotrypsin activity were measured after an intravenous injection of secretin 1 clinical unit (CU) + caerulein 75 ng/kg body weight. Faecal chymotrypsin concentration was also assayed. No significant difference was found between values of the duodenal output of pancreatic enzymes and bicarbonate obtained in the three groups; however, 10 of 44 untreated coeliac patients showed tryptic or lipolytic activity, or both, below the normal limit for our laboratory. The mean value of the faecal chymotrypsin concentration was significantly lower in untreated than in treated coeliac patients (p less than 0.0001) or in control subjects (p less than 0.0001). It is concluded that untreated coeliac patients may have pancreatic deficiency independent of a decrease in enterohormone release. No primary or secondary pancreatic insufficiency was found in coeliac patients where the intestinal mucosa had returned to normal.

Adolescent↗