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Biomedical subjects

V Lauro

Publications and source records attributed to V Lauro.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Moderate hypothermia ameliorates liver energy failure after intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion in anaesthetised rats.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) can cause liver failure. The aims of this work were to study the effects of intestinal IR on liver energy metabolism and to evaluate the effects of moderate hypothermia. METHODS: Intestinal IR (90-minute intestinal ischaemia plus 60-minute or 240-minute reperfusion) was achieved by clamping and unclamping the superior mesenteric artery in rats. Normothermia or moderate hypothermia (30 degrees to 33 degrees C) was maintained by adjusting the environmental temperature. The ratio of hepatic inorganic phosphate to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was monitored continuously during intestinal IR using in vivo phosphorus ((31)P) magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Phosphorus metabolites also were measured in extracts prepared from freeze-clamped liver and intestine. RESULTS: Mortality occurred exclusively during normothermic intestinal IR. A progressive increase in the hepatic inorganic phosphate to ATP ratio after normothermic intestinal IR was observed. Moderate hypothermia delayed this effect. Analysis of liver extracts confirmed above findings. However, there was no difference in intestinal phosphocreatine or ATP between normothermic and hypothermic rats undergoing intestinal IR. CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal IR at normothermia was associated with liver energy failure and high mortality rate. Moderate hypothermia ameliorated liver energy failure but did not attenuate intestinal energy failure after intestinal IR. Hypothermia may prove to be useful in the management of patients with intestinal IR injuries in the future.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed2001

Antenatal diagnosis and early laparoscopic treatment of a rare variation of androgen-insensitivity syndrome.

Androgen-insensitivity syndrome (AIS) (Testicular feminisation or Morris syndrome) is characterised by external female genitalia and bilateral testes with a normal male karyotype. This kind of syndrome is transmitted recessively. Presence of hypoplastic and short "pseudo-vagina" is one of the characteristics of this syndrome. We report here a case of AIS in which there was a well-formed vagina (6 cm). The case was diagnosed antenatally and managed laparoscopically.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Laparoscopic surgery of diaphragmatic diseases in children: our experience with five cases.

AIMS: In paediatric surgery the laparoscopic approach can be used to repair diaphragmatic anomalies originating from the abdomen or containing abdominal viscera. Candidates for laparoscopic correction are children with mild symptoms and good respiratory and haemodynamic conditions. The authors present their experience with 5 patients treated successfully for different types of diaphragmatic lesions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Five children were treated laparoscopically since 1998. Two true Morgagni-Larrey hernias, one recurrent left Bochdalek hernia, one diaphragmatic dysontogenetic cyst and one huge congenital sliding and rolling hiatal hernia. All the herniated viscera were repositioned in the abdomen and the defects--including the diaphragmatic hole at the level of the dysontogenetic cyst--were directly sutured without the use of a mesh. RESULTS: All patients are healthy without signs of recurrence observed at chest X-ray after a follow-up of 3 months to 1 year. DISCUSSION: Under specific conditions the laparoscopic approach can be an effective and more advantageous alternative to laparotomy for diaphragmatic congenital diseases in a paediatric population.

Child↗
PubMed2001

Prenatal diagnosis of genetic abnormalities using fetal CD34+ stem cells in maternal circulation and evidence they do not affect diagnosis in later pregnancies.

In the present study, we report a new method for enrichment and analysis of fetal CD34+ stem cells after culture in order to determine whether it is feasible for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. We also determined whether fetal CD34+ stem cells persist in maternal blood after delivery and assessed whether they have an impact on noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of genetic abnormalities. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 35 pregnant women, 13 non-pregnant women who had given birth to male offsprings, 12 women who had never been pregnant, and eight pregnant women with male fetuses. CD34+ stem cells were enriched and either cultured for prenatal diagnosis or analyzed with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)/polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine peristance in maternal blood. Fetal/maternal cells can be isolated and grown "in vitro" to provide enough cells for a more accurate fetal sex or aneuploid prediction than is provided by unenriched and uncultured CD34+ stem cells. The presence of fetal cells in maternal blood samples from mothers who had given birth to male offspring was found in 3 of 13 blood samples. PCR was positive for Y chromosome in one woman who had never been pregnant. Analysis of cultured CD34+ stem cells from mothers with Y PCR positivity did not detect any male cells in any samples. Even if PCR positivity is due to persistence of fetal stem cells from previous pregnancies, it does not seem to affect this new system of enrichment, culture, and FISH analysis of CD34+ fetal stem cells.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Intestinal bypass of the oesophagus: 117 patients in 28 years.

This study includes 117 patients operated upon in the period from 1970 to 1999. Indications, surgical techniques, complications, and results are reviewed. Indications included: long-gap oesophageal atresia with or without fistula in 81 patients; peptic stenosis in 19; caustic stenosis in 12; oesophageal varices in 2; and 1 case each of oesophageal epidermolysis bullosa, total oesophageal leiomyomatosis, and a non-functioning antiperistaltic retrosternal colic graft operated upon in another hospital. A retrosternal bypass was performed 106 times: 98 first operations and 8 redos; the intrathoracic technique was used 19 times. The left transverse colon was used in 107 cases (85.6%), the right transverse colon in 8 (6.4%), and the ileocecum in 10 (8%). All the intestinal bypasses were placed in the isoperistaltic direction. There were 5 deaths in the first 11 years of our experience; no patient died from 1982 on. Ten complications were treated conservatively (8%): 2 wound infections healed with medical treatment, and 8 leaks of the cervical anastomosis closed spontaneously. The major surgical complications were 8 gangrenous bypasses (6.4%), removed and reoperated about 1 year later utilizing an ileocolic retrosternal graft. Three cases of peptic disease of the colic bypass (2.4%) were successfully treated with the author's technique. Nine patients had minor surgical complications (7.2%): 3 strictures of the oesophagocolic anastomosis in a retrosternal bypass (resected and reoperated) and 6 cases of adhesive occlusion. In our opinion, the best substitute of the oesophagus is the colon, particularly the left transverse segment, which may be placed behind the sternum or in the oesophageal bed, always in the isoperistaltic direction. The low mortality (4%), restricted to the early period of our experience, and few major surgical complications (6.4%) are acceptable considering the importance of the operation, and the long-term results may be considered very satisfactory.

Burns↗
PubMed2000

A new methodology of fetal stem cell isolation, purification, and expansion: preliminary results for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.

We developed a combined methodological approach to enrich and to proliferate in vitro fetal CD34+ stem progenitor cells. Using a magnetic cell-sorting technique, CD34+ cells from pregnant women at the early-second trimester were isolated and enriched and compared to those isolated from blood of nonpregnant women. The number and frequency of CD34+ cells were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the pregnant women. Unenriched peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and enriched CD34+ cells were cultured in a methylcellulose system to evaluate the cloning potential of progenitor cells. After culture, the numbers of burst-forming units erythroid/colony-forming units erythroid (BFU-E/CFU-E) and colony-forming units granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) colonies were increased by 33 and 16 times, respectively. Finally, to distinguish between fetal and maternal cells, four cases of cultured cells were hybridized with specific probes for X and Y chromosomes and two cases with a specific probe for chromosome 21. In normal pregnancies, we identified a high number of male fetal cells and an elevated fetal/maternal ratio. When we analyzed blood samples from pregnancies with trisomic fetuses, we scored a high ratio of trisomic cells respect to maternal cells that was significantly different from the ratio of pregnancies with normal fetuses. Our results demonstrate fetal progenitor cells may be cultured and detected successfully with an appropriate combined methodological approach, which may significantly increase the feasibility of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.

Antigens, CD34↗
PubMed2000

[Pre-eclampsia: role of excessive caloric intake].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the average daily diet of women having physiologic pregnancy versus patients presenting preeclampsia (PE) in order to evaluate if increased caloric intake is associated with preeclampsia. METHODOLOGY: The macronutrients and kilocalories in measurements obtained from diaries filled in over a seven day period by 147 pregnant women (30 preeclamptics, 117 with physiologic pregnancy were compared (the proportion of about 1/4 between the two groups was chosen to increase the statistical efficacy, because this pathology is rather unfrequent). RESULTS: The analysis of the diaries shows that the preeclamptic women consume, every day a greater quantity (p < 0.05) of kilocalories, proteins and lipids than the physiologic pregnancy. No statistically significant difference was found for fibres and carbohydrates (the last ones recorded without distinguish mono and disaccharides from polysaccharides). Physiologic pregnancy mean Body Mass Index is 21.6 versus 26.4 of PE women (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Intake of energy, protein and lipid were positively associated with risk of PE. Overweight patients are highly at risk of contracting PE. These data, according to others trials confirm the advisability: 1) to analyse the diet of pregnant women; 2) to reduce nutritional intake, if in excess, first of all, in women at risk of PE; 3) to suggest loosing weight to overweight patients before initiating a pregnancy.

Energy Intake↗
PubMed1997

Preeclampsia: correlation between changes in symptomatology and changes in diet.

This study analyzes 13 cases of pregnant women affected by varying degrees of preeclampsia, and correlates the patients' data (height, weight, preeclampsia symptoms according to intensity and time of onset) to the amount of mean daily intake of nutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, starch, total calories, Na). The amount of nutrients was obtained processing with a special computer software the patients' weekly dietary diaries. The analysis of the data shows the correlation between the onset of preeclampsia symptomatology and the excess of certain nutrients: excess in calories and/or proteins, and/or lipids, and/or simple sugars, and/or sodium. A reduction in the amount of these nutrients, especially proteins and Na when applied during the early stage of preeclampsia symptoms, favours the disappearance of the clinical signs of the disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Prenatal diagnosis of vasa previa presenting as amniotic band. 'A not so innocent amniotic band'.

We describe a case in which the early antepartum diagnosis of vasa previa was made in an asymptomatic patient by means of color Doppler ultrasonography. A woman, gravida 3 para 1 at 22 weeks' gestation, was diagnosed as having an anterior low-lying placenta, a velamentous cord insertion and an amniotic band with vessels traversing the internal cervical os towards a succenturiate lobe. At the 39th week, a Cesarean section was performed and a healthy female baby was born. Transvaginal color Doppler flow imaging facilitated the accurate diagnosis of this condition.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Acute and chronic viral hepatitis in HIV positive patients].

In this study we evaluated the spreading of HBV, HCV, HDV and HIV among drug user patients. Spreading of hepatotropic viruses resulted high (HBV 84%, HCV 87%, HDV 7%), while spreading of HIV resulted relatively low (18%). During the period considered we did not observe any favourable effect of hepatotropic viruses on the progression of HIV infection, while the chronic evolution of acute viral hepatitis HBV related was high (90%) in HIV+ patients. HIV infection did not determine different histological findings in respect to HIV- patients with chronic hepatitis, HBV or HCV related

English Abstract↗
PubMed1996

[Primary biliary peritonitis without perforation in childhood: etiopathogenetic evaluations and 2 case reports].

The Authors review biliary peritonitis. After some evaluations on etiopathogenesis, biliary peritonitis without perforation in childhood is discussed. The rarity of this form is considered as well as etiopathological hypothesis, difficulties of diagnosis and surgical management. Two cases of primary biliary peritonitis without perforation observed and operated in two children are reported.

Bile↗
PubMed1995

[Gastric cancer in the geriatric patient: our experience].

The Authors report their experience in the management of 68 patients aged over 70 years affected by gastric cancer: 64 of them were operated. After some considerations on patients status, nutritional and immunological conditions, operative risk and cancer characteristics the Authors, on the basis of the results obtained, discuss about the opportunity of surgical therapy and relative adequate surgical techniques in the elderly.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Chlamydial infection and male infertility: an epidemiological study.

Chlamydia-positive genitourinary infections are common causes of male and female infertility. Semen abnormalities are often associated with Chlamydia infections. A large population of male patients, admitted to our clinic for genitourinary infection, were examined for genitourinary pathogens, including Chlamydia, and for semen abnormalities. There were higher abnormalities semen in Chlamydia-infected patients than either non-Chlamydia-infected or healthy controls. Chlamydia therapy by antimicrobial agents improved semen characteristics. Chlamydia infection contributes to seminal fluid abnormalities and probably to male infertility. A search for chlamydial infection is warranted whenever semen abnormalities are noted. An antimicrobial therapy improves semen quality when effective in eradicating Chlamydia.

Chlamydia Infections↗