[Considerations on the use of a lyophilized succinylcholine preparation].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to V Russo.
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Fifteen juvenile diabetic patients with normal eye fundus, 6 with non proliferative retinopathy, 5 with proliferative retinopathy and 5 healthy control subjects were studied in order to investigate pituitary function in relation to diabetic retinopathy. ACTH values at 08(00) and 18(00), hPRL and TSh secretion in response to 200 microgram TRH i.v., and GH secretion in response to 500 mg oral L-dopa were evaluated. In all diabetic subjects, 08(00) ACTH levels were lower than in controls. Basal hPRL, TSH and GH values of the diabetics did not differ from those of the controls. No significant differences were found in hPRL levels in response to TRH, whereas significantly lower TSH responses were found in the diabetics. L-dopa caused a significantly different response of GH in the diabetic subjects compared to controls. There is thus a considerable derangement in pituitary hormone secretion in juvenile diabetics mellitus.
Metabolic effects of muscular exercise were studied in eleven subjects with type I diabetes mellitus during poor metabolic control, and again during good metabolic control, and in ten healthy control subjects. All the subjects were submitted to a submaximal gradual triangular test on an electrically braked bicycle ergometer; glucose, FFA, alanine and lactate were measured at rest, and after exercise. In poorly controlled patients, glucose and FFA were unchanged after exercise, whereas blood alanine and lactate increased by a percentage similar to that of the controls, and well-controlled diabetic patients. Baseline alanine concentrations were lower and lactate concentrations higher than in the controls and well-controlled patients. After adequate metabolic control was achieved, in the well-controlled diabetic patients a normalization of pre-exercise alanine and lactate levels and a decrease in blood glucose and FFA after exercise was observed.
Type I diabetes mellitus represents a metabolic disorder in which intracellular glycolytic pathway is inhibited by insulin deficiency, with the subsequent decreased availability of energetic substrates such as ATP. Some aspects of the energetic metabolism in response to an intensive demand (muscular exercise) were investigated, in a group of 10 ketotic diabetic patients, by measuring erythrocyte adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and blood glucose, free fatty acids (FFA) and lactate levels. In the diabetic subjects, in comparison with normal subjects, the decreased levels of erythrocyte ATP at rest did not increase after exercise, while the increased levels of FFA at rest did not diminish after exercise. The results show that the impaired erythrocyte glycolysis may produce reduced levels of ATP not only at rest, but also after exercise, when muscular contraction results in a manifold increase in cellular energy requirements. In addition, other metabolic systems providing energy for the exercising muscle, such as FFA utilization, are impaired in the ketotic diabetic patients.
Chromosomal aberrations were investigated in 56 cattle with chronic enzootic haematuria (CEH) raised on pastures giving access to bracken fern. Of these animals, 27 were slaughtered and showed neoplastic lesions of the urinary bladder. Tumour tissue from 11 of the 27 cattle contained bovine papillomavirus type 2 (BPV-2) DNA. Increased numbers of chromosomal aberrations were seen in all animals with CEH, as compared with 30 control cattle that had had no access to bracken fern. The highest clastogenic effect was observed in cattle with urinary bladder cancer and evidence of BPV-2 DNA, suggesting that BPV-2 and bracken fern act synergistically in the production of chromosomal instability. In 19 of 20 animals with CEH, two bracken fern toxic compounds (quercitin and ptaquiloside) were demonstrated in urine, serum and milk.
Granulosa cells from bovine and porcine ovaries were cultured either in monolayer or in follicle-like barium alginate capsules for 6 days. Morphological investigation by electron scanning microscopy indicated that culture in a three-dimensional (3D) system allows self-organization of spherical-polyhedral shape cells. The luteinization index (progesterone:17beta-estradiol ratio) was significantly higher for monolayer cells than for the 3D cell culture system, confirming the results of morphological analysis and indicating more physiological growth. The encapsulated 3D culture system appears to be a promising way of obtaining in vitro maturation and development of follicles and oocytes.
Three-dimensional culture systems in barium alginate capsules can be employed to maintain primary granulosa cells in an undifferentiated state for almost 6 days. This is due to a self-organization of cells in a pseudofollicular structure. The transfection of primary granulosa cells is a necessary condition when employing these culture systems for several purposes, for example as an in vitro toxicity test or the development of oocytes or zygotes. In this work, the feasibility of two transient transfection techniques (liposome-mediated and electroporation) was assessed in primary porcine granulosa cells after a 6-day culture in an artificial extracellular matrix (barium alginate membrane). Human recombinant green fluorescent protein was chosen as a molecular readout, and protein expression was assessed after 48 hours from transfection. Liposome-mediated transfection gave low transfection levels, with increasing yields from 2 to 12 microgDNA/ml of medium; the maximum percentage (85.7%) was reached at 12 microgDNA/ml of medium. Electroporation-mediated transfection yields were higher: the best results (81.7% of transfected cells) were achieved with two 50V pulses and 12 microg/ml DNA. The application of a single or double pulse (50V) at 4 mgDNA/ml gave negligible results. These results indicate that primary granulosa cell cultured in barium alginate capsules can be transfected by electroporation with high transfection yields.
Pacemaker lead extraction has been shown to be an effective and safe treatment in the case of infected per-manent pacemaker leads. However, it can lead to potentially serious complications, usually occurring during the ex-traction procedure. This report describes a case of a 74-year-old male with a persistent superior vena cava thrombo-sis related to an infected permanent pacemaker lead transvenous extraction. Clinical and surgical management are discussed.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: IMC (intestinal metaplasia of the cardia) has been a subject of great interest, given the rapidly increasing incidence of adenocarcinoma in this location, over the past two decades. Whether this histological alteration is a consequence of gastroesophageal reflux disease, or a manifestation of an H. pylori-related multifocal atrophic gastritis, is unclear. Furthermore, whether IMC should be considered a premalignant lesion of gastric cardia is still unknown. We performed a prospective study in order to determine the prevalence of IMC in patients presenting for elective esophagogastric-duodenal endoscopy and to evaluate a potential association between IMC and some clinical, endoscopic and histological variables. METHODOLOGY: Biopsy specimens were taken from 105 unselected patients undergoing routine diagnostic endoscopy. Eight biopsies were taken from different sides, for histological evaluation: 1 above and 3 below the squamocolumnar junction, 2 from gastric fundus and 2 from gastric antrum. All specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin-Alcian blue and modified Giemsa to facilitate the detection of H. pylori. RESULTS: Eighty-six patients (50 males, 36 females) with a mean age of 46.5 years (range: 23-75 years), were included in the study. Twenty-one (24.5%) were found to have IMC; 4 (19%) of these had concomitant low-grade dysplasia of the cardiac mucosa. IMC was associated with: males (P = 0.04), endoscopic diagnosis of esophagitis (P = 0.02), histological diagnosis of esophagitis (P = 0.008), mucosa of the cardiac type (P = 0.02), chronic carditis (P = 0.002) and dysplasia (P = 0.04). There was no correlation with: age, reflux symptoms, activity of carditis, H. pylori infection of the cardia and intestinal metaplasia of the distal gastric mucosa. CONCLUSIONS: IMC is common in our area. It is associated with endoscopic and histological changes of gastroesophageal reflux disease, but not with H. pylori infection of the cardia. Although 19% of patients presented concomitant dysplasia (of low grade), long-term follow-up studies will be necessary to assess the effective risk of IMC for cancer transformation.
The h.i.a. titer has been determined against the strain of the A/Port Chalmers/1/73 influenza virus in 805 serum samples obtained in Rome from as many adults during six distinct periods between spring 1962 and summer-autumn 1974.
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Haemostatic system compounds not routinely studied, have been evaluated to define the individual risk of VTE (venous thromboembolism) and to influence the prognosis using selective drugs. Significantly high values of fibrinogen, free-TFPI, F1 + 2 fragments and TAT complexes on coagulation side and PAI-1 and TAFI on fibrinolysis side have been detected. Thrombin seems to have a role in the inhibition of TAFI dependent fibrinolysis not inhibited by heparin.
PURPOSE: From the early 90s, spiral CT technology has considerably changed the diagnostic capability of Pulmonary Embolism (PE), giving a direct vision of intravascular thrombi. Further technological progress has strengthened its diagnostic impact leading to an essential role in clinical practice. The advent of Multi-Detector CT (MDCT) has subsequently increased the reliability of this technique to the point of undermining the role of pulmonary angiography as the gold standard and occupying a central position in diagnostic algorithms. The aim of this paper is to appraise this evolution by means of a meta-analysis of the relevant literature from 1995 to 2004. RESULTS: The review of the literature showed the sensitivity and specificity of CT to have increased from 37-94% and 81-100% (single-detector CT) to 87-94% and 94-100% (4-channel multidetector CT), especially thanks to the possibility of depicting subsegmental clots, with an interobserver agreement of 0.63-0.94 (k). CONCLUSIONS: CT is one of the most reliable and effective methods in the diagnosis is PE, with the advantage of being extremely fast and providing alternative diagnoses. Recent improvements in MDCT technology confers the highest value of diagnostic accuracy with respect to other imaging modalities such as scintigraphy, angiography, MRI, D-dimer assay and Doppler US.
The aim of this study was to evaluate whether morphometrical analysis can be of diagnostic value for canine acanthomatous ameloblastoma. We calculated, by means of an automated image analyser, some morphometric nuclear parameters, in particular: mean nuclear area (MNA), mean nuclear perimeter (MNP), maximum and minimum diameters (MDx and MDm) coefficient of variation of the nuclear area (NACV), largest to smallest dimension ratio (LS ratio), and form factor (FF), in 8 canine acanthomatous ameloblastomas, and we compared these morphometric data to those of 13 squamous cell carcinomas of canine gingiva. The results indicated a progressive increase of the MNA, NACV, MNP and MDm proceeding from acanthomatous ameloblastomas (MNA: 42.11+/-8.74; NACV: 28,36+/-7,23; MNP: 24.18+/- 2.68; MDm: 5.69+/-0.49) to squamous cell carcinomas (MNA:49,69+/-9,10; NACV: 30,89+/-7,75; MNP: 25.63+/-2.54; MDm: 6.64+/-0.73). On the contrary, the LS ratio and the FF resulted greater in acanthomatous ameloblastomas (LS ratio: 1,63+/-0,12; FF: 1,13+/-0,002) than in SCCs (LS ratio: 1,40+/-0,12; FF:0.91+/-0.38). Moreover, the MNA, MNP,MDx and MDm resulted similar (MNA: p=0.89; MNP: p=0,65; MDm: p=0,16; MDx: p=0,13) in a subset of four acanthomatous ameloblastomas with cellular atypia (MNA:49,01+/-6,88; MNP: 26,28+/-1,99; MDm: 6.08+/-0.41; MDx: 10.18+/-0.88) and in squamous cell carcinomas (MNA:49.69+/-9,10; MNP: 25.63+/-2.54; MDm: 6.64+/-0.73; MDx: 9.26+/-1.05). While the NACV values resulted higher in typical acanthomatous ameloblastoma (29,99+/-6,06) than in atypical acanthomatous ameloblastoma (26,74+/-8,84) and similar to those of the SCCs (30,89+/-7,75). These results seem to confirm that acanthomatous ameloblastoma is a malignant or potentially malignant lesion and emphasizes that nuclear morphometry analysis can be an useful diagnostic and prognostic method in canine oral pathology.
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