Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Barbieri.
The Authors report personal experience in management of 23 children after severe head injury. All patients were submitted to TC scanning and their performance status was evaluated according to Glasgow Coma Scale (G.C.S.). All children were treated with hyperventilation, steroids, mannitol and, when necessary, Penthobarbital (TPS). Authors present the outcome at a distance of 6 months from trauma's beginning.
On the basis of a clinical case the authors report the technique of laparotomic transvesical incision for cesarean section, which, nevertheless, has limited and special indications.
The relationship between breast cancer, liposoluble vitamins, cholesterol and triglycerides was investigated by means of a hospital-based case-control study conducted at Milan (Italy) and Montpellier (France). These parameters were measured in blood samples taken from 319 cases and 344 controls. The interview included an evaluation of dietary intake of liposoluble vitamins. No difference emerged in liposoluble vitamin consumption, whereas a statistically significantly higher serum level of cholesterol and plasma level of vitamin E existed in cases compared to controls. The difference in plasma vitamin E was confirmed after adjustment for total cholesterol and triglycerides. In contrast, vitamin A variations appear to follow triglyceride trends. A multivariate analysis of the vitamin E plasma level was performed after classification of cases and controls according to quintile distribution of controls. All known risk factors plus age, serum total cholesterol and triglycerides were used as covariates. The odds ratio value for the highest quintile of plasma vitamin E is: 4.2 (1.9-9.0).
The possible association between the risk of breast cancer, blood level, and dietary intake of preformed Vitamin A (retinol) and beta-carotene was investigated in a case-control study carried out from May 1982 to June 1985. The patients studied were 214 previously untreated individuals with T1-2, N0-1, M0 breast cancer admitted to the National Cancer Institute of Milan and 215 controls admitted for conditions other than neoplastic or metabolic disorders. Both cases and controls were selected from an age group ranging from 30 to 65 years old. Plasma levels of retinol and beta-carotene were tested from blood samples drawn during the first day after admission to the hospital. A questionnaire about diet was used to estimate the mean intake of 69 food items from which a daily dietary index of retinol and beta-carotene intake was computed. Information relating to the woman's history, socioeconomic status, and known risk factors for breast cancer was also collected. No association was found between beta-carotene (in the diet or blood) or dietary retinol and the risk of breast cancer. As for blood retinol, our data show a significant trend of increasing risk with higher levels; multivariate relative risk for subsequent serum levels based on the control quintiles, are 1, 1.5, 1.8, 1.7; (test for linear trend: chi-square = 8.26). Thus, these findings, together with the results of other studies, suggest that retinol and beta-carotene are unlikely to be related to the risk of breast cancer.
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Previous clinical studies with intravenous enoximone have used cumulative dosing to quantify enoximone's hemodynamic effects. The magnitude and duration of the hemodynamic effects of single intravenous doses of enoximone were evaluated in patients with congestive heart failure. Sixty patients, who were in New York Heart Association functional classes III and IV, received single intravenous doses of enoximone, either 0.25 (12 patients), 0.5 (13 patients), 1 (14 patients), 1.5 (10 patients) or 2 mg/kg (11 patients). Cardiac index was increased by 20% with the 0.25 mg/kg dose and by 48% and 42% with the 1.5 and 2 mg/kg doses, respectively. These increases were statistically significant (Student's paired t test with Bonferroni's correction, p less than 0.007) for 1 hour after 0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg, for 2 hours after 1 mg/kg and for 4 hours after 1.5 and 2 mg/kg. Enoximone also reduced pulmonary artery diastolic pressure by 19% with 0.25 mg/kg and by 29% with 2 mg/kg. The duration of effect varied from 1 hour with 0.25 mg/kg to 4 hours with 2 mg/kg. Enoximone produced no consistent or dose-related effects on heart rate or blood pressure. Eighteen adverse reactions were reported by 15 patients, of which 11 were minor and transient (vein pain, flushes, nausea). In 5 patients ventricular or supraventricular arrhythmias were observed, including nonsustained ventricular tachycardia and extrasystoles; 3 of these patients had evidence of arrhythmias before enoximone. Laboratory studies before and after treatment showed no drug-related effects. Dose-related effects on the magnitude and duration of hemodynamic responses to intravenous enoximone were evident within the dose range of 0.25 to 2 mg/kg.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Plasma and dietary levels of retinol and beta-carotene were evaluated in a consecutive series of 47 females with histologically proven primary lung cancer and 159 nonneoplastic hospital controls. The dietary questionnaire included 69 different items: special care was given to foods rich in vitamin A and seasonal foods (e.g., vegetables and fruits), whereas serum analysis was focused on retinol and beta-carotene. Age-adjusted mean values for cases and controls were, respectively, 458.3 vs. 551.3 mg for plasma retinol, 276.1 vs. 390.1 mg for plasma carotene; 598.1 vs 820.6 mg for daily retinol, and 628.0 vs. 882.5 mg for dietary carotene. The odds ratios for low vs. high tertile, adjusted for age, smoking, retinol or carotene, cholesterol, and triglycerides by multivariate analysis were, respectively, 1.13 for plasma retinol, 5.04 for plasma carotene, 3.27 for dietary retinol, and 2.93 for dietary carotene. For all the examined items, there was a trend of increased risk for the second and third tertile, and statistical significance was reached for plasma beta-carotene (p less than 0.05). The hypothesis that a higher risk of lung cancer is related to a low vitamin A consumption is supported by these data.
Non-functioning parathyroid carcinoma is a very rare disease. Only 12 cases have been reported in the literature. The clinical behavior is characterized by the appearance and growth of a neck mass or nodule, which often has been present for many years, and is not accompanied by clinical or laboratory evidence of hypercalcemia or elevated levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in peripheral blood. Pathologic findings are similar to those of functioning tumors, and the proof of malignancy is established on the basis of an increased mitotic index only. Data on survival from cases reported in the literature are not conclusive; however, the non-functioning type of parathyroid carcinoma seems to be a more aggressive disease. Radiotherapy seems to be effective in the local control of the disease, but most patients become metastatic. Even if no data are available on response to chemotherapy, the course of the disease is relatively indolent.
Seventeen patients with heavily pretreated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were submitted to a combination of 5-fluorouracil, 500 mg/m2 on days 1-4, and cis-platin, 50 mg/m2 on day 5, repeated every 21 days. Before administration of 5-fluorouracil, N5,N10-methyltetrahydrofolate, 200 mg/m2 i.v., was given. Only 1 partial response and 4 stable disease were observed, and the median survival of the entire group was 5 months. Although all patients had been heavily pretreated and a considerable percentage (6/17, 35.2%) of these showed resistance to first-line therapy, this combination seems to be ineffective as second-line therapy in head and neck cancer.
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The concentrations of serum albumin and the cumulative loss of albumin through the drainage tubes were followed in 14 patients who underwent radical mastectomy for cancer. The concentration of serum albumin declined during the postoperative period, and the nadir was on the 5th day. On the first 5 days a good correlation was observed between hypoalbuminemia and loss of albumin from the wound. After this period, hypoalbuminemia persisted unchanged although small quantities of albumin continued to be lost through the drains. It is concluded that in surgery complicated by abundant serum discharge, the albumin loss may be the main cause of postoperative hypoalbuminemia.
Available systems for evaluation of degree of unsaturation of thyroxine-binding globulin are hampered at the bound-free separation step. In current assays, inorganic sorbants or ion-exchange resins are used to separate free 125I-labeled triiodothyronine from that bound to thyroxine-binding globulin. The techniques are laborious, time consuming, and not readily adaptable to total automation. In the assay we describe, triiodothyronine antibody, immobilized on the walls of polypropylene test tubes, is used as the bound-free separating agent in the evaluation of degree of unsaturation of thyroxine-binding globulin. The assay is simplified to four steps; washing, centrifugation, and use of columns are eliminated; and the procedure is readily automatable with existing pipetting equipment. Correlation with existing methods is excellent.
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