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Biomedical subjects

A Bertoli

Publications and source records attributed to A Bertoli.

88 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of somatostatin (SRIF) on plasma glucose and insulin response to glucagon in liver cirrhosis.

The present study was performed in order to evaluate the plasma glucose pattern in cirrhotic patients who, in the course of a continuous somatostatin infusion (500 microgram/h), were given pulses of glucagon (1 mg i.v.). In normal as well as in cirrhotic subjects somatostatin infusion provoked a marked reduction of the IRI plasma level and this was uninfluenced by subsequent glucagon administration. The rise in plasma glucose level in response to i.v. glucagon administration during somatostatin infusion was less marked in cirrhotics compared to normal subjects. This can be attributed to a variety of factors such as reduced number of liver cells or quantitative or qualitative changes of the liver cell glucagon receptors. Glucagon does not seem to contribute to the pathogenesis of carbohydrate intolerance in liver cirrhosis.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ketoalkalosis as a result of triple derangement of acid-base equilibrium in a diabetic patient.

A diabetic patient presented with weight loss, ketosis, and hyperventilation, thus mimicking the clinical picture of diabetic ketoacidosis. Laboratory investigations revealed alkalemia and a pattern consistent with a triple derangement of acid-base equilibrium: respiratory alkalosis, metabolic acidosis and metabolic alkalosis. High cortisol level suggested a genesis of ketosis different from diabetes mellitus. The patient died suddenly from acute gastrointestinal bleeding. Autopsy showed a carcinoma of the head of the pancreas with secondary portal hypertension and rupture of varices. Pulmonary micrometastases were demonstrated. It is suggested that stress hormones were the main cause of the 'ketoalkalotic' pattern observed.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Thromboxane production in diabetes mellitus.

A correlation between increased platelet adhesiveness and aggregation and the development of angiopathy in diabetes mellitus can be made. Thromboxane produced by platelets represents a potent platelet aggregation factor. We studied the platelet TXB2 production during blood coagulation in carefully selected patients with type II diabetes mellitus in good metabolic control and the results were correlated with the presence or absence of microangiopathy, fasting blood glucose levels, type of therapy, age, duration of diabetes and the most important hematochemical parameters. No statistically significant differences were found between serum TXB2 concentrations in diabetic patients and control subjects, in diabetics with or without microangiopathy and in diabetics on insulin therapy or on oral hypoglycemic agents. We did not observe any correlation between TXB2 production and age, duration of diabetes, sex, basal blood glucose levels, total and HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, blood creatinine and blood electrolytes. The thromboxane production may be a not important factor for determining the increased platelet aggregation which is at the origin of the angiopathy in diabetes mellitus.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Response of insulin receptors to oral glucose in normal subjects.

Insulin binding to circulating monocytes was studied in ten male volunteers before and 1, 2, and 5 hours after the oral intake of 100 g of glucose. Results indicate an increase in the specific cell binding fraction with a change in receptor affinity 5 hours after glucose. Since the same changes appear 3 hours after food intake they are probably not directly induced by insulinemia.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Viral dynamics and mutations in the pol gene during primary HIV-1 infection.

The understanding of viral dynamics and appearance of mutations during primary infection could be useful for the design of an efficient therapy. For this reason a cohort of samples from naive primary patients was examined. The results pointed out that only a few secondary mutations in protease gene (having no effect on resistance) were found, while a single mutation conferring resistance to non-nucleosides inhibitors of reverse transcriptase was found both in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of a patient. As both the protease secondary mutations and the single non nucleoside reverse transcriptase mutation map far from the catalytical sites of the enzymes, neither one is able to impair viral fitness. Overall data suggest that treated donors carrying resistant strains may be in part unable to transfer them to the recipient, and/or virus in the recipient tends to revert to wild type. These results should be taken into account in the planning of early HAART treatment of HIV infection.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Macrophages: a crucial reservoir for human immunodeficiency virus in the body.

The replication of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in cells of macrophage lineage represents a key pathogenetic event of the neurological damages typically found during the course of this disease. Macrophages are persistently infected cells and thus not susceptible to the cytophatic effect typical of infected activated CD4-lymphocytes. The resistance of macrophages to HIV infection is at least in part mediated by the autocrine production of the nerve growth factor (NGF), a neurokine able to sustain the survival of some cells of bone marrow origin, including monocyte-derived macrophages. This anti-apoptotic effect of NGF in HIV-infected macrophages can be even more relevant at the central nervous system level, where many cells are able to physiologically produce NGF, thus further increasing the survival of macrophages infected by HIV, and enhancing the damages that these cells may induce upon bystander neurons. The proapoptotic effect of soluble factors released by HIV-infected macrophages may heavily affect the survival and functions also of astrocytes, that in turn become unable to sustain neuronal homeostasis. Taken together, this information supports the importance of therapeutic attempts aimed at attacking virus replication in infected macrophages and/or to selectively eliminate these chronically infected and persistently virus-producing cells.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Primary HIV-1 resistance in recently and chronically infected individuals of the Italian Cohort Naive for Antiretrovirals.

The risk of acquiring HIV-1 drug resistance at time of infection has become a public health problem following the widespread use of antiretroviral drugs in developed countries. Although a number of studies have reported data regarding the prevalence of HIV-1 primary resistance in developed countries over the past years, limited knowledge is available regarding the proportion of mutations related to drug resistance in antiretroviral naive subjects with chronic HIV-1 disease. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of mutations in the reverse-transcriptase (RT) and protease region both in a representative group of recently HIV-1 infected subjects (n=68) and a cohort of chronically-infected HIV-positive patients (n=347) enrolled in the Italian Cohort of Antiretroviral Naive patients (I.CO.NA.). In recently infected individuals, the overall prevalence of mutations for nucleoside RTI (NRTIs) was 10/68 (14.7%). The distribution of mutations by calendar year were 0, 1 in 1996, 9, 3 in 1997 and 1, 0 in 1998 for NRTIs and protease inhibitors (PIs) respectively. Thymidine associated mutations were identified in six subjects (8.8%), five of whom had one mutation [41L, 70K (n=2), 215Y] and one had two mutations (67N+219Q). Four subjects (5.9%) showed the changes associated with resistance to lamivudine (184V or 118I). No non nucleoside-RTI (NNRTI) mutations were present in the study period. Primary PIs mutations (two 46L and two 82I) were present in four subjects (5.9%). Of note, mutations related to resistance to more than one class of antiretrovirals were present in one (1.5%). Among patients with chronic infection a large proportion (88.5%) carried no mutations in RT region, 11.5% individuals carried one or more mutations associated with resistance to NRTI (7.8%), or NNRTI (4.9%), with 4 patients carrying mutations to both classes. Among mutations associated with high-level resistance to RTI, T215Y was found in only 2 patients, M184V in 2 cases, T69D in another case, and K103N in only 1 patient, for a total of 6 patients (one carrying both T215Y and M184V) (1.7%). Primary mutations associated with substantial resistance to PIs were found in only 5/347 patients (1.4%); all the other patients carried only secondary mutations. Prevalence of mutations associated with high-level resistance to antiretroviral drugs is stable in recently infected individuals and low in patients with established HIV infection. The potential impact of transmitted mutations on the response to first regimen in individuals carrying transmitted mutations needs to be assessed by prospective studies.

Acute Disease↗