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Biomedical subjects

A Bertotto

Publications and source records attributed to A Bertotto.

113 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Initial experience in the treatment of bronchiolitis using heparin].

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the efficacy of treatment with heparin in children with bronchiolitis. We studied 30 children (average age 11.3 months) with bronchiolitis; 15 subjects were submitted to a supportive therapy with an adjunct of sodium heparin (50 U/Kg/24 h i.v.) for a time lasting 24-36 hours. The control group was managed with supportive therapy only. We considered the days of the disease and the persistence of symptoms since the admission as peculiar parameters between the two groups. The results appeared to be highly significant in the heparin treated group, with a mean duration of the diseases of 3.06 days compared to 5.53 days of the controls (p less than 0.001). These data are supportive for a possible utilization of the heparin in bronchiolitis but much more experiments are needed to confirm these results.

Bronchiolitis, Viral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Crithidia luciliae test in the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Fluorescence of the kinetoplast of Crithidia luciliae was employed as a test to detect anti-DNA antibodies in 179 serum samples from 95 patients with various immunological diseases. The test was positive only in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The results confirm the high specificity of this test in the diagnosis of SLE.

Antigen-Antibody Reactions↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Protein tyrosine kinase inhibition and cell proliferation: is the [3H]-thymidine uptake assay representative of the T-lymphocyte proliferation rate?

T-cell growth is controlled to a large degree by extracellular signals that bind to specific receptors on the surface of cells. A number of these receptors have intrinsic protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) activity. Their action on second messenger generation, and thus on cell proliferation, has been indirectly demonstrated by the decrease in [3H]-thymidine (TdR) uptake that follows co-stimulation of T-cells with mitogens and PTK inhibitors such as genistein (GEN). In this paper we report that the [3H]-TdR uptake assay is not a valid and reliable tool for investigating the proliferative activity of certain T-cell lines. In fact, a concomitant assessment of both [3H]-TdR uptake and cell cycle progression demonstrated that GEN is able to block G2/M progression of Jurkat T-lymphocytes even at doses (5 micrograms/ml) that do not influence [3H]-TdR uptake. Pretreatment with sodium o-vanadate (100 nM) could not reverse the GEN-related cell cycle perturbation, but was able to restore optimal [3H]-TdR uptake. Finally, GEN treatment was able to induce concentration-dependent apoptotic cell death of Jurkat T-cells. The control of cell activation, proliferation and programmed cell death is undoubtedly influenced by receptor-associated PTKs. The final effect on cell survival is almost entirely dependent on the activation state of the cell. The [3H]-TdR uptake assay seems to be inadequate for a correct interpretation of the expected results.

Cell Cycle↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Functional characterization of T cells bearing the gamma/delta T-cell receptor in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.

High percentages of gamma/delta+ T cells in the peripheral blood of a subgroup of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) were found. This allowed us to purify and analyze them without their being previously expanded in vitro, and to investigate, therefore, the role of these cells in the pathological immune response which characterizes such systemic autoimmune disorders. The results showed poor proliferation of patient gamma/delta+ T cells in response to anti-CD3, due not to macrophage-dependent suppression but to defective interleukin 2 (IL-2) synthesis. Despite the defective proliferation patient gamma/delta+ cells, unlike those of the normal controls, provided a helper effect in inducing B cells to secrete immunoglobulins (Ig), particularly when they were preincubated with IL-2. The relative increase in a gamma/delta+ T cell subset which, although it secretes low levels of IL-2, is able to provide help for B-cell Ig synthesis, suggests that this T-cell subpopulation may be functional in vivo and may be involved in the pathological immune response encountered in pSS.

Adolescent↗