Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Calzolari.
Exercise testing is an exceedingly useful noninvasive method for assessing cardiovascular function not only at rest but also during programmed, supervised physical exercise. Exercise testing has been intensively studied to delineate the cardiovascular response in various disorders [3-5, 15, 19, 22, 23, 26, 32]. Exercise testing as a tool for rehabilitation and for training to perform physical activity is discussed here.
AIMS AND BACKGROUND: The association of p53 protein accumulation and prognosis in node-negative breast cancer patients has been alternately demonstrated and denied in literature reports, and opinions on the use of p53 expression as an indicator of high risk of recurrence and as a guide for adjuvant therapy are controversial. STUDY DESIGN: The association of p53 protein accumulation with prognosis was retrospectively evaluated in a series of 221 node-negative breast cancer patients treated with surgery alone and followed up for a minimum of 10 years. p53 accumulation was determined by immunohistochemistry on archive material, and classified into four grades of increasing immunostaining. RESULTS: No association was observed between p53 and age or pT category, whereas a significant association with nuclear grade was found (P = 0.0014). Univariate and multivariate analysis of 10-yr disease-free and overall survival showed a significant and independent prognostic association for tumor size (pT category) and nuclear grading but not for p53 expression, whatever grade grouping was used. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find any evidence supporting the use of p53 immunostaining in current practice as an independent prognostic indicator or as a discriminant factor for adjuvant treatment of node-negative breast cancer patients.
We analysed by immunohistochemistry the expression of p53 protein in a case of micro-invasive carcinoma of the conjunctiva. About 50% of tumor cells showed a strong nuclear positivity for p53. This suggests that p53 gene alterations play a role in the development of this type of tumor.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate p53, bcl-2 and c-myc expression in muscle biopsies from children affected with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) and to verify a possible dysregulation of programmed cell death in this autoimmune disease. METHODS: Ten muscle biopsies of children affected with JDM were formalin fixed and paraffin embedded. After haematoxylin and eosin staining, immunohistochemistry was performed employing monoclonal antibodies, anti-p53, anti-bcl-2 and anti-myc. Two normal muscle biopsies were studied as controls. RESULTS: In the biopsies of JDM, two different patterns of myofibers damage were observed: the first, with zones characterised by necrosis; and the second, with zones where an apoptotic process was dominant. Immunoreactivity for bcl-2 was positive in 8 out of 10 biopsies. P53 and c-myc expression were not present in any case. No relationship between the degree of bcl-2 immunostaining and the disease course or outcome was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The over-expression of bcl-2 protein in JDM may suggest a dysregulation of apoptosis in myofibers. Further studies are required in order to better understand the role of our data in the pathogenetic pathways of the disease.
Four cases of conjunctival papilloma in two different patients were examined by in situ hybridization for HPV DNA type 6/11, 16/18 and 31/33/51. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues were hybridized by biotinylated probes. One tumor and one of its recurrences showed nuclear positivity for HPV 6/11 in the superficial cells of the epithelium. The results suggest that HPV type 6/11 may be etiologic agent of conjunctival papillomas. The benign behavior of these neoplasms may be related to the etiologic role of this type of HPV.
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Partial trisomy 7p has been observed associated with particular anatomo-pathological findings. A newborn female with several congenital anomalies, whose chromosome constitution was: 46,XX,-14, + der (7;14) (7pter----7p11::14p11----14qter), is reported. The patient died at the age of 10 months, because of cardiac failure and autopsy was performed: the microscopic study showed spongy degeneration in the brain.
A total of 32 strains of Azospirillum mainly isolated from rhizosphere of grasses and soils of Argentina were examined for susceptibility to 9 antimicrobial agents (trimethoprim, ampicillin, carbenicillin, streptomycin, spectinomycin, chloramphenicol, kanamycin, nalidixic acid and tetracycline). Many of the strains were sensitive to tetracycline, kanamycin, chloramphenicol and nalidixic acid, and resistant to ampicillin (more than 50 mg/l) and carbenicillin (more than 200 mg/l). In spite of this general pattern, for most of the strains it was possible to obtain an antibiotype. Such antibiotype could be useful for identification of the strains in field experiments or in genetic transfer experiments.
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A pleiotropic transpositional mutant derived from Staphylococcus aureus strain RC46, from bovine origin, was isolated and characterized. This mutant showed decreased production of several exoproteins such as alpha- and beta-hemolysins, DNase, coagulase and extracellular protein A. The production of cell-bound protein A, proteases and delta-hemolysin was not affected. The pleiotrophy of this mutant, designated sae (for S. aureus exoprotein expression), is due to a single insertion of transposon Tn917, as indicated by Southern blot hybridization. The sae mutant showed decreased virulence since its LD50 determined by intraperitoneal injection in mice was 32 times higher than that of the parental strain RC46.
Eleven methods for capsule detection of Staphylococcus aureus were compared. The most suitable of them were transmission electron microscopy, determination of the presence of clumping factor, determination of colonial morphology in serum-soft agar, estimation of cell volume and staining with safranine. The determination of clumping factor is a fast and effective method for presumptive diagnosis of capsulated strains, but need to be confirmed by another method. The cell volume estimation is useful for determination of capsule production in liquid cultures, while staining with safranine is suitable for genetic studies of capsule production. The other methods analyzed in this work (Indian ink staining, use of anticapsular antisera, determination of virulence for mice, lisostaphin susceptibility, resistance to phages and resistance to phagocytosis) were laborious, too slow, or need components and/or equipment not available in all laboratories. In addition, two methods of induction of capsule production were assayed, one in vitro by several passages in broth with 10% bovine serum and the other in vitro by intraperitoneal inoculation in mice. Both methods induced capsule production.