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Biomedical subjects

A Conti

Publications and source records attributed to A Conti.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

Pregnancy established in an infertile patient after transfer of a donated embryo fertilised in vitro.

In vitro fertilisation after stimulation of the ovulatory cycle has led to successful pregnancy. If more oocytes are recovered than are needed they may be left unfertilised, preserved, or donated to a recipient couple from whom oocytes cannot be obtained. A case of human pregnancy initiated by transfer of a donated embryo fertilised in vitro is reported. The donor was a 42 year old woman with primary infertility from whom six follicles were aspirated after stimulation of the ovulatory cycle. The recipient was a 38 year old infertile woman who had undergone several unsuccessful attempts for artificial insemination from a donor. Five oocytes were recovered from the donor's six follicles, four of which were inseminated with spermatozoa of the donor's husband and the fifth with a frozen sample of semen. Three of the four embryos fertilised by her husband were returned to the donor and the fifth was transferred to the recipient. No pregnancy was recorded in the donor, but pregnancy was confirmed in the recipient, though spontaneous abortion occurred after 10 weeks. This case will give useful information for further study of in vitro fertilisation, but also raises many ethical issues.

Adult↗

Right ventricular infarction: clinical, hemodynamic, mono- and two-dimensional echocardiographic features.

In a series of 75 patients with transmural acute myocardial infarction, a right to left ventricular filling pressure ratio equal to or greater than 0.65 was assumed to be indicative of associated right ventricular infarction. Eleven (24%) out of 45 patients with infero-posterior myocardial infarction had such hemodynamic evidence of right ventricular infarction (Group A). The remaining 34 patients with infero-posterior myocardial infarction (Group B) and the 30 patients with anterior myocardial infarction did not. Two-dimentional echocardiographic examination performed 5 days after admission in the 62 patients who survived, showed right ventricular free wall asynergy in six out of eight Group A patients: in three of them right ventricular enlargement was present. No patient in Group B inferior infarction or with anterior myocardial infarction had abnormal right ventricular motion or dimensions.

Adult↗

[A case of postinfarction spontaneous angina: physiopathological study of the therapeutic effectiveness of intra-aortic balloon pumping].

A 46-year-old patient showed spontaneous angina with anterior S-T segment depression 30 hours after an inferior acute myocardial infarction. Myocardial ischemia, which was resistant to drug therapy and induced acute left ventricular failure, was promptly reversed by intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP). Coronary angiography demonstrated diffuse, severe atherosclerotic disease. Efficacy of IABP in this case of spontaneous angina might be ascribed to an increase of the coronary cross-sectional area in response to the increased intraluminal pressure ("passive vasomotion").

Angina Pectoris↗

Photooxidation of epinephrine sensitized by methylene blue as an assay for the evaluation of alpha-mercaptopropionylglycine as a free radical scavenger.

Free radicals, which are instable intermediates of some biochemical reactions, are produced everywhere in the living matter. They may induce cell membrane lipid peroxidation, with non reversible letal effects. Alpha-mercaptopropionylglycine capability of scavenging free radicals has been tested. H2O2 has been used as a free radical donor under actinic light, epinephrine oxidation to adrenochrome as a revealing system and methylene blue as sensitizing agent. alpha-MPG at 6 mM concentration showed the maximal inhibition of free radical formation in our system. Higher concentrations were unable to produce further inhibition.

Amino Acids, Sulfur↗

[Mobile coronary unit of Florence: early care of arrhythmias not due to acute coronary insufficiency].

The aim of Mobile Coronary Care Units (M.C.C.U.) is to reduce the delay in delivering intensive care to patients with a heart attack. In the city of Florence a M.C.C.U. has been available since November 1979. During the first year the staff of the M.C.C.U. has treated 158 cases of serious cardiac arrhythmias which occurred among 486 interventions. In 94 patients cardiac arrhythmias followed an acute coronary attack. In 64 patients coronary heart disease could not be demonstrated. This study concerns the latter group of patients. The mean age was 65.2 years and 39 patients (61%) were women. The mean time from the onset of the symptoms to the arrival of the M.C.C.U. team was 3h and 2 min, whereas the mean time from the call to the arrival was 14 min. Sixty patients had atrial arrhythmias (29 atrial fibrillation, 2 atrial flutter, 22 atrial tachycardia, 7 premature atrial contractions) and 4 patients had ventricular arrhythmias (1 ventricular tachycardia, 1 ventricular flutter, 2 premature ventricular contractions). In thirty-nine patients (61%) the cardiac arrhythmia was abolished by the staff of the M.C.C.U.. Of the remaining 28 patients, 10 were brought to the hospital and 18 were left at home. None of these needed later admission to the hospital. So the treatment at home of cardiac arrhythmias has been successful in the majority of patients. Bunaftine was the antiarrhythmic drug more frequently used (23 cases, 34%) with a high percentage of success (87%). In planning medical emergency services to the community, one can envisage the use of the M.C.C.U. facilities to treat at home those arrhythmias that are not associated with an acute coronary attack.

Adult↗

Reaccumulation of thyroglobulin and colloid in rat and mouse thyroid follicles during intense thyrotropin stimulation. A clue to the pathogenesis of colloid goiters.

Since Marine's observations some 50 years ago, it has been generally accepted that colloid goiters invariably result from colloid repletion of originally hyperplastic goiters after cessation of the goitrogenic stimulus. However, clinical observations suggest that many goiters never go through a stage of hyperplasia, but are colloid-rich from the beginning. We have injected rats and mice with thyrotropin (TSH), three times a day for 4 d, while the animals were kept on an iodine-rich diet (HID). Additional groups of animals were fed an iodine-poor diet (LID) or a diet containing 0.15% propylthiouracil (PTU) or 1% sodium perchlorate (ClO4). At intervals, thyroid weight, DNA, iodine and thyroglobulin content, thyroglobulin iodination, and intracellular droplet formation were measured. Histologic sections were also prepared and stained with periodic acid Schiff. Furthermore, thyroxine concentration was measured in the serum. Thyroglobulin content dropped by approximately 30% in HID animals but by 60% in all other groups 1 d after starting TSH. Thereafter, thyroglobulin reaccumulation occurred and droplet formation correspondingly decreased despite continuous heavy TSH stimulation. The largest amount of thyroglobulin was reaccumulated in HID animals followed by the PTU/LID groups, whereas no reaccumulation was observed in the ClO4 group. Reaccumulation of thyroglobulin only occurred if there was concomitant organification of at least some iodine. The subsequent phases of depletion and reaccumulation of thyroglobulin were mirrored by the morphology of the follicular lumina, the staining properties of the colloid and the serum T4 concentration. These observations suggest that endocytosis gradually becomes refractory to continuous TSH stimulation if a certain minimal amount of iodine is available for organic binding. Thus, primarily colloid-rich goiters may form in the presence of continuously higher than normal thyrotropin levels without a previous stage of follicular hyperplasia. The view should be revised that accumulation of colloid and intense thyrotropin stimulation are mutually exclusive events.

Animals↗

[Preparation of a polyvalent antiserum specific for human muscle proteins. I. Muscle extraction: a macromethod and a micromethod].

Protein metabolism may be upset dramatically by several pathological condition such as starvation, malnutrition, surgical stress. Serum proteins have been investigated in many works but very few studies exist about muscle and organ proteins. This article describes two methods for extraction of muscle water soluble proteins: a macromethod that uses some hundred grams of tissue, and a micromethod that starts from a little muscle biopsia. Extracts have been tested for protein content by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate and isoelectrofocusing on polyacrylamide gel and have shown a rich variety of protein fractions.

Animals↗

[Preparation of a polyvalent antiserum specific for human muscle proteins. II. Animal immunization and purification of the antiserum].

A new preparation technique to raise rabbit antisera against human water-soluble muscle proteins is presented. Immunization, blood collection and further purification of antibody fraction in serum are described in detail. The present method is fast and easy to perform; chromatography and dialysis are not required and antisera so produced lend themselves to immunoelectrophoretic evaluation of human water-soluble muscle proteins.

Animals↗