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Biomedical subjects

A Franchi

Publications and source records attributed to A Franchi.

179 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation (Nora's lesion). Description of six cases and a review of the literature.

The authors report their experience with 6 cases of bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation (BPOP) observed in 4 patients in its typical site (distal ends of the limbs), and in 2 patients where it was instead atypically localized in the humerus and femur. The histories of the patients revealed that 50% reported previous trauma in the site of lesion. Five patients were submitted to surgical exeresis, while the remaining patient refused to undergo any type of treatment because he was asymptomatic. At a mean follow-up of 36 months 1 patient presented with recurrence (20%). BPOP is a rare pseudotumorous lesion with typical radiographic and histopathologic findings similar to to those of other benign and malignant tumor forms. A review of the small amount of literature in existence is used to analyze the elements that may lead to accurate differential diagnosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Criteria for the management of low back pain in health care workers].

Low back pain represents one of the most frequent health problems in several working populations and is an important problem for occupation health doctors. In fact, these professionals are often required to face with the specific management of this condition, also by participating with other professionals into the implementation of organizational and structural measures. This contribute describes a variety of interventions aimed at treating the syndrome and recovering the working ability of the patient-worker, including the initial clinical evaluation, the assessment of the casual relationship between work and the syndrome, the treatment, the formulation of proposals to modify the worker's physical and working activity, the ongoing heath surveillance and a more in-depth clinical and instrumental evaluation, including surgical treatment.

Algorithms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cytotoxic effects of dacarbazine in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Preclinical studies performed in our laboratory showed that mouse leukemias become highly immunogenic following in vivo treatment with Decarbazine. This observation led to a successful immunochemotherapy protocol in mice using Dacarbazine plus cytoreductive chemotherapy. Therefore an in vivo and in vitro pilot study was conducted in patients (pts) with resistant or relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The DNA-repair enzyme O6-alkylguanine-DNA-alkyl-transferase (OGAT) and the in vitro chemosensitivity to Temozolomide, a Dacarbazine derivative, were evaluated in leukemic blasts. RESULTS: Nine pts received Dacarbazine (0.4-0.8 g/sqm/day) on days 0, 1 and 2. On day 7, noticeable blast reduction occurred in 4 pts: pt 1 was in partial remission on day 21, pt 6 still showed bone marrow leukemia, pt 8 died of sepsis on day 8, pt 9 is still in aplasia on day 25. Low OGAT levels and consistent sensitivity to Temozolomide in vitro were found in the blasts of pts responsive to Dacarbazine. Subsequently, pts 1-7 underwent Ara-C (1g/sqm/day) plus Mitoxantrone (6mg/sqm/day) treatment for 6 days. Four pts entered complete remission after 27-45 days of aplasia. Failures were due to hypoplastic death, absolute drug resistance, or hypoplasia followed by blast cell regrowth. CONCLUSIONS: These data point out that Dacarbazine can induce a marked reduction of blast cells as well as severe myelotoxicity in leukemic patients.

Antiemetics↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Effectiveness of interventions for the control and prevention of tuberculosis in health care facilities: a review of ATS,CDC, OSHA recommendations].

BACKGROUND: Health care workers (HCWs) are occupationally exposed to a multitude of biological hazards, and among these to the risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection, especially involving individuals working in specific workplace (TB and Chest divisions, Infectious Diseases wards, Microbiology laboratories) and performing thoracic endoscopy and "cough-inducing" procedures. According to national legislation (title VIII D.lgs. 626/94, 1998 Health Minister guide lines document) concerning the control and prevention of TB transmission among HCWs, health care facilities are required to (i) perform an accurate risk assessment and (ii) implement an exposure control plan and worker health surveillance program, thus involving the occupational health professionals. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to provide a general view of the epidemiological and scientific evidence related to the effectiveness of health interventions in the prevention of occupational TB infection. METHODS: Comparative evaluation and critical review of U.S. CDC (1994) guidelines, OSHA (1997) rules, and the most recent ATS and CDC (2000) "statement" documents. RESULTS: In low risk groups TCT shows decreased positive predictive value, high variability, and can be confounded by other factors (age, BCG, MNT), thus reducing its diagnostic value for latent TB infection. CONCLUSIONS: Recent recommendations on the control of TB infection in health care settings underline the need of implementing accurate risk evaluation in all hospital units, compared to the epidemiological profile in the community, and "targeted tuberculin testing" programs among high risk HCWs.

BCG Vaccine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The development of clinical prediction guides requires reproducible decision-making outputs: a field study.

BACKGROUND: The decisions taken by occupational physicians (OPs) generally show low reproducibility and reflect some uncertainties linked to the decision making process. AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the variability of different OP decisions in order to assess their reproducibility, which is regarded as a quality factor of the professional practice. METHODS: 4 OPs examined the records of 100 selected hospital workers with impaired health conditions in order to take decisions about job fitness, advice to workers, referral to clinical physician, need for further investigations, report of occupational disease and recommendation for the general practitioner. The variability of inter-individual decision was measured by percent agreement and Cohen's kappa test. RESULTS: After accounting for variability expected by chance, the agreement among decisions on job fitness ranged from fair to substantial, but high variability was observed for most other assessments. CONCLUSION: The observed inter-individual variability for some decisions taken by different OPs represents a crucial aspect to be dealt with, as the reproducibility of medical decisions is indispensable for the clinical prediction guides to be built and adopted for improving the practice.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Improvement of VEP photostress recovery test in patients with stenosis of the carotid artery and thrombosis of the internal contralateral carotid, after endarterectomy.

Nine patients with carotid stenosis and thrombosis of the internal contralateral carotid were examined by means pattern VEP (visual evoked potential) after photostress to evaluate if the disobliteration of the stenotic side may determine an increase in the overall blood supply to the brain. Our results permit to detect the increase of collateral blood flow to both hemisphere after carotid endarterectomy.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Effort hernia of the diaphragm: apropos of a case].

The so-called stress diaphragmatic hernias are very unusual in the group of post-traumatic hernias. The Authors report a case and consider clinical, anatomical as well as pathophysiological aspects of the disease. Diagnostic procedures and therapeutic approach are also stressed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Carotid occlusive disease: an electrophysiological macular investigation.

Thirteen patients with carotid stenosis were studied by the authors by the measuring the Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs) before and after thromboendarterectomy. This test of retinal function measures the recovery time of the amplitude of the major positive peak (P100) after photostress. When compared to that we observed in controls, we found, a significant increase of the P100 recovery time in patients suffering from carotid disease with severe stenosis. The method proved suitable for the functional evaluation of the vascular reconstruction of the carotid area, since four weeks after surgery a physiological recovery of the amplitude of VEP was observed. This method is proposed by the authors for the long-term functional evaluation of patients subjected to carotid thromboendarterectomy for tight stenosis of the carotid bifurcation.

Aged↗