Biomedical subjects

A Laudisio

Publications and source records attributed to A Laudisio.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1990

Four year double-blind controlled study of levamisole in multiple sclerosis.

41 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS) in the stationary phase entered this four year double-blind levamisole-placebo controlled study. 22 patients were treated with levamisole, 150 or 200 mg once a week for a 4 year period, and other 19 with placebo with the same schedule. Patients were put in one of the two groups at random. The treatment was then stopped for those patients who presented a clear exacerbation before the end of the 4 year trial period, and these cases have been considered as negative. Of the group treated with levamisole 8 patients presented an exacerbation during the observation period, and 14 did not. The group treated with placebo presented 14 subjects who had exacerbations and 5 patients who did not. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant. This study demonstrates that levamisole significantly reduced the number of MS patients with acute relapse during the 4 year period of treatment. Nevertheless, not all patients were free from relapse: that could probably suggest that different immunopathological backgrounds may underlie what we usually call MS.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1985

Myelin basic protein and S-100 antigen in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis in the acute phase.

It has previously been demonstrated that both Myelin Basic Protein (MBP) and S-100 are released in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients during acute phases of exacerbation of the disease. In order to investigate the pathobiological significance of the release of these two proteins into the CSF, MBP and S-100 were assayed in 10 MS patients during the five weeks following onset of an acute exacerbation. MBP was detectable in CSF during the first three weeks after exacerbation, while S-100 was detectable during the entire period of observation, at least in some of the patients. MBP reached its highest CSF concentrations during the first two weeks while S-100 did so in the third week, decreasing thereafter. This difference in time of presence of MBP and S-100 in the CSF is probably due to the different biological origin, MBP being a marker of myelin sheath injury, and S-100, more probably, of astrocytic activity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1983

[Myasthenia and sleep].

A Central Nervous System (CNS) acetylcholine receptors involvement in Myasthenia Gravis (MG) has been suggested but never fully demonstrated. On the other hand, although the question concerning the neurotransmitters connected to REM sleep is still unsettled, the importance of acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter involved in the maintenance of this sleep stage has been outlined. The spontaneous night sleep organization has been studied in 9 male subjects with MG and results are compared with those obtained in normal subjects matched for age and sex. Statistically significant differences have been found: 1) slow-waves sleep better represented in MG patients; 2) average REM period length shorter in MG patients; 3) instability of the EEG consisting in a tendency toward lightening of sleep. These findings may confirm the presence of a disturbance in the CNS cholinergic activity of MG patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1976

Occult normal pressure hydrocephalus with parkinsonian symptomatology.

The authors describe a case where a parkinsonian symptomatology is associated with pneumoencephalographic and RISA-cisternographic findings typical of an occult normal pressure hydrocephalus. They discuss their personal contribution in the light of what has been already reported in the literature on the same subject. They conclude that a CSF dynamics disturbance among the possible physiopathogenetic mechanisms of an extrapyramidal syndrome in young subjects should be considered. On the other hand, they also emphasize the possibility that the occult normal pressure hydrocephalus may have syndromical expression which are different from the typical one initially described.

Adult↗

PubMed1973