Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Lazzarin

Publications and source records attributed to A Lazzarin.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositivity in intravenous (i.v.) drug abusers in three cities of Italy: possible natural history of HIV infection in i.v. drug addicts in Italy.

The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies and the symptoms induced [persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL), AIDS-related complex (ARC), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)] was evaluated in several groups of intravenous (IV) drug abusers in three large Italian cities (Milan, Bologna, and Rome). The earliest evidence of seropositivity in sera collected from patients with acute viral hepatitis dates back to 1979 in Milan and to 1981 in Bologna with peaks in 1983 in both cities. In two groups of IV drug addicts on methadone-maintenance treatment at assistance centers, the prevalence of seropositivity differed sharply between Rome (33.3%) and Milan (69.3%) in 1985. Rates of seroconversion were also found to be higher in Milan than in Bologna and Rome. When a population of IV drug abusers voluntarily attending centers for surveillance of AIDS and/or ARC were investigated, high levels (range 55.2-81.5%) of seropositivity were found in the three cities. ARC prevalence among seropositives was very high (range 48.1-64.2% in 1985) in the three cities. The evolution rate to AIDS in Milan was higher among those attending a center for AIDS surveillance (7.4%) than among those attending an assistance center for methadone treatment (0.9%). These data are compatible with the hypothesis that virus infection among IV drug abusers originated in and then spread widely in Northern Italy (Milan first and then Bologna). Both the first appearance and subsequent spread of virus infection are in keeping with the reported occurrence of AIDS cases in the corresponding three regions of Milan, Bologna, and Rome.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1987

Recovery of HIV-related retroviruses from Italian patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex and from asymptomatic at-risk individuals.

Human retroviruses have been detected in supernatants of cultures of Ficoll-enriched lymphocytes from peripheral blood, lymph nodes and bone marrow of (a) 32 out of 42 patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), (b) 34 out of 64 patients with AIDS-related Complex (ARC), (c) 9 out of 18 asymptomatic children born from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) seropositive mothers, and (d) 9 out of 28 asymptomatic drug abusers or hemophiliacs. Virus detection was monitored by assaying culture supernatants for the presence of Mg++-dependent reverse transcriptase (R.T.) activity. A number of these virus-positive sups were passaged repeatedly in cultures of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated and Interleukin-2 (IL-2) treated fresh lymphocytes from healthy blood donors. Occasionally, multiple samples were obtained at varying time intervals from the same patient and consistently yielded detectable retroviral activity. Several isolates were characterized as closely related if not identical to HIV, HTLV-IIIB strain, since cells from either patients' own lymphocyte cultures or subcultures infected with passaged virus were stained in an indirect immunofluorescent assay with both patients sera and monoclonal antibody against p24 antigen of the HTLV-IIIB strain. Representative isolates, grown on fresh lymphocytes of healthy donors and metabolically labelled with 35S-cysteine, were also analyzed in a radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) against patients' sera to define their antigenic pattern, which was widely superimposable to that obtained with HTLV-IIIB-infected H9 cells. DNA from lymphocytes infected with 2 representative isolates were Southern-blotted and probed with an insert from a plasmid containing the entire genome of the HTLV-IIIB strain. The hybridization patterns were comparable with those obtained with DNA from H9-infected cells.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1987

Experiences with immunomodulant agents in HIV infections.

Drug addicts with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy displayed the following immunological abnormalities: an inverted OKT4/OKT8 ratio, a depressed in vitro blastogenetic response to phytohemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen (PWM), a reduced ability of PMNL to phagocytose and kill Candida albicans spores and to migrate in presence of a chemotactic factor. Thymopentin treatment (50 mg s.c. 3 times/week for 3 weeks and repeated after 3 months at 50 mg s.c. once a week for 3 months) improved OKT4+ lymphocytes (p less than 0.05) and the blastogenesis to PWM (p less than 0.01); moreover, at the end of the first cycle, the chemotaxis of neutrophils was increased to normal values.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1987

An alternative to steroids for prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS): multicenter controlled study to compare ambroxol and betamethasone.

The results are reported of a multicenter randomized study of the effectiveness of maternal administration of betamethasone versus ambroxol, a substance of the group of the benzylamines, for prevention of RDS in preterm infants. Women of 27 to 34 weeks gestation with threatened premature delivery or planned premature delivery were admitted to the trial. Between September 1981 and November 1984 a total of 288 randomized patients delivered 315 neonates. The incidence of RDS was assessed in 169 viable neonates born before the 37th week. Of these 86 were born of 76 mothers treated with beta-methasone and 83 of 76 mothers treated with ambroxol. The overall incidence of RDS was significantly (P less than 0.05) higher in the betamethasone group (31%) than the ambroxol group (13%). Ambroxol was significantly more effective than betamethasone in twin births, in infants born before the 31st week, when ROM to delivery time was more than 48 hours, when treatment to delivery time was between 2 and 7 days and in female infants. The neonatal infection rate was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) in the group of betamethasone treated infants (18% with four fatalities) than in the group of ambroxol treated infants (9% with one fatality). These results suggest that ambroxol may be a valid alternative to steroids for prevention of RDS.

Ambroxol↗
PubMed1987

Effect of subcutaneous thymopentin treatment in drug addicts with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy.

The effect of thymopentin treatment on the immune defects in drug addicts with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy and HTLV-III infection was investigated. Thymopentin was administered subcutaneously at two different dose schedules: 50 mg three times a week for 3 weeks (first cycle) and 50 mg/week for 3 months (second cycle). After the first cycle an increased number of OKT4+ lymphocytes and an improvement of PWM-induced blastogenesis and IgG synthesis in vitro was observed. The second cycle was unable to modify the same immune parameters in vitro. The treatment had no effect on the PHA responsiveness and on PHA-induced interleukin 2 production. The significance and the prognostic value of these findings are discussed in terms of the clinical evolution of the syndrome.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1987

Milan as possible starting point of LAV/HTLV III epidemic among Italian drug addicts.

Sera collected between 1978 and 1985 from 716 parenteral drug-addicts admitted to our Clinic with viral hepatitis were tested for antibodies to HTLV III. None of the patients was showing symptoms suggestive of LAV/HTLV III infection at the time of sera collection. Positivity for HTLV III antibody was found and confirmed (by ELISA) in 212 subjects (29.6%). The earliest positivity appeared in a serum sample collected in February 1979. These and other data point to Milan as to the actual source of the Italian PDAs-linked LAV/HTLV-III epidemic.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1987

Role of PMN's candidicidal activity in the pathogenesis of AIDS-related systemic candidiases.

Phagocytic and fungicidal activity towards C. albicans spores were tested in 9 patients with AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), but without Candida infections, and in 13 patients with AIDS and deep candidiasis. No significant differences were observed between the two mentioned groups as far as PMN's phagocytosis and killing were concerned. PMN's migration in response to a "non-mycotic" chemoattractant was defective in both groups; although, from this point of view, patients with candidiasis were more severely affected. A significant difference was noted, instead, as far as mean T helper values were concerned; in fact, their number was significantly lower in patients with systemic candidiasis than in those with ARC or even AIDS, but oesophageal candidiasis only. In conclusion, defective PMN's activity towards C. albicans spores, as observed in vitro, does not seem in itself to predispose AIDS patients to candidiasis in vivo; mycoses may be rather due to defects of cell-mediated immunity as a whole.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1987

IgM, IgG and IgA rheumatoid factors and circulating immune complexes in patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex with serological abnormalities.

To investigate some humoral aspects which may reflect the involvement of B lymphocytes in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), we used an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) to determine the levels of IgM, IgG and IgA rheumatoid factors (RF) in 16 patients suffering from full-blown AIDS and 32 patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC), in the clinical form of lymphoadenopathy syndrome (LAS), compared with 40 healthy, young heterosexual subjects. Both AIDS and ARC patients showed a greater incidence of high IgM RF levels, with mean values significantly higher than controls, but with no differences between the two pathological groups. IgG RF behaviour was similar in the two patient populations and the healthy subjects. IgA RF were significantly raised in AIDS and ARC. Further information on RF was obtained by determination of the immunoglobulin levels of the respective isotypes in the same patients. Mean IgG levels were above normal in AIDS and ARC patients, but the latter group showed a higher incidence of increased values and higher mean levels. The IgA isotype was significantly increased mainly in AIDS patients. The behaviour of IgM was virtually the same in the three groups studied. A difference between AIDS and ARC patients was established by the detection of circulating immune-complexes (IC) by the C1q-binding and CIC-conglutinin assays. IC were significantly high, by both methods, only in the ARC group, but normal or very low in AIDS. These overall findings suggest once again the impairment of B cell function in AIDS, with prevalent hyperactivation in ARC and exhaustion in full-blown AIDS, and apparent preservation, in the latter group, of the antibody responses which are more closely related to the activity of subsets of T helper cells.

AIDS-Related Complex↗
PubMed1986

HLA-associated susceptibility to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Italian patients with human-immunodeficiency-virus infection.

To investigate the contribution of genetic susceptibility to infection with human immunodeficiency virus, 50 subjects with lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS) and 7 subjects with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and Kaposi's sarcoma were typed for HLA A, B, C, and DR antigens. The frequency of B35 was significantly higher in LAS patients who progressed to AIDS than in those who did not or in healthy controls. The association between DR5 and AIDS/Kaposi's sarcoma was also confirmed in these patients.

AIDS-Related Complex↗