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Biomedical subjects

A Piccoli

Publications and source records attributed to A Piccoli.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Study of retinol-binding protein in pancreatic cancer.

Serum RBP, prealbumin, and zinc were evaluated in normal subjects and patients with pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis. A significant decrease of RPB was found in pancreatic cancer patients compared with controls. A concomitant reduction of prealbumin and zinc was also observed. Multiple regression analysis suggested that the modification of RBP serum levels might be accounted for mainly by diminished prealbumin levels, while the direct role of zinc is negligible.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Combined evaluation of serum ribonuclease and ferritin: any advantages in pancreatic cancer diagnosis?

In 116 subjects, serum ribonuclease (RNase) and ferritin were determined in order to evaluate whether their combined evaluation might improve the diagnostic accuracy of each test. Significantly higher levels were found in pancreatic cancer patients both for RNase and ferritin than in control subjects and chronic pancreatitis. Sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing pancreatic cancer were 86% and 46%, respectively for RNase; 76% and 65% for ferritin. One of the two tests was pathological in 100% of pancreatic cancer, with a specificity of 29.9%; both were pathological in 62.1%, with a specificity of 82.1%. The results emphasize the limits of the combined assessment of pancreatic cancer markers.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Recurrence of duodenal ulcer under continuous antisecretory treatment: an approach to the detection of predictive markers.

Seventy consecutive duodenal ulcer patients endoscopically followed up and treated after ulcer scarring with maintenance dosages of effective antisecretory drugs for 1 year were studied in order to identify the factors associated with ulcer relapse. Logrank test, discriminant analysis (Rao's method), and chi 2 were used in evaluating the results. Nineteen patients (27.1%) relapsed. Duodenal ulcer was found to relapse more frequently in patients with total serum pepsinogen more than 109 micrograms tyr X ml-1 X 24 h-1 and in patients with maximal acid output more than 60 mmol/h (Logrank test; both p less than 0.025). Discriminant analysis showed that blood group, age at onset of the disease, and sex were together useful in recognizing subjects relapsing within 6 months' maintenance treatment (77.1% cases correctly classified); age at onset of the disease, alcohol intake, and smoking habit were together useful in picking out subjects relapsing throughout the entire observation period (1 year) (61.76% cases correctly classified). Our data suggest that: 1) duodenal ulcer subjects with elevated serum pepsinogen or maximal acid output are significantly more prone to relapse than patients with normal or slightly increased values; 2) genetic and acquired factors (such as blood group A, early onset of the disease, male sex, alcohol intake, and cigarette consumption) may have a role in influencing ulcer relapse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Carcinoembryonic antigen in gastric juice collected during endoscopy. Value in detecting high-risk patients and gastric cancer.

In order to ascertain the role of gastric carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) determination in detecting patients with a risk for gastric cancer, 69 subjects were studied; 23 were referred for endoscopy because of dyspepsia but without obvious macroscopic lesions, 27 with duodenal ulcer, 11 with benign gastric ulcer, 8 with gastric cancer. The following results were obtained by subdividing the material according to the histologic interpretation of the results of gastric mucosal biopsies: (1) in the presence of minor histologic abnormalities of the gastric mucosa, CEA in gastric juice was under 100 ng/ml in all but five cases; and (2) in moderate or severe chronic atrophic gastritis (associated or otherwise with intestinal metaplasia or dysplasia), and in gastric cancer, gastric CEA ranged between 224 and 3120 ng/ml in all but two cases. Although not diagnostic for gastric cancer, gastric CEA is a promising test in detecting patients at risk, including those with dysplasia of the gastric mucosa.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

[Immunologic changes in chronic pancreatitis].

In 35 patients with chronic pancreatitis, C3, C4, s-immunoglobulins, circulating immunocomplexes and T-lymphocytes were assessed in order to verify whether an immunological role may be postulated in the pathogenesis and/or in the maintenance of the disease. A significant increase of serum IgM together with normal values of C3 and C4 and without circulating immunocomplexes was found. A significant decrease in the total number of lymphocytes as well as in the number and percentage of T-lymphocytes was also documented. These results suggest a possible involvement of immunological (humoral and cellular) processes in maintaining the chronic pancreatic damage.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[Benign and malignant gastric ulcers: is their localization relevant in their differential diagnosis?].

A study of potentially benign or malignant ulcer in the stomach was made to assess its role in the differential diagnosis between these two conditions. In the 201 patients observed, no statistically significant differences in frequency in the various sites were noted as regard either benign or malignant lesions. The site of the ulcer cannot be taken as indicative of its nature.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Evaluation of a structured alcohol education course in a secondary school system in north Italy.

The authors describe the results of an alcohol education course given to 2166 high school students in the area of Padua, Italy. An evaluation was performed, utilizing a before and after technique: it was shown that baseline knowledge of relevant information on alcohology was similar among younger and older teenagers; also, baseline information and course gain varied according to question content.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Actual role of pepsinogen group I in the study of upper gastrointestinal diseases.

The role of serum PG I in screening patients with chronic atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer, and in detecting peptic ulcer patients with high relapse risk, was ascertained in 276 subjects. Although not diagnostic per se, PG I was found to be under 20 micrograms/L in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis and in some gastric cancer or partially gastrectomized patients. In patients presenting with relapsing duodenal ulcer, PG I values were significantly higher than in the non-relapsing ones, but a satisfactory identification of all the duodenal ulcer patients with high relapse risk was not possible on this basis. Even the correlation between PG I and MAO was not accurate in every subject considered. These results suggest that the value of PG I is limited to assessing patients with upper gastrointestinal diseases in which a reduction of peptic secretion, and therefore of PG I in serum, is present.

Duodenal Ulcer↗
PubMed1983

Are biopsy forceps helpful in the endoscopic evaluation of ulcer diameter?

A hand-made papier-mâché stomach model with hollowed-out ulcers was employed for evaluating the accuracy in estimating ulcer diameters by means of endoscopy. The opened biopsy forceps were also used as a reference marker. Ten endoscopists with various degrees of experience were involved in the study. All the endoscopists underestimated the ulcer diameters; the use of the forceps, resulted in an improvement, in particular in the case of the comparatively inexperienced endoscopists. A stomach model may be helpful in the subjective assessment of the endoscopists' ability to estimate ulcer size.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1983

Urinary ribonuclease excretion in pancreatic disease.

Urinary ribonuclease output and indices of renal tubular integrity were evaluated in control subjects and patients with pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis and extrapancreatic diseases. The aim of the study was to ascertain the contribution to such diagnoses of ribonuclease determination in urine, and the possible influence of tubular damage on the extent of ribonuclease excretion. Information from the ribonuclease assay in urine offered no advantage over that obtained by the same determination in serum; tubular damage may contribution in some cases to an elevated ribonuclease excretion.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[Usefulness of the 12-lead standard electrocardiogram in assessing myocardial infarct size].

The value of the electrocardiogram in assessing infarct size was studied using serial estimates of serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) in serum and serial 12-lead electrocardiograms in patients admitted to a coronary care unit with acute myocardial infarction. Sum of the ST segment deviations from the isoelectric line (sigma ST12) and sum of the conventional scores of Q waves amplitude (sigma Q12) were obtained from each electrocardiogram, and then the time-course of these parameters was considered. The correlation between maximum sigma Q12 and CPK-peak in anterior infarcts, was highly significant (r = 0.733; P less than 0.001). Maximum sigma ST12, measured upon admission or immediately thereafter in patients hospitalized within 4 hours from the onset of chest pain, was found to correlate significantly with CPK-peak (r = 0.675, P less than 0.001 for the whole group; r = 0.758, P less than 0.01 for patients with inferior infarcts). Time-course of sigma ST12 and CPK showed 4 different patterns. Among them, type 1 ("rapid necrosis") showed the most significant correlations (maximum sigma ST12 within 4 hours from symptoms versus CPK-peak: r = 0.909, P less than 0.001; maximum sigma Q12 versus CPK-peak in anterior infarcts: r = 0.782, P less than 0,05; and maximum sigma ST12 within 4 hours from the onset of pain versus sigma Q12 in patients with anterior infarcts: r = 0.863, P less than 0,05). There was no correlation between sigma ST12 at any other time and CPK-peak: this observation is in accordance with the presence of a rapid decrease in the mean sigma ST12 after the first 3-4 hours from the beginning of symptoms. This study shows that the analysis of ST segment deviations and of Q waves development in the standard electrocardiogram provides useful information on the size of acute myocardial infarction as reflected by the peak value of serum CPK.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Serum ferritin in pancreatic disease. An accurate test of malignancy?

Serum ferritin, described as increased in patients with pancreatic cancer, was studied in 109 subjects by an immunoradiometric technique in order to assess its reliability in detecting pancreatic malignancy. A significant increase of serum ferritin was found in pancreatic cancer as compared to controls (p less than 0.01), to calcifying (p less than 0.05), non-calcifying (p less than 0.05), and recurrent (p less than 0.01) chronic pancreatitis. Nevertheless, high levels of serum ferritin were found in 10 out of the 36 chronic pancreatitis patients and in 10 out of the 26 patients with non-pancreatic diseases, whilst values within the normal range were detected in 6 out of the 22 pancreatic cancer patients. These data suggest that serum ferritin, although frequently increased in pancreatic cancer, cannot be considered a marker of pancreatic malignancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Role of trypsin/creatinine clearance ratio in the differential diagnosis of chronic pancreatic disease.

Trypsin/creatinine clearance ratio--a recently proposed screening test for pancreatic cancer--was assessed in 45 subjects (17 control subjects, 15 patients with pancreatic cancer, and 13 with chronic pancreatitis). A statistically significant increase of the ratio was detected not only in pancreatic cancer, but also in chronic calcifying pancreatitis. Thus, the previously reported clinical usefulness of the test in pancreatic cancer diagnosis was not substantiated by the present data. Although not fully investigated as yet, reasons for an abnormal ratio are probably independent of the neoplastic or inflammatory nature of the pancreatic disease. Science renal enzyme excretion (alpha-glucosidase, gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, leucine aminopeptidase) was not found to be invariably elevated when trypsin/creatinine clearance ratio was increased, tubular damage cannot be assumed as constituting the only reason for an altered clearance ratio.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

"Plasma"-type ribonuclease in pancreatic cancer diagnosis: a critical appraisal.

The so-called "plasma" ribonuclease (RNase), described as increased in most patients with pancreatic cancer, was studied in the blood of 92 subjects utilizing the method of Reddi and Holland, to evaluate its reliability in detecting pancreatic tumors. A significant increase of "plasma" RNase was found in pancreatic cancer (p less than 0.01) as compared with controls, non-calcifying chronic pancreatitis (p less than 0.01), calcifying chronic pancreatitis (p less than 0.01), and chronic recurrent pancreatitis (p less than 0.01). Nevertheless increased "plasma" RNase activity was also found in 18/43 patients with chronic pancreatitis, as well as in the majority of the non-pancreatic malignant tumors studied. Furthermore, in 2 out of 22 subjects with pancreatic cancer the enzyme activity was found to be normal. These data suggest that increased "plasma" RNase, although very frequent in pancreatic cancer, is not a marker of pancreatic malignancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

CEA concentration and cytology in duodenal fluid collected during the Secretin-Pancreozymin test. Attempt at an early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma by means of simple procedure.

CEA concentration in juice collected during the Secretin-Pancreozymin test, and cytology were evaluated in order to establish whether they may be used as an aid in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma before resorting to x-ray examinations. Thirty-three subjects were studied: 6 normal subjects, 12 with chronic pancreatitis, 3 after recovery from acute pancreatitis, 8 with gall-stones, 3 with carcinoma of the pancreas and 1 with cancer of the biliary tract. Three duodenal juice samples (at 30, 60 and 90 mins of hormonal infusion) were taken in each subject for CEA, cytology, bicarbonate and trypsin determinations. Although a significant statistical difference was noted between normal subjects and patients with carcinoma of the pancreas in the 30-min-juice sample, CEA concentration in the duodenal juice did not seem a reliable index in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. The information provided by cytology was also very scanty and sometimes misleading. The clinical picture and radiological investigation still remain the surest basis for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Kidney kallikrein and phospholipase activities in Milan spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Renal kallikrein and phospholipase activities were evaluated in a strain of spontaneously hypertensive rats developed by Dr. Bianchi in Milan (MHR). MHR showed lower than normal kallikrein and phospholipase activities before, at 3 weeks of age and following the development of hypertension. Kallikrein and phospholipase activities were directly correlated both in normotensive and spontenously hypertensive rats. The data suggest that MHR have a genetic defect in kallikrein and phospholipase activities, which may play a pathogenetic role in the development of high blood pressure.

Animals↗