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Biomedical subjects

A Valente

Publications and source records attributed to A Valente.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Clinical, biological, and neuropsychological features associated with lateral ventricular enlargement in DSM-III schizophrenic disorder.

Clinical, historical, neuropsychological, and biological correlates of lateral ventricular enlargement on computed tomography (CT scan) were explored in a sample of DSM-III schizophrenics. Patients with enlarged ventricles, as compared with those whose ventricles were normal, presented a longer duration of illness and mean duration of hospitalization, and higher scores on the subscales alogia, affective flattening, and attentional impairment of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), on the scales self-care, participation in household activities, work performance, and behavior in crises and emergencies of the Disability Assessment Schedule, on the scales rhythm, writing, reading, arithmetic, and left hemisphere of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, and on the subtests digit span, digit symbol and block design of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Furthermore, on the computerized electroencephalogram, beta relative activity was significantly higher in patients with normal ventricles on the right frontal, left frontal, and right central leads. On stepwise discriminant function analysis, the patient groups with enlarged and normal ventricles could be separated statistically, and duration of illness and summary score on the SANS were found to be the best discriminators.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Esophageal replacement with whole stomach in infants and children.

This is a report of ten patients in whom the esophagus is replaced by the whole stomach brought through the chest. It was used for children with long gap or previously failed esophageal atresia repair. It documents complications (anastomotic leak and stricture) and morbidity, and highlights precautions that must be taken.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Unilateral agenesis of the diaphragm.

During a period of 4 1/2 years, 37 infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia were treated. The overall survival rate was 68%. Survival depended more on cardiopulmonary function than the size of the diaphragmatic defect. There was little evidence that infants with agenesis of the diaphragm formed a special group with a poor prognosis, and four of the ten patients with unilateral agenesis survived. A Dacron prosthesis is recommended as a substitute for the missing diaphragm.

Diaphragm↗
PubMed1986

Borderline hypertension: a psychophysiologic approach.

Stress is a condition capable of causing complex psychobehavioral and psychobiological responses, during which blood pressure can reach pathological values. The study reported here investigated the correlation among physiological responses to stress, psychobehavioral assessments, and borderline hypertension. We developed a psychobehavioral questionnaire and submitted patients to a battery of four stressors (mental arithmetic, Sacks's test, white noise, and electric stimulus). We measured levels of muscular contractions, skin conductance, digital temperature, heart rate, and systolic, mean, and diastolic blood pressures. Abnormal psychobehavioral traits and abnormal profiles of physiological responses are more common among borderline hypertensive patients and among patients with a family history of hypertension. The data obtained seem to suggest an interaction of the central nervous system, psyche, and the autonomic nervous system in the origin of hypertension.

Body Temperature↗
PubMed1985

Clinical and neuropsychological correlates of cerebral ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia.

A comprehensive assessment of computed tomography (CT) with respect to clinical, historical and neuropsychological variables has been carried out in a sample of DSM III schizophrenics fairly heterogeneous with respect to duration and severity of illness and in a normal control group matched for sex, age and educational level. The mean value of ventricular brain ratio (VBR) was significantly higher in schizophrenics than controls. Seven patients (21.2%) who had VBRs exceeding 2 SD of the control mean showed a significantly longer duration of illness than the other schizophrenics with significantly higher scores on the subscales alogia, effective flattening and attentional impairment of SANS, on the scales self-care and behaviour in crises and emergencies of DAS, on the scales rhythm, tactile, visual, reading, arithmetic, memory and left hemisphere of LNNB, and on the subtests arithmetic, digit span, digit symbol and block design of WAIS. These results confirm earlier reports of an enlargement of lateral cerebral ventricles in a subset of schizophrenics, and its association with a higher degree of cognitive and neuropsychological impairment, social maladjustment and defectual symptomatology. Moreover, they suggest that the neuropathological process likely to underlie the increase of cerebral ventricular size progresses during the course of the illness rather than predating its onset.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Serum ferritin in beta-thalassaemia intermedia.

The iron status of 10 patients with beta-thalassaemia intermedia has been investigated in order to assess whether the liver iron overload could be constantly predicted through the patients' S-ferritin levels. Our data have shown that only when the iron overload is in the far advanced stages do the S-ferritin concentrations appear to be strongly raised, whilst in the early stages of the disease the levels fall to normal ranges with consequent underestimation of the expanding iron stores. Thus, in the early stages of the iron overload the liver iron burden of such patients is only reflected by both chemical and histochemical investigations performed on the liver biopsy specimens long before the rise in their S-ferritin levels.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

[Correlation of the clearance of amylase and creatinine in acute pancreatitis and other pathologies].

The study of a group of 151 patients confirms the diagnostic value of elevated ACCR in pancreatitis, it was positive in 89.4% of them, of the group, 30 were normal, 19 exhibited acute pancreatitis and 102 had various other pathologies. Serious pancreatitis has shown coincide with a long-lasting rise of ACCR, and its rise in the course of the disease was a sign of a new outburst of progressive necrosis. Total unreliability when abnormal creatinine clearance is present was ascertained. The possible mechanism of increase in ACCR has been considered also in connection with the study of the results obtained on a group of patients exhibiting renal insufficiency, gastrointestinal bleeding, acute colecystitis, vesicular lithiasis and obstructive jaundice.

Acute Disease↗