Biomedical subjects

Antonio Morelli

Publications and source records attributed to Antonio Morelli.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Treatment with all-trans retinoic acid plus tamoxifen and vitamin E in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Low serum retinol and hepatic tocopherol levels correlate with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk. Antiestrogen tamoxifen seems useful in HCC patients. A pilot study was performed to evaluate the effect of all-trans retinoic acid associated with tamoxifen and vitamin E on patients with advanced HCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifteen consecutive patients with advanced HCC were included in the study. Patients were evaluated for survival, quality of life, liver function, tumor mass, toxicity related to the treatment and retinoid receptors in liver biopsies. RESULTS: The median survival of our patients was 22 months. Pain and asthenia were improved in the majority of patients. Every patient with baseline elevated liver enzymes showed an improvement in liver function. RAR-alpha, RXR-alpha, RAR-beta and RAR-gamma receptors were demonstrated in 100%, 73%, 47% and 40%, respectively. CONCLUSION: A combination therapy of all-trans retinoic acid, tamoxifen and vitamin E increases the survival rate and ameliorates the clinical outcome in patients with inoperable HCC.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Noncardiac chest pain of esophageal origin in patients with and without coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Non-cardiac chest pain is a frequent finding in patients admitted to emergency departments, and it has been shown that many of these patients may have an esophageal cause for their pain. However, little data are available on patients primarily referred to the cardiology unit, and especially those with coronary artery disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of esophageal dysfunction in chest pain patients with and without coronary artery disease. METHODOLOGY: Eighty-one patients referred from a cardiology unit for chest pain and no myocardial infarction entered the study. Sixty-one patients had no evidence of coronary artery disease, whereas 20 had coronary artery disease with chest pain at rest. After the cardiological evaluation, the patients underwent esophageal function testing by means of upper endoscopy, manometry, and 24-hour pH-monitoring. RESULTS: Overall, 10% of patients (2.5% in the coronary artery disease group) had evidence of endoscopic esophagitis, 46% of esophageal motor disorders (12% in the coronary artery disease group), and 10% abnormal pH-monitoring (1% in the coronary artery disease group). CONCLUSIONS: We report that the esophagus might be responsible for non-cardiac chest pain in patients with and without coronary artery disease. In our experience, esophageal motor disorders, and not an increased acid reflux, are the abnormalities most commonly found in these patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Signs of normal proliferation in the telencephalon of adult male songbirds (serinus serinus), as shown by PCNA-positivity.

The immunocytochemical expression of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) (a cycline that coadjuvates DNA polymerase delta) becomes appreciable in the cell cycle when DNA synthesis occurs; hence cells in the S phase can be revealed by means of monoclonal antibodies. Therefore, PCNA can be considered a marker of proliferation, and numerous literature reports have demonstrated the reliability of the PCNA test. Since normal neurogenic events can still occur in the brain tissue of adult homeothermic vertebrates (especially songbirds), we evaluated if the persistence of spontaneous proliferation could be revealed in adult male songbirds (Serinus serinus) using the PCNA marker, the same test we used previously to study the persistence of natural proliferation in the encephalon of adult heterothermic vertebrates. The patterns of PCNA positivity showed normal proliferation in the telencephalon of the adult male Serinus serinus. This activity was shown by cells interposed among the epithelial cells lining the lateral side of each ventricular cavity, both in correspondence to the apical tracts and declivities of the ependyma and arranged, here and there, either in groups or slightly separated. As in our previous studies on PCNA expression and persistence of spontaneous encephalic proliferation in adult poikilothermal vertebrates (in the telencephalon of Podarcis, Triturus and Rana, and in the telencephalon, mesencephalon and cerebellum of Carassius), the results of the present research largely agree with the findings of previous Authors, usually obtained with different methods. This agreement confirms the reliability of the PCNA test used for this type of investigation.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Expression of PCNA positivity in the brain of normal adult heterothermic vertebrates: further observations.

As part of our study of non-experimentally induced encephalic proliferation in unequivocally adult individuals of several heterothermic Vertebrates (Podarcis sicula, Triturus carnifex, Rana esculenta, Carassius carassius), we deal here with areas not considered in previous investigations, i.e. various encephalic regions (except the telencephalon) in Podarcis sicula, Triturus carnifex and Rana esculenta, the diencephalon and medulla oblongata in Carassius carassius, and the olfactory bulbs in the two Amphibians. In the previous and current research, we have used Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) as a marker. PCNA is a ubiquitous intracellular antigen of the cycline family (proteins that regulate the cell cycle), which acts as an auxiliary protein to DNA polymerase delta; it can be detected immunocytochemically with monoclonal antibodies to reveal cell cycle phases that coincide with DNA synthesis. Spontaneous proliferation events, revealed by PCNA positivity, were constantly present in this study, being substantial in the olfactory region and diencephalon, very modest in the mesencephalon and myelencephalon, and absent in the cerebellum. In particular, signs of proliferation were abundant in the epithelium lining the cavities of the olfactory bulbs, while they were of different magnitude in tracts (with multiple and comparatively different sites related to the dorsal and/or ventral thalami) of the ependyma that delimits portions of the III ventricle and also, in all the species examined, at the level of the preoptic and infundibular recesses. Such signs were rare in the ependymal epithelium of the mesencephalic ventricle in Podarcis sicula and the rhombencephalic ventricle in all four species examined. This immunoreactivity was also observed in extra-ependymal areas: in the internal granular layer of the olfactory bulbs in Triturus carnifex and Rana esculenta; in the diencephalic nuclei of the habenula in Podarcis sicula, in both Amphibians and in Carassius carassius; in the mesencephalic tectum in Podarcis sicula and in the two Amphibians. As in our previous studies, the current immunocytochemical picture revealed by PCNA positivity generally agrees with literature reports on the presence of normal proliferation in the areas investigated here. These literature sources consist primarily of the observations of Kirsche (1967), emerging from his preceding experimental investigations, and of confirmatory data from studies in subsequent decades by other researchers obtained with tests different from our marker. Nevertheless, the number of studies that deal with the species considered in the present research, or species closely related to them, is rather limited.

Aging↗