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Biomedical subjects

C Borrone

Publications and source records attributed to C Borrone.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Discharge report accuracy.

The clinical report is one of the most useful ways of cooperation between the hospital doctors and general practitioners. This paper is aimed at checking the accuracy of clinical reports in an Italian children's hospital. The authors examined 200 clinical reports after establishing some criteria to be fulfilled in order to write a good clinical report. Only 18 reports were considered good; the results were discussed with the physicians who had written the reports. At a second evaluation, the authors checked the efficacy of the proposed changes: 97 clinical reports were considered good.

Child↗

Arthrogryposis, cholestatic pigmentary liver disease and renal dysfunction: report of a second family.

We report on a boy, born to consanguineous parents, who had arthrogryposis, cholestatic liver disease, and renal dysfunction. The child died at age 2 months, and autopsy showed pigmentary storage disease in liver cells, nephrocalcinosis, and rarefaction of motor neuron cells in the anterior horns of spinal cord. This association, reported in 1979 by Nezelof et al., is a distinctive syndrome. The possibility of an autosomal recessive or an X-linked inheritance is discussed.

Arthrogryposis↗

Radiological "metamorphosis" in a patient with severe congenital osteogenesis imperfecta.

Congenital osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) was diagnosed by ultrasound in a 31-week-old fetus, and the diagnosis confirmed after delivery by caesarean section at week 36. The baby survived the neonatal period, but failed to thrive, had recurrent respiratory infections and ultimately died at 8 months. Cultured fibroblasts synthesized both normal type I collagen and unstable type I collagen harbouring a structural defect in the alpha 1 (I) cyanogen bromide-derived peptide number 8 (CB8) region of the molecule, indicating a heterozygous dominant mutation. At birth, the radiological picture was that of the "thin bone"-type of congenital OI (OI type IIB/III in the Sillence classification); at the age of 12 weeks ribs and long bones had undergone a marked expansion giving a very different picture, that of the "thick bone"-type congenital OI (OI type IIA). The mechanism responsible for this change in bone structure is not known, but fractures and callus formation are unlikely to be the only factors. Caution is needed in the interpretation of radiographs of newborns with OI for prognostic or genetic purposes.

Collagen↗

Mapping of heteroplasmic mitochondrial DNA deletions in Kearns-Sayre syndrome.

Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS) is a progressive neuromuscular disease characterised by ophtalmoplegia, cardiac bloc branch, pigmentary retinopathy associated with abnormal mitochondrial function. We have studied the mitochondrial DNA organization of patients presenting KSS and have found large deletions ranging from 3 to 8.5 kilobase pairs. DNA molecules containing deletion are accompanied by the presence of the normal sized mtDNA molecule forming heteroplasmic genomes. The deletions always map in the region which is potentially single stranded during mitochondrial DNA replication. The deletions differ in length and position between individuals but are similar within the different tissues of an individual suggesting that they arise during or before embryogenesis.

Biopsy↗

Multisystem triglyceride storage disease is due to a specific defect in the degradation of endocellularly synthesized triglycerides.

We studied two unrelated patients with autosomal recessive multisystem triglyceride storage disease. Cultured fibroblasts accumulated 10 times more triglyceride than controls under glycerol or palmitate feeding. Mutant fibroblasts could not degrade accumulated triglycerides of endogenous origin, but normally degraded endogenously synthesized phospholipids. When the cells were fed with exogenous olein, triglyceride catabolism was in the normal range. Oxidation of long-chain, medium-chain, and short-chain fatty acids was normal, and the activities of acidic, neutral, and alkaline lipase in cell extracts were normal. The disease seems to be due to a specific impairment in the degradation of triglycerides synthesized endogenously.

Cells, Cultured↗

Xeroderma pigmentosum (complementation group D) mutation is present in patients affected by trichothiodystrophy with photosensitivity.

We studied the response to UV irradiation in cells from four patients, from three apparently unrelated families, affected by trichothiodystrophy (TTD). They showed all the symptoms of this rare autosomal recessive disorder (brittle hair with reduced sulfur content, mental and physical retardation, ichthyosis, peculiar face) together with photosensitivity. We found a decreased rate of duplicative DNA synthesis in stimulated lymphocytes, reduced survival in fibroblasts, and very low levels of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) in Go lymphocytes and fibroblasts after UV irradiation. Complementation studies showed that normal values of UDS are restored in heterokaryons obtained by fusion of TTD cells with normal and xeroderma pigmentosum (XP)-complementation group A-cells. In contrast the defect is not complemented by fusion with XP-complementation group D-fibroblasts.

Cells, Cultured↗

Lymphoid cell lines as a model system for the study of Wolman's disease: enzymatic, metabolic and ultrastructural investigations.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) transformed lymphoid cell lines (LCL) were established from blood lymphocytes of a patient affected with Wolman's disease (WD) and from her parents. These LCL showed a severe deficiency in acid lipase activity using every substrate in comparison to LCL from normal subjects, in which acid lipase activity was similar to that in blood lymphocytes. In the LCL from Wolman's disease a major accumulation of neutral lipids was observed, mainly cholesteryl esters, CE (amount around 7 times higher than in normal cells and ratio of esterified/free cholesterol increased by 10 times) and to a lesser extent triglycerides, TG (amount increased by 1.5 times). Electron microscopy showed the storage vacuoles of neutral lipids quite characteristic of this lysosomal disease. The reported data demonstrated the validity of transformed LCL as a cellular model system in culture for experimental studies of Wolman's disease and for investigating the lysosomal metabolism of neutral lipids.

Cell Line↗

New spectrophotometric assays of acid lipase and their use in the diagnosis of Wolman and cholesteryl ester storage diseases.

Trinitrophenylaminolauric acid (TNPAL) was linked to glycerol or cholesterol and the resulting yellow compounds were used as substrates for several lipases and cholesteryl esterase in cells from normal individuals and patients with Wolman's or cholesteryl ester storage diseases. Normal cells (lymphoid cell lines or skin fibroblasts) showed two peaks of lipase or cholesteryl esterase activity at about pH 4.0 and 6.0 each. The activity of the most acidic enzyme, which hydrolyzed natural or synthetic triacylglycerols as well as cholesteryl esters, was considerably reduced in cells derived from patients with Wolman's or cholesteryl ester storage diseases. Simple spectrophotometric procedures were developed for using tri-TNPAL glycerol or TNPAL cholesterol to identify homozygotes of these two respective diseases.

Adult↗

Neutropenia and impaired neutrophil function in glycogenosis type Ib.

The impairment of different neutrophil functions has recently been reported in some patients with glycogenosis Ib and neutropenia. However, no satisfactory explanation for these findings has so far been supplied. In order to investigate this problem, we have studied neutrophil functions (random locomotion and chemotaxis, O-2 release, [1-14C]glucose oxidation and cellular cytotoxicity) in two further patients with glycogenosis Ib and neutropenia. The results show that neutrophil dysfunctions related to the involvement of both hexose monophosphate shunt and anaerobic glycolysis were variable. The heterogeneity of neutrophil functional impairment in glycogenosis Ib and their possible relationship with the basic metabolic defect of the disease are discussed.

Agranulocytosis↗

Mucolipidosis IV, a sialolipidosis due to ganglioside sialidase deficiency.

A female patient of Italian, non-Jewish, descent, 22 years of age, with cloudy corneae, capsular lens opacities and severe and progressive mental and motor deterioration is described. Ultrastructural examination of a skin biopsy sample showed storage of membranous cytoplasmic bodies in Schwann cells, vessel walls, fibroblasts, smooth muscle fibres and sweat glands, and the presence of some electron-lucent vacuoles, filled with fibrillo-granular material, in sweat glands. Biochemical analysis of cultured fibroblasts (from skin explant) showed a complete deficiency of the sialidase acting on gangliosides, while the sialidase acting on sialyllactose and MU-NeuAc, and several lysomal hydrolases were normal. The urine sediment analysis showed accumulation of all phospholipid species, of several glycolipids and of gangliosides, especially of the polysialylated species. We conclude that the patient under examination is affected by Mucolipidosis IV and the term 'sialolipidosis' is suggested for this inborn disorder.

Adult↗

Neutral lipid storage with acid lipase deficiency: a new variant of Wolman's disease with features of the Senior syndrome.

A girl presented with small stature, obesity, tapetoretinal degeneration, deafness, psychomotor regression, seizures, acanthosis nigricans, hepatomegaly, and chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy. She died at age ten with renal insufficiency and uncontrolled seizures. Histochemistry showed lipid storage in hepatocytes, histiocytes, smooth muscles and, to a much lesser extent, kidney tubules and cortical neurons. The liver had increased cholesterol esters (5-fold) and triacylglycerols (8-fold), and decreased phospholipids (50%). Methyllumbelliferyl-oleate, oleylcholestrol, trioleylglycerol, and tripalmitylglycerol lipase activities were markedly reduced in the liver, in the range found in Wolman's disease. In cirrhotic fatty livers these activities ranged from 7-87% of the normal mean. The patient's brain had limited neutral lipid storage and normal methyllumbelliferyl-oleate lipase. Trioleylglycerol lipase activity was 14-60% of controls; tripalmitylglycerol lipase activity 14-25% of controls; and oleylcholestrol lipase activity 12-33% of controls.

Child↗