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Biomedical subjects

C Ferrari

Publications and source records attributed to C Ferrari.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

The fine structure of HNK-1 (Leu7) positive cells. A study using an immunoperoxidase technique.

The ultrastructural characteristics of HNK-1 (Leu7) positive cells, visualized with a peroxidase labelled anti-mouse IgM serum, were analysed. Our investigation demonstrates: 1) the majority of Leu7 positive cells has a low nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio (N/C), an irregular outline, a well developed smooth endoplasmic reticulum, parallel tubular arrays (PTA) and electron dense granules; 2) the minority of Leu7 positive cells has a high N/C, regular profiles and lacks electron dense granules. The presence of two distinct ultrastructural patterns within Leu7 positive cells may represent: 1) the expression of subsequent stages of cell differentiation; 2) two distinct Leu7 positive cell subpopulations.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1984

Anatomical bases of lateral thoracotomy without muscle transection.

The descriptive anatomy of the lateral thoracic wall and the topographical anatomy of the fifth intercostal space are used as bases for the description of the lateral approach to the thoracic cavity without muscle transection, considered by the authors as a "standard" approach to the thoracic cavity.

Humans↗
PubMed1984

Serum prolactin and ovarian function after discontinuation of drug treatment for hyperprolactinaemia: a study with bromocriptine and metergoline.

Serum prolactin (PRL) was estimated for up to 2 months after discontinuation of therapy with either bromocriptine (n = 33; 15 with idiopathic disease, 12 with pituitary microadenoma, and six with macroadenoma) or metergoline (n = 23; 11 with idiopathic disease, and 12 with microadenoma) that had been administered for 8-30 months. Only five patients treated with bromocriptine and two treated with metergoline had PRL levels that remained normal or below 50% of pretreatment values. Among the patients followed-up for up to 12 months, four showed a fall in PRL at 3-4 months, but this was followed by a rise in one patient. Five patients showing persistently lower or normal PRL after drug withdrawal were retested with thyrotrophin-releasing hormone; the two responsive women also had a normal response before treatment. Of 10 patients followed for 9 months, three had persistently normal PRL levels. Amenorrhoea and anovulation recurred, with some delay, in all the patients showing PRL rebound except one. Medical treatment of hyperprolactinaemia only rarely results in permanent benefit.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1984

[Hepatitis B virus infection in a hospital population in Parma: implementation of a vaccination program].

An epidemiological survey of hepatitis B virus infection has been carried out in medical and paramedical employees of the Hospital of Parma, in order to identify high-risk groups and to estimate how many of subjects might be immunized with newly available but expansive vaccine. Radioimmunoassay procedures were used to detect the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and the corresponding antibody (anti-HBs) in serum samples from 1682 hospital workers. Among these person tested, HBsAg was present in 57 (3.4%) and anti-HBs in 438 (26.3%); at least one of the two markers was found in 495 (29.4%). The prevalence of HBsAg and anti-HBs was related more closely to age, years and kind of occupation, than to clinical service (i.e. renal dialysis or medical services) and title (physician, nurse, laboratory technician, support staff.

Female↗
PubMed1983

Serum free thyroid hormones in T3-toxicosis: a study of 35 patients.

Few data are available on serum free thyroid hormone concentration in patients with T3-toxicosis. In this study total and free T4 and T3 and TBG were evaluated in 35 subjects with T3-toxicosis, including 12 with untreated Graves' disease, 5 Graves' patients on methimazole treatment, 13 with autonomous adenoma, 3 with multinodular goiter, and 2 with subacute thyroiditis. T4, T3, free T4 (FT4), free T3 (FT3) as well as calculated T4/TBG and T3/TBG ratios were significantly higher in patients than in 37 healthy controls. Serum FT4 levels above the normal range were found in 19 subjects with T3-toxicosis (9 with untreated and one with methimazole-treated Graves' disease, 6 with autonomous adenoma, 1 with multinodular goiter and 2 with subacute thyroiditis). These data, together with the few previous reports, indicate that high FT4 levels are present in about half of the patients with so called T3-toxicosis, and that this occurs more frequently in diffuse than nodular goiter. It is suggested that the term T3-toxicosis be used only for those subjects with normal total and free T4.

Graves Disease↗
PubMed1983

Non-Michaelian kinetics of rabbit muscle uridine diphosphoglucose pyrophosphorylase.

The kinetic properties of rabbit muscle uridine diphosphoglucose (UDP-Glc) pyrophosphorylase have been studied, in both directions, with respect to substrate saturation, product inhibition, and cation requirement for activity. The results demonstrate that UDP-Glc pyrophosphorylase is a non-Michaelian enzyme: the synthetic reaction is characterized by a marked inhibition by glucose-1-phosphate (at concentrations higher than 0.3 mM) and by an hyperbolic saturation for UTP. In the reverse reaction, instead, the saturation function for UDP-Glc is hyperbolic and that for inorganic pyrophosphate is sigmoid, with a high Hill coefficient of (nH) 2.5. The study of the metal requirement indicates a distinctive ability of cations to stimulate the reactions of synthesis and degradation of the sugar nucleotide and a different stoichiometry of the metal chelates involved. The reaction mechanism is of the ordered-sequential type and the data of product inhibition allowed the identification of glucose-1-phosphate as the first substrate bound and UDP-Glc as the last product released. The inhibition pattern by UDP-Glc gives evidence for cooperativity also in the binding of this molecule.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Effects of ibopamine on serum prolactin and growth hormone levels in hyperprolactinemic and acromegalic subjects.

The effects of oral doses (100, 200, and 400 mg) of a dopamine derivative, ibopamine, on serum prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH) levels were evaluated in hyperprolactinemic patients, some of whom also were acromegalic. There was dose-related lowering of PRL levels. The highest dose was as effective as 500 mg L-dopa, although the duration of action was shorter, with a decrease to below 50% of basal PRL values in all patients. Serum GH did not rise in nonacromegalic subjects, but it fell after 400 mg ibopamine in the L-dopa-sensitive acromegalic patients. These data suggest, but do not prove, that ibopamine is able to directly stimulate pituitary dopamine receptors.

Acromegaly↗
PubMed1983

Dopaminergic control of gastric acid and gastrin secretion in man: lack of effects after acute oral administration of ibopamine, an analogue of dopamine.

The effect of oral administration of the dopaminergic drug, ibopamine, at the dose of 200 mg and 400 mg, on basal and submaximal pentagastrin (0.25 microgram kg-1 h-1) stimulated gastric acid secretion as well as basal serum gastrin concentration has been evaluated in 24 healthy individuals. In comparison with placebo no significant changes were observed in all the variables studied. The lack of effects on gastric acid secretion might be due to a selective stimulation of dopaminergic receptors not active in the regulation of gastric acidity or not present in gastric mucosa, while unchanged serum gastrin secretion is possibly due to a poor crossing of blood-brain barrier by ibopamine.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Macrophage-T lymphocyte relationships in man's contact allergic reactions.

Seventeen biopsies from contact allergic reaction sites in sensitized patients were studied by electron microscopy and immunocytochemistry. Very intimate appositions of macrophages to T lymphocytes were frequently observed in the dermis at 6, 8 and 12 hours after application of the allergen. Such juxtapositions were seen less frequently after 24, 48 and 72 hours. These appositions seem to indicate that macrophages play an antigen-presenting role in human contact allergic reactions, as Langerhans cells seem to do.

Allergens↗
PubMed1983

Effect of fenfluramine on prolactin secretion in obese patients: evidence for serotoninergic regulation of prolactin in man.

The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of serotoninergic stimulation on prolactin (PRL) secretion in man. Fenfluramine (60 mg, orally), an anorexiant drug which under acute circumstances stimulates the serotoninergic system, was administered to eight obese patients. Compared with placebo, drug administration increased PRL significantly (P less than 0.05 at 180 and 300 min, P less than 0.01 at 240 min). No significant changes were observed after fenfluramine in blood pressure, plasma aldosterone (PA), plasma cortisol, plasma renin activity, serum electrolytes or growth hormone. Since it has been reported that dopaminergic blockade raises PA concentration, the lack of change in PA in obese patients treated with fenfluramine suggests that the observed increase in PRL induced by fenfluramine is likely to be mediated by serotoninergic stimulation.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Thyroid function tests in chronic liver disease: evidence for multiple abnormalities despite clinical euthyroidism.

To further evaluate thyroid function in patients with liver disease, we have measured total and free T3 and T4, thyroxine binding globulin, basal and thyrotropin releasing hormone-stimulated thyrotropin and thyroglobulin antibodies in 33 patients with liver cirrhosis, in 22 with chronic hepatitis and in 30 healthy controls. All the patients but one were clinically euthyroid. T3, FT3, T3/thyroxine binding globulin and T4/thyroxine binding globulin ratios and thyrotropin after thyrotropin releasing hormone were significantly reduced, while FT4, thyroxine binding globulin and thyrotropin were significantly increased in liver cirrhosis. In chronic hepatitis group, FT3 and T3/thyroxine binding globulin ratio were significantly lower and thyroxine binding globulin and FT4 were higher than in healthy controls. The between patients comparison revealed a significantly lower T3, FT3, T3/thyroxine binding globulin and T4/thyroxine binding globulin ratios and delta thyrotropin in cirrhotics. Thyroglobulin antibodies were present at high titre only in two patients one of whom having evidence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis with subclinical hypothyroidism. The correlation coefficient between T4/thyroxine binding globulin ratio and FT4 were lower in patients than in controls. Furthermore an abnormal thyrotropin response to thyrotropin releasing hormone was shown in 10 cirrhotics and in four patients with chronic hepatitis. Serum T3 significantly correlated with serum bilirubin, albumin, and prothrombin time in both groups of patients. The present data confirm the existence of several abnormalities of thyroid function tests in patients with chronic liver disease, although showing that euthyroidism is almost always maintained, probably as a result of low-normal FT3 and high-normal FT4. Furthermore, T3 serum levels appear to parallel the severity of liver dysfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Prolactin response to the dopamine antagonists sulpiride and domperidone. Further evidence for pituitary dopamine deficiency in hyperprolactinemic disorders of different etiology.

The PRL response to the dopamine antagonists sulpiride (100 mg i.m.) or domperidone (2 or 8 mg i.v.) was evaluated in healthy controls and in 148 patients with different hyperprolactinemic disorders (50 with idiopathic hyperprolactinemia, 58 with microprolactinoma, 19 with macroprolactinoma, 2 with empty sella, 8 with acromegaly, 7 with organic lesions of the hypothalamus, and 4 with idiopathic hypopituitarism of presumed hypothalamic origin). Mean PRL response to both drugs was significantly lower in all groups of patients than in controls, and significantly higher in subjects with idiopathic hyperprolactinemia than in those with pituitary adenomas or hypothalamic disease. Absent or impaired PRL responses were found in 38% of idiopathic patients, in 91.5% of microprolactinomas and in all of the patients with either macroprolactinoma, acromegaly, or hypothalamic disorders. Since the PRL response to dopamine antagonists depends on the presence of an endogenous dopaminergic tone, it is suggested that these figures reflect the incidence of major dopamine deficiency at pituitary lactotrophs in different hyperprolactinemic states. These data suggest that the pathophysiology of hyperprolactinemia in many patients with idiopathic disease is different from that of microprolactinoma. However, the finding of a normal PRL response to sulpiride in some subjects with radiologically or surgically proven microprolactinoma indicates that this test has no diagnostic value in the individual case.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Periodate inactivates muscle glycogen phosphorylase by modifying the enzyme active site.

Incubation of skeletal muscle glycogen phosphorylase with sodium periodate's results into irreversible loss of enzyme activity. The rate of inactivation is influenced by the ionic strength of the medium and by the presence of caffeine, but not by nucleotides. During the reaction, cysteine residues slowly reactive towards DTNB are modified and the coenzyme is released. These results suggest the presence of cysteine residues at the protein site involved in the binding of the phosphate group of pyridoxal phosphate.

Animals↗