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Biomedical subjects

F Bruno

Publications and source records attributed to F Bruno.

103 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Short-term effects of prone positioning on the oxygenation of pediatric patients submitted to mechanical ventilation]

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the short-term effects of prone positioning on the oxygenation of mechanically-ventilated children suffering from severe hypoxemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective, nonrandomized trial (each patient as his/her own control) was conducted between July 1998 and July 1999. Mechanically-ventilated children with peak inspiratory pressure greater than or equal to 30 cm H(2)O, FiO(2) greater than or equal to 0.5, and PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio less than or equal to 200 were included in the study. Each patient was kept in the prone position for two hours, returning to the supine position after this period. Oxygenation was assessed by means of PaO(2)/FiO(2) in the supine position (one hour before prone positioning), one hour after prone positioning, and one hour after returning to the supine position. Patients who presented an increase of at least 20 in PaO(2)/FiO(2) were considered responsive. The results were compared by Student t-test, Friedman test, chi-square test, Fishers exact test, and confidence interval. RESULTS: Eighteen children (10 males), whose mean age was 11.5 -/+11.5 months, with initial PaO(2)/FiO(2) of 96.06 -/+ 41.78, participated in the study. After one hour in the prone position, 27.7% of the patients (5/18) improved their PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio (P=0.045). Six of these patients presented reduced lung compliance (four of them had acute respiratory distress syndrome); and twelve patients showed increased airway resistance (six of them presented bronchiolitis). No significant difference was observed between these two groups (reduced lung compliance x increased airway resistance) in terms of age, sex, duration of ventilation prior to change in position, peak inspiratory pressure, FiO(2), severity of hypoxemia, and outcome. CONCLUSION: Prone positioning during mechanical ventilation of children with severe hypoxemia may improve the PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio in the first hour.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Liquid chromatographic/mass spectrometric determination of desmedipham and phenmedipham and their metabolites in soil.

A simple method is described for the simultaneous determination of residues of 2 carbamate herbicides (phenmedipham and desmedipham) and related metabolites (m-aminophenol, aniline, and m-toluidine) in soil. The analytes are extracted from spiked soils with methanol. The solvent/soil suspension is centrifuged, and the supernatant is directly injected, without any further cleanup, into a reversed-phase liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry apparatus equipped with a TurbolonSpray interface. The method was tested on 5 soils having different physicochemical properties. Recoveries from the soil types, spiked over the range of 50-200 ppb, were essentially quantitative for each analyte. The detection limits of the method are < or = 25 ng/g.

Carbamates↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Total and partial O2 and CO2 ductances in workers exposed to inhalation of cement-asbestos].

The aim of the study was to assess the efficiency of the respiratory system in ensuring the correct dynamics of respiratory gases in subjects chronically exposed to the inhalation of asbestos-cement dust but not yet suffering from parenchymal asbestosis, via measurement of total and partial O2 and CO2 ductance coefficients (Du). Two groups of male workers of working age were selected, the first consisting of 22 workers employed on the manufacture of asbestos-cement products, the second consisting of 26 workers who had never been exposed to the inhalation of significant concentrations of occupational respiratory irritants. The two groups were comparable for age, smoking, and normal spirometric parameters for FVC, FEV1 and PEF, and were free of any type on interstitial lung disease according to ILO standards. In the exposed group, all O2 and CO2 ductance coefficients were significantly lower than in the non-exposed, except DuBCO2 (alveolar-capillary ductance for CO2). Measurement of O2 and CO2 lung ductances at rest thus revealed an impairment of the diffusion and of the interpulmonary exchange of blood and air in subjects chronically exposed to the inhalation of asbestos-cement dust. In the sample under study, such impairment preceded lung damage detectable by spirometric and radiological tests and was an obstacle not only to oxygen intake but also to the elimination of carbon dioxide.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Drugs and sexual behavior].

The abundant scientific literature on the addictions does not unclude many papers on the subject of sexual behaviors under the effect of self-administration of drugs. The results of the studies and of the experiments carried out in this field do not allow a classification of drugs in homogeneous groups according to their specific actions on sexual behavior. For each of the most common drugs the most reliable existing data have been examined. Final conclusions cannot be reached for each drug, since several substances may often act, according to many variables, in different cases as depressants or stimulants. The need to study this aspect of drug addiction has been underlined with the aim to improve our knowledge both in the field of the new sexual therapies and of the prevention and control of drug addiction.

Amyl Nitrite↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Summary of an eleven-country study of socio-legal measures to combat drug abuse and related crime.

In a comparative study of a group of experimental and control subjects in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Japan, Jordan, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States of America (State of New York), and of the results of independent studies conducted in Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a rather close association was found to exist between drug abuse, criminal behaviour and social attitudes to such problems. Both drug abuse and the socio-legal systems varied greatly in the countries involved. No correlation was found between the level of foreseen or actual harshness of the socio-legal system and the level of seriousness of drug abuse and its associated criminality, but there was a significant correlation between knowledge of the law and the efficacy of the socio-legal system. In each country informal control systems, such as the family, church, school, neighbourhood and work environment, were active. Approximately one half of the subjects that were interviewed from countries with the most punitive socio-legal systems perceived informal controls as harsh and punitive while in the other countries such controls were generally perceived as positive. The study encouraged the review, testing and implementation of alternative measures to penal sanctions, particularly with a view to creating a genuine therapeutic approach to correcting the deviant behaviour of drug abusers.

Crime↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Statistics on 123 children with febrile convulsions from 1976 to 1981 with possible advantages of continuous prophylaxis with valproic acid and/or phenobarbital].

All children (6 months to 5 years of age) presenting with febrile seizures have been followed for 3-5 years. Analysis of the data of 123 children gave the following results: -in 20 cases the duration of the convulsions was longer than 20 minutes; -males were prevalent (60,2%) and characterised by a longer duration of convulsive manifestations (20,2% of cases); -valproic acid (20-30 mg/kg/die) or phenobarbital (3-5 mg/kg/die) prophylaxis for a minimum of I year protect against recurrence of convulsions (26,6% of new episodes in non treated vs 10,2% in treated patients); -irrespective of drug prophylaxis, recurrence is minimal and approaches zero, when the first episode occurs in children older than 3 years; -only one case (0,8%) had recurrence not associated with fever, during valproic acid treatment two years after the first episode.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Predictive value of the echo-Doppler test in relation to the development of carotid arteriosclerotic plaques].

The authors report their experience relative to 102 patients evaluated with carotid duplex-scanner. Ultrasonographic data of atherosclerotic carotid changes have been correlated with the outcome of the tested series. In fact, echographic images of vascular changes with high thromboembolic risk (ulcerated plaque) have been associated with cerebrovascular injuries in 25% of the cases. Furthermore, the duplex-scanner showed the need for surgical treatment (TEA) in 32 patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Therefore, this noninvasive diagnostic tool seems to play an essential role in the prevention of cerebrovascular ischemia.

Arteriosclerosis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Effects of PEEP on intrathoracic and extrathoracic blood volumes evaluated with the COLD system in patients with acute respiratory failure. Preliminary study].

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the effects of positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) on intrathoracic and extrathoracic blood volumes in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF). METHODS: In 4 ARF patients, we have measured cardiac output (CI), intrathoracic blood volume (ITBVI), global end-diastolic ventricular volume (GEDVI), pulmonary (PBVI) and total (TBVI) blood volumes, during application of two PEEP levels (0 and 10 cm H2O). These measurements have been performed by PULSION COLD Z-021 system, using the double indicator dilution technique (thermal and dye dilution). RESULTS: PEEP application caused a significant reduction in CI (from 3.8 +/- 0.4 to 2.9 +/- 0.1 1/min/m2) and ITBVI (from 888 +/- 48 to 698 +/- 25 ml/m2). The reduction in intrathoracic blood volume was associated with a significant reduction in GEDVI and PBVI. After PEEP application, there was a significant reduction in TBVI (from 2437 +/- 135 to 1984 +/- 49 ml/m2). CONCLUSIONS: PEEP application decreases cardiac index, mainly through a preload reduction, as evidenced by the reduction in intrathoracic and end-diastolic ventricular blood volumes. The preload effect is due to an increase in intrathoracic pressure with reduction in total circulating blood volume. TBVI reduction is consistent with blood pooling in vascular compartments, e.g., splanchnic compartment, characterized by long vascular time constant.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Abdominal aortic aneurysm associated with non-neoplastic abdominal disease. Therapeutic approach].

BACKGROUND: Personal experience concerning the treatment of 8 patients with infrarenal aortic aneurysms associated with extravascular non-neoplastic abdominal diseases is presented. METHODS AND RESULTS: In all 7 cases which underwent combined surgical procedures (aneury-smectomy + cholecystectomy in 4 patients and aneurysmectomy + groin hernia repair in 3 patients) early and late postoperative complications were not recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The main therapeutic guidelines concerning the pathologic association of infrarenal aortic aneurysms associated with extravascular non-neoplastic abdominal diseases are discussed on the basis of a literature review and of personal experience.

Adult↗