Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F De Luca

Publications and source records attributed to F De Luca.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Correlation between plasma levels of ACTH and beta-endorphin in the first seven days of postnatal life.

Plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and beta-endorphin (beta-EP) concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay in 122 newborns, born vaginally after spontaneous labor between the 38th and the 41st week of pregnancy. Blood samples were taken from umbilical cord in 10 newborns and from antecubital vein in the remaining 112 newborns, divided into 8 groups aged from 12 h to 7 days. The mean (+/- SE) ACTH concentrations in cord plasma were 81.87 +/- 10.16 pg/ml and decreased significantly (p less than 0.01) at the 24th h of life (49.09 +/- 6.93 pg/ml). Afterwards mean ACTH plasma concentrations fluctuated around the latter values. The mean (+/- SE) B-EP concentrations in cord plasma were 21.96 +/- 3.12 pmol/l and decreased significantly at the 24th h of life (13.43 +/- 2.08 pmol/l; p less than 0.01). From the 24th h to the 7th day the mean plasma concentrations of beta-EP were not significantly different. ACTH and beta-EP plasma levels were positively correlated (p less than 0.001) at delivery and during the first seven days of life.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1987

Biological tissue simulation and standard testing material for MRI.

The polyacrylamide gel is proposed here as a phantom material for NMR imaging. This substance has electrical and NMR relaxation characteristics very similar to those of biological tissues. The thermal and time stabilities also make this material a convenient standard for MRI.

Acrylic Resins↗
PubMed1987

Adult height in thalassaemia major without hormonal treatment.

Height and sitting height were measured in all the 28 patients (19 females and 9 males) of our Thalassaemic Centre who exhibited evidence of cessation of growth. Their average final stature, which had been spontaneously achieved at an age ranging from 15.0-21.5 years (mean 17.9), was slightly lower with respect to the mean standards for women (159.1 +/- 8.4 vs 160.0 +/- 6.0 cm) and men (167.8 +/- 6.4 vs 172.5 +/- 6.0 cm). Height deficiency exceeded 2 SD scores in only 3/28 patients. If compared to the familial target height, patients' stature fell within the familial range in 19/24 cases and in only one case was it below the lower limit. In the whole sample the patients' height was positively related to their familial target height (r = 0.72, P less than 0.0002) and also to mid-parental stature (r = 0.45, P less than 0.05). Heights of both females and males were superimposable on those of their own mothers and fathers respectively. Average values of either SH (76.4 +/- 3.8 vs 79.9 +/- 3.4 cm, 2 P less than 0.02) or SH/H ratio (48.9 +/- 2.5 vs 51.5 +/- 1.0, 2 P less than 0.005) were significantly lower in the female thalassaemics than in the sex-matched controls. Three females and one male showed subnormal values of both SH and SH/H ratio. Two out of these patients with eunochoid body proportions and another one with a decreased SH/H ratio have hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and are undergoing a chronic substitutive treatment with sexual hormones, which was instituted after the achievement of final stature.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

[Scintigraphic study of gastric emptying in children with common obesity].

Quantitative gastric emptying essay by a single radio-nuclide technique (Tc99m), utilizing a fluid/solid meal, were performed in 2 groups of age-matched children: (a) 15 males with non-endocrine obesity; (b) 6 males and 3 females affected by gastroesophageal reflux, arbitrarily used as controls. Mean (+/- SD) gastric emptying rates, expressed as emptying half-time (T/2 in min) in the group a and b were superimposable (102.0 +/- 60.6 vs 97.3 +/- 43.1). Our data do not support the existence of an abnormally rapid gastric emptying rate in obesity, at least in pediatric age. This finding is even more striking if one considers that our control group was at high risk for delayed gastric emptying.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Obesity in a child with untreated coeliac disease.

This is the first report of obesity in an untreated coeliac patient diagnosed at the age of 5.1 years according to the criteria of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology. Diagnosis of coeliac disease was suspected on the basis of recurrent episodes of abdominal pain and of family history. Gluten-free diet induced evident acceleration of both length and weight velocity and increase of weight excess, apart from resolution of the abdominal symptoms. The present case report demonstrates that obesity in a child does not exclude the diagnosis of coeliac disease.

Celiac Disease↗
PubMed1986

Modified crossed-ellipse radiofrequency coil for MRI.

New coil geometries obtained by computer simulations from the crossed-ellipse rf coil are reported. These geometries with elliptical transverse section improve the signal-to-noise ratio with respect to the classic ellipse and saddle coils. The increase of signal-to-noise ratio is mainly due to the reduction of coil losses and to the better B1 efficiency and distribution.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1986

Changes in thyroid function tests induced by 2 month carbamazepine treatment in L-thyroxine-substituted hypothyroid children.

In five L-thyroxine-substituted hypothyroid children with partial epilepsy serum total thyroxine (T4) and free T4 (FT4) significantly (P less than 0.01) decreased following 2 months of carbamazepine (CBZ) administration (20 mg/kg per BW per day) from mean (+/- SD) values of 12.7 +/- 1.1 micrograms/dl and 15.5 +/- 1.8 pg/ml to mean values of 7.5 +/- 2.3 and 10.1 +/- 1.7, respectively. In all but one patient important changes in both serum total and free triiodothyronine (T3, FT3) were not observed; consequently T3:T4 and FT3:FT4 ratios significantly (P less than 0.05) increased in the whole series. Three subjects had post-treatment serum TSH that rose to hypothyroid levels parallel to a T4 decrease. The negligible thyroid hormone secretion and the unmodified T3-uptake (T3U) or T4-binding globulin (TBG) exclude direct effects of CBZ on thyroid gland and on carrier serum proteins, respectively. The findings observed, instead, might be due to accelerated T4 metabolic clearance together with augmented T4 to T3 conversion rate, as previously demonstrated for diphenylhydantoin. The sharp reduction in T4 and FT3 concentrations is the peripheral display of this event, which is associated with a decompensation of the metabolic status, as indicated by serum TSH enhancement. In all cases a supplement of L-thyroxine by itself was able to restore euthyroid TSH serum concentrations, suggesting that hypothyroidism in patients with partial epilepsy to whom CBZ had been administered requires a higher L-T4 substitutive regimen.

Carbamazepine↗
PubMed1986

Effects of intravenous TRH on growth hormone and cortisol serum levels in children and adolescents with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

The effects of an iv thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) bolus on serum growth hormone (GH) and cortisol levels were evaluated in 59 children and adolescents with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and in 24 healthy, age-matched control subjects. In the IDDM group GH baseline levels sharply rose within 30 min after TRH and successively normalized. On the contrary, TRH injection failed to affect GH serum concentrations in the control group. The GH increase after TRH in IDDM patients was positively correlated to age, but unrelated to other variables, such as sex, pubertal stage, duration of disease, glycemia, glycosylated hemoglobin, thyrotropin and T4 concentrations. Twenty-one out of 59 diabetics and only 1/24 controls exhibited a paradoxical GH response to TRH, arbitrarily defined as a precocious increase (within 30 min), of more than 100% with respect to the baseline value, associated with a GH peak greater than 10 ng/ml. Eighteen IDDM patients underwent a second TRH test 12 to 24 months later and substantially exhibited the same GH pattern documented the first time. The mechanism responsible for such anomalous GH responsiveness to TRH in IDDM is unclear. However, it cannot be attributed to a nonspecific stress reaction, as proven by the lack of a concomitant increase of cortisol serum levels in the same subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Dissociation between adrenarche and gonadarche in two longstanding hypothyroid youngsters.

An evident dissociation between adrenarche and gonadarche was found in two longstanding hypothyroid youngsters, one male and one female, with advanced gonadal development and absent sexual hair. This discrepancy rapidly vanished after the institution of thyroxine substitutive treatment. These case reports underline the important relationships existing between thyroid function and endocrine systems involved in the regulation of adrenarche and gonadarche.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Sensorineural deafness in congenital hypopituitarism with severe hypothyroidism.

Marked sensorineural hearing loss was documented in an 18-year-old boy with untreated congenital anterior panhypopituitarism. The clinical manifestations of the hypothalamic thyroid failure were unusually severe in this patient. Seemingly this is the first case report of perceptive-cochlear deafness in a subject with non primary congenital hypothyroidism.

Adolescent↗