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Biomedical subjects

G Bevilacqua

Publications and source records attributed to G Bevilacqua.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Role of hepatic histologic findings in the prognosis and treatment of bleeding esophageal varices.

In the period from 1976 to 1986, we performed 329 hepatic needle biopsies using a posterior extraperitoneal approach in patients with bleeding esophageal varices. The histologic findings subdivided according to a four-stage classification were correlated significantly with immediate survival. Specifically, 21 of 23 stage IV patients with severe degenerative and necrotic parenchymal lesions died after immediate emergency surgery, whereas 26 of 48 stage IV patients who did not undergo emergency surgery survived. Stage IV patients appeared unable to withstand major surgery. According to our data, histologic stage and Child's class are independent parameters, especially in emergency situations, since they quantify different aspects of functional liver failure. Therapeutic implications are presented based on cumulative analysis of histologic stages and Child's classes.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMed1989

Ultrastructural features of the intestinal absorption of mouse mammary tumor virus in newborn BALB/cfRIII mice.

The retrovirus mouse mammary tumor virus is present in mouse strains with a high incidence of mammary tumors as a causative agent. It is produced mainly in the mammary glands of sexually mature females and is milk-transmitted to newborns. The fate of the mouse mammary tumor virus is almost unknown. Where it enters, how it is distributed, and where it remains latent, remain unresolved problems. This study tries to answer the first of these questions. Viruses are for the most part digested in the stomach. Very few well-preserved B particles, i.e., the infective particles, are allowed to enter through a process of endocytosis, mainly in the newborn-type epithelial cells. These are epithelial cells with a very rich absorptive apparatus, characteristic of newborn rodents. The adult-type absorptive cells and the M cells of the Peyer's patches might be partly involved.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Antenatal prevention of respiratory distress syndrome; a multicentre survey.

Obstetric and neonatal data were collected on 934 preterm deliveries in 11 Italian centres in 1980, 1985 and 1986. Therapeutic regimens for prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) were applied in 42% of the cases in 1980, 32% in 1985 and 42% in 1986. Prevention was made in most cases with corticosteroids, although their use fell progressively from 94% in 1980 to 74% in 1986. A combination of two substances was used in a percentage of cases varying from 5 to 10% in all three years. In 903 non-malformed infants, the overall incidence of RDS was not significantly different in cases in which pharmacological prevention was attempted compared with cases without prevention. The only factors significantly affecting the incidence of RDS were gestational age, birth weight and Apgar score.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1989

Management of preterm infants receiving surfactant supplementation.

The use of exogenous surfactant in the clinical management of severe neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) has raised some potential new problems related to the rapid variations in oxygenation and pulmonary compliance occurring after this treatment. We advise a strict monitoring of arterial oxygen tension (Pao2), preferably by a non-invasive technique and rapid resetting of the ventilator as indicated by changes in pulmonary compliance and lung aeration after surfactant administration. The goal should be to minimize the risks of air leakage, left-to-right shunt, and overloading of the pulmonary circulation. Rapid diagnosis and treatment of patent ductus arteriosus and appropriate fluid intake are also essential for a favourable outcome in newborn infants with severe RDS treated with surfactant.

Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous↗
PubMed1988

Altered expression of NM23, a gene associated with low tumor metastatic potential, during adenovirus 2 Ela inhibition of experimental metastasis.

NM23, a novel gene associated with low tumor metastatic potential, has been investigated in an experimental system in which metastasis is inhibited by the transfection of viral and cellular oncogenes. The experimental system utilizes transfection of the Adenovirus 2 Ela gene to inhibit metastasis: rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) transfected with c-Ha-ras were highly metastatic, while REF cotransfected with ras and Ela were virtually nonmetastatic. NM23 RNA levels were higher in three independently ras + Ela-cotransfected, low metastatic REF lines than in three independently ras-transfected, highly metastatic REF line. Differences in hybridizable NM23 RNA levels between the two groups of transfected cell lines ranged from 2- to 8-fold. In situ hybridization demonstrated that the relatively high NM23 RNA levels in low metastatic ras + Ela-cotransfected REF cells were not due to overexpression of the NM23 gene by a subpopulation of cells. Thus, the metastasis-inhibitory effect of the exogenously added Ela gene has been associated with increased activation of the cellular NM23 gene. This associated is particularly significant in light of the very few changes observed in translatable steady-state RNA levels between ras- and ras + Ela-transfected REF lines. The data identify NM23 as a candidate for a gene that suppresses the malignant state.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed1988

Evidence for a novel gene associated with low tumor metastatic potential.

We describe a gene, NM23, that is associated with the tumor metastatic process. NM23 RNA levels were highest in cells and tumors of relatively low metastatic potential in two experimental systems: (1) murine K-1735 melanoma cell lines, in which the gene was identified, and (2) N-nitroso-N-methylurea-induced rat mammary carcinomas. NM23 RNA levels did not correlate with cell sensitivity to host immunological responses and may, therefore, be associated with intrinsic aggressiveness. The predicted carboxy-terminal protein sequence encoded by the pNM23 cDNA clone is novel compared with Genebank animal, bacterial, and viral sequences.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

A renin-secreting tumor.

A 23-year-old white male was referred for hypertension resistant to triple antihypertensive treatment, with hypokalemia, hyperaldosteronism and elevated levels of circulating plasma renin activity (PRA). Renal angiography and echoscans put in evidence an avascular solid mass at the midlower level of the right kidney. Renal vein catheterization with sampling of blood from the lower branches of the right renal vein showed lateralization of renin secretion from that side. After surgical exeresis, the mass (1.0 cm) was diagnosed as a renal hemangiopericytoma on the basis of light and electron microscopy. Tumor exeresis was followed by a prompt normalization of blood pressure and plasma potassium, with a decrease in PRA and aldosterone. Two months after surgery the patient was still normotensive. Circulating levels of inactive (trypsin-activable) renin were around 60% of the total pool of plasma renin, i.e. much lower than those reported in other cases of renin-secreting tumors. After surgery, inactive and active renin fell in parallel, implying that both were secreted by the tumor. Tumoral PRA responded to postural stimulation, but was unresponsive to acute converting enzyme inhibition, suggesting that sympathetic stimuli were still operative, but the negative feedback inhibition by angiotensin II on renin secretion was lost. Acute converting enzyme inhibition by captopril dropped blood pressure; however, during long-term treatment, the drug (3 X 50 mg/day) was ineffective in terms of either blood pressure normalization or relief of secondary hyperaldosteronism. Acute calcium entry blockade by nifedipine (10 mg p.o.) caused an evident blood pressure drop.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Endotoxemia, encephalopathy, and mortality in cirrhotic patients.

Endotoxemia without sepsis was detected with a chromogenic Limulus assay in 36 of 39 (92.3%) cirrhotic patients and was absent in seven healthy volunteers. In 11 patients who underwent elective portasystemic shunt, portal vein endotoxemia was higher than inferior vena caval: p less than 0.05, systemic endotoxin levels did not change, compared to preoperative levels, on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd postoperative days, attendant to an uneventful recovery. In 21 patients in hepatic encephalopathy after esophagogastric hemorrhage, systemic endotoxemia was higher than in well-compensated cirrhotics: p less than 0.001; it was higher in deep than in light coma: p less than 0.05; it was higher in those who died than in those who survived: p less than 0.001. Endotoxin levels showed a positive correlation with serum bilirubin: r = 0.59, p less than 0.001, and a negative correlation with prothrombin activity: r = -0.59, p less than 0.001. These data show endotoxemia without sepsis is a constant finding in cirrhosis and increasing levels of endotoxemia are associated with hepatic failure, encephalopathy, and death.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Multiple sebaceous tumors and carcinomas of the colon. Torre syndrome.

The association of multiple tumors of the sebaceous glands with primary visceral carcinomas was described for the first time by Torre in 1967. Another 26 cases with similar features have been subsequently reported in the literature. In 12 of these patients isolated or multiple keratoacanthomas and in 8 intestinal polyps were also found. The authors add the report of a personal case. The patient is a 54-year-old man who, during a period of 8 years, has shown multiple sebaceous tumors, 1 keratoacanthoma, and 3 primary adenocarcinomas of the colon. The outline and nosologic position of this pathologic conditions are discussed.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1985

Bone marrow necrosis foreshadowing acute lymphoid leukemia.

Necrosis of the bone marrow is rarely observed during life. Less than 50 cases have been reported, for the most part in patients with leukemia. The finding of bone marrow necrosis in children is even more rare. Of the seven cases reported, six patients had acute lymphoid leukemia and one patient had lymphocytic lymphoma. The occurrence of marrow necrosis diagnosed by aspirate and by biopsy in a child 18 months of age is presented. The necrosis was present several months before the appearance of acute lymphoid leukemia. The reasons for the presumed rarity of this pathological finding, its relationship with bone or joint pain and fever, hypotheses concerning pathogenesis, and its prognostic value are discussed.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMed1985

[Hepatic biopsy by posterior extraperitoneal puncture. Statistics of 1000 cases].

The authors report an analysis of 1000 hepatic biopsies performed with an original method with posterior extraperitoneal approach. This method let the biopsy execution also in the patients in which the hepatic biopsy with lateral approach was contraindicated (31%). An adequate sample for histologic examination was obtained in 98,3% of cases. An important element of safe is now considered the ultrasound guide. The incidence of greater complications has been modest (7 arterious-venous fistulas, 1 retroperitoneal hematoma, 1 cardiac arrest by probable vagal inhibitory reflex).

Arteriovenous Fistula↗
PubMed1984

Cutaneous metastasis of a radiation-associated thyroid medullary carcinoma.

The rare event of a single cutaneous metastasis occurred in a 37-year-old white man two years after a subtotal thyroidectomy for sporadic medullary carcinoma is reported. The endocrine nature of the tumor is revealed by the ultrastructural study, and the type of secretion by the biochemical assay of calcitonin (CT) in the serum and in the tumor tissue extract and by the PAP (peroxidase-anti-peroxidase) technique with anti-CT antibodies on paraffin sections. The cytological and histological findings are described. Some peculiar ultrastructural aspects are presented in details. The fact that the patient received a course of Rx therapy (3,000 rads) on the neck for cervical syringomyelia at the age of 20 years is stressed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Unusual findings of viral production (MuMTV) in murine mammary tumors (BALB/cfC3H).

Some unusual findings of the murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) are described in cells of BALB/cfC3H mice mammary tumors: (1) a conspicuous endocellular production of B particles by budding of A particles into small and large cytoplasmic vacuoles, into intracytoplasmic lumina, and possibly into vacuoles of secretion; (2) an extracellular production of B particles (in addition to the classic budding via microvilli) by opening at the cell surface of intracytoplasmic lumina containing mature and immature B particles and possibly of small vacuoles containing immature B particles. Morphological data suggest a virus excretion also by the secretory pathway of the neoplastic cell. Golgi complex is often seen in association with the small type of cytoplasmic vacuoles, whereas the large vacuoles are often close to a particular type of dense body, possibly lysosomes. The occurrence of free B particles in the cytoplasm is also reported. The possibility that the observed features are not occasional but are aspects of the normal life of the MuMTV is suggested.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

The cardiorespiratory impairment in cirrhosis and sepsis. An experimental interpretation using octopamine infusion.

The effects of octopamine on systemic and pulmonary circulation and on respiratory parameters have been studied in ten O2 100% breathing pigs. A rise in cardiac index (CI) due to an increase in the dynamics of the left ventricle and a progressive hypoxemia, notwithstanding the hyperventilation, was found. The decrease in arterial O2 tension was due to a rise in the pulmonary shunt fraction (QS/QT). The statistical analysis of cardiorespiratory parameters demonstrated that the high flow state linked with a non-Starling mechanism was the causing factor of a ventilation: perfusion ratio (VA/QT) decrease, which led to the rise in QS/QT. Also, a decrease in the lung compliance simultaneous to the increased blood flow was observed. It is suggested that octopamine may play a role in the pathogenesis of the cardiorespiratory hemodynamic impairment of cirrhosis and sepsis where high levels of this false neurotransmitter were observed.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Impairment of cell-mediated immunity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa pyelonephritis: lack of suppressor cell activity in vivo.

Bacterial pyelonephritis was induced in mice by direct microinoculation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the kidney. In the acute phase of P. aeruginosa pyelonephritis, a state of cell-mediated immunity impairment, evaluated both in vitro as lymphocyte reactivity to concanavalin A and in vivo as host versus graft reaction has been observed. Furthermore, delayed-type hypersensitivity to specific bacterial antigen has been detected only when the kidney infection was subsiding, i.e., 3 weeks after bacteria inoculation. When investigating the mechanism of such T-cell impairment, we were unable to transfer the immunodepression, suggesting that suppressor cells are not involved in vivo. The role of P. aeruginosa inhibition of cell-mediated immunity in the pyelonephritic host is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy and hyperdynamic syndrome in cirrhosis. Role of false neurotransmitters.

We sought to determine whether false neurotransmitters (FNTs) play an important role as determinants not only of hepatic encephalopathy but also of hyperdynamic syndrome in cirrhosis. A combined biochemical and hemodynamics study of 55 bleeding cirrhotic patients was made. We evaluated the aromatic and aliphatic branched-chain amino acids and octopamine serum levels as well as the hemodynamic measurements. The results show that there is a correlation between levels of serum octopamine and aromatic amino acids and hepatic coma: the higher the octopamine level, the deeper the hepatic coma. There is also a correlation between aromatic amino acids and cardiac index and total peripheral resistance. Furthermore, when a narrowing of arteriovenous difference in oxygen occurs and oxygen consumption decreases, there is an increase not only in the level of aromatic amino acids, but also in octopamine level, suggesting an important linkage between hemodynamic and metabolic impairment.

Adolescent↗