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Biomedical subjects

G Cavallini

Publications and source records attributed to G Cavallini.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

The age-related accumulation of protein carbonyl in rat liver correlates with the age-related decline in liver proteolytic activities.

Increases of protein carbonyl in animal tissues have been associated with the aging process. So far, the accumulation of oxidized proteins, highly susceptible to proteolysis, has been attributed to age-related changes in proteasomal alkaline proteases. Carbonyl in protein was monitored in six different tissues of male Sprague-Dawley rats fed ad libitum up to the age of 27 months, and of 24 and 27-month-old rats subjected to anti-aging diet restriction (every-other-day feeding ad libitum). Alkaline protease activities and liver lysosomal proteolysis were studied. The levels of protein carbonyl were significantly different in different tissues, and quite stable throughout life; accumulation was restricted to liver tissue very late in life, between ages 24 and 27 months; was fully prevented by diet restriction; was not accompanied by any diet-restriction-sensitive decline of alkaline protease activity; and was accompanied by a dramatic age-related decline in lysosomal proteolysis that was partially prevented by anti-aging diet restriction. No correlation was found between levels of alkaline protease activity and levels of protein carbonyl in the different tissues from younger animals. It is concluded that the process of autophagy, a well-known mechanism for cell maintenance, may deserve more interest in aging studies.

Aging↗
PubMed1999

Salivary gland involvement in patients with chronic pancreatitis.

The salivary glands are structurally similar to the exocrine pancreas and may be involved in the course of diseases of autoimmune origin (sclerosing cholangitis, ulcerative rectocolitis, primary biliary cirrhosis). For a not-yet-quantified proportion of chronic pancreatitis (CP) cases, a possible autoimmune pathogenesis has been postulated. The aim of the study was to assess the frequency of salivary ductal system abnormalities in patients with CP. Fifty-one patients with CP consecutively admitted to our center were studied (44 men, seven women; mean age, 48.2 +/- 10.8 years). The mean duration of disease was 11.7 years (range, 1-37 years); 44 (86%) of 51 patients had pancreatic calcifications, 25 (49%) of 51 diabetes, 25 (52%) of 48 steatorrhea, and 32 (63%) of 51 underwent pancreatic surgery. As a control group, we studied 10 patients of whom four with liver cirrhosis (three alcoholic and one posthepatitis; three men, one woman; mean age, 57 +/- 12.5 years), and six with temporomandibular pain (five men and one woman; mean age, 42 +/- 10.3 years). The patients were given parotid sialography, the findings being read by two independent observers. In two CP patients, parotid sialography was unsuccessful. Fifteen (31 %) of 49 patients and none of the 10 control patients exhibited abnormalities of the glandular ducts compatible with chronic inflammation of the salivary ducts (p = 0.039). None of the CP patients had salivary intraductal calcifications. Findings of parotid ductal abnormalities are frequent in the course of CP and may indicate a common pathogenetic mechanism, even of an immune type.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Incidence of cancer in the course of chronic pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVE: Chronic pancreatitis patients appear to present an increased incidence of pancreatic cancer. The aim of the study was to compare the incidence of cancer, whether pancreatic or extrapancreatic, in our chronic pancreatitis cases with that in the population of our region. METHODS: We analyzed 715 cases of chronic pancreatitis with a median follow-up of 10 yr (7287 person-years); during this observation period they developed 61 neoplasms, 14 of which were pancreatic cancers. The cancer incidence rates were compared, after correction for age and gender, with those of a tumour registry. RESULTS: We documented a significant increase in incidence of both extrapancreatic (Standardized Incidence Ratio [SIR], 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-2.0; p <0.003) and pancreatic cancer (SIR, 18.5; 95% CI, 10-30; p <0.0001) in chronic pancreatitis patients. Even when excluding from the analysis the four cases of pancreatic cancer that occurred within 4 yr of clinical onset of chronic pancreatitis, the SIR is 13.3 (95% CI, 6.4-24.5; p <0.0001). If we exclude these early-onset cancers, there would appear to be no increased risk of pancreatic cancer in nonsmokers, whereas in smokers this risk increases 15.6-fold. CONCLUSIONS: The risks of pancreatic and nonpancreatic cancers are increased in the course of chronic pancreatitis, the former being significantly higher than the latter. The very high incidence of pancreatic cancer in smokers probably suggests that, in addition to cigarette smoking, some other factor linked to chronic inflammation of the pancreas may be responsible for the increased risk.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[Endotracheal tube cuff pressure. Monitoring during general anesthesia].

BACKGROUND: To value changes of endotracheal tube cuff pressure during anaesthesia with N2O, using standard tubes or Brandt-system tubes. METHODS: Endotracheal cuff pressure during anaesthesia in three groups of patients has been monitored: Group 1 (n. 41): endotracheal tube with low-pressure cuff using N2O/O2 (2:1 or 1:1); Group 2 (n. 55): Brandt's double cuff-tubes using N2O/O2 (2:1 or 1:1); Group 3 (n. 20-control group): tubes with low-pressure cuff using O2/air. Values of pressure (M +/- DS: p < 0.05) have been compared with ANOVA, Bonferroni's method (p < 0.017). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Brandt's double cuff-tubes (G2) succeed in avoiding uncontrolled increase of cuff-pressure during anaesthesia with N2O. Standard low-pressure tubes (G1) shown increase of cuff pressure during anaesthesia with N2O which is absent using no N2O (G3).

Anesthesia, General↗
PubMed1999

Management of acute pancreatitis in clinical practice. ProInf - A.I.S.P. Study Group. Progetto Informatizzato Pancreatite Acuta--Associazione Italiana Studio Pancreas.

Over the last few years, remarkable progress has been made in diagnosis, severity assessment and treatment as well as in our understanding of the pathophysiology of acute pancreatitis. New treatment modalities and new specific drugs have been introduced and this has led to practical changes in the daily bedside management of patients with acute pancreatitis. Treatment is essentially medical, both for mild and severe disease, and is aimed at reducing abdominal pain, restoring electrolyte and fluid losses, removing the aetiological factor(s), attenuating inflammation and autodigestive processes, as well as preventing local and systemic complications. Diagnostic and interventional percutaneous or endoscopic procedures are indicated mainly for patients with severe forms of the disease. Surgery is generally indicated for patients with necrosis infection or other local complications not manageable by percutaneous or endoscopic means.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Lithostathine messenger RNA expression in different types of chronic pancreatitis.

Lithostathine may play a physiological role in preventing the precipitation of excess calcium in the pancreatic juice. The hypothesis has been advanced that in chronic calcifying pancreatitis the abnormal biosynthesis of lithostathine might be the original defect to which genetic proneness to the disease may be ascribed. The aim of the present work was to study lithostathine messenger RNA expression in the pancreas of patients with different types of pancreatitis. Lithostathine and chymotrypsinogen mRNA were determined in surgical specimens obtained from the pancreases of the following subjects: (a) 13 patients with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (84.6% calcified); (b) 4 patients with chronic hereditary pancreatitis (all calcified); (c) 6 patients with chronic obstructive pancreatitis (4 calcified); and (d) 27 subjects suffering from pancreatic cancer. Significantly lower concentrations of both mRNAs were found in the pancreases of chronic pancreatitis patients than in non-cancerous tissue from pancreatic cancer subjects. However, about 70% of the pancreatic cancer subjects showed lithostathine and chymotrypsinogen mRNA levels comparable to those of chronic pancreatitis patients. These results indicate that the decrease in the level of mRNA is not specific to lithostathine and it is unrelated to the presence of pancreatic stones.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Long-term follow-up of patients with chronic pancreatitis in Italy.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the epidemiologic, clinical, and radiologic aspects of a mixed medicosurgical series of chronic pancreatitis patients observed at the University of Verona Centre for the Study of Pancreatic Diseases over the period 1971-1995. METHODS: Even though the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis has yet to be clarified and the classification is still debatable, the patients were subdivided in accordance with the Marseilles-Rome classification into those with alcoholic, obstructive, familial, and idiopathic forms of the disease. A total of 715 patients were analysed with a median follow-up period of 10 years (range, 1-25 years). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: At the end of follow-up the dropout rate amounted to 7.1% (51 patients), and 176 patients (24.6%) had died. Data are reported about the type of chronic pancreatitis, sex, and age distribution at the onset of the disease, drinking and smoking habits before onset and during follow-up, and incidence of calcifications, pain, diabetes, steatorrhoea, and pseudocysts. Surgical aspects, survival curves, and causes of death are also analysed, and the most frequent concomitant diseases in chronic pancreatitis sufferers are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Age-dependent accumulation of dolichol in rat liver: is tissue dolichol a biomarker of aging?

Dolichols are long hydrophobic molecules broadly distributed in all tissues and cellular membranes of eukariotic cells. Dolichol affects membrane structure and fluidity, membrane-associated protein activities, and membrane sensitivity to oxidative stress. Reports have shown that dolichols exhibit a remarkable (6- to 30-fold) age-related increase in the tissues of adult and mature rats and of old flies, mice, and humans. In our longitudinal study, the age-related accumulation of dolichol was monitored in the liver tissue of male Sprague Dawley rats fed ad libitum up to age of 27 months. In addition 24-month-old rats subjected to different regimens of anti-aging diet restriction (40% calorie restriction or every-other-day feeding ad libitum) were tested. A parallel study of the accumulation of carbonyl in liver protein (a proposed biomarker of aging) was made. In addition, the age-related decline of liver autophagy/proteolysis was studied in isolated liver cells, in view of the essential role of this function in liver membrane maintenance. Results show that an age-dependent accumulation of dolichol can be observed in the liver of the rats fed ad libitum but not in the liver of 24-month-old food-restricted rats, that accumulation of dolichol precedes the accumulation of altered liver proteins, and that dolichol accumulation is accompanied by a decline in liver autophagy. It is concluded that dolichol accumulation satisfies the proposed primary and secondary applicable criteria and the desirable features required to be qualified as a biomarker of aging.

Aging↗
PubMed1997

Food intake of patients with chronic pancreatitis after onset of the disease.

The food intake of 40 male patients with chronic pancreatitis followed up at our center for > or = 10 y were compared with that of 75 healthy control subjects. Patients had significantly lower anthropometric values and serum triacylglycerol and cholesterol concentrations than control subjects (P < 0.001). Subjects with pancreatitis had higher carbohydrate and energy intakes than control subjects but no significant differences were observed in protein, fat, fiber, or cholesterol intakes. The results show that although those with chronic pancreatitis consumed carbohydrates with a more balanced variety of nutrients, they were thinner and had lower serum lipid concentrations, which suggests that they had latent digestion disorders or malabsorption.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Ultrasonography-secretin test pattern after acute administration of octreotide in healthy persons and in patients with recurrent acute pancreatitis.

The intravenous administration of octreotide stimulates sphincter of Oddi activity and impairs pancreatic flow into the duodenum. Postsecretin ultrasonography (US-S test) has revealed an increase in the caliber of the main pancreatic duct, which disappears in healthy persons approximately 10 minutes later as a result of the opening of the sphincter of Oddi and passage of stimulated fluids into the duodenum. We have assessed US-S test patterns after octreotide in healthy persons and in patients with recurrent acute pancreatitis. The study sample consisted of 16 participants: alcohol-abstinent, nonsmoking, healthy volunteers (four men, three women; mean age: 28 +/- 2.5 years) and nine patients with recurrent acute pancreatitis (six men, three women; mean age: 32.1 +/- 7.1 years). All participants underwent measurement of the main pancreatic duct at 1-min intervals for 60 min after secretin stimulation (1 IU/kg intravenous bolus). On a different day the same persons had repeated US-S tests 1 hour after administration of 0.1 mg octreotide intramuscularly. In both controls and patients with recurrent acute pancreatitis, octreotide administration induced an appreciable dilatation of the main pancreatic duct before secretin stimulation, and the caliber remained significantly increased throughout the duration of the test. These results suggest that a single administration of octreotide at the dose used (a) does not inhibit pancreatic secretion of basal and secretin-stimulated fluid within the first 60 min and (b) probably exerts an inhibitory effect on sphincter of Oddi relaxation. These findings warrant more intensive study given their therapeutic implications for acute pancreatic disease.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1997

Cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall: radiologic findings.

PURPOSE: To determine the radiologic characteristics of cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten patients with cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall and chronic pancreatitis underwent ultrasonography (US) (n = 10), computed tomography (CT) (n = 10), endoscopic US (n = 5), and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (n = 9). Cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall was classified as either cystic or solid. The imaging findings were retrospectively analyzed and compared with findings at pancreatoduodenectomy (n = 10). RESULTS: The more frequent cystic type (n = 7) of cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall was characterized by the presence of easily recognizable cystic lesions (diameter, more than 1 cm), located within the thickened wall of the second portion of the duodenum. The solid type (n = 3) of cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall demonstrated fibrous thickening of the duodenal wall within which small cysts (diameter, less than 1 cm) were present. The intraduodenal cysts were usually elongated or bilobate with a thick wall. The thickening of the duodenal wall appeared as a solid layer between the duodenal lumen and the pancreas, hypoechoic at US, isoattenuating at unenhanced CT, and hypoattenuating in the early phase (after initiation of infusion of contrast material) and isoattenuating in the late phase (after completion of infusion) at contrast material-enhanced CT. Findings at retrospective analysis of CT and endoscopic US images were characteristic. CONCLUSION: Imaging modalities, notably CT and endoscopic US, helped establish the diagnosis of cystic dystrophy of the duodenal wall.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Antral mucosal Helicobacter pylori infection density as a risk factor of duodenal ulcer.

OBJECTIVE: Duodenal ulcer is regarded as the end result of alterations in which Helicobacter pylori (HP) plays a major role as a pathogenetic agent. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate duodenal ulcer risk factors such as alcohol intake, smoking, use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, age and sex in relation to HP colonization density. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 495 patients consecutively examined by diagnostic upper digestive endoscopy were assessed; none of them had had previous upper digestive endoscopy or peptic ulcer, recent anticulcer-antibiotic treatment, upper gastrointestinal surgery, or cancer. The HP colonization on antral bioptic specimens was graded semi-quantitatively as follows: HP--- (absence of HP); HP+--(focal presence of small amounts of HP); HP++- (intermediate situation between HP+-- and HP+++), and HP+++ (diffuse presence of large amounts of HP). RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis identified only male sex (odds ratio 1.88, p < 0.02), smoking more than 10 cigarettes/day (odds ratio 2.53, p < 0.01), and HP grade (HP +-- odds ratio 0.79, p = NS; HP++- odds ratio 2.42, p < 0.02; HP+++ odds ratio 3.66, p < 0.001) as independent risk factors of duodenal ulcer. CONCLUSION: The duodenal ulcer risk was found to correlate with HP density, male sex, and smoking, but not with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use.

Alcohol Drinking↗