Biomedical subjects

G Di Marco

Publications and source records attributed to G Di Marco.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1986

Tegafur chemotherapy for the treatment of gut and liver cancer.

Thirteen patients with cancer of the gut, six with hepatocellular carcinoma and three with cancer of the bile duct have been treated with tegafur. All the patients were in an advanced stage of the disease with metastases to lymph-nodes or elsewhere. Each patient was given tegafur (oral daily dose of 600-1200 mg for 15-30 days with a dose-free interval of 25 days). Tegafur with other antiblastic drugs (such as cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, vincristine, doxorubicin, mitomycin) was given to ten patients. The results observed after the first treatment were as follows: partial remission in 14 patients (64%), no change in 4 (18%) and progression of the disease in 4 (18%). Only 10 patients among the 22 who were first treated, underwent one to three subsequent cycles of therapy obtaining with resultant partial remission in four cases, no change in two and progression of the disease in four patients. Side-effects (nausea and vomiting) during the treatment were recorded only in 14% of the patients. No significant impairment of blood functional tests has been documented. A comparison of the results obtained with tegafur and intravenous 5-fluorouracil has been made: the therapeutic effects of these two drugs are similar, but side-effects seem to be less during tegafur treatment.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

[Hepatopathy of the drug addict. Morphological data and incidence of serological markers of hepatitis B virus in 65 patients].

65 heroin addicts who had previously underwent liver biopsy for liver disease were studied retrospectively; the histological features of liver disease and hepatitis B serological markers were analyzed in detail. Alcohol abuse was rare in this group (6.1%), but moderate or occasional use of mild alcoholic beverages was common. The liver biopsy examination showed that 35 (54%) had chronic active hepatitis, 21 (32%) had non specific reactive hepatitis, 6 (9%) had acute hepatitis and 3 (5%) had chronic persistent hepatitis. Steatosis was present in 41% of all biopsies. 19 subjects were HBsAg positive, and in 60 (92.3%) at least one marker of HBV was found. Observation of liver biopsy specimen under polarized light did not disclose the presence of birefringent material consistent with talc or other inorganic material. These results suggest that HBV infection is responsible for liver disease in heroin addicts in the great majority of cases.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1984

[Hematological complications of viral hepatitis. Case-list contribution].

The incidence of haematological abnormalities has been evaluated in 1170 patients affected by acute viral hepatitis. Of these patients, 665 were HBsAg+, 427 HBsAg-, 31 with IgM anti-HAV, 26 non A and non B hepatitis. 21 patients were not classified due to lack of data relating to markers for HAV or HBV. Anemia, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and pancytopenia were found with some frequency at the haemochromocytometric examination. It is emphasized that these haematological abnormalities are often of minor relevance whereas the rarer and more serious complications such as persistent bone marrow hypoplasia or pure aplastic anemia can present difficult clinical problems regarding prognosis and therapy: in 4 cases of bone marrow hypoplasia a recovery was obtained in 1 case only, whereas the remaining cases had a fatal outcome after a period varying from 20 days to 15 months from the appearance of pancytopenia. We suggest the advisability of a closer study of the haematological and immunological aspects in patients with viral hepatitis in order to discover those elements which are useful towards a better understanding of the etiopathogenesis of the haematological abnormalities studied above. Such a detailed study would also enable further improvement in existing therapeutic measures.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1982

[Prevalence of mental disorders in the metropolitan area of the Republic of Argentina].

The survey was carried out during 1979 (September-December). The sample covered the whole Federal District and the nineteen counties of the Greater Buenos Aires with a population of 9.908.001 persons; 18.61% in F. D. and 10,24% en G.B.A. refused to answer; 3411 were interviewed. The responses to the Present State Examination (PSE) were used for case-finding. The PSE is a semistructured interview that has been extensively tested with inpatients and outpatients. It has a technique for case-defining: the index of Definition (I.D.). A set of rules were developed to allocate the profile of symptoms present in the PSE (ninth edition) to one of the eight levels of definition. The rules were incorporated in a computer program called Catego. The prevalence of cases, as defined in the study, is 26% (ID 5-8) (30.8% in the feminine population and 20.3% in the masculine). If the threshold level (5) is excluded, the rate is 10,2%. (6,9% among males and 11,9% among females). The diagnosis derived from the Catego Program, fitted descriptively with the International Classification of Diseases (chapter 5) show the 13% of the population with neurotic perturbations, specially of depressive type, 6% with affective psychosis, 4% of schizophrenic psychosis and 1,3% of paranoic states. The major associations of prevalence rates are with sex and socioeconomic level. There is a preponderance of women with high Index of Definition. Future studies must prove the relationships between disorders and sex. We think that the interdependence of being married, children at home below 14 years, having no employment, can explain the high rates in the female population. The highest levels of the Index of Definition are associated with the lowest socioeconomic levels. The analysis of data presented here suggests more detailed studies, specially on the aetiology of depression and on the relationship between women and mental disorders.

Adult↗

PubMed1980