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Biomedical subjects

G Iorio

Publications and source records attributed to G Iorio.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Influence of age and sex in serum osteocalcin levels in thoroughbred horses.

In this study, we assessed the potential value of free serum osteocalcin or bone gla protein (BGP), the most abundant non collagenous matrix protein found in bone and dentin, to reflect changes of bone turnover in thoroughbred horses. Levels of osteocalcin were analyzed in serum samples of 54 clinically normal animals divided into three groups (A, B, C) according to age: 8, 16-18 and 24-36 months, in order to determine the standard for young horses of different age and sex. Serum BGP was measured by an in-house developed double antibody radioimmunoassay using bovine antigen. The mean BGP levels (ng/ml) were 45.65 +/- 11.69; 33.65 +/- 16.65; 15.08 +/- 6.70 respectively for groups A, B and C; statistically significant differences were found between groups (A vs B and C; Bvs C). Difference between males and females was found significant in group C with higher values in the females: 18.75 +/- 5.00 against 14.43 +/- 10.47 i n the males. This can be considered a sex related effect on BGP serum levels after the onset of puberty. Correlation coefficient between age and serum BGP for females and males were r 5 20.598 ( P < 0.001) and r 5 200.807 (P < 0.001) respectively. A significant negative linear relationship could be established between these two parameters in males during the growth period. The regression equation between serum BGP and age for males was (month of age = 65.14-1.68. BGP). In the female group the gestation and lactation are variables that lower the correlation coefficient between age and serum BGP levels. These results suggest that serum BGP decreases in thoroughbred horses during the growth period, and significant differences between sexes were found only after the onset of puberty.

Aging↗
PubMed1985

Relationship between CSF noradrenaline levels, C-EEG indicators of activation and psychosis ratings in drug-free schizophrenic patients.

A significant increase of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) noradrenaline (NA) levels, probably reflecting a rise of central noradrenergic activity, has been observed in a sample of acute schizophrenic patients as compared with a population of subjects without personal or family history of major psychoses. CSF NA levels have been found to be significantly correlated with computerized EEG (C-EEG) indicators of arousal (negative correlation with alpha relative activity and positive correlation with alpha barycentric frequency and beta relative activity in frontal and central leads). No significant relationship has emerged between CSF NA concentration and psychosis ratings on CPRS as well as platelet MAO activity. These findings seems to confirm the link between central noradrenergic hyperactivity and the condition of enhanced arousal of the schizophrenic patient, although the role of this condition in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (primary phenomenon or non-specific consequence of the stress related to the illness?) remains to be elucidated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Paradoxical sleep rebound without previous debt: the effect of minute doses of clonidine in man.

This report describes an experimental condition in which clonidine administration does not modify paradoxical sleep (PS) directly, but is followed by a secondary rebound. After oral consumption of minute doses of clonidine (CLN), 12 subjects showed no direct effect of CLN, but showed a significant increase of PS production in the following placebo night. Four other subjects experienced a decrease of PS under CLN and no rebound the next night. In addition, these four subjects had mechanisms of slow wave sleep production significantly weaker than the first 12 subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Characterization and control of an immobilized allosteric enzyme system.

Both immobilization techniques described in this work seem appropriate for this allosteric enzyme. However, the kinetic behavior of the dCMP deaminase trapped in a protein membrane is markedly different from that observed with the enzyme in solution and with the enzyme gelled on an artificial membrane. The enzyme, in fact, in all instances loses its cooperative action toward the substrate and even the allosteric ligands, or they do not affect the activity, or it behaves in a completely different way. In particular, dTTP seems to behave as a noncompetitive inhibitor. These effects can be attributed either to the freezing of the enzyme in one of its conformations or, more generally, to the effect of physical constraints and diffusional resistances. Further studies are in progress to distinguish between the contributions of each one of these phenomena to the kinetic behavior of the enzyme.

Albumins↗
PubMed1980

Computerized EEG in schizophrenics.

20 psychiatric patients without pharmacologic therapy and an homogeneous control group of 19 healthy subjects have been submitted to an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation. Computerized spectral analyses of the main EEG frequency bands have been performed. The spectra have been determined by some geometrical descriptors: the relative activity, the barycentric frequency and the barycentric radius; also classic descriptors have been used as complementary ones. In the EEG profile significant differences between patients and healthy subjects have been found. Some differences have also been observed among subgroups of schizophrenic patients. The geometrical descriptors applied in the EEG analysis are suggested as a useful method in the description of the basic characteristics of the main EEG frequency bands.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

[Choice of symptoms in neuroses. Hysterical and obsessive-phobic neuroses].

This publication is a first attempt to verify our hypothesis that symptom choice in the classical neuroses depends on a disequilibrium between assimilation and accommodation, in the Piagetian sense, of reflective thinking. Results of tests derived from classical paradoxes of Western thought, from genetic psychology and from a neuropsychological test of the habituation of the alpha-blocking response support the following hypothesis; the reflective thinking of hysterical patients appears dominated by a primacy of assimilation and that of obsessional patients by a primacy of accommodation.

Alpha Rhythm↗
PubMed1979

Kinetic behaviour of acid phosphatase-albumin co-polymers in homogeneous phase and under gel-immobilized conditions.

1. An analysis of the kinetic behaviour of immobilized acid phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.2) layers, gelled on the active surface of an ultrafiltration membrane, was carried out. 2. Two possible forms of such immobilized-enzyme systems were dealt with, namely enzyme-polyalbumin co-gelation through an ultrafiltration process, and enzyme co-polymerization to the same albumin polymers and subsequent gelation. 3. A preliminary analysis was also performed on both the corresponding homogeneous-phase (soluble systems to provide reference kinetics. 4. The main conclusions drawn are: (i) the enzyme-albumin co-polymers show a decrease in specific activity compared with the corresponding free enzyme in both soluble and immobilized forms; (ii) in the homogeneous phase a slight increase in the apparent Michaelis constant was measured for the co-polymerized enzyme compared with the free one, which suggests a decrease in affinity towards substrate; (iii) the activation energy in the immobilized phase is halved, compared with that in the homogeneous phase, which indicates that the combined mass-transfer/reaction step is rate-controlling.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1979

Theoretical and experimental analysis of a soluble enzyme membrane reactor.

Recently enzyme immobilization techniques have been proposed that are mainly founded on the formation of an enzyme-gel layer onto the active surface of an ultrafiltration membrane within an unstirred ultrafiltration cell. If the membrane molecular-weight cutoff is less than the enzyme molecular weight and hence such as to completely prevent enzyme permeation (once the enzyme solution has been charged into the test cell and pressure applied to the system), a time progressive increase in enzyme concentration takes place at the upstream membrane surface that can eventually lead to gelation and hence to enzyme immobilization. However, depending on the total enzyme amount fed, the maximum enzyme concentration achieved in the unsteady state could be less than the gelation level. In this situation, no immobilization occurs and the enzyme still remains in the soluble form although it is practically confined within a limited region immediately upstream the membrane and at fairly high concentrations. In this paper, the experimental conditions that allow gelling to occur are discussed together with a theoretical analysis of the soluble enzyme membrane reactor which is obtained when no gelling takes place. Such a system could be usefully employed in performing kinetic analyses at high enzyme concentration levels that are still in the soluble form.

Enzymes↗