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Biomedical subjects

G Persico

Publications and source records attributed to G Persico.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

[Solitary gastric plasmacytoma. Case report and review of the literature].

The authors report a case of extramedullary gastric plasmacytoma followed from the clinical onset of the disease until the death of the patient. The literature on this topic was reviewed. The male patient underwent total gastrectomy with left splenopancreatectomy when he was 40 years old; after surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the plasmacytoma relapsed; the patient died 4 years after the first operation. Gastric plasmocytoma is a rare pathological entity; different postsurgical therapeutical approaches are derived from the inclusion of this gastric neoplasm in the lymphomas or in the extramedullary plasmacytomas. The authors emphasize a better response of the disease to adjuvant chemotherapy than to radiotherapy after surgery. it suggests the necessity of a separation of gastric plasmacytomas from the other gastric lymphomas.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Intraperitoneal (ip) cisplatin-mitoxantrone-interferon-alpha 2b in ovarian cancer patients with minimal residual disease.

Forty-one ovarian cancer patients with less than 2 cm residual disease after systemic cisplatin-based chemotherapy received 4 courses of an ip regimen including cisplatin (75 mg/m2), mitoxantrone (20 mg/m2), and interferon-alpha 2b (30 mil IU/m2). The most important side effects were abdominal pain and fatigue. Overall 15/41 patients (37%) required narcotic analgesia for severe abdominal pain. In 1 case laparotomy was necessary due to bowel obstruction. Grade 3-4 myelotoxicity was observed in 18/41 patients (28 courses). No treatment-related death occurred. Pathological complete response (pCR) was achieved in 23/37 (62%) evaluable patients. Four-year disease-free survival was 50%, and no relapse occurred after 32 months. The estimated 4-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival were 35 and 60%, respectively. Patients who achieved pCR showed significantly better survival than the others (P < 0.000). At multivariate Cox's analysis pCR achievement was the most important predictor of PFS (P < 0.005) and survival (P < 0.02). Age (< or = 60 vs > 60) and CA-125 serum levels at entry (normal vs increased) also showed independent predictive value. On the basis of multivariate analysis results we created a risk model for survival and PFS based on age and CA-125 at entry. We identified three subgroups of patients with significantly different outcomes. With this new ip combination long-term disease-free survival is achieved in a significant part of ovarian cancer patients with small tumor burden. A longer follow-up is needed to see whether it can cure some of these patients, and further comparisons with other ip or systemic regimens are needed to draw definitive conclusions about its role in these patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Thymectomy for myasthenia gravis: predictive factors and long term evolution. A retrospective study on 46 patients.

Forty-six patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) underwent transternal thymectomy between 1975 and 1991 and were observed over a long term follow up period (mean 6 years). Surgery was well tolerated and was followed in 32.6% of patients by remission of symptomatology. The severity of symptoms according to the Osserman scale was significantly reduced: slight forms of myasthenia increased soon after thymectomy more frequently than moderate and severe forms. Response to thymectomy at 3 months, according to the Hankins scale, was found to be positive (remission or amelioration of symptoms) in 31/41 patients, and worse in patients with thymoma. Probability of clinical remission and death were both significantly correlated with clinical response at three months after thymectomy. No other preoperatory clinical factor (onset age, sex, initial severity of MG, interval from symptom onset to thymectomy) was found to predict the response to treatment. Preoperatory mediastinic CT had a good reliability (> 85%) in diagnosing thymona, but was rarely able to distinguish between thymic hyperplasia and atrophy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

[Integrated therapy in panic attack disorders].

For the past years or so, studies on panic attack disorders (PAD) have accounted for a large proportion of psychiatric research. In spite of the attempts to clarify the etiopathogenesis of PAD, its characteristic psychopathological aspects and the evolutionary stages of its development, its nosographic status is still controversial (despite its inclusion in DSM III-R) and the same is true of the therapeutical approach. Using these observation as their starting point, the authors have divided the present paper into four parts. In the first they attempt to classify PAD in nosographical terms, whereas the second reviews all pharmacological therapies put forward over the past ten years. The third part consists of a short summary of the most widely used psychotherapeutic approaches, and in the last the authors suggest a model of integrated PAD therapy which is still being clinically experimented. The practice of associating pharmacological therapy with a psychotherapeutic approach has certainly been widely used for some time, but the authors underline that the two methods are only fully integrated in the presence of a therapeutic project resulting in a treatment protocol with controls during the course and at the end of treatment. In this context, the psychodiagnostic stage before therapy is particularly important since it provides as precise as possible a picture of the subject's basic personality and psychopathological state. These factors can lead to a wide varation in the choice of drug therapy, and even jeopardise therapeutic success. On the other hand, an exclusively psychotherapeutic approach to PAD does not rule out the onset of recurrent episodes during treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗
PubMed1992

Isolation and characterization of a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) contig around the human steroid sulfatase gene.

The region surrounding the steroid sulfatase (STS) locus on Xp22.3 is of particular interest since it represents a deletion hot spot, shares homology with the proximal long arm of the Y chromosome (Yq11.2), and contains genes for several well-described X-linked disorders. Here we describe yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) covering 450 kb around the STS gene. Eight YAC clones were isolated from a human YAC library. Their STS exon content was determined and the overlap of the clones characterized. Two of the YAC clones were found to contain the entire STS gene. The most proximal and the most distal ends of the YAC contig were cloned but neither of them crossed the breakpoints in any of the previously described patients with entire STS gene deletions. This is consistent with deletions larger than 500 kb in all these patients. One of the YAC clones was found to contain sequences from the STS pseudogene on Yq11.2. Two anonymous DNA sequences, GMGXY19 and GMGXY3, previously mapped in the vicinity of the STS locus, were found within the YAC contig and their assignment with respect to the STS locus was thus possible. This contig is useful for the overlap cloning of the Xp22.3 region and for reverse genetic strategies for the isolation of disease genes in the region. Furthermore, it may provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of deletion and translocation events on Xp22.3 and in the evolution of sex chromosomes.

Arylsulfatases↗
PubMed1987

Identification of incomplete coding sequences for steroid sulphatase on the human Y chromosome: evidence for an ancestral pseudoautosomal gene?

A cDNA clone (p422) containing about 200bp of coding sequences for steroid sulphatase (STS) has been isolated from a lambda gt11 expression library by antibody screening and has been assigned by mapping with a somatic cell hybrid panel and by in situ hybridization to Xp22.3; a localization coincident with the previously identified locus for STS expression. Although no significant hybridization of this clone to the Y chromosome was observed, p422 has been used to isolate a longer cDNA clone and genomic sequences which do recognize Y-specific restriction fragments. An abbreviated STS gene has been localized to Yq11.2. The coding sequences for the human enzyme shows little homology to sequences in mice.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Localization of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in mouse and man by in situ hybridization: evidence for a single locus and transposition of homologous X-linked genes.

By hybridizing a tritiated human genomic probe (pGD3) to metaphase chromosomes in situ, we have localized the gene for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) in both the human and mouse complement. The locus on the intact human X chromosome is close to the telomere on the long arm, confirming the assignment based on studies of an X/autosome translocation in human-mouse hybrids. Although the signal:background ratio was reduced for the heterologous hybridization of the human probe to mouse metaphases, 20% of the grains were on the X chromosome and 93% of these were in the A region, relatively close to the centromere. The location of G6PD in mouse and man reflects intrachromosomal transposition of these homologous X loci. Genomic DNAs from mouse and man and from hybrids with human X/autosome translocations were digested with several restriction enzymes including EcoRI, PstI, and HpaII, and Southern blots were probed with 32P-pGD3. The results of the analysis also confirm the human G6PD assignment and are consistent with a single copy of the locus in the haploid genome of both species.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Complete concordance between glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and hypomethylation of 3' CpG clusters: implications for X chromosome dosage compensation.

To explore the molecular basis of X chromosome inactivation, we have examined the human locus for glucose-6-phosphate dehydro-genase (G6PD) in various human tissues. Studies of DNA from males and females and from somatic cell hybrids with active or inactive X chromosomes, show that two remarkably dense clusters of CpG dinucleotides in the 3' coding sequences are hypomethylated in active G6PD genes but extensively methylated in inactive ones. Reacquisition of G6PD activity, either spontaneous or induced by 5-azacytidine, is accompanied by demethylation of both clusters; however, the clusters remain methylated in reactivants that express HPRT but not G6PD. Our observations implicate these 3' CpG clusters in the transcription of G6PD and in maintenance of dosage compensation for X linked housekeeping genes.

Alleles↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Aneurysms of the splanchnic arteries].

Although visceral aneurysms usually have an asymptomatic course, ruptures associated with high mortality do occur. When an asymptomatic lesion is found, the physician must decide whether it should be treated surgically and which surgical technique should be used. Because this type of aneurysm is relatively rare, the answer to these questions have not been determined previously. The outcome in 16 patients treated by surgical or embolization procedures was evaluated. A group of 16 patients with visceral aneurysms were observed in our institution between 1987 and 1993. Localization of aneurysms was on the splenic artery in 8 cases, renal artery in 4 cases, hepatic artery in 3 patients and superior mesenteric artery in one patient. Hypertension was related to renal aneurysms and angina abdominis to the patient with superior mesenteric artery aneurysm. Of the 16 patients, 8 (6 splenic and 2 hepatic aneurysms) were asymptomatic, 3 (2 splenic and 1 hepatic) were treated as an emergency because they presented with shock. In the splenic group (8 cases), 2 patients underwent embolization procedures with Gianturco's coils, and 6 surgical procedures; in the hepatic group 1 embolization and 1 surgical procedure were performed; and finally in the renal and mesenteric group surgical reconstruction was performed during aortic prosthetic surgery. Because of well documented natural history of progressive enlargement and eventual rupture, the aneurysms of visceral arteries should be corrected surgically when the diagnosis is confirmed by vascular imaging (ultrasounds, CT, RM, angiography). Ruptures are treated with emergency operations, when possible. In high-risk patients, non operative management by selective embolization (in case of splenic and hepatic aneurysms) may be suitable alternative.

Abdomen, Acute↗