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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Aiello.
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1. The effects of ethyl alcohol and wine (red and white) on haemostatic parameters and experimental thrombosis were studied in rats; NO was evaluated as a possible mediator of these effects. 2. We found that red wine (12% alcohol) supplementation (8.4 +/- 0.4 ml d-1 in drinking water, for 10 days) induced a marked prolongation of 'template' bleeding time (BT) (258 +/- 13 vs 132 +/- 13 s in controls; P < 0.001), a decrease in platelet adhesion to fibrillar collagen (11.6 +/- 1.0 vs 32.2 +/- 1.3%; P < 0.01) and a reduction in thrombus weight (1.45 +/- 0.33 vs 3.27 +/- 0.39 mg; P < 0.01). 3. Alcohol-free red wine showed an effect similar to red wine. In contrast, neither ethyl alcohol (12%) nor white wine (12% alcohol) affected these systems. 4. All these effects were also observed after red wine i.v. injection (1 ml kg-1 of 1:4 dilution) 15 min before the experiments. 5. The effects of red wine were prevented by the NO inhibitor, N omega nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME). L-arginine, not D-arginine, reversed the effect of L-NAME on red wine infusion. 6. Red wine injection induced a 3 fold increase in total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter values of rat plasma with respect to controls, while white wine and alcohol did not show any effect. 7. Our study provides evidence that red wine modulates primary haemostasis and prevents experimental thrombosis in rats, independently of its alcohol content, by a NO-mediated mechanism.
Two new ISFETs recently developed by us have now been applied to some pharmaceutical determinations in real matrices; the first device, responsive to cationic surfactants, was employed in the determination of benzalkonium chloride contained in two different disinfectant solutions and in three types of commercial collyrium; the second device, responsive to cocaine hydrochloride, showed an appreciable response also to lidocaine hydrochloride and was used in the determination of lidocaine hydrochloride contained in some injectable antibiotics. The repeatability and accuracy of measurements performed in the analysis of these pharmaceutical matrices using new solid state sensors were evaluated. A further aspect of the research involved the use of two sensors to record complete titration curves for the determination of benzalkonium chloride, cocaine hydrochloride and lidocaine hydrochloride, respectively. Applications to real matrices were also performed by analysing by titration pharmaceutical formulations containing benzalkonium chloride, or lidocaine hydrochloride and an illicit powder containing cocaine hydrochloride and sugars.
Associated skeletons, which are specimens preserving more than one body part from the same individual, are especially important for taxonomic and functional analyses. This study concentrates on the subset of associated skeletons which preserve the reciprocal surfaces of a joint. It uses laser scanning to explore whether the shapes of the reciprocal surfaces of a joint of an individual are significantly more congruent than the surfaces of randomly-matched pairings taken from the same species. Laser scanning was used to capture the distal articular surface of the left tibia of OH35 and the trochlear articular surface of the talus of OH8, both from Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The degree of congruency between those articular surfaces was tested against the congruency of the talocrural joint of AL 288-1 (Australopithecus afarensis), and the congruency of both associated and randomly-matched talocrural joints of modern humans, chimpanzees and gorillas. The results suggest that OH35 and OH8 do not come from the same individual and may not come from the same species. Although this analysis leaves open the taxonomic affinity of OH35, it demonstrates the potential of laser scanning for capturing 3D data in palaeoanthropology. It also demonstrates the potential for using the relative congruency of reciprocal joint surfaces as a test of the likelihood that isolated limb bones are components of a single individual.
Clinical and photographic methods were used to assess retinopathy during the examinations of diabetic patients enrolled in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS). In analyzing available data from eyes randomly selected for deferral of treatment, the authors compare the clinical detection (including contact lens biomicroscopy) with photographic detection (30 degrees stereoscopic color fundus photographs) of diabetic macular edema. Based on clinical detection, 53% (1778 patients) had hard exudates within 1 disc diameter (DD) of the center of macula, 56% (1868 patients) had retinal thickening within this region, and 31% (1027 patients) had thickening at the center of macula. These analyses show agreements of 83, 78, and 83% between retinal specialists and photographic graders when assessing these three characteristics, respectively. Agreement was 81% in the detection of macular edema for which treatment is indicated (clinically significant macular edema). Each method has its advantages but in general there was close agreement between these methods, particularly for clinically significant macular edema, which supports the reliability of each method.
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The Guillain Barré poliradicoloneuritis shows a high incidence of permanent sequelae and exitus. Recently the plasmapheresis has been applied in the acute stage with a beneficial effect to the rapidity and the degree of the recovery. In the present study the results obtained in a group of patients with Guillain Barré of maximal severity are reported. All the patients have received plasmapheresis (3-5 exchanges) in the first days of the disease. Eventual side effects during the procedure have been evaluated together to the neurophysiological findings. The recovery has been evaluated in the brief and in the long term. From this study the efficacy of the plasmapheresis in Guillain Barré poliradicoloneuritis is confirmed. Furthermore a correlation has been evidenced between the amplitude of the muscular potential (CMAP) registered in the acute phase and the prognosis of the illness.
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