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Biomedical subjects

L Bianchi

Publications and source records attributed to L Bianchi.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources

Study of the hypnic effect of amineptine evaluation by means of polygraphy and tests.

The sleep pattern and conditions at the time of awakening were investigated by means of polygraphy and tests in 6 healthy adult volunteers following administration of amineptine. The drug was found to increase the number and duration of the REM phases, without affecting the overall sleeping time but reducing sleep latency. The tests carried out revealed a higher sensation of well-being, improved attention and concentration in the morning.

Adult↗

Stereology in the extraction of information from images.

Some important aspects for information extraction by stereology from images in surgical and experimental pathology are discussed. The relationship between stereology and morphometry is briefly discussed, with the most important conditions for stereologic analysis in pathology pointed out. The possibilities, limits and problems inherent in stereologic and morphometric analysis in pathology are explained in two examples: so-called "small airways disease" and tight junctions of hepatocytes during physiologic choleresis.

Adult↗

A study of liver biopsies and liver disease among hemophiliacs.

Hepatic histologic materials (biopsy or autopsy) and associated clinical data from 155 hemophiliacs were collected by an ad hoc hemophilia study group and analyzed retrospectively in an effort to determine the spectrum of liver disease in this population and to examine the relationship between the severity of liver disease and treatment history. Clinical information on the frequency of complications from 126 biopsies in 115 hemophilic patients provided a unique opportunity to assess the safety of liver biopsy in such patients. The incidence of cirrhosis (15%) and chronic active hepatitis (7%) was lower than previously reported. The frequency of severe liver disease (chronic active hepatitis or cirrhosis) in patients receiving large pooled concentrates was no greater than in patients treated principally with cryoprecipitate or plasma. The risks of liver biopsy in this setting are relatively high: clinically significant hemorrhage followed 12.5% of the procedures.

Alanine Transaminase↗

Ethanol diminishes the toxicity of the mushroom Amanita phalloides.

Survival of mice after lethal doses of a lyophilizate from Amanita phalloides ('death cap') was markedly increased by single doses of ethanol applied 30 min before or 5 min after the mushroom. Hepatic histopathological damage (confluent necrosis) was largely prevented. Acute, but not chronic, consumption of ethanol may thus influence favorably the outcome of death cap poisoning and should be taken into consideration in the evaluation of therapeutic measures.

Amanita↗

[The Pavia Center for the study and diagnosis of leptospirosis].

According to his deep experience in this field, the Author greatly appreciates the program agreed during this congress. He thinks that Leptospirosis is a still widely diffused zoonosis, for which accurate diagnostic work-up is requested, coupled to an adequate epidemiologic study. Among his own contributions to this argument, the A. remarks the studies on the experimental infection of the guineapig with L. icterohaemorrhagiae, providing evidence that jaundice and lethal course of the illness are due to the Leptospira and not, as it was currently supposed, to an overcoming Staphylococcal septicemia. Furthermore the A. observed a striking epidemic by L. pomona affecting 90 out of 120 rice-workers in the neighbourhood of Pavia. This Leptospira, previously unreported in Europe, was found to be carried by Norvegian rats captured in that country. These data were in contrast with the more frequent incidence, in this work environment, of L. bataviae, carried by Micromis minutus sorcinus. Following the amount of observations and researches in this field "Center for study and diagnosis of Leptospirosis" was founded in 1954, and is still working in Pavia. The necessity of isolation of the infective agent, in addition to the simple serologic study, was claimed by the observation of five cases of meningitis in young pigherds, in which L. canicola (instead of the more common L. pomona) was demonstrated and îelded from the CSF of a patient. In the field of veterinary medicine, the A. demonstrated the L. australis A as responsible of some cases of miscarriages in openair breeded cattle. In those cases the hedgehog (Erinaceus europeus) was the natural carrier.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animal Diseases↗

[Delta superinfection of hepatitis B in Switzerland: histology and serology of 28 patients].

A series of 610 consecutive liver biopsies collected from Jan. 1980 to Oct. 1983 in two Swiss gastro-enterological centers was studied by immunohistology for the presence of delta-antigen, HBsAg and HBcAg in frozen sections. This led to the identification of 46 tissue and 45 serum samples of 28 patients, including 5 with follow-up biopsies. All had ongoing hepatitis B (HB) with delta-superinfection, representing 13.3% of all patients with HB. The sera were studied for HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBc and HBe-markers by RIA, for anti-delta by indirect immunofluorescence on delta-positive test sections and for Dane particles by immune electromicroscopy. 18 of the 21 native Swiss patients were i.v. drug users between 20 and 28 years of age (30% of all drug users in this series). The other patients were residents from Mediterranean countries (n = 5), Eastern Europe (n = 1) and Asia (n = 1). Female patients (n = 5) were seen only among i.v. drug users. The most frequent histological type of HB was chronic active (aggressive) hepatitis (CAH) (26 of 46 biopsies or 13 of 28 patients, respectively), followed by acute HB with histological signs of possible transition to chronicity (8 of 46 biopsies or 6 of 28 patients), and acute lobular HB (6 of 46 biopsies or 5 of 28 patients). Chronic persistent HB (CPH) was rare (5 of 46 biopsies, final diagnosis in 3 patients). The delta-infection was found to persist in sequential biopsies when a chronic HB was established, the longest documented period being 72 months.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Influence of zinc, D-penicillamine and oxygen on poisoning with Amanita phalloides. Zinc accelerates liver regeneration and prevents the depletion of brain noradrenaline caused by the mushroom.

Pretreatment with zinc aspartate increased the survival rate of mice poisoned with a lyophilisate from the mushroom Amanita phalloides (APL). In the livers of the zinc-treated animals, confluent necrosis was cleared earlier. Zinc also prevented the reduction of brain noradrenaline caused by the mushroom as well as the rise of brain dopamine and brain weight. D-Penicillamine also protected against the lethal effects of APL. The survival afforded by zinc pretreatment was marginally ameliorated by additional oxygenation.

Amanita↗

[Albumin receptors on isolated human hepatocytes. Studies by phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy].

In the present work a minibead method has been employed to study human hepatocyte receptors for albumin-coupled latex particles. The cell-latex reaction was observed in both phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy. It has been demonstrated that human hepatocytes exhibit bindings sites for different forms of glutaraldehyde-treated albumin, and the ligand has proved to be species-nonspecific. The albumin binding activity is temperature-dependent and can be only partially blocked by preincubation with free, glutaraldehyde-treated protein, unless hepatocytes are pretreated with vinblastine sulfate. The possible biological role of these receptors as regards the infection due to the hepatitis B virus (that shares common, but not identical binding sites) is also discussed.

Humans↗

The effects of penicillin on the ECoG of rabbit.

The effects of non-convulsive doses of i.v. penicillin (1.100.000/1.300.000 I.U./Kg) on the ECoG of rabbits was studied. A tendency to an increase in spindling activity together with the presence of characteristic penicillin spikes, polyspikes and spike and wave complexes often preceding or intermixed to the spindling activity, was the most prominent finding. These data indicate that spindles and penicillin induced spikes show a straight correlation and seem consistent with the hypothesis that spindles have a facilitant effect on epileptic discharges.

Animals↗

[Non-A, non-B Hepatitis. A progress report].

The present state of the art in non-A, non-B hepatitis is reviewed. Eight years of world-wide efforts in research have not yielded a definite characterization of agent(s) and markers of this viral infection. Diagnosis is therefore established mainly by exclusion of the hepatitis viruses A and B, Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus, and drug-induced liver disease. Currently available serological, electron microscopic, immune electron microscopic and clinical information on non-A, non-B hepatitis in chimpanzee and man is briefly reviewed. Some light microscopic features provisionally regarded as suggestive of non-A, non-B hepatitis in man are presented. In daily practice the diagnostic tools in the near future will largely depend upon progress in the elaboration of suitable serological test systems and on further confirmation of microscopic findings, unless an unexpected breakthrough occurs through identification and characterization of the virus(es) in non-A, non-B infection.

Animals↗

[Long-term course of sporadic non-A, non-B hepatitis: a biochemical, immunologic and histologic follow-up study].

36 patients with acute sporadic non-A, non-B viral hepatitis were prospectively followed up. Study parameters included biochemical and immunological (hepatitis A/B) data, histology of the acute and chronic stage of the disease and immunohistology for hepatitis B markers. The mean follow-up period for the patients with complete remission was 8.5 months, and 30.5 months for the patients with progression to chronic liver disease. 13 (36%) patients developed histologically confirmed chronic hepatitis (6 CPH, 7 CAH). In the chronic stage of the disease, the transaminases showed a markedly fluctuating course in 8 of the 13 patients. Two of the 6 patients with CPH showed complete remission after 25 and 58 months respectively; in the 4 others the disease remained unchanged. In the 7 patients with CAH no remission occurred, but in 2 patients complete cirrhotic transformation of the liver was demonstrated after 36 and 38 months respectively. Hence the prognosis of chronic sporadic non-A, non-B hepatitis seems to be worse than the prognosis of chronic posttransfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis.

Adolescent↗

Ultrastructural alterations in hepatocytes and sinus endothelia in experimental non-A, non-B hepatitis in chimpanzees with and without immunoglobulin prophylaxis.

Three chimpanzees were inoculated with an infectious factor VIII preparation. Two of the chimpanzees received in addition a human immunoglobulin preparation as used for prophylaxis in humans. All three chimpanzees developed an acute limited non-A, non-B hepatitis as judged from light and electron microscopic markers after an incubation period of two weeks. The use of immunoglobulin did not prevent the infection. A prolonged incubation of 15 weeks, however, was observed in one animal when alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation was used as criterion of infection. In the electron microscope, non-A, non-B hepatitis was characterized by tubular structures, spongelike inclusions and attaching curved membranes, in the absence of nuclear viruslike particles. An additional finding were viruslike particles in crystalline arrays which were found in the cytoplasm of sinusoidal-lining endothelial cells and tubuloreticular complexes.

Animals↗

Liver biopsy interpretation in hepatitis. Part II: Histopathology and classification of acute and chronic viral hepatitis/differential diagnosis.

The morphological classification of acute and chronic viral hepatitis has been subject of considerable controversy. Main problems in nomenclature have arisen from the confusion of pathologically defined lesions with purely clinical designations. The classification used in this article is based on a number of recent reviews in which a certain measure of agreement has been reached between clinicians and histopathologists. As a general rule, in acute forms of hepatitis diffuse lobular changes predominate over portal lesions while chronic hepatitis is characterized by conspicuous alterations of portal (and periportal) areas. This report will merely summarize main diagnostic features of the different forms of viral hepatitis. For more detailed information the reader is referred to several leading articles discussing in detail morphology, and putting emphasis on pathogenesis. An exact "staging" of viral hepatitis by histologic criteria is an important tool in the evaluation of prognosis, indication and control of therapy as well as for comparison with immunologic findings.

Biopsy↗