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Biomedical subjects

L Caruso

Publications and source records attributed to L Caruso.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Delta infection in eastern Sicily.

Sera from 619 HBsAg+ subjects living in eastern Sicily, consecutively collected from 1975-1985, were tested for markers of delta virus (HDV) infection: delta antigen (HDAg), antibodies to delta (anti-HDIg), and also for antibodies to HBcore of IgM type (anti-HBcIgM) and for the system HBe-anti-HBe. The subjects included 210 asymptomatic carriers, 238 patients with acute hepatitis and 171 patients with chronic liver disease. HDAg was not found in any of the samples. Anti-HD was found in 28/171 (16.3%) patients with chronic liver disease, in 13/210 (6%) asymptomatic HBsAg carriers and in 13/238 (5.4%) patients with acute hepatitis. None of our patients were drug addicts. One had a history of blood transfusion, and nine came from the same family unit. The prevalence of HDV infection in eastern Sicily is lower than in other areas of Sicily possibly because of the lower percentage of HBsAg carriers in the local population. Parenteral transmission of HDV does not seem to play a major role in our area, while the familial clustering suggests close body contact as an important way of spread.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Inhibition of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) replication by lymphoblastoid human alpha interferon.

Lymphoblastoid interferon inhibited hepatitis delta virus (HDV) replication in four out of five HDV carriers with chronic active liver disease. Serum HDV-RNA was undetectable in three patients, but in one of these evidence of continuing intrahepatic HDV replication was present on biopsy one year after treatment. In the four cases which showed total or partial inhibition of HDV replication, there was a transient increase in transaminases during treatment, and in three this was followed by improvement. These effects lasted for longer than one year. The lysis of hepatocytes occurring on exposure to interferon may be related to the induction of 2-5A oligosynthetase which, in the presence of the dsRNA of HDV, activates endonucleases which destroy the rRNA of the infected cells.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

[Incidence, type and significance of anti-myocardial autoantibodies in patients undergoing cardiac surgery].

The incidence of anti-myocardial autoantibodies was investigated in 62 patients suffering from congenital or acquired cardiopathy prior to and 1, 10 and 20 days after cardiac surgery. Anti-myocardial autoantibodies were present in about 23.7 per cent of patients even before surgery, practically doubled one day after intervention, reached their peak (60-70 per cent) at 10 days from surgery and began to diminish at 20 days. At all times and incidence was higher in patients with acquired cardiopathy than in those with congenital heart diseases. In the large majority of cases, the autoantibodies were of the IgG class, of the striational type and in low titers. The relevance of anti-myocardial autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of cardiac lesions and the possible causes of the reversibility of the autoimmune phenomenon are discussed.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed1976

[Horseshoe lung, cardiac malposition and pulmonary vascular anomalies: a characteristic syndrome (author's transl)].

The clinical, radiological, haemodynamic and angiocardiographic features of a very rare anatomo-clinical entity (i.e. the horseshoe lung), associated with heart malposition and anomalies of the venous and arterial pulmonary vasculature are reported. The horseshoe lung is a pulmonary malformation which essentially consists of partial fusion of the lungs behind the pericardial sack. Of this entity only two cases have been previously reported in the literature, in which the diagnosis was made at necropsy. The reported case is the first in which the diagnosis was made in a living patient. The essential characteristic considered pathognomonic of the syndrome are described.

Cardiac Catheterization↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Diminished responsiveness of male homosexual chronic hepatitis B virus carriers with HTLV-III antibodies to recombinant alpha-interferon.

In a randomized controlled trial, 41 chronic hepatitis B virus carriers were allocated, by opening numbered computerized randomization envelopes, to receive recombinant interferon-alpha 2A at three different doses: 2.5; 5.0, and 10.0 mU per m2. Thirty-two patients received treatment (6 for 3 months, 26 for 6 months), and 9 patients were controls (received no treatment). Ninety-three per cent of our patients were homosexual, and 41% had anti-HTLV-III in their serum. None of the control patients lost HBeAg. In contrast, six of the anti-HTLV-III-negative patients (33%) responded to treatment (p less than 0.02): five of these responders were homosexual (p less than 0.05). The response rate was greatest (44%) in the anti-HTLV-III-negative patients who received 10 mU per m2 of recombinant interferon-alpha 2A. None of the anti-HTLV-III-positive patients responded to treatment. The percentage reduction of hepatitis B virus DNA was significantly less in the anti-HTLV-III-positive group in comparison to the anti-HTLV-III-negative group at 1 and 4 months of treatment and at 3 months after the end of treatment (p less than 0.05). These patients were younger (33 vs. 42 years, p less than 0.02), had lower mean baseline AST values (42 vs. 80 IU per liter, p less than 0.02) and tended to have milder histological disease. Homosexual men with HBeAg-positive chronic liver disease who are anti-HTLV-III-positive appear to be less responsive to the direct antiviral and immunomodulatory effects of recombinant interferon-alpha 2A. This may be due to the subclinical immunosuppressive effects of co-infection with HTLV-III.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effectiveness of the circular external fixator in the treatment of post-traumatic of the tibia nonunion.

Authors report the results they obtained when the Ilizarov circular external fixator was used for the treatment of post-traumatic nonunion of the tibia. A total of 20 patients were treated. Of these 12 had been submitted to treatment elsewhere and using other methods; 9 presented with septic nonunion; 10 revealed radiographic findings of atrophic nonunion, and 10 were hypertrophic. There was axial deviation in 18 patients. The results of treatment were always: healing of the nonunion; functional recovery of the limb; correction of leg length discrepancy; recovery of the mechanical axis. The mean stabilization time (days between the application and the removal of the fixator) was 138 days. The Ilizarov method thus proved that it was effective in the treatment of post-traumatic nonunion of the tibia where other types of treatment had failed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Surgery of thyroid pathologies in one-day surgery].

The surgery of the thyroid pathologies in Day and/or One-Day-Surgery requires a thorough choice former of the surgery of the patients and the availability of the team specialist that could guarantee an adequate nursing after surgery. The authors describe the advantages and the limits of the short confined to stay in hospital for the surgery of the thyroid pathologies. The selection criteria for patients undergoing thyroidectomy in One-Day-Surgery have been: euthyroid patients with benign pathologies concentrate only thyroid lobe and lack of associated pathologies as cardiopathy, broncopathy, nephropathy, hepatopaty, diabetes, etc. Were executed in general anaesthesia forty lobectomies for uninodular thyroid disease and three enucleoresections for a nodule of pyramidal lobe, and only two cases the histological definitive diagnosis of carcinoma has caused a second hospital stay. In all forty-three cases was used a drainage, removed after 24 hours.

Ambulatory Surgical Procedures↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Heterozygosis H63D in patients with steatohepatitis and chronic hepatitis C].

OBJECTIVE: Classic hereditary hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive iron-overload disorder associated with mutation of the HFE gene. The homozygous genetic defect predisposes to a chain of events that may culminate in severe damage in multiple organs. Pathologic implications of heterozygous defect are still questionable; in fact since these individuals may have slight increases in intra-cellular iron, it has been questioned whether this would enhance damage from other diseases. We investigated whether steatohepatitis and chronic hepatitis C can be worsened by heterozygosis for C282Y and H63D. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We investigated 216 subjects with Steatohepatitis and/or chronic hepatitis C diagnosed by ultrasonography and liver biopsy with histological assessment compared with 110 healthy subjects. In all subjects we performed Saturated Transferrine, Plasma Ferritin and the research of HFE mutation by a Real Time Method. A statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: A H63D mutation was present in 32/108 patients with Steatohepatitis, in 30/108 patients with chronic hepatitis C and in 22/110 healthy subjects. A C282Y mutation was present in 2/108 patients with chronic hepatitis C, in 4/108 with steatohepatitis and in 2/108 healthy subjects. No significant difference was present about incidence of this mutation between pathological and healthy subjects. No significant differences have observed between pathological groups and normal group about the degree of histological damage. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that steatohepatitis and chronic hepatitis C cannot be worsened by heterozygosis for C282Y and H63D.

Biopsy↗