Biomedical subjects

L Guidi

Publications and source records attributed to L Guidi.

76 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Early atherosclerosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have an increased risk of thrombotic complications. Arterial and venous system may be involved. Moreover, mesenteric microvascular thrombosis has been hypothesised as a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of IBD. Early atherosclerosis is a clinical feature common to several inflammatory and immunological diseases in which atherothrombotic complication represents one of the most important cause of mortality and morbidity. We investigate the prevalence and the entity of the early stages of vascular disease in a population of IBD patients without the classical cardiovascular risk factors, by measuring the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery. We found that IBD patients have an increased risk of early atherosclerosis than healthy controls as showed by greater values of carotid IMT and that homocysteine levels and age were independently associated with the increased arterial wall thickness.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with SonoVue after infliximab therapy in Crohn's disease.

The introduction of biological treatments like monoclonal anti TNF-a antibodies (infliximab), is changing the clinical history of Crohn's disease (CD). The effects of these therapies are monitored emplying clinical indexes of active disease, laboratory parameters, endoscopy and histology, and also with imaging techniques. A new ultrasound contrast agent, SonoVue (Bracco SpA, Milano, Italy), is opening new perspectives in the study of microvasculature of several organs. Aim of this study is to evaluate by SonoVue enhanced ultrasonography (US) the occurrence of modifications in bowel wall microvasculature of CD patients and to correlate them with parameters of disease activity and to follow up the findings during infliximab therapy. After performing a basal color-doppler ultrasonography, the study of the affected bowel loop is performed after i.v. injection of SonoVue and the enhancement is evaluated on a qualitative basis. We report on the preliminary results obtained in twenty patients, eight of which have been treated with three infusions of infliximab (induction cycle) and evaluated at baseline and after the treatment. While at baseline we describe a positive correlation of SonoVue enhancement of the affected bowel loop with CRP, alpha1-glycoprotein and white blood cell number, after infliximab treatment in 6/8 cases a definite improvement was detected. Ultrasonographic evaluation of the changes of bowel wall enhancement after i.v. SonoVue during infliximab therapy might represent an useful, not invasive and relatively low cost imaging modality for the clinical monitoring of activity of small bowel Crohn's disease.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychological status and immunological parameters of institutionalized aged.

In the elderly, an impairment of the immune system could lead to increased incidence of infectious, neoplastic and autoimmune diseases; on the other hand, depression, which is the most common psychiatric problem in aged people, seems to be linked with alterations in immunological function. Thirteen institutionalized elderly subjects were studied to investigate the relationship between depression and immunological parameters. These subjects were selected as "healthy" according to the SENIEUR-EURAGE protocol and they belonged to a population already evaluated by our group--one year before--for psychological, endocrinological and immunological parameters. The lymphocyte mitotic response to PHA was greatly diminished in aged subjects, when compared to the adult controls. Depressed elderly showed impaired immunological function as compared with nondepressed ones, either "in vitro" or "in vivo". Lymphocyte stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), T cell growth factor (TCGF) production (induced by stimulation with PHA) and cutaneous delayed hypersensitivity (CDH) were reduced in depressed aged subjects. As far as lymphocyte proliferation with PHA in the whole group were concerned, no differences were found comparing the present results with those obtained in a former study. Although it is difficult to understand the significance of the immune imbalance associated with depression in the elderly, our results suggest that psychological status could influence the immunological functions in old people.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Regeneration of unmyelinated peripheral axons in vitamin E-deficient rats.

Unmyelinated axons of normal and regenerated sciatic nerve were counted in controls and vitamin E-deficient rats. No significant change in the number of unmyelinated axons of uninjured nerve was found in the vitamin E deficiency in comparison to controls (12961 +/- 1591 and 12450 +/- 1290, respectively, mean +/- SEM). In regenerated nerve of control rats the number of unmyelinated axons was higher than in uninjured nerve (16971 +/- 1854 and 20786 +/- 1574 at 1 and 2 months after crush, respectively). In vitamin E-deficient rats the increase in number of unmyelinated axons was greater than in corresponding controls (21880 +/- 662) at 1 month after lesion, but the number returned to value found in uninjured nerve at 2 months after lesion (12536 +/- 659). These results suggest that sprouting at lesion may be enhanced but some regenerated axons does not survive at long term in vitamin E-deficiency.

Animals↗