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Biomedical subjects

L Murri

Publications and source records attributed to L Murri.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Phenobarbital prophylaxis of post traumatic epilepsy.

Phenobarbital (PB) was tested for its efficacy in averting post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) in patients with non-missile head injuries. The protocol envisaged the administration of PB throughout a period of two years in randomly assigned doses ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 and from 1.6 to 2.5 mg/kg/day. The study included neurologic examination, EEG and plasma PB levels. Ninety patients, 83 of whom with serious head injury followed the prescribed treatment for the entire period. Two adult patients manifested seizures 5 and 10 months after the trauma. They were being treated with doses over 1.5 mg/kg/day. Another patient had a seizure six months after the end of the prophylaxis. Low doses of PB and monitoring permitted a reduction of side effects. The low incidence of PTE indicates that PB has an efficient prophylactic effect. The results also show that a low dosage has a favourable effect.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Circadian rhythm in gonadotropin secretion in children with constitutional stature delay.

Plasma levels of luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormones were measured for 24 hours in six subjects affected by constitutional stature delay associated with sexual maturation delay. The children in pubertal stage exhibited fluctuating plasma concentrations of these hormones which significantly increased during sleep, as in healthy pubertal subjects. Thus in this type of delayed puberty, the synchronization of augmented gonadotropin secretion with sleep develops later in chronologic age but it is strongly related to bone age.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Unbalanced progesterone and estradiol secretion in catamenial epilepsy.

Ten women with a documented history of catamenial epilepsy underwent a hormonal study to evaluate hypophyseal-gonadal function. Baseline values of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and prolactin were similar in catamenial seizure patients and in control groups throughout a complete menstrual cycle. Stimulated secretions of the same hypophyseal hormones in catamenial seizure patients overlapped those of the controls. The luteal secretion ratio of progesterone to estradiol was significantly reduced in catamenial seizure patients versus normal controls. In a subgroup of catamenial seizure patients on antiepileptic therapy, luteal progesterone levels were remarkably decreased compared to normal and epileptic controls. These results indicate that catamenial epilepsy is characterized by an imbalance in ovarian steroid secretion and emphasize the need for an endocrinological assessment in these patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Psychosensorial and related phenomena in panic disorder and in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Since Cullen coined the term "neurosis" in the 18th century, medical investigators have searched the neural substrates of conditions we now classify as anxiety disorders. Harper and Roth in 1962 hypothesized that the temporal lobes might represent one such substrate for phobic-anxious patients with depersonalization-derealization (DD); the association between the presumed temporal lobe feature and phobic anxiety was so compelling that Roth (in 1959) described the condition as "phobic-anxiety-depersonalization" syndrome. Introduced into our current nosology as panic disorder-agoraphobia (PDA), this seemingly neuropsychiatric condition is nonetheless distinct from complex partial epilepsy (CPE), from which it is conventionally differentiated through clinical and anamnestic evaluation. Yet increasingly there are clinical-and laboratory-hints of certain overlap between manifestations of the two disorders, hitherto based largely on evaluation of psychosensorial phenomena in PDA or affective phenomena in CPE. We located only one systematic study that monitored 24-hour electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities in PDA. Finally, recent epidemiologic data suggest a significantly greater than chance association between PDA and a history of seizures. To further explore these intriguing links, the present study directly compared a group of 91 PDA outpatients with a group of 41 CPE outpatients with respect to DD and other psychosensorial symptoms. The broad similarities discovered between psychosensorial and related phenomena provide further support for the hypothesis that there may be a common neurophysiological substrate linking CPE phenomena with PDA.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Coenzyme Q10, exercise lactate and CTG trinucleotide expansion in myotonic dystrophy.

Steinert's myotonic dystrophy (DM) is a genetic autosomal dominant disease and the most frequent muscular dystrophy in adulthood. Although causative mutation is recognized as a CTG trinucleotide expansion on 19q13.3, pathogenic mechanisms of multisystem involvement of DM are still under debate. It has been suggested that mitochondrial abnormalities can occur in this disease and deficiency of coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10) has been considered one possible cause for this. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate, in 35 DM patients, CoQ10 blood levels and relate them to the degree of CTG expansion as well as to the amount of lactate production in exercising muscle as indicator of mitochondrial dysfunction. CoQ10 concentrations appeared significantly reduced with respect to normal controls: 0.85 +/- 0.25 vs. 1.58 +/- 0.28 microg/ml (p < 0.05). Mean values of blood lactate were significantly higher in DM patients than controls (p < 0.05) both in resting conditions (2.9 +/- 0.55 vs. 1.44 +/- 1.11 mmol/L) and at the exercise peak (6.77 +/- 1.79 vs. 4.90 +/- 0.59 mmol/L), while exercise lactate threshold was anticipated (30-50% vs. 60-70% of the predicted normal maximal power output, p < 0.05). Statistical analysis showed that serum CoQ10 levels were significantly (p < 0.05) inversely correlated with both CTG expansion degree and lactate values at exercise lactate threshold level. Our data indicates the occurrence of reduced CoQ10 levels in DM, possibly related to disease pathogenic mechanisms associated with abnormal CTG trinucleotide amplification.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Serum gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase isoforms in alcoholic liver disease.

gamma-Glutamyltranspeptidase (gamma GT) appears in serum in multiple forms; their significance and clinical utility in hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases are still a matter of controversy. Electrophoretic separation of the multiple forms of gamma GT on agarose gel was performed in 20 alcoholic patients (six with cirrhosis and 14 with fatty liver) and the results compared with those obtained in 50 healthy volunteers, 43 patients affected with chronic hepatitis C, 36 patients with posthepatitic cirrhosis and in 52 epileptic patients on long-term anti-epileptic medication. Multiple forms of gamma GT were separated into several bands (up to 11), labelled 0a, 0b, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b. In the alcoholic patients nine fractions were detected, and the electrophoretic pattern observed was significantly different from that observed in healthy volunteers and in patients with chronic hepatitis C or posthepatitic cirrhosis. No differences were observed in the electrophoretic patterns in the alcohol abusers and epileptic patients. In alcoholic patients significant differences were observed in the electrophoretic patterns in relation to the degree of liver injury; the electrophoretic patterns in patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis and posthepatitic cirrhosis differed significantly. The separation of multiple forms of gamma GT has high sensitivity and good reproducibility. It may be proposed as a complementary test in the diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prolactin secretion in epileptic subjects treated with phenobarbital: sex differences and circadian periodicity.

Circulating basal prolactin (PRL) levels were evaluated in 126 subjects of both sexes with partial or generalized epilepsy, who were treated with phenobarbital (PB) alone or in combination with either phenytoin or benzodiazepines. A significant increase in PRL levels was observed in male, but not in female, patients compared with a sex- and age-matched healthy volunteer group. Circadian PRL secretion, studied in six male epileptic patients on PB monotherapy and in nine normal subjects, showed comparable 24-h PRL mean values and a preserved PRL surge during the night in both groups; however, a statistically significant additional peak was found in male epileptic subjects during the late afternoon. The cosinor analysis of the data, used to evaluate PRL rhythmicity, showed a disruption of the 24-h periodicity in epileptic subjects, while the 12-h periodicity was maintained. These results indicate that central and/or peripheral mechanisms involved in PRL secretion control are more sensitive to PB alone or in combination with other antiepileptic drugs in male than in female subjects. However, the changes of PRL secretion we found were small and unrelated to the different clinical conditions.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Descriptive epidemiologic study of epilepsy syndromes in a district of northwest Tuscany, Italy.

To evaluate the prevalence of epilepsy syndromes in a district in Northwest Tuscany (Vecchiano, 9,952 inhabitants) we identified all suspected cases (probable epilepsy) from several information sources: files of local doctors, prescriptions of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), hospital files from the center for epilepsy at the University of Pisa, medical files from university and hospital departments in Pisa, and files of the school doctors and social workers in the district of Vecchiano. All persons suspected of having epilepsy were examined; 51 cases of epilepsy were found, i.e., a prevalence rate of 5.1 in 1,000. During a previous study performed in the same district with the "house-to-house" method, a lower rate was found. Our study confirms that use of different epidemiologic investigational methods can produce different results.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Sleep disturbances in a case of Morvan's chorea (author's transl)].

Six nocturnal polygraphic recordings were carried out in a young man with fibrillary chorea of Morvan, during the acute period of the disease. Sleep was remarkably fragmented by numerous and brief awakenings but the total sleep time fluctuated between 157 and 312 mins.; the sleep structure was altered by the almost total absence of stages 3,4 and REM. During the day, the subject had one or two periods of sleep (1-2 hours) and complained of being tired. The nocturnal awakenings were correlated by the patient with pain and burning dysaesthesiae of distal distribution that were more severe than those occurring during the day. The patient improved gradually, and five month later both sleep disturbances and other signs of disease had disappeared.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Late whiplash syndrome: a clinical and magnetic resonance imaging study.

Cervical hyperextension injuries are common and are associated with significant morbidity. Clinically two syndromes are described: "acute" whiplash syndrome and "late" whiplash syndrome (in which the patients are still symptomatic after six months despite normal physical and radiological examination). In order to clarify the pathology of the persistent pain in late whiplash syndrome we performed a cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 33 consecutive patients suffering from this condition. Twenty-six patients (78.8%) showed MRI abnormalities, the most common MRI finding (57.6%) was pre-existent spondylosis. Indeed, the group of patients with spondylosis and other MRI changes had higher clinical scores than those without MRI abnormalities as measured by a three-point grading system based upon the symptoms and signs shown. Several MRI changes, most of them already demonstrable by standard X-ray were seen among 33 patients suffering from late whiplash syndrome. Although no one of these findings appears to be specific and certainly related to the previous neck injury, they could represent a risk factor for a longer pain duration.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Abnormal H-Tfam in a patient harboring a single mtDNA deletion.

We report on a patient suffering from a progressive mitochondrial disorder characterized by ocular myopathy, exercise intolerance, and muscle wasting. Morphological examination of muscle biopsy showed increased variability in fiber size and scattered ragged-red fibers. Analysis of muscle mitochondrial DNA by Southern blot and PCR revealed a heteroplasmic single deletion of 4100 base pairs, located between nucleotide positions 8300 and 12,400. Western blot analysis showed high levels of the human mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam). Interestingly, we also detected an additional Tfam product, of approximately 22 kDa. This is the first case in which a qualitatively abnormal Tfam has been found to be associated with a mitochondrial disorder in humans.

Biopsy↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Poly-hormonal evaluationof pulsatile adenohypophysis incretory activity during sleep in normal, experimental and pathologic conditions.

Secretory patterns of some anterior pituitary hormones were recorded during sleep, and related to EEG-phases. The same observations were carried out in conditions in which the normal sleep course was intentionall (i.e., repeated arousals, administration of tryptophan) or pathologically (i.e. chronic schizophrenia) modified. Plasma gonadotropins (lh, fsh), growth hormone and ACTH were assayed. In basal conditions, the well-known peak of HGH, which corresponds to the delta phase of sleep, was confirmed. This peak is strictly linked to the number and duration of stage 4 sleep, and follows it in its experimental and/or pathological disturbances. The secretion of ACTH, on the other hand, seems to be completely independent from the morphology of sleep. The secretion of this hormone is typically phasic; along with this phasic secretion, a background secretion is detectable, which increases steadily during the sleep span, with maximal values in the early morning hours. Gonadotropin secretion is pulsatile, episodic and completely independent from the sleep phases, in basal as well as in experimental and pathologic conditions.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗