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Biomedical subjects

M Bernardi

Publications and source records attributed to M Bernardi.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

[Linguistic thinking disorders, dysphasia, and quality of life].

This study focuses on the nature and scope of thought disturbances in dysphasic children (age 6 to 10). It is a developmental and clinical study. The dysphasic child clearly manifests disturbances in language. These can be understood as disturbances of the linguistic "containers of thought". What impact do they have on the development of cognitive and affective experiences? A controlled study of logical operations involving reversibility and invariates shows some significant differences between dysphasic children and a matched group of non patient children. Findings, both, quantitative and qualitative, point to some specific difficulties in the acquisition of operative (in Piaget sense) structures of thought. Often regarded as "practical persons" dysphasic children manifest peculiar ways of integrating their affective experiences in a factual mode akin to alexithymia. Linguistic anomalies seem to be important elements of some complex "noeto linguistic" disturbances. Linguistic difficulties have a global impact on the quality of life of dysphasic children and need further investigation for developing relevant intervention programs.

Affect↗
PubMed1992

The hemodynamic status of preascitic cirrhosis: an evaluation under steady-state conditions and after postural change.

To assess the hemodynamic status of patients with compensated cirrhosis, mean arterial pressure, cardiac index and peripheral vascular resistance and markers of central (plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic factor) and arterial volemia (plasma norepinephrine concentration, plasma renin activity) were studied in 10 patients and 10 healthy control subjects under steady-state conditions (after 2 hr of standing) and after assumption of the supine position (30, 60, and 120 min). After standing, neither hemodynamics nor markers of effective volemia differed significantly between controls and patients. By evaluating the areas under the curve during the 2 hr of supine posture, the increase in cardiac output and plasma natriuretic factor and the decrease in peripheral vascular resistance were greater in patients (2.59 +/- 0.43 [S.E.M.] L/min/hr; 32.8 +/- 7.2 pg/ml/hr -1,103 +/- 248.4 dyn.sec/cm5/hr, respectively) than in controls (0.53 +/- 0.24 L/min/hr, p = 0.005; 17.4 +/- 4.7 pg/ml/hr, p = 0.005; -265.5 +/- 206.2 dyn.sec/cm5/hr, p = 0.02). The declines in heart rate, plasma norepinephrine concentration and plasma renin activity did not differ significantly. Mean arterial pressure did not significantly change. Our results suggest that during periods of upright posture, cirrhotic patients in the preascitic stage, who are known to have expanded blood volume, compensate for dilatation of the splanchnic vascular bed through total hypervolemia. The latter becomes excessive during recumbency, leading to supernormal increases in venous return, central volemia and cardiac index. The decline in peripheral vascular resistance appears to be a compensatory mechanism to maintain steady arterial blood pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Atrial Natriuretic Factor↗
PubMed1992

Influence of CRF and alpha-MSH on the migration of human monocytes in vitro.

The effects of stress in the modulation of immune responses are increasingly reported by a rapidly growing body of experimental and clinical data. Here we show that corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) stimulates 'in vitro' the migration of human monocytes, the maximum effect being obtained at 10(-14) M. On the other hand, another important neuropeptide of the stress response, alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), has no significant effect on the migration of monocytes. These findings show that one of the oldest immune responses is directly modulated by a key mediator of the stress response.

Chemotaxis, Leukocyte↗
PubMed1992

Bed-rest-induced hypernatriuresis in cirrhotic patients without ascites: does it contribute to maintain 'compensation'?

Renal function, plasma renin activity, plasma aldosterone concentration and urine excretion of free norepinephrine were evaluated in 13 cirrhotics without previous or ongoing ascites and in 13 healthy subjects, after 6 days of controlled electrolyte intake (40 mmol of Na and 70 mmol of K per day) and during 24 h of recumbency. Plasma concentrations of the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) were also measured in 8 patients and 8 controls. Despite a low-normal filtered load of sodium (14.6 +/- 1.2 vs. 17.1 +/- 1.2 mmol/min), cirrhotic patients showed supernormal natriuresis (141.5 +/- 14.1 vs. 78.8 +/- 8.6 mmol/day; p < 0.001). Whereas the fractional excretion of sodium in these patients was twice that of controls (0.70 +/- 0.05 vs. 0.36 +/- 0.04%; p < 0.001), potassium excretion (42.5 +/- 2.7 vs. 43.1 +/- 2.7 mmol/day) and urine volume (1270 +/- 98 vs. 1452 +/- 148 ml/day) did not differ. In cirrhotics, plasma renin activity was reduced (0.50 +/- 0.12 vs. 1.39 +/- 0.33 ng/ml/h; p < 0.02), and plasma aldosterone concentration tended to be lower (66 +/- 10 vs. 86 +/- 9 pg/ml; p = 0.09), while urine norepinephrine excretion did not significantly differ from controls (961 +/- 120 vs. 782 +/- 43 ng/h). ANP was higher in patients than in controls (92 +/- 17 vs. 48 +/- 9 pg/ml; p < 0.05). Natriuresis was directly correlated with ANP (r = 0.69, p < 0.005) and ANP/plasma aldosterone ratio (r = 0.63; p < 0.01) in patients and healthy subjects taken together.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Can evoked phonomyography be used to recognize fast and slow muscle in man?

The present study is aimed at ascertaining if muscle sound might be used as a detector of the contractile properties of individual human muscles "in vivo". In order to test this hypothesis, Soleus muscle (slow) and Vastus Lateralis Femoris muscle (fast) were investigated in three healthy subjects during electrically elicited contractions. Evoked phonomyograms were obtained from isometric single twitch contractions using a microphonic apparatus. Time and frequency domain analysis were performed. Evoked phonomyogram rising time values obtained from the two muscles are significantly different (p less than .01) and this difference is clearly due to their different mechanical properties. The power spectrum of all signals was obtained by means of harmonic analysis routine and mean frequency thus obtained was taken into account. Power spectrum values are approximately 1.5 times greater in fast muscle than in slow muscle (p less than .01). These findings lead us to the conclusion that evoked phonomyography can be considered a useful technique for the assessment of mechanical properties of individual human muscles.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Kinetics of intravenous metoclopramide in patients with hepatic cirrhosis.

The pharmacokinetics of metoclopramide has been studied after acute IV administration to 12 patients with hepatic cirrhosis (6 with and 6 without ascites) and 6 control subjects. The elimination half-life was significantly longer in patients (11.4 h and 9.9 h in those with and without ascites, respectively, vs 6.4 h in controls). Total plasma clearance was significantly lower in patients (0.29 and 0.36 l.kg-1.h-1 vs 0.52 l.kg-1.h-1 in controls). The differences between patients with and without ascites did not reach statistical significance. Reduction of functional hepatic blood flow in cirrhotic patients is the probable cause of the observed alteration in metoclopramide kinetics.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Reduced cardiovascular responsiveness to exercise-induced sympathoadrenergic stimulation in patients with cirrhosis.

Cardiovascular responsiveness to sympathoadrenergic activation obtained by muscle exercise in the supine position was evaluated in 22 patients with cirrhosis (11 alcoholic, 11 postnecrotic/cryptogenic; 14 with ascites) and 10 controls of comparable age. Plasma norepinephrine, heart rate, diastolic arterial pressure and cardiac function, as evaluated by systolic time intervals, were monitored. At rest, cirrhotics had higher norepinephrine (154 +/- 19 S.E.M. ng/l) and heart rate (79 +/- 2 beats per min) than controls (71 +/- 3 ng/l, p less than 0.01; 67 +/- 2 beats per min, p less than 0.001), whereas diastolic arterial pressure was similar. Among systolic time intervals, electromechanical systole, pre-ejection period, electromechanical delay and pre-ejection period to left ventricular ejection time ratios were prolonged (p less than 0.05 or less). Exercise led to significant increases in plasma norepinephrine, heart rate and diastolic arterial pressure in both controls and patients. In the latter, however, whereas the increase in norepinephrine was greater (p less than 0.001), those in heart rate and diastolic arterial pressure were less (p less than 0.005). As expected, most systolic time intervals shortened, but the decrease in pre-ejection period (p less than 0.05), isometric contraction time (p less than 0.02) and pre-ejection period to left ventricular ejection time ratio (p = 0.06) was less in patients than in controls. Direct correlations between exercise-induced changes in norepinephrine and both diastolic arterial pressure (r = 0.81; p less than 0.005) and heart rate (r = 0.85; p less than 0.002) were observed in controls, while inverse correlations (r = -0.67, p less than 0.001 and r = -0.44; p less than 0.05) were found in cirrhotics. These results suggest that cardiovascular reactivity to the sympathetic drive is impaired in cirrhotics. The impairment of cardiac contractility may be due to altered electromechanical coupling.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Antidiuretic and nephrotoxic effects of putrescine in rats.

Putrescine, intraperitoneally injected either into intact or into hypophysectomized rats, caused a reduction in urine volume at doses of 200-300 mg/kg. At doses of 100 mg/kg or more, there was also a significant loss of potassium. The highest dose (300 mg/kg) caused haemoglobinuria, proteinuria, increased natriuresis, increased urinary osmolarity, reduced aldosteronaemia, ectasis of glomerular capillaries and tubular damage. The underlying mechanism(s) are probably mostly linked to the strong cationic charge of putrescine and to its binding to fixed anions of tubular-cell membrane.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Persistence of the control of the fluctuations of heart rate in the anesthetized and pithed adult rat. Effect of enteraminergic drugs].

Spontaneous fluctuations in heart rate were analyzed by spectral analysis in the ether anesthetized and pithed adult rat. In order to investigate the changes in the spectral pattern of the fluctuations, the selective 5HT-2 and -3 isoreceptor blockers ritanserin and BRL 43694A were used. In both the experimental conditions, ritanserin blockade led to dose-dependent increased fluctuations in HR low and high frequencies. In both the anesthetized and pithed rats, the low frequency range HR fluctuations were drastically reduced by BRL 43694A.

Anesthesia↗
PubMed1991

[Power spectra of the inter-cycle heart fluctuations in Xenopus laevis (L.), conscious or pithed, exposed to temperature changes and pharmacological treatments].

Spectral analysis of spontaneous heart rate fluctuations, a powerful noninvasive tool for quantifying autonomic nervous system activity, was assessed in Xenopus Laevis, intact or spinalized, at different temperatures and by use of pharmacological tools. As expected, increasing the body temperature resulted in a positive chronotropic effect, both in the conscious and the spinalized preparations. Characteristic modifications of the spontaneous heart rate fluctuations were detected in both the experimental conditions. Different receptor drugs, which selectively interfere with the variously superimposed vegetative sections of the nervous control, had been proved to be effective in the new assay.

Adrenergic beta-Agonists↗
PubMed1991

[Pharmacology of atriopeptin in the adult rat: power spectra of the fluctuations in heart rate].

The persistence of the cardiac beat-to-beat control is studied in the anesthetized and the pithed adult rat by means of spectral analysis. The data show that atriopeptin affects the amplitude of the heart rate low frequency fluctuations, significantly increasing the spectral patterns both in the anesthetized and the pithed rat. The atriopeptin enhancement of the low frequency range in heart rate fluctuations provides further insight into the hypothesis that beat to beat variability in hemodynamic parameters reflects a compensatory response in the short term cardiovascular control.

Anesthesia↗
PubMed1990

Influence of gonadotropin-releasing hormone on castration-induced 'depression' in mice: a behavioral and binding study.

Long-term (33-35 days) castration caused a significant increase in the duration of immobility of male and female mice in the tail suspension test (an animal model of depression), and a significant decrease in the maximum number (Bmax) of [3H]imipramine binding sites in the cerebral cortex of male mice. In the tail suspension test, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), s.c. injected 3 times at 3-h intervals at doses of 0.2, 2 or 20 micrograms/kg, did not significantly modify the duration of immobility of castrated animals and did not reduce that of sham-operated ones, while desipramine (20 mg/kg s.c. 1 h before testing) restored immobility to normal in castrated animals and reduced it significantly in sham-operated ones. The same treatment schedule with GnRH produced an increase in the number of [3H]imipramine Bmax in cortical membranes that was statistically significant at the dose of 2 micrograms/kg. It is concluded that the castration-induced depression-like behavior in mice seems not to be due to the decreased levels and release of GnRH, and that GnRH has no antidepressant-like effect in mice, at least at our dose levels; however, GnRH seems to increase the number of cortical [3H]imipramine binding sites.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

[Effect of CDP-choline on senile mental deterioration. Multicenter experience on 237 cases].

The efficacy of CDP-choline (1000 mg/die) administered for two 21-day treatment cycles, with a one-week wash-out period between them, was evaluated in out and in-patients suffering from mild to moderate brain aging. The study was performed on 237 fully evaluable patients with the use of the reduced geriatric scale of Plutchik and al., for clinical evaluation of the symptomatology. The clinical data obtained demonstrate that treatment with CDP-choline is able to determine an improvement of symptomatology since the 1st cycle of therapy (p less than 0.001), and a further improvement in the 2nd cycle (p less than 0.001). Particularly, the therapeutic effect of the 1st cycle is persistent in the intermediate wash-out period (suspension of treatment) with a further decrease, of symptomatology regarding some items of Plutchik's scale (p less than 0.01). Finally, treatment with CDP-choline 1000 mg/die for two 21-day cycles in 237 patients suffering from brain aging determined a statistically significant improvement of the cognitive and behavioural parameters taken into consideration: independence/autonomous life; human relations/social life; interest and attentive capacity; individual behaviour. Therefore citicoline is confirmed as a valid therapeutic remedy for the clinical, functional and social recovery of these patients.

Activities of Daily Living↗