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Biomedical subjects

M Cacchio

Publications and source records attributed to M Cacchio.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Venoruton vs Daflon: evaluation of effects on quality of life in chronic venous insufficiency.

The aim of this independent study was to investigate differences in efficacy between oxerutins (Venoruton) and 500 mg micronized diosmin + hesperidin (D+H) (Daflon) in patients with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), evaluating venous-related quality of life (Ve-QOL). A first group of 90 patients with severe venous hypertension (CVI, ankle swelling) was randomized to treatment with oxerutins or D+H. The oxerutins group received oral oxerutins (2 g/day); the D+H group received 3 (500 mg) tablets daily every 8 hours for 8 weeks. A second group of 122 comparable patients was included in a registry following the same study format. The 2 treatments were administered with the same methods and procedures. Clinical conditions were comparable. All patients completing 8 weeks of treatment were included in a registry. Specialists or general practitioners included patients when they considered that clinical conditions were compatible with treatment indications using 1 of the 2 treatments on the basis of their evaluation and experience. When cases were compatible with the registry, the prescribing physician communicated the case to our monitoring center. Patients were evaluated without interfering with their treatment. The main target of evaluation for this study was the change in Ve-QOL (range, 0-100) induced by treatment. A specific Ve-QOL questionnaire was used for this study. Ve-QOL score is a specific expression of the changes in QOL induced by CVI in patients between 35 and 75 years old (defined in our population studies) in which no other significant clinical disease is present (as a confounding factor affecting QOL). Two hundred twelve patients completed the 2 parts of the study. The 2 treatment groups were comparable for age and gender distribution. The mean age was 42 years (SD +/-5.5) in the oxerutins group and 41.5 (SD +/-6) in the D+H group. There were no differences in the severity of CVI between the treatment groups at inclusion. A significant decrease (46.8%, p <0.05) in Ve-QOL score; that is, improvement, was observed in the oxerutins group. The change in Ve-QOL was significantly less in the D+H group (15.5%). In conclusion, CVI, venous microangiopathy, and edema were significantly improved by the treatment with oxerutins; the improvement in QOL was significantly greater in the oxerutins group. The comparison with D+H indicates that oxerutins is comparatively more effective on Ve-QOL and on signs/symptoms of CVI.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cramps and muscular pain: prevention with pycnogenol in normal subjects, venous patients, athletes, claudicants and in diabetic microangiopathy.

The aim of this study was to assess the preventive action of Pycnogenol (Horphag Research Ltd, UK) on cramps and muscular pain in different groups of subjects and patients. The study included a 5-week observation period (4 weeks treatment and one follow-up week after the suspension of treatment) to evaluate the efficacy of Pycnogenol after its withdrawal. Four 50 mg capsules (total dose 200 mg/day) were prescribed with suggestion to drink at least 1.5 liters of water every day. In the first part of the study 66 healthy subjects completed a 5-week follow-up period. The difference between number of cramps attacks recorded within the 2 weeks before inclusion and the number of episodes during the fourth (p <0.05) and fifth (p <0.05) week were statistically significant. In normal subjects the average number of episodes was reduced from 4.8 (1.2) events per week to 1.3 (1.1) at 4 weeks (p <0.05). In venous patients the decrease in events was from 6.3 (1.1) to 2.6 (0.4) per week (p <0.05). In athletes the number of episodes decreased from 8.6 (2) to 2.4 (0.5) (p <0.05). The decrease was still present at 5 weeks in the 3 groups, to levels significantly lower than inclusion values (p <0.05). In the second part of the study, patients with intermittent claudication and diabetic microangiopathy were evaluated and treated (4 weeks). The groups treated with Pycnogenol and the control, placebo groups were comparable. There was a significant decrease in the number of cramps episodes (p <0.05) and in the score concerning muscular pain (p <0.05) in claudicants and diabetics. No significant effects were observed in the placebo groups. In conclusion, cramps and muscular pain, common in these 2 types of patients, were decreased by the use of Pycnogenol. Globally, these results suggest that the use of Pycnogenol prevents cramps, muscular pain at rest, and pain after/during exercise in normals, in athletes prone to cramps, in patients with venous disease, in claudicants, and in diabetics with microangiopathy. The difference is statistically significant considering objective observations (cramps episodes) and evaluating more subjective aspects (score). This indicates that Pycnogenol is effective in reducing pain and cramps during retraining and rehabilitation increasing its efficiency. In starting any physical rehabilitation program, particularly in vascular subjects, the limitation in mobility associated with muscular pain and with cramps tends to be relevant, and controlling these symptoms is useful to speed up the retraining process.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Improvement of diabetic microangiopathy with pycnogenol: A prospective, controlled study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy of oral Pycnogenol (Horphag Research Ltd, United Kingdom) in patients with diabetic microangiopathy. Patients without a history of diabetic ulcerations were treated with Pycnogenol. Patients received oral Pycnogenol (50 mg capsules, 3 times daily for a total of 150 mg daily for 4 weeks). A group of 30 patients was included (severe microangiopathy); 30 comparable patients were observed as controls (no treatment during the observation period). All patients (age, 59 years; range, 55-68 years; male:female = 18:12) included in the treatment group completed the 4-week study. Also, all controls completed the follow-up period. There were no drop-outs. All included subjects had signs and symptoms of diabetic microangiopathy. The duration of diabetes-from the first signs/symptoms--was on average 7.5 years (SD = 3). After 4 weeks, microcirculatory and clinical evaluations showed a progressive decrease in skin flux at rest in the foot (indicating an improvement in the level of microangiopathy), a significant decrease in capillary filtration, and a significant improvement in the venoarteriolar response in all treated subjects. There were no visible effects in controls except a slight reduction in skin flux at rest in the foot. Treatment was well tolerated in both groups. In conclusion, this study confirms the clinical efficacy of Pycnogenol in patients with diabetic microangiopathy. The study indicates the clinical role of Pycnogenol in the management, treatment, and control of this common clinical problem. The treatment may be also useful to prevent diabetic ulcerations by controlling the level of microangiopathy.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Rapid relief of signs/symptoms in chronic venous microangiopathy with pycnogenol: a prospective, controlled study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy of oral Pycnogenol (Horphag Research Ltd, UK) in patients with severe chronic venous insufficiency. Patients with severe venous hypertension (chronic venous insufficiency, ankle swelling) and history of venous ulcerations were treated with Pycnogenol. Patients received oral Pycnogenol (50 mg capsules, 3 times daily for a total of 150 mg daily) for 8 weeks. A group of 21 patients was included in the treatment group and 18 equivalent patients were observed as controls (no treatment during the observation period). All 21 patients (age 53 years; range, 42-60 years; M:F=11:10) in the treatment group completed the 8-week study. Also the 18 controls completed the follow-up period. There were no drop-outs. The average ambulatory venous pressure was 59.3 (SD 7.2; range 50-68) with a refilling time shorter than 10 seconds (average 7.6; SD 3). There were no differences in ambulatory venous pressure or refilling time between the treatment and control patients. The duration of the disease-from the first signs/symptoms-was on average 5.7 years (SD 2.1). At 4 and 8 weeks, in all Pycnogenol-treated subjects, microcirculatory and clinical evaluations indicated a progressive decrease in skin flux, indicating an improvement in the level of microangiopathy; a significant decrease in capillary filtration; a significant improvement in the symptomatic score; and a reduction in edema. There were no visible effects in controls. In conclusion, this study confirms the fast clinical efficacy of Pycnogenol in patients with chronic venous insufficiency and venous microangiopathy. The study indicates the significant clinical role of Pycnogenol in the management, treatment and control of this common clinical problem. The treatment may be also useful to prevent ulcerations by controlling the level of venous microangiopathy.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Protein kinase C zeta regulation of hypertrophic and apoptotic events occurring during rat neonatal heart development and growth.

The development and growth of the rat heart implies hyperplasia, which stops at birth, and hypertrophy, allowing cardiac mass to grow in response to programmed genetic events along with to haemodynamic overload. Moreover, hypertrophy is accomplished to apoptosis which controls the final number of myocardial cells, deletes vestigial structures, and takes part in remodelling the organ. Since at the basis of all these processes, which lead to the complete development of the heart, the activation of specific signalling pathways underlies, attention has been addressed to the role played in vivo by Protein Kinase C zeta (PKC zeta) in regulating NF-kB signalling system and intrinsic mitochondrial apoptotic route at days 1, 4, 10 and 22 of rat life. In fact, a role has been assigned to PKC zeta in indirectly phosphorylating IKBa, which peaks between 10 and 22 days, through a IKK determining, in turn, NF-kB activation, concomitantly to cytochrome c/Apaf 1 co-localization in the cytoplasm and caspase-9/caspase-3 activation, which leads to the occurrence of apoptosis. Thus a key role for PKC zeta in regulating the hypertrophic and apoptotic events leading to establishment of complete function in rat neonatal heart is here suggested.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of 50 Hz sinusoidal electromagnetic fields on MCP-1 and RANTES generated from activated human macrophages.

Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) induce cellular changes and modulate signal transduction pathways, and may be beneficial in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In this paper we studied two inflammatory chemokines, MCP-1 and RANTES produced by human cultured isolated monocytes from peripheral blood, with or without PHA and in the absence or presence of 50 Hz magnetic field of 1.0 mT for 24 h. The production of MCP-1 and RANTES was determined by ELISA method. Here, we found that ELF-EMF strongly inhibited the production of these chemokines stimulated by PHA, while the control was not affected. Since MCP-1 and RANTES exert chemoattraction for several populations inflammatory leukocytes, the inhibitory effect of these chemokines could be one of the mechanisms by which ELF-EMF is therapeutic in inflammatory diseases.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The value of segmental pressure measurement in the assessment of peripheral vascular disease.

In 60 patients with symptomatic peripheral vascular disease a study was performed to evaluate the reliability of segmental pressure measurement in detecting and localizing vascular lesions. Five groups of limbs with different pressure patterns were identified: normals, distals disease (diabetics), aorto-iliac disease, aorto-iliac and superficial femoral disease, superficial femoral and distal disease. The comparison with angiography showed the high efficacy of this method (when combined with Doppler study of the arteries) to localize and quantify the lesions. The combination with femoral intraarterial pressure measurement allows to predict exactly the segmental pressure after segmental vascular reconstructions. It is concluded that segmental pressure measurement (with the described technique) selects patients for angiography and surgery and can predict the outcome of vascular reconstruction.

Adult↗