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Biomedical subjects

M Casagrande

Publications and source records attributed to M Casagrande.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Increase of REM duration and decrease of REM latency after a prolonged test of visual attention.

Following one adaptation night, the nocturnal sleep of nine female college students was recorded for two baseline and two experimental nights. In both experimental nights, prior to sleep the subjects performed a 4 hour long visual task requiring the recognition of letters tachistoscopically presented in the right visual hemifield. In the first experimental night eye movements were permitted, while in the second subjects were allowed only covert movements of attention while keeping their gaze on a fixation point. Results show that, as a consequence of the experimental manipulation, there is an increase of REM duration and a shortening of REM latency without any concomitant significant change in REM density and in the duration and latency of the other sleep stages. The increase of REM duration was greater in the night in which only attentional "movements" were permitted (i.e., when there is a covert orienting of attention), suggesting that a load of spatial attention might have a role in increasing REM pressure.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

[Boerhaave's syndrome. Emergency surgery].

The Authors report a case of spontaneous rupture of the esophagus in a 66-year-old alcoholic. The symptomatology was characterized essentially by epigastralgie and vomiting culminating in violent retrosternal pain radiating to the back and by shock. X-rays taken an hour after hospitalization showed an increase of pulmonary hypodiaphania with presence of pleural effusion at the left base, cervicothoracic subcutaneous emphysema. Emergency surgery was performed by thoracotomy associated with suture of the esophageal opening with drainage of the supradiaphragmatic and pleural region. However, the patient died on the 10th day of broncopulmonary complications. The Authors therefore believe that the triad pain, shock and mediastinal thoracico-cervical emphysema should be considered pathognomonical of Boerhaave's syndrome and thus be kept in mind by the surgeon employed in a Division of Emergency Surgery and First Aid.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Assessing nighttime vigilance through a three-letter cancellation task (3-LCT): effects of daytime sleep with temazepam or placebo.

Nocturnal sleepiness is a common complaint suffered by night-shift workers, especially in conditions of an abrupt shift of the wake-sleep cycle. Alertness management strategies can minimize the adverse effects of sleep loss and circadian rhythm desynchronization and promote optimal vigilance in operational settings. Within these strategies. one possibility is to use short periods of "prophylactic sleep" (before long periods of work), which can be facilitated by hypnotics. Vigilance can be evaluated by means of several tests which, sometimes, imply procedures and devices not easily employable in operational settings. In such conditions pencil and paper tests of vigilance can be very useful in the assessment of attentional performance degradation due to sleep loss and/or inversion of the sleep-wake cycle. In this study we evaluated the sensitivity of a three-Letter Cancellation Task (3-LCT) in revealing nighttime variations of vigilance in a laboratory simulation of acute night shift, after a diurnal sleep with placebo (PLC) or temazepam (TMZ). Nocturnal levels of vigilance were also assessed using the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). All tests were administered four times at 2-h intervals during nighttime after a daytime sleep. Results show that the 3-LCT is sensitive to variations of vigilance occurring during a laboratory simulation of acute night shift. We also found some effects of TMZ, which in the first nocturnal session caused a slowing down of visuoattentive performance. Nocturnal variations of vigilance detected through the 3-LCT were similar to those revealed by means of MSLT, while the ability to maintain wakefulness was substantially spared during the night.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Allergic rhinitis, olfactory disorders and secretory IgA.

The authors point out the possible relationship between the biochemical and immunological components of nasal mucus in subjects affected by allergic rhinitis and/or olfactory disorders. Fifty seven subjects (33 F, 24 M) aged between 19 and 73 years, (median age 65 SD 14.60) were studied. Twenty seven of them were normosmic affected by allergic rhinitis and taken as control group, (14 were positive to allergometric tests and/or RAST, while the other 13 were negative), 30 were dysosmic, and subdivided into parosmic (n = 6), anosmic (n = 15) and hyposmic (n = 9) (only one was negative both to allergometric tests and to RAST). In all patients we assessed: nasal mucus (it was analysed for: mucus quantity, pH, protein concentration, K+ concentration and the SIgA antibodies, tested both by radian immunodiffusion and by ELISA), allergometric tests, PRIST, RAST, anterior rhinomanometry, evoked olfactory potential. As regard to allergometric tests, we have no observed statistically significant differences between the control and the dysosmic group, although all the dysosmic patients (except one) were positive both to allergometric tests and to RAST. Total (PRIST) and specific (RAST) IgE values (except for the anosmic subjects who had IgE values moderately higher) were similar to the results obtained by allergometric tests. As regards to nasal secretion quantity, it was reduced (p: n.s.), like the pH (p: n.s.), in the parosmic subjects. On the other hand, proteins concentration of nasal secretion was lowered in hyposmic (p: n.s.) and anosmic (p = 0.05) subjects, while there were no differences between parosmic subjects and control group. The values of SIgA in controls and hyposmic subjects were not too different and similar to those observed by other authors; however they were slightly increased in controls affected by allergic rhinitis with positivity both to RAST and/or allergometric tests (p: n.s.), while they were reduced in the parosmic and significantly in the anosmic patients (p < 0.01). On the basis of that data, the authors conclude that, (though related to a limited case reports) being the secretory IgA values inversely proportional to the gravity of olfactory pathology, a their protective role (if the anatomic-functional substratum is efficient), in the pathologies examined, can be easily hypothesized. Besides, that data highlight that their concentration is slightly decreased in those patients affected by allergic rhinitis, without olfactory disorders (p: n.s.).

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

End to side mucomucosal Wirsung jejunostomy after pancreaticoduodenectomy: immediate results and long term follow-up.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Pancreatico-duodenectomy (PD) is nowadays a widely performed operation which still carries a risk of some morbidity and mortality due to leakage of the Pancreatico-jejunostomy. The aim of the present paper is to describe critically the experience of a surgical team with a large number of consecutive non-selective PDs, where the same surgical procedure was adopted in all cases to manage the pancreatic stump. METHODOLOGY: Sixty six Whipple/Child PDs and 4 Traverso-Longmire (Duodenum Preserving PD) were performed between 1974 and 1993, by the same surgical team in our surgical department. The management of the pancreatic stump was always the same: a hand-made end-to-side mucomucosal Wirsung-jejunostomy, completed by a second layer between pancreatic capsula and jejunal sero-muscular wall. RESULTS: The overall mortality was 7.1% (5 cases). Only one death could be ascribed to pancreatico-jejunostomy related complications (post-operative acute pancreatitis). Specific morbidity was 12.6% (9 cases). Only one complication was related to the Wirsung-jejunostomy (leakage of the anastomosis, treated by a "sleeve" end-to-end pancreato-jejunostomy). Long-term patency of the anastomosis was shown by ERCP. CONCLUSIONS: Even if this anastomotic technique requires a little more time and attention by the surgeon, we think that the low incidence of pancreatico-jejunal anastomosis related complications represents a validation of the method, and a motivation to adopt this anastomotic technique. The long-term patency of the muco-mucosal Wirsung-jejunostomy is another valid argument that supports this kind of management of the pancreatic stump after PD.

Adult↗