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Biomedical subjects

M Ceroni

Publications and source records attributed to M Ceroni.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Motor and psychomotor functions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis evaluated by tests of motor ability.

18 patients with typical sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) were investigated by the Motor Accuracy and Speed Test (MAST) and 18 healthy age- and-sex-matched volunteers, acted as controls. All performed each of the five tests 10 times with both the right and the left hands and repeated the experiment after one week by the same procedure. Motor performances were better in the controls than in the ALS patients only in the first three tasks. At retest, one week later, the controls generally improved while ALS patients did not. The mean percentages of changes showed a statistically significant difference in the fifth task. Analysis of the results suggests the possibility that, among the other mechanisms, a disturbance of motor learning ability could be operating in ALS patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Clinical effects of plasmapheresis in acute Guillain-Barré syndrome.

5 consecutive cases of acute GBS were treated by plasmapheresis (PP). Clinical features and results of therapy have been compared with those of 10 consecutive acute GBS cases untreated by PP. PP treatment, applied early during the phase of deterioration, seemed to stop deficit progression, thus eliminating the stationary stage and triggering recovery immediately. Complete recovery seemed to occur comparatively faster than in the untreated group.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1986

Neuropsychological measures in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and their relationship with CT scan-assessed cerebral atrophy.

Twenty-one male patients affected by ALS have been given a short neuropsychological battery and the results have been compared with those obtained by 21 male subjects affected by other non-dementing neurological diseases. Only two ALS patients had definitely low scores on WAIS (performance scale) and on learning tasks, both verbal and spatial, but the ALS group did not differ, on the whole, from the controls. No relationship was observed between cognitive impairment and cerebral atrophy assessed by computerized tomography. The conclusion is suggested that the cognitive impairment in ALS be a discrete, seldom occurring event.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Is progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy associated with intrathecal IgG synthesis?

Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid by isoelectric focusing was done in 2 cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The diagnosis was confirmed at autopsy in one case. IgG oligoclonal bands were found in both, suggesting that there was intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis. Production may be due to a specific intrathecal response to papova virus or to IgG oligoclonal formation by lymphoma cells confined to the central nervous system or to a specific immune response to tumor cell antigens.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Lead in cerebrospinal fluid and its relationship to plasma lead in humans.

Lead levels in whole blood, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were determined in 18 patients suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and in 21 subjects hospitalized for neurological investigations. No significant differences were found for blood, plasma and CSF lead concentration between the ALS group and the other patient group. The plasma lead-CSF lead mean ratio was greater than 1 in both groups, while in subjects with a slight degree of blood-CSF barrier impairment a significant decrease of the ratio was demonstrated. A significant relationship between plasma lead and CSF lead levels (r = 0.405; p less than 0.01), but not between whole blood lead and CSF lead levels, was established. Lead levels in CSF were also age-related (r = 0.485; p less than 0.05) in the group of patients not suffering from ALS. In subjects with normal blood-brain barrier permeability, lead in plasma is a good indicator of CSF lead concentration.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Value of spirometric investigations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The respiratory function has been studied in 37 patients with ALS. 15 of them (5 till death) were followed with serial spirometric tests. The data, as a whole, show a diminution of vital capacity, a diminution of forced expiratory volume per second, an increase of the residual volume and of the Motley index; blood gas analysis showed no significant alterations apart from slight hypoxemia. Patients with bulbar ALS presented marked abnormalities of the spirometric and blood gas analysis parameters. In the cases followed with serial spirometric tests VC, Motley index and FEV1 gradually deteriorated as the disease advanced. In the deceased patients a sudden and serious aggravation of these values occurred. This was especially true for FEV1 and Motley index during the 3 months preceding death. The variations in residual volume were less indicative. Finally, the influence of smoking and of pulmonary and bronchial pathology, present or past, was not significant.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Selenium and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. The effects of different levels of dietary selenium on clinico-pathological findings.

There are reports in which multiple sclerosis (MS) seems to be associated with abnormalities in selenium (Se) metabolism and erythrocyte glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-px) activity. Ordinary experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), which reflects some features of human MS, was induced in guinea pigs maintained with high, low and normal levels of Se in the diet. Evidence was obtained to indicate the following results: (i) a direct correlation between dietary Se levels and whole blood Se levels. (ii) Erythrocyte GSH-px activity was not found to be correlated with the blood Se content. (iii) The animals fed with low or normal levels of Se showed the same survival rates and developed EAE in a similar way and percentage. (iv) The animals fed with high non-toxic levels of Se showed a high incidence of death and some developed EAE with a subacute course, when compared with the other experimental groups. The results are discussed on the basis of findings in the literature.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Recovery of muscular energy status in chronic alcoholics after 2 weeks of abstinence.

Repeated and excessive consumption of alcohol leads to pathophysiological disorders in skeletal muscles. A successful management of this syndrome requires a strict abstinence and a nutritionally adequate diet. We propose here a simple and noninvasive investigation using 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to monitor the recovery of the basal energy status of eminence thenar muscles from documented chronic alcoholic patients during a controlled 15-day period of abstinence. Cessation of alcohol abuse induced a significant recovery of the PCr/(PCr+P(i)) ratio otherwise depressed before the abstinence. On the contrary, the relative level of free inorganic phosphate decreased, whereas intracellular pH was not affected. These results demonstrate (a) the rapid improvement of basal muscular energy metabolism during abstinence for patients with a chronic and heavy alcohol consumption, and (b) the feasibility of a follow-up of this recovery by serial examinations using 31P MRS.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Identification of genetic markers of the glial tumor by means of differential display technique.

The Differential Display Reverse Transcriptase (DDRT) technique was adopted to isolate genetic markers specific for the two main grades of the Glial tumor, the Astrocytoma and the Glioblastoma. A total of 16 brain biopsies (4 Astrocytoma and 12 Glioblastoma) were analysed. The technique was modified in order to reduce the false-positive ratio by means of more stringent amplification conditions. Electrophoretic patterns with previously selected arbitrarily primers revealed differences between the grades, four of them were investigated through sequencing. These sequences did not show significant nucleotide and aminoacid similarity to any known sequences in the DataBase. Sensitivity of the method was documented by the evidence that only one of the selected markers was an artefact, while the others represented genetic markers of the human Glial neoplasm.

Astrocytoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interleukin-2 induces the growth of human glioblastoma cells in culture.

The ability of the T cell growth factor interleukin-2 (IL-2) to support the proliferation of human glioblastoma cells in short-term cultures was evaluated. A morphological, cytochemical and immunocytochemical analysis was carried out at different times of treatment. In the presence of IL-2 growth of tumor cells was observed. On the contrary, in the absence of IL-2 only few colonies derived from tumor fragments were obtained and these were so after a long time. The immunocytochemical study revealed that IL-2 induces the expression of the IL-2 receptor on human glioblastoma cells. In the presence of IL-2 proliferation of infiltrating lymphoid cells inside the tumor fragments was also observed. Morphological and cytochemical analysis of these cells revealed positivity for acid phosphatase (AP), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), dipeptydilaminopeptidase (DAP IV) and negativity for serine esterase. These data are in agreement with our previous study on activated lymphoid subsets. On the other hand, an absence of infiltrating lymphocytes was observed in cultures without IL-2. These results indicate that local treatment of human glioblastoma using IL-2 might produce tumor cell proliferation.

Brain Neoplasms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Minichromosome maintenance protein 7: a reliable tool for glioblastoma proliferation index.

At present there is increasing evidence concerning the value of minichromosome maintenance (MCM) protein expression as a novel indicator of proliferation. In the present study, 15 glioblastoma samples, classified according to WHO, were analysed to evaluate the expression of the principal proliferation markers. The samples examined were subdivided into 2 cytological subsets, small cell (SC) or multiforme cell (MC) glioblastoma, according to the predominant cell type defined in individual specimens. MCM7 detected more cells in the cycle than Ki67 and PCNA and all cases of SC glioblastoma, the most aggressive subset, displayed a significant increase of MCM7-stained nuclei versus those stained with Ki67. These results suggest that the cell cycle-associated proteins MCM are not only useful markers of proliferation, but also valid aids for diagnosis in cerebral glioblastoma.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A randomized phase III study: comparison between intravenous and intraarterial ACNU administration in newly diagnosed primary glioblastomas.

BACKGROUND: In this randomized phase III study, the effectiveness as well as the side-effects of intraarterial [i.a.] (17 patients) versus intravenous [i.v.] (16 patients) ACNU [Nimustine] administration in newly diagnosed glioblastoma, were compared. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients undenwent extensive surgical resection, and both groups were homogeneous for the other known risk factors. Thirty-three patients with glioblastoma were treated with ACNU at the dose of 80-100 mg/m2. Treatment was repeated every 5-8 weeks for a minimum of 2 and maximum of 14 cycles. Total survival time (TST) and to time to progression were chosen as outcome variables. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: No significant differences in systemic and hematological toxicity between the i.a. and iv. ACNU administration routes were detected. In both groups, tolerance of the procedure was excellent. Analysis of the main outcome measured showed no significant differences between i.a. and i.v. ACNU administration: time to progression was 6 months for i.a. ACNU and 4 months for i.v. ACNU and total survival time was 17 months for i.a. ACNU and 20 months for i.v. ACNU. In spite of ACNU dose incrementation, obtained through i.a. route administration, and subsequent higher concentration in the tumor bed, no improvement could be achieved in effectiveness.

Adult↗