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Biomedical subjects

M Galli

Publications and source records attributed to M Galli.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Transient symptomatic cryoglobulinemia in gram-negative bacteria infections.

Mixed polyclonal cryoglobulinemia was observed in seven patients suffering from severe gram-negative bacterial infections and/or septicaemias and presenting with arthralgia and purpuric manifestations on admission. Cryoglobulins disappeared after recovery from infection in all of them and were never found during a longterm follow-up. In our opinion, gram-negative bacteria may induce the synthesis of cryoglobulins via a non-specific T-independent B-cell stimulation triggered by cell-wall lipopolysaccharides. This kind of infections, especially if chronic or relapsing, might play a role in the aetiology of some so-called essential mixed cryoglobulinemias.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Calcitonin levels in normal subjects according to age and sex.

To evaluate the effect of age and sex on plasma calcitonin in human beings, the concentrations of the hormone were measured in 63 normal subjects aged 13-87 years of both sexes. In another study 30 healthy women were studied, 14 of them were pre-menopausal, 16 were post-menopausal. Plasma calcitonin was determined by means of a radioimmunoassay, using delayed tracer addition for increasing sensitivity. The antibody was produced in rabbits against pure synthetic human calcitonin and was specific for the aminoacid sequence 17 to 32 in the calcitonin molecule. A second antibody was used as a precipitating agent. A mean plasma calcitonin level of 71.3 +/- 37.0 SD pg/ml was observed. Women were found to have lower levels than men, the mean values being 63.4 +/- 34.7 pg/ml and 92.6 +/- 35.4 pg/ml respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P less than 0.005). No significant correlation was found between calcitonin levels and age of subjects. Premenopausal women, however, showed higher levels of plasma calcitonin than post-menopausal women, the mean values being 88.5 +/- 38.4 pg/ml and 54.0 +/- 33.6 pg/ml, respectively. This difference was also significant (P less than 0.01). Possible implications of these data are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

[Generalized and persistent lymphadenopathy in drug addicts: clinical and epidemiological aspects].

Persistent unexplained lymphadenopathy with intermittent fever, weight loss, night sweats and malaise was observed in the period from March 1983 to April 1984 in 66 intravenous drug addicts living in Milan. A high percent of these subjects showed cellular immunity alterations, with significant decrease of total lymphocyte count (p less than 0.001) and of OKT4+ cells (percent and absolute number) (p less than 0.001) OKT8+ cells were augmented in percent, but not in absolute count. OKT4/OKT8 cell ratio were inverted, with significant reduction versus the healthy controls (p less than 0.001). IgG mean concentrations were significantly higher than the normal (p less than 0.001). Anergy or hypoergy to recall skin testing were evidenced in 58/66 patients. Cases of persistent unexplained lymphadenopathy associated with abnormalities of cellular immunity are considered as a possible prodrom of AIDS and were frequently observed in high risk populations. The occurrence of this clinical syndrome in a urban area may be premonitory of further progression to the epidemic. It will be necessary to assess whether this clinical and immunological picture will result in some of these patients in full blown acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1983

[Behavior of plasma and urinary cAMP after intravenous fructose load].

Increased excretion of uric acid and cAMP has been observed in many pathological conditions in man, but interrelation between behaviour of uric acid and cAMP is not well known. To investigate these aspects of purine metabolism the authors have studied behaviour of plasma and urinary cAMP in 8 subjects after intravenous rapid load of fructose (0.5 g/Kg b.w.) compared with the uric acid one. The results have shown that urinary excretion of cAMP after load of fructose is increased, but levels of plasma cAMP remain unchanged. These data confirm consensual relation between urinary uric acid and cAMP excretion, but the exact mechanism of this relation remains unexplained.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[Asu(1,7)E-CT, an analog of eel calcitonin. A comparative study in man with reference to other synthetic calcitonins].

(Asu) E-CT is a deaminodicarba-analog of the synthetic eel-calcitonin (E-CT) that shows specific activity and the potency reasonably high in comparison with that of the most potent natural hormone. The structure of its molecule indicates that the disulphide bond in calcitonins is not essential for the biological activity but only for the maintenance of the specific conformation by forming an intramolecular bridge. The instability of calcitonins should mainly be attributed to the presence of the disulfide bond and (Asu)E-CT proved to be more stable "in vitro" than native calcitonins. The more prolonged hypocalcemic effect of E-CT and its aminosuberic analog (Asu)E-CT has been accounted for to a greater stability of and persistence at the receptor site. (Asu) E-CT has been largely studied in Japan on experimental animals and successfully used in the treatment of hypercalcemia in man. On the contrary investigations on human administration of this analog are very scarce. The present paper reports studies carried out in normal subjects and Paget's disease patients to investigate the effects of (Asu)E-CT in man in comparison with the effects of synthetic human calcitonin (H-CT) and synthetic salmon calcitonin (S-CT). Two different experimental procedures have been used: 1) rapid intravenous injection of (Asu)E-CT (80 MRC. U.) or respectively of H-CT and S-CT (100 MRC. U.) in 15 subjects (7 normals and 8 with Paget's disease); 2) slow 7 days continuous subcutaneous infusion of similar daily amounts of (Asu)E-CT, H-CT and S-CT administered by a microjet pump device in 21 subjects (7 normals and 14 with Paget's disease). The intravenous administration of (Asu)E-CT induced a rapid and persistent decrease in total plasma calcium, ionized calcium and plasma phosphate that was more evident in Paget's disease patients than in normal subjects. No clearly cut differences have been observed with the hypocalcemic and hypophosphatemic effect of H-CT and S-CT administered intravenously; nevertheless the hypocalcemic effect proved to be more persistent in Paget's disease patients treated with (Asu)E-CT. After intravenous infusion of (Asu)E-CT the plasma level of cAMP rose more evidently in pagetic than in normal subjects but the rise was lower than in H-CT and S-CT treated subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Secondary and essential cryoglobulinemias. Frequency, nosological classification, and long-term follow-up.

The clinical and immunochemical classification of 166 patients with cryoglobulinemia are presented. 52% of the cryoglobulins were detected in patients hospitalized because of various causes. The most frequent association was with liver and lymphoproliferative diseases (in particular with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia); two thirds of the patients with liver diseases presented with a purpura-arthralgia syndrome, and the hepatic involvement was only brought to evidence by subsequent laboratory investigation. The presence of cryoglobulins did not usually interfere with the clinical course of the basic condition. In 79 patients the cryoglobulinemia was considered idiopathic. In order to study the natural course of the disease in the idiopathic cases, a group of 35 patients had been followed up for 8-17 years: 37% developed a membranous proliferative glomerulonephritis, and more than half died of renal insufficiency; in 11% cirrhosis was diagnosed after a period of 4-9 years; another 11% developed a lymphoproliferative disease; of the remaining 40%, 2 are still asymptomatic, and the others are affected by purpura-arthralgia syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[H2 histamine antagonists and the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-gonadal axis: effect of short-term treatment on serum levels of prolactin, FSH, LH and testosterone in male ulcer patients].

Serum prolactin (PRL ng/ml) was measured in 7 male patients on cimetidine (CMT) and in 13 on ranitidine (RNT) before therapy and 5, 10, 15 and 30 days after; at the same intervals FSH (ng/ml), LH (ng/ml) and testosterone (ng/ml) were measured in 5 patients too, in order to ascertain hypothalamic, pituitary, gonadal dysfunction caused by H2 histamine blockers. In agreement with other authors, FSH, LH and testosterone were not affected: no statistical difference was found between basal values and the times of follow-up. In RNT-treated patients PRL showed a little, but not significant increase; in CMT-treated group PRL increased with a peak on 10th day (19.41 +/- 2.14 ng/ml vs. 9.50 +/- 1.72 ng/ml; P less than 0.01); on 30th day PRL levels were still higher than basal ones (15.85 +/- 2.38 ng/ml vs. 9.50 +/- 1.72 ng/ml; P less than 0.05). Unlike other trials we observed that PRL rises very early in oral treatment with CMT, perhaps for resetting of inhibiting factors, it trends to decrease and reach basal values shortly after 30th day notwithstanding therapy. It is now widely accepted that H2 blocker's action is on central histaminergic pathways modulating PRL secretion; in our opinion, the measured differences of PRL secretion with CMT and RNT in short term observations, are produced by different crossing of blood-brain barreer.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

[Behavior of urinary excretion of cyclic AMP in post-menopausal osteoporosis during therapy with salmon calcitonin].

Salmon calcitonin has been administered at a dose of 100 U.M.R.C. for 6 months in 10 patients suffering from post-menopausal osteoporosis. During treatment, calcium plasma levels fluctuated but tended to fall, while urinary excretion of cyclic AMP rose, this pointing to an enhancement of parathyroid function. After 6 months an increase in intestinal calcium absorption and a decrease in bone turnover were also observed, the bone mineral content evaluated by bone densitometry showed a slight quantitative increase but proved to be substantially unchanged. Salmon calcitonin thus proved capable of interfering with bone turnover by reducing the bone resorption. By fostering an increase in parathyroid hormone production, it also made it possible to exploit that anabolic effect which, in low doses, the parathormone exerts on the bone tissue.

Aged↗
PubMed1982

Lymphocyte subpopulations and surface membrane immunoglobulins in myasthenia gravis.

Lymphocyte subpopulations were studied in 16 myasthenic patients by means of E and EA7s rosettes and surface membrane immunofluorescence. Myasthenic patients showed an increase in lymphocytes with surface IgM an IgD when compared to a control group. In female patients this increase was highly significant, and lymphocytes bearing membrane IgG and IgA were also augmented. No difference was found in male patients when compared with sex-matched controls. These results suggest an activation of the B cell compartment restricted to female patients, and support the hypothesis of different immunopathogenetic mechanisms in this disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Humoral immune responses in human loaiasis.

Some immunological parameters in three white patients who contracted loaiasis in endemic areas are reported. Microfilariae count in peripheral blood was elevated in one patient, discrete in another while in the third no microfilariae were detected. Serum IgE levels were elevated in two patients and normal in one of them. High eosinophils percentage (greater than 30%) and high titres of specific anti-filarial antibodies were detected in all patients. C3 and C4 levels fell between the normal values and C3PA was low in one patient. No circulating immune complexes were demonstrated. Two patients showed high anticomplementary activity. Our results are in accord with the possibility of a suppression mechanism in immune response in patients with high microfilaremia. Clinical features of loaiasis could be related to a type 1 (reaginic) reaction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

[Myocardial imaging with 99mTC albumin microspheres for the simultaneous assessment of contraction and perfusion in man].

Radiolabeled human albumin microspheres (HAM) have been used in the past, in order to visualize coronary flow distribution in man. In order to obtain information both on myocardial perfusion and contractility, we applied R-wave synchronized reconstruction of the cardiac cycle in cine mode to HAM imaging. In 20 patients with angina pectoris and coronary stenosis of variable severity and in 1 patient with congestive cardiomyopathy we injected 4 millions of HAM (mean diameter 15 microns) labeled with 15-20 mCi of 99mTc, into the left ventricle during routine cardiac catheterization. Data were collected by a gamma camera, and by the use of a high resolution collimator and were electronically restricted to the cardiac area (64 X 64 matrix). The reconstruction of the cardiac cycle was made according to the technique developed in our laboratory for gated blood pool imaging. From the displayed images we evaluated myocardial flow distribution at the time of injection and regional wall motion (by cine mode) at any subsequent time, with a temporal resolution of 2 to 4 mins. The patterns of contractility of myocardial walls with normal or reduced perfusion were in agreement with those observed by means of contrast ventriculography. Advantages of the technique are: a) simultaneous information on flow and contractility; b) prolonged time for wall motion observation (4 to 6 hours); c) high quality pictures, since the signal to background ratio is much more favourable than with other isotope techniques. The technique appears to be promising from the results obtained in the number of patients included in this study.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

[Comparison between M-mode echocardiography and 201thallium myocardial scintigraphy for diagnosis of transient myocardial ischemia (author's transl)].

Purpose of this study was to evaluate the capability of M-mode echocardiography (M-mode) and of 201Thallium myocardial scintigraphy (201T1) to detect transient myocardial ischemia at rest in man. Fourteen male patients (pts) were studied by the two techniques under basal conditions and during episodes of angina at rest. Data were obtained in 2 pts in rapid succession during the same episode, in the remaining 12 pts in different episodes with electrocardiographic changes similar in site, type, entity and duration. Echocardiographic criteria of transient ischemia (reversible asynergies and transient reduction of systolic thickening) were present in 9/11 pts during episodes of ST segment elevation; the scintigraphic ones (reversible perfusion defects) in 10/11 pts. In 3 pts during episodes of ST segment depression M-mode was positive in 2, 201T1 in all three. The poor acoustic window in 2 pts and the involvement in one of left ventricular lateral wall not seen by M-mode on parasternal approach, may account for the 3 false negatives of M-mode. The single false negative of 201T1 can be related to the short duration (1') of the episode. A complete correspondence of site of ischemia, detected by ECG, M-mode and T1, was observed. In conclusion, M-mode appears a reliable technique for detecting transient ischemic episodes, being the main limits the acoustic window and the incapacity in exploring all ventricular walls and the main advantage the high temporal resolution, which permits to study continuously the full sequence of the ischemic event. On the other hand 201T1 does not allow detection of episodes of short duration. This two techniques, when combined in anginal patients, provide complementary information on perfusion and contraction respectively. The reliability of these techniques in the assessment of transient myocardial ischemia is the basis for their possible diagnostic use in pts with transient specific ECG changes or with typical anginal pain without ECG evidence of ischemia.

Adult↗