Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Negri

Publications and source records attributed to M Negri.

126 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy: treatment of choice for cholelithiasis in children.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is rapidly replacing traditional cholecystectomy as the standard treatment for cholelithiasis and cholecystitis in adults. Over a period of 16 months, 14 children with a clinical diagnosis of cholelithiasis, ranging in age from 4 to 15 years (mean 12.2), were treated. All had symptoms of abdominal pain or vomiting; one had jaundice and recurrent cholecystitis. Five children (35%) had associated metabolic or hemolytic diseases. The 14 children were operated on using the laparoscopic cholecystectomy technique. No operation was converted to open cholecystectomy, but two patients required laparotomy: one because of suspected injury to the common duct, and the other because of nonvisualization of the gallbladder during laparoscopy. The mean post-operative hospital stay for the 11 children who underwent only laparoscopic cholecystectomy (one patient also had a simple mastectomy) was 50 hours (range 48-72 hours). All children resumed their normal activities almost immediately after discharge from hospital. No long-term biliary or other complications were seen in any patient throughout an average follow-up period of 6.2 months (range 3-16 months). The benefits of this operation in children are obvious: It is safe, effective, and well tolerated.

Adolescent↗

DNA synthesis enzymes and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in normal and neoplastic nerve cells.

The activity of nuclear DNA polymerases alpha, beta and delta/epsilon, uracil-DNA glycosylase, thymidine kinase and the presence of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) have been examined in developing rat glial cells, in rat and human glioma, in human neuroblastoma and in differentiated neuroblastoma cell lines in vitro. During glial development the activity of all enzymes tested, except DNA polymerase beta, markedly decreased, suggesting their coordinate regulation in respect to the proliferative state of the cells. Glioma and neuroblastoma cell lines restore the enzymatic activities that were no longer expressed in normal adult cells. Neuroblastoma cell lines induced to differentiate in vitro by retinoic acid showed a decline of the activities of DNA polymerase alpha, DNA polymerase delta/epsilon, uracil-DNA glycosylase and thymidine kinase similar to that observed during in vivo differentiation. We also demonstrate that PCNA is not detectable in glial and neuronal cells at all developmental stages, but can be found in tumor nerve cells. A possible use of enzymatic assays or anti-PCNA antibodies to detect brain tumors is discussed.

Animals↗

[Deep hypothermia and cardiocirculatory arrest with the technic of central cooling in patients with simple transposition of the great arteries].

The deep hypothermia and cardiocirculatory arrest are employed mainly for two reasons; to reduce as much as possible the extra corporeal circulation time in patients more suitable to present the deleterious effects of the by-pass circulation, and to have surgical field completely free from the blood, making easier some surgical procedures. In the classic description of Hykasa the deep hypothermia necessary to have a safe cardiocirculatory arrest is obtained by means of surface cooling and an extracorporeal heat exchanger. In our experience deep hypothermia and cardiocirculatory arrest were achieved only by means of core cooling technique; 64 patients with TGA weighing less than 10 kg were operated upon by this method with a mortality rate of 3.1%. The most important mortality risk factors were associated to the low weight of the patients and to the age. The major criticism against core cooling is represented by the thought that this type of cooling can impair cerebral function. In 2 patients we had neurological complications but were unrelated to the technique. We conclude that, when is necessary to perform a cardiocirculatory arrest, the core cooling deep hypothermia is a good, simple and useful technique, with a low danger of neurological complications.

Extracorporeal Circulation↗

Response to cyclosporin A and rhG-CSF in a case of aplastic anemia.

A 23-year-old male patient developed aplastic anemia and was treated with cyclosporin A and rhG-CSF. Bone marrow biopsy showed an improvement in cellularity with a recovery of all hematopoietic precursors after nine weeks of therapy. WBC increased after two weeks of treatment, mostly due to an increase in the absolute granulocyte cell count. Hb, RBC, Plts and reticulocytes showed an increase six weeks after the beginning of therapy. Of the serum cytokines, EPO levels progressively decreased, while sTfR increased in peripheral blood. A reverse correlation between blood neutrophil count and serum levels of G-CSF was observed, indicating an increased clearance of G-CSF. Finally, sIL-2R showed a rapid increase in the first week of treatment and prior to the increase in PMN cells. Thus, the use of cyclosporin A and rhG-CSF in our patient induced a complete recovery of hemopoiesis, and this may be explained by a synergic effect induced by the capacity of cyclosporin A to remove inhibitory factors and the stimulatory activity of rhG-CSF.

Adult↗