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Biomedical subjects

M Recchia

Publications and source records attributed to M Recchia.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

[National Register of congenital hypothyroidism].

The results of five years activity of the National Register of children with Congenital Hypothyroidism (NRCH) have been evaluated. NRCH was established in Italy in 1987, as a pilot project of Health Ministry. All Italian Centers in charge of the screening, treatment and follow-up of CH are involved in the program. The results have provided further epidemiological informations about CH in Italy and have evidenced some aspects in the screening organization which had to be improved. Discussion of Register data in annual meetings has recently allowed to obtain an improvement especially for the beginning of treatment and the used dose of therapy.

Congenital Hypothyroidism

MODDIS: a microcomputer program for model discrimination.

A computer program for a microcomputer (HP 86) is presented to discriminate between different models and to design new experiments for model discrimination. By a non-linear fitting algorithm a set of experimental data is fitted with different models suggested by the user. The parameters characterizing each model are estimated by minimizing the sum of squared residuals; different criteria are used to test the choice between two or more models at different levels of probability and the smallest number of additional experiments required for discrimination is computed. If discrimination is not achieved a direct search method is used to find the local maxima of the divergence (or information for discrimination) over a user-chosen domain of independent variables (x R'''). The x value corresponding to the absolute maximum of the divergence is the best choice to run a new experiment for discrimination.

Biometry

Effect of loperamide and naloxone on mouth-to-caecum transit time evaluated by lactulose hydrogen breath test.

The effect of loperamide and naloxone on mouth-to-caecum transit time was evaluated by the lactulose hydrogen breath test in four men and four women. Each subject underwent tests during the administration of placebo, loperamide (12-16 mg po), naloxone (40 micrograms/kg/h by a three-hour intravenous infusion), and loperamide plus naloxone, carried out at intervals of one or two weeks. The transit time was significantly longer after loperamide, and this effect was antagonised by the concomitant administration of naloxone whereas naloxone administered alone had no effect on mean transit time. No clinically important side effects were reported.

Adult

Multicentre comparative trial of tienilic acid and hydrochlorothiazide in hypertensive patients.

To compare the clinical and metabolic effects of a new diuretic uricosuric agent, tienilic acid, with those of hydrochlorothiazide, a multicentre double-blind trial was performed in 56 hypertensive patients. Twenty-eight patients were randomly assigned to take tienilic acid and 28 to take hydrochlorothiazide. The diuretic and anti-hypertensive actions of the two compounds were similar. No significant differences were observed between tienilic acid and hydrochlorothiazide in their effects on urinary and serum electrolytes, hepatic and renal function tests, and fasting lipids. The patients who received tienilic acid showed a significant fall in serum uric acid, mediated by the uricosuric effect. The availability of an agent combining diuretic, antihypertensive and hypouricemic effects offers promise in the treatment of arterial hypertension.

Adolescent

Human platelet monoamine oxidase activity in glaucoma.

Monoamine oxidase (MAO, E.C. 1.4.3.4) activity was determined by spectrophotofluorimetric assay of the reaction product of the artificial substrate kynuramine in platelets from venous blood samples from 50 outpatients with glaucomas and 47 sex- and age-matched controls. No significant differences were found between MAO activity in control subjects and that in subjects with glaucomas grouped according to diagnostic subcategories. Irrespective of ocular disease, women had significantly higher enzyme activity than men. Age-related changes in platelet MAO were inconsistent.

Adult

Subcellular distribution of etorphine in rat brain and evidence for in vitro stereospecific binding.

1 Control experiments were carried out by homogenizing rat brain at 0 degrees C with sucrose containing various concentrations of [3H]-etorphine. Subcellular fractionation of this homogenate showed that the distribution of the labelled drug amongst the primary fractions was dependent on the concentration of etorphine in the homogenate. 2 Rats were injected intravenously with 0.2 and 20 microgram/kg of [3H]-etorphine. The brains were homogenized and fractionated in sucrose containing 4.2 x 10(-5) M unlabelled etorphine in order to control redistribution artifacts. Different distribution profiles in the subcellular fractions were observed at these two dose levels. 3 Concurrent administration of either cyprenorphine or naloxone with intravenous etorphine, caused a shift of the labelled drug from the P3 fraction to the supernatant fraction. 4 The subcellular distribution of intravenously administered [3H]-etorphine was also studied by homogenizing brains in etorphine-free sucrose, and sucrose containing either levorphanol or dextrorphan. From these experiments it was concluded that the P3 microsomal fraction is a major site to which in vivo etorphine is stereospecifically bound in the rat brain.

Animals

Prognostic significance of radiological bone involvement in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

In 98 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, aged 1 to 12 years, the prognostic significance of radiological bone involvement was studied. The mean duration of remission and of survival was much shorter in cases with multiple bone involvement (3 or more bones) than in those where bone involvement was absent. In those cases presenting with 1 or 2 bone lesions no statement of prognostic significance can be made at this stage. A radiological skeletal survey should be made in all children presenting with leukaemia to identify those (about 15%) having multiple bone lesions and therefore a poor prognosis, in order that they can be given more intensive therapy.

Bone Neoplasms

Anatomical specificity as the critical determinant of the interrelationship between raphe lesions and morphine analgesia.

Electrolytic lesions were produced in three separate parts of the raphe mesencephalic area: the nucleus raphe medianus, the nucleus raphe dorsalis and an area between these two nuclei. Seven days after the surgery, the animals were tested for morphine analgesia using the tail compression method and then sacrificed for the estimation of brain serotonin. It was found that the analgesic effect of morphine was significantly reduced in the rats lesioned in the nucleus raphe medianus but not in the animals lesioned either in the nucleus raphe dorsalis or in the 'intermediate raphe area'. Since a decrease of forebrain serotonin was observed in each experimental group, the reduction of morphine analgesia does not involve a simple direct correlation with a decrease of serotonin in the forebrain. The results are discussed in view of the possibility that the reduction of morphine analgesia after lesions of the nucleus raphe medianus is due to a disruption of a specific brain serotonergic system.

Analgesia

Bioavailability of two carbamazepine preparations during chronic administration to epileptic patients.

Two preparations of carbamazepine, as tablets and in syrup, were given for 8 weeks to 20 patients with epilepsy in a randomized crossover study. Weekly plasma levels were 3-21 mg/1 on dosages of 5-24 mg/kg/day. There was no difference in absorption or steady-state level between the two preparations. Carbamazepine 10, 11-oxide was constantly present when the level of carbamazepine was over 5 mg/l, and tended to be lower with the syrup.

Administration, Oral

Growth hormone secretion in chronic schizophrenia.

The GH response to insulin hypoglycemia (insulin 0.1 IU/kg i.v.) was studied under basal conditions and during a course of haloperidol therapy in 19 chronic schizophrenics, 15 hebephrenics and four paranoids (ten men and nine women, age 16--53 years). Haloperidol was given for 30 days, at a daily dose of 6 mg i.m., and the GH response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia was tested twice, before, and 10, 20, 30 days following the initiation of the treatment. The psychopathological features were controlled daily by two psychiatrists and by the ward staff and by the use of a Wittenborn rating scale, rated at the same intervals as the hormonal assays. From the results obtained it appears that in schizophrenic patients, GH secretion and response to insulin stimulus are extremely variable and are unaffected by haloperidol treatment. On the basis of the results obtained, the neurotransmitter-neurohormone regulation of GH secretion in schizophrenics is discussed.

Adolescent