The authors report a series of 10 reconnections, 4 after Hartmann operations for cancer, 3 after Mikulicz for diverticular disease, 1 after Hartmann for diverticular disease, 2 after Hartmann for traumatic perforation of sigma. Neither surgical complications nor death are reported. To reduce the risk of complication it is necessary to execute colorectal restoration with careful fiming. After the Hartmann operation you must operate in the shortest time. After operations for diverticular disease, you must operate after the lowest period of 6 months.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Recombinant human interferon alpha-2a therapy for chronic hepatitis C with or without cirrhosis: comparison of 3 or 6 MU for 1 year.

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of two different therapeutical regimens of IFN alpha-2a in patients with HCV related chronic liver disease. Eighty one patients with HCV chronic hepatitis with or without cirrhosis entered the study; 42 and 39 patients were treated with 3 or 6 MU IFN, respectively. The results show that: 1) 25/39 (64.1%) patients treated with 6 MU and 21/42 (50.0%) patients treated with 3 MU had a complete response defined as a decline in serum ALT levels to the normal range during therapy; 2) complete response to 6 MU treatment was observed independently of the presence or absence of cirrhosis; in the 3 MU group, a complete response was observed in 31.6% of patients with CAH + cirrhosis as compared with 68.2% of those with CAH alone (p < 0.03); and 3) at 1 year after the end of the treatment we observed persistent ALT normalization in 40.6% and 28.2% of patients treated with 6 or 3 MU, respectively, and absence, of HCV viraemia (HCV-RNA) in 7/10 patients with CAH and in 2/7 patients with CAH + cirrhosis, mostly in patients treated with 6 MU. In conclusion, 6 MU IFN dose is more effective than 3 MU in reducing disease activity in HCV chronic hepatitis, specially in patients with CAH + cirrhosis.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Valyl-transfer RNA formation stimulated by monovalent cations and spermine in rat liver.

Valyl-tRNA synthetase from rat liver catalyzes the aminoacylation of tRNA in the presence of a) Mg2+, b) monovalent cations and c) spermine. The degree of aminoacylation with Na+ is equal to that with Mg2+ but the ATP required with Na+ is 25 times lower than that with Mg2+. The aminoacylation becomes almost undetectable in the presence of Na+ when tRNA deprived of Mg2+ is used.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hodgkin disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: plain chest radiographs and chest computed tomography of thoracic involvement in previously untreated patients.

PURPOSE: To provide further information about the presentation of thoracic involvement in Hodgkin disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and to compare chest radiography with chest CT findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the chest radiographs and the CT images of 100 Hodgkin and 100 non-Hodgkin patients, all of them untreated. Our data were compared with those of literature series: the latest study comparing the different patterns of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin disease appeared in 1976 and it compared chest radiography with conventional tomography, not with CT. RESULTS: Intrathoracic involvement (75% vs 48%) and adenopathy (74% vs 28%) were more frequent in Hodgkin than in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Ninety-nine per cent of the patients with intrathoracic involvement (74/75) had nodal disease. Paratracheal/prevascular nodes were most frequently involved, namely in 72/74 Hodgkin (97%) and in 27/28 non-Hodgkin patients (96%). The lung parenchyma was more often involved in non-Hodgkin (24%) than in Hodgkin (8%) patients; it was associated with mediastinal/hilar adenopathy in all Hodgkin and in 10/24 (42%) non-Hodgkin cases. Parenchymal involvement was demonstrated with chest radiography in 7/8 Hodgkin (88%) and in 13/24 non-Hodgkin patients (54%). Chest radiography showed paratracheal/prevascular adenopathy more often in Hodgkin (54/72, 75%) than in non-Hodgkin (15/27, 56%) cases. Subcarinal and internal mammary adenopathy was poorly depicted with plain films, while hilar adenopathy was generally identified with both CT and chest radiography. Chest radiography usually missed posterior mediastinal and anterior diaphragmatic adenopathy. CONCLUSIONS: The differences in the presentation of Hodgkin vs non-Hodgkin disease are not sufficiently distinctive to permit radiographic differentiation of the two conditions, but some patterns are helpful. Recognizing the frequency of thoracic involvement and that of the additional CT findings in Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin patients makes a sound basis for lymphoma imaging.

Adult↗