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Biomedical subjects

M Sgrò

Publications and source records attributed to M Sgrò.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Retroperitoneal seminoma secondary to 'burned out' testicular tumor in an acromegalic patient.

We report a case of an acromegalic patient with a retroperitoneal seminoma secondary to a testicular tumor which had completely disappeared. Testicular ultrasonography did not show any pathological mass and histological examination indicated that the normal testis had been totally replaced by fibrous tissue, without neoplastic cells. Our patient had high levels of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL), both hormones with high immunostimulating effect, and an increase of interleukin-2 receptor-positive lymphocytes, a finding supporting enhanced immunological activity. Thus, we cannot exclude that the immunological pattern of this acromegalic patient may have played some role in the tumoral destruction.

Acromegaly

[Ancylostomiasis].

Ancylostomiasis, i.e., infestation by Ancylostoma duodenale or Necator americanus, involves several thousands of subjects every year throughout the world and especially in tropical and subtropical regions where it is endemic. In Italy, after a severe epidemic during the construction of the St. Gotthard tunnel in the 1880s, and after a period of endemic infestation limited to some areas (1955-60), the last few years have witnessed a marked drop in the incidence of this disease which is nevertheless relevant in that it involves certain groups with occupational risk (farmers, miners, workers in clay quarries, etc.) and certain geographic areas of our country where inadequate hygienic behavior still persists among the rural population. After up-dating the epidemiology of the infestation, the authors review the principal prophylactic and therapeutic measures available.

Adolescent

Effects of fenfluramine and ritanserin on prolactin response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia in obese patients: evidence for failure of the serotoninergic system.

In order to study the hypothesized impairment of the serotoninergic system in human obesity, an insulin tolerance test (ITT) was carried out on 12 obese normoprolactinemic women and on 6 normal-weight women before (A) and after (B) the administration of a serotoninergic drug, fenfluramine (60 mg twice a day per os for 7 days). After a washout period, a new ITT (C) followed the administration of fenfluramine at the same dose, associated with a specific S2 blocker receptor agent, ritanserin (30 mg/day for the first 2 days and 20 mg/day for a further 5 days). In obese subjects, the prolactin (PRL) response to ITT A was reduced as compared to the controls: in 6 patients ('nonresponders') the PRL levels did not change, while in the other 6 ('responders') they increased (p less than 0.003) but less than in the controls (p less than 0.02). In normal-weight subjects, the administration of fenfluramine alone or with ritanserin did not modify the PRL response to ITT. In the responders, the serotoninergic drug normalized the PRL response to ITT while significantly improving it in the nonresponders; these effects were not antagonized by ritanserin. In conclusion, our data suggest that the serotoninergic system of obese patients is impaired and that the different secretory pattern observed in the two groups before and after fenfluramine may reflect differing degrees of this impairment.

Adolescent

[Anthrax].

Having dwelled on the etiopathogenetic, pathologic, and clinical features of human infections caused by B. anthracis, the authors review and analyze epidemiological data of the cases of anthrax registered in Italy during the last ten years. Actual possibilities for prevention are evaluated in view of the fact that enzootic foci still exist in our country which are clearly responsible for the typically occupational occurrence of this type of infection in certain at-risk categories (farmers, husbandmen, butchers, veterinarians, but also workers in those branches of industry which use materials of animal origin, such as wool, leather, bristles, fur, etc.).

Animals