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Biomedical subjects

O Daniele

Publications and source records attributed to O Daniele.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

The evaluation of fibrinogen behavior in Hodgkin's disease: correlation with clinical stage.

Forty-four patients (9 stage II, 15 sage III, 7 stage IV, and 13 in complete remission) with Hodgkin's disease without any clinical coagulation disorder were studied. Fibrinogen behavior was evaluated by measuring fibrinogen level and using 1251-fibrinogen, the half-life, survival and fibrinogen turnover. Platelet count and fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products (FDP) were also assayed. The fibrinogen half-life, survival and turnover were significantly longer and faster, than those found in 10 healthy subjects, in stage II, III and IV subjects (p less than 0.001, p less than 0.001, p less than 0.05 for stage II; p less than 0.001, p less than 0.001, p less than 0.001 for stage III; p less than 0.005, p less than 0.005, p less than 0.001 for stage IV, respectively). In most cases, FDP values were within the normal range, although they were significantly higher than those of control group in stages III and IV. Intravascular coagulation and fibrinolysis were not found in the 13 patients with complete remission. In these patients, the behavior of fibrinogen was normal, suggesting that the parameters studied are related to the presence of the tumor, and can be useful in monitoring the state of remission.

Adult↗

Benzodiazepines: efficacy in status epilepticus.

Both our personal experience and the findings of others indicate that the benzodiazepines (a) are the drugs of first choice for control of status epilepticus occurring in patients with primary generalized epilepsy (90%-100% effective) or control of hemiclonic convulsions in children without brain lesions, (b) are effective in approximately 60% of cases of status epilepticus occurring in partial epilepsy, (c) are effective in only 15% to 59% of cases of tonic status or various types of absence status occurring in secondary generalized epilepsy (but no other drug is more effective), (d) are helpful in status epilepticus occurring in nonepileptic patients if there is no overt brain lesion (but give only temporary relief when status is the result of a severe organic brain lesion), and (e) are generally safe drugs.

Adult↗

[Toxicity of high-dose bleomycin administered by continuous infusion].

Fifteen patients with nonseminomatous testicular cancer underwent multidrug treatment which included cis platinum, Velban and bleomycin. The latter drug was administered in monthly 5 day courses of 100 mg/m2. No impairment of antitumor effect resulted since 12 of 15 patients had remissions (10 complete and 2 partial). Pulmonary toxicity was practically abolished: a median dose of 675 mg per patient (range 450 to 1050) was followed by normal lung X-ray and normal or near normal functional parameters after completing treatment. Median arterial oxygen pressure was 78 mm Hg (range 62 to 89), and median Tiffeneau index was 84 (range 64 to 87). Only 2 of 15 patients had skin marks from bleomycin toxicity at the end of treatment, so that cutaneous toxicity was also very low. Oral mucosa reversible damage was prominent in 2 patients. On the contrary, alopecia was a common finding.

Adolescent↗

[Excessive 7-14-sec positive spikes during REM sleep in monozygotic non-epileptic twins with speech retardation (author's transl)].

6-14/sec positive spikes (PS) (in our cases 7-14) were observed during 6 all-night sleep, recordings in one pair of monozygotic twins (aged 7 years), who had severe speech retardation, no epilepsy and were otherwise normal (CAT were normal). The EEG during wakefulness and sleep showed multifocal independent spikes over the left mid-temporal and right parieto-occipital area. The 7-14 PS, which were similar in both twins, occurred slightly during light sleep, were absent during slow sleep and were most prominent during REM sleep (mean=6.3 sec of PS bursts/min of REM). During REM sleep, the 7-14 PS bursts were negatively related to bursts of eye movements; PS were 7 times more frequent in the intervals between than during bursts of eye movements. In addition, long bursts of PS (up to 6 sec) might interupt the bursts of eye movements suggesting a functional antagonism between mechanisms (still unclear) responsible for PS and for REM. The predominance of PS during REM sleep and the inverse relationship with eye movements are not peculiar to our case, since similar findings have been reported in other cases (TSUZUKI 1967; OKUMA et al. 1968). During the sleep stages when Ps occurred spontaneously, PS could also be evoked by a click or a tone, with a latency of 1, 5-2 sec.

Auditory Perception↗

Adrenocortical carcinoma: experience in 45 patients.

Forty-five patients with adrenocortical carcinoma (13 nonfunctioning and 32 functioning carcinomas) were retrospectively studied. Five-year survival rate was 29% overall; for patients at stage I-II (n = 15) it was 70%, and for patients at stage III-IV (n = 30) it was 12%. In patients given mitotane + chemotherapy survival rate was similar to that observed in patients given chemotherapy alone, and significantly longer than in patients given mitotane alone (p < 0.05). There were no differences in disease-free interval and survival between adjuvant mitotane and no treatment. Optimization of therapeutic protocols in addition to early recognition may improve prognostic aspects of this type of malignancy for which treatment outcome is still unsatisfactory.

Adolescent↗

Neoadjuvant moderately high-dose chemotherapy with rh-G-CSF in locally advanced breast carcinoma.

UNLABELLED: The poor results of local treatment for locally advanced breast carcinoma (LABC) justify the use of chemotherapy as primary treatment. Retrospective studies have shown a positive correlation between dose and response rate in advanced breast cancer. G-CSF has shown efficacy in achieving optimal dose intensity and ameliorating chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression. The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of a moderately high-dose chemotherapy regimen in terms of response rate, disease-free and overall survival and to assess the role of G-CSF in induced neutropenia. METHODS: Inclusion criteria were the following: age <65 years, WHO performance status <2, histologically proven breast carcinoma, adequate hematologic, renal and hepatic function, stage IIIA or IIIB disease, and no metastatic disease. No prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy was allowed. Three cycles of the following chemotherapy were used preoperatively: epirubicin (100 mg/m2 on day 1), cyclophosphamide (400 mg/m2 for 3 consecutive days) and rh-G-CSF (5 microg/kg/die from day 4 to day 12 every 14 days). After mastectomy or quadrantectomy plus radiotherapy, all patients were treated with 4 courses of adjuvant chemotherapy according to the CMF 1-8 schedule (methotrexate, 40 mg/m2 cyclophosphamide, 600 mg/m2; fluorouracil, 600 mg/m2; all on days 1 and 8, with recycle every 4 weeks). RESULTS: From May 1992 to June 1996, 57 patients with histologically proven LABC were preoperatively treated. Forty-four patients were premenopausal and 13 postmenopausal; the median age was 45 years (range, 29-64). Thirty-five patients had stage IIIA and 22 patients stage IIIB disease (7 with inflammatory disease). Forty-seven patients underwent radical mastectomy and 10 conservative surgery. A clinical response was noted in 93% (95% confidence interval, 83-98%) of patients (12% complete responses and 81% partial responses); 2 pathological complete remissions (3.5%) were obtained. No toxic deaths were observed. All patients had a follow-up of at least 42 months. The overall 5-year survival rate was 76% (standard error--SE), 6%) and the 5-year disease-free survival rate was 68% (SE, 6.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The 14-day regimen was well tolerated and effective in LABC patients, although not superior to standard-dose chemotherapy. To improve results the use of new drugs in controlled clinical trials seems warranted.

Adult↗

Prognostic value of somatosensory evoked potentials in stroke.

Median and tibial somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were performed on 12 patients at three and twelve weeks after a first acute stroke, the relationship with motor and functional outcome as measured by British Medical Scale and Barthel Index was searched. Results indicated that the amplitude abnormalities of cortical potentials performed about three weeks after stroke are a good indicator of a poor motor and functional impairment after three months. Moreover changes in amplitude appeared more frequent and permanent than the latency abnormalities.

Aged↗

Evoked potential study and radiological findings in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

We performed clinical, radiological (MRI) and neurophysiological (NCV, SEPs, and BAEPs) investigations in 36 unselected patients affected by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Fifteen patients (42%) presented clear neurological events and were considered as definite neuropsychiatric lupus (NPLE); 21 (58%) presented minor subjective complaints or no neurological problems referable to SLE and were considered as no-NPLE. Twenty-three patients (64%) showed neurophysiological abnormalities: 21 (58%) presented central abnormal neurophysiological measurements (including SEP and BAEP values), while 17 (47%) has slowed peripheral nerve conduction. Twenty-six out of 36 patients executed brain MRI examination. High intensity spots (HIS) in deep or subcortical white matter were the most common abnormalities and were present in 19 of the 26 patients (73%). We found that the incidence of neurophysiological and radiological abnormalities did not significantly differ in neurologically symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Central nervous system impairment evidenced by abnormal N13-20 interpeak intervals (p = 0.05) and HIS (p = 0.01) findings was significantly associated with the presence of cutaneous vasculitis; while peripheral nerve involvement was significantly more frequent in patients with renal failure (p = 0.006).

Acute Kidney Injury↗

[Epilepsy and pregnancy: preliminary studies].

The study concerns 17 clinical cases of epilepsy during the progress of 32 pregnancies. It is reported the frequency variations of epileptic fits, the eventual pharmacological adjustments and also some parameters of influence on the newborn. The result are briefly argued.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗