Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

O Giampietro

Publications and source records attributed to O Giampietro.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme in diabetes mellitus: a negative report.

Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) was measured by a direct photometric method in 78 normotensive diabetic patients and in 34 controls. For comparison, ACE was also assayed in 24 subjects by a radiometric procedure. We found no ACE elevations in diabetics and no significant difference in mean ACE levels between diabetics and normals. Within the diabetic group, enzyme levels were not affected by duration of disease, degree of metabolic control, or presence or not of microangiopathy. Only type I subjects had mean ACE significantly (p less than 0.05) higher than type II, very likely due to their younger age. Serum ACE data from photometric and radiometric methods significantly correlated. ACE measurement seems to be of scarce significance in diabetes mellitus.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Significance and clinical usefulness of low density lipoprotein electrophoretic mobility for the evaluation of nonenzymatic glycosylation.

We evaluated low density lipoprotein (LDL) electrophoretic mobility (EM) as an index of nonenzymatic glycosylation in 88 insulin-dependent diabetic patients. Among well-controlled diabetics, 36% had increased EM and among poorly controlled patients, 63% had increased EM. This incidence difference was found to be statistically significant by the X2 test. EM can be used as a sufficiently reliable index of LDL nonenzymatic glycosylation.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Nonenzymatic glycation of human platelet membrane proteins in vitro and in vivo.

Human platelet membrane proteins (PMP), incubated in vitro in the presence of various concentrations of glucose, undergo nonenzymatic glycation, as evidenced by incorporation of [3-3H]glucose radioactivity into the acid-precipitable fraction. The time course of the reaction is linear for the first hours, and the rate of glycation depends on the glucose concentration in the medium: at a glucose concentration of 80 mmol/L, up to 60 nmol of glucose is bound per milligram of PMP. The ketoaminic nature of the glucose/protein linkages was demonstrated by the finding of 5-hydroxymethylfurfuraldehyde by liquid-chromatographic analysis of acid hydrolysates of PMP. We analyzed PMP from 13 subjects with type I poorly controlled diabetes and from 10 nondiabetics. Nonenzymatic glycation, evaluated as nanomoles of the aldehyde per milligram of protein, was much greater in diabetic patients than in nondiabetics: 1.58 +/- 0.70 vs 0.37 +/- 0.18 (mean +/- SD).

Blood Platelets↗
PubMed1985

Macro serum CK-BB in a woman with severe primary hypothyroidism.

We report the case of a woman with severe hypothyroidism and without concomitant myocardial damage, in whom elevated CK-MB values were measured by radioimmunological and enzymatic methods before and after thyroid replacement therapy. The patient's CK-MB activity was shown to be actually due to an atypical CK band between CK-MM and CK-MB (also termed "macro CK" or "idiopathic serum CK-BB").

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Human placental lactogen (hPL) deficiency in a normal pregnancy.

A case of human placental lactogen (hPL) deficiency together with normal oestriol levels associated with a normal pregnancy in a woman in her second pregnancy is reported. The woman gave birth to a healthy male infant. The placenta was normal. Extremely low hPL levels may be compatible with the delivery of a healthy infant.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Detection of hypothyroid myopathy by measurement of various serum muscle markers--myoglobin, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and their isoenzymes. Correlations with thyroid hormone levels (free and total) and clinical usefulness.

An accurate and close follow-up of serum levels of thyroid hormones and various muscle markers (myoglobin, creatine kinase and its isoenzymes CK-MB and CK-BB, lactic dehydrogenase, alpha-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase, etc.) was carried out in 10 hypothyroid patients on replacement therapy. The main muscle markers, creatine kinase and myoglobin, were elevated respectively in 9 and 6 subjects. In 1 male significant CK-MB traces were measured, while in 1 woman significant CK-BB amounts were assayed. Significant correlations between patients' thyroid hormones and the levels of the muscle parameters were found. The rate of normalization of thyroid hormones and muscle markers in relation to replacement therapy was also studied. Myoglobin and creatine kinase have proved to be the best indicators of the hypothyroid myopathy, since they are sensitive for the early detection of muscle involvement due to the metabolic disorder and are closely correlated to the metabolic conditions of patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Normoprolactinemic galactorrhea in a fertile woman with a copper intra-uterine device (copper IUD).

We report a case of galactorrhea in a normoprolactinemic fertile woman (30 years old) wearing a copper intra-uterine device (Gravigard). The Gravigard was first inserted in July 1977. In February 1979 our patient noted spontaneous galactorrhea, mainly on the left, but it was also present on the right, after breast pressure. X-ray film of the sella turcica, visual-field examination, thyroid function and basal prolactin levels were all within normal limits. In May 1979 the Gravigard was withdrawn and milk loss stopped finally in December 1979. In March 1980 the IUD was replaced; after only 3 days, mild spontaneous lactation again ensued, on the right side. The patient never took drugs which might have occasioned a prolactin rise. Possible explanations for this unusual phenomenon are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Antiproliferative properties of bromocryptine (CB-154) on human cells: a further rationale for medical management of pituitary macroadenomas.

In recent years an antimitotic effect has been observed in animal studies for bromocryptine, an ergot-alkaloid derivative. In this paper a case of severe leucopenia in a hyperprolactinaemic woman on chronic bromocryptine treatment is reported. Furthermore, results are reported of an experimental study carried out in vitro on blood lymphocytes from healthy human donors. The suggested cytostatic activity of bromocryptine was studied by evaluating the effects of progressively increasing doses (1, 5, 20 micrograms) of the drug on methyl-[3H]-thymidine incorporation by lymphocytes. A significant reduction of thymidine incorporation was observed corresponding to the increase of the bromocryptine dose which had been added to the cultures. With only 20 micrograms of bromocryptine the viability of cells was reduced by 50%. These results, which demonstrate that bromocryptine has an inhibitory action on DNA synthesis of cultured lymphocytes, suggest that it is justified to employ bromocryptine for medical therapy of large prolactinomas, in order to favour the subsequent surgical approach to these tumours.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1982

Vectocardiographic "bites" as possible early findings of cardiac involvement in diabetic patients without clinical evidence of heart disease.

We performed a standard vectorcardiogram (VCG) in 87 diabetics, aged 20-77 years, orally- or insulin-treated, and in 41 normal subjects. None had cardiac history or symptoms. Among diabetics, 31 had no vectocardiographic abnormalities, 23 had various VCG changes, 33 showed electrical "bites" of various length (6-22 msec) and voltage (0.05-0.3 mV). In 8 normal subjects (19.4%) we found "bites" of similar voltage and length as in diabetic patients. A significantly positive linear relation was found between "bites" length and diabetes duration, in insulin-dependent diabetics only. By step-wise regression analysis we detected, in all diabetic patients with "bites," at a fixed value of diabetes duration, a significantly negative relation between "bites" length and patients' age. Moreover, the insulin treated patients showed a metabolic regulation index significantly worse than orally-treated diabetics; also diabetes duration was significantly higher in insulin-treated subjects. If "bites" may reflect an early heart involvement in diabetes, insulin-dependent patients seem to have a more severe cardiac damage in dependence of the diabetes duration. Finally, in the younger diabetics the heart diseases seems to be earlier and more advanced.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Four methods for glucose assay compared for various glucose concentrations and under different clinical conditions.

Glucose was measured by the ferricyanide, the Beckman glucose oxidase, and the hexokinase procedures in 228 plasma samples taken during standard oral glucose-tolerance tests in 17 normal subjects and in 21 chemical diabetics. The neocuproine method was also used to measure glucose concentration in 156 samples (78 before and 78 after dialysis) collected from six diabetic and uremic patients who were on maintenance hemodialysis. Ferricyanide in all conditions and neocuproine in uremic patients overestimated glucose concentrations over the entire experimental range as compared with either enzymic method. This bias or systematic error of the reducing vs the enzymic procedures, due to nonglucose reducing substances ("saccharoids"), becomes considerably greater when their concentration is increased as in chronic uremia. Also, the inverse relation between glucose concentration and overestimation of glucose by the reducing methods has been detected. With respect to the hexokinase method, a mild but significant underestimate of glucose oxidase readings has been observed for higher glucose concentrations. We find neocuproine to be the most imprecise of these procedures.

Autoanalysis↗
PubMed1980

Decrease in plasma glucose concentration during storage at -20 degrees C.

We measured glucose concentrations with the Beckman Glucose Analyzer, before and after storage at -20 degrees C for various intervals, in 228 plasma samples from oral glucose tolerance tests on 17 normal subjects and 21 patients with impaired carbohydrate tolerance, and also in 82 control samples collected daily, after overnight fast, from seven insulin-dependent diabetics. We found a significantly (p < 0.001) positive relation between storage interval and percentage decrease in glucose concentration. Evidently, the longer plasma is stored, the greater the decrease in glucose.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMed1979

Plasma levels of glucose and lactate after intravenous glipizide administration in some insulin-dependent diabetics. Therapeutic effects of an associated glipizide-insulin treatment.

A study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of glipizide in insulin-dependent diabetic patients. An intravenous glipizide (2 mg) test was carried out in 7 patients before and after a period of associated insulin-glipizide treatment (mean daily dose of 80.7 i.v. lente insulin and 14.3 mg glipizide for 9.1 months) to assess the capacity of the sulphonylurea to reduce acutely the plasma glucose and lactate levels. Glipizide did not produce glucose variations in either test but did result in a significant decrease, in the first test only, in mean plasma baseline levels of lactate, which were higher than normal in these patients. There was no reduction in daily insulin requirements after the period of associated glipizide-insulin treatment. It is concluded that, in the dosage used, intravenous glipizide probably has no hypoglycaemic effects in insulin-dependent diabetics. Moreover, it did not prove useful in combination with insulin. However, the reduction in plasma lactate may be related to an acute enhancement of the exogenously administered insulin. This improvement in the insulin effect may be an acute one among the so called "extra-pancreatic" actions which have been demonstrated for glipizide and other sulphonylureas.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Unusual prolactin response to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone in some anovulatory women.

We studied PRL, FSH, and LH response to LRH in 82 anovulatory and 4 normally ovulating women. Ten anovulatory patients who were basally hyperprolactinemic showed no significant change in PRL concentration after LRH. Of the remaining 72 anovulatory patients with basal PRL levels in the normal range, 59 showed no PRL modification after LRH (as in normals) whereas in 13 patients, a prompt and significant rise of PRL concentration above basal levels in response to LRH was observed. In these 13 patients, the basal PRL levels were significantly higher than those of the other 59 normoprolactinemic women. No significant differences in gonadotropin concentrations were detected among the three groups. The unusual rise in PRL levels after LRH in these 13 patients can be interpreted as a paradoxical response of the pituitary to a specific stimulus, as seen in other clinical conditions. It is suggested that this phasic hyperprolactinemia might represent an intermediate phase between true normoprolactinemia and chronic hyperprolactinemia.

Adolescent↗