Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Paoletti.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
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The effects of home environment characteristics were evaluated in a multistage, stratified, cluster sample (N = 3,866) of the general population who lived in the district of Pisa (middle Italy). Each subject completed a standardized interviewer-administered questionnaire that contained questions about respiratory symptoms/diseases and risk factors (e.g., type of heating, fuels used for cooking and heating). Cough and asthma were significantly more frequent in men who did not smoke and who did not use natural gas for cooking and heating. Attacks of shortness of breath accompanied by wheeze, dyspnea, and cardiovascular conditions in female nonsmokers were associated with use of a stove or forced-air circulation for heating; the type of fuel used did not affect this result. Multiple logistic models, which accounted for independent effects of age, smoking status, pack-years, childhood respiratory illness, education, zone of residence, and work exposure to dusts, chemicals, or fumes, showed significantly increased odds ratios for (a) cough and phlegm in males (associated with bottled gas for cooking), (b) wheeze and shortness of breath with wheeze in females (associated with the use of a stove or forced-air circulation). These results, which confirm our previous observations in an unpolluted rural area of north Italy, indicate that characteristics of the home environment, as assessed by questionnaire, may be linked to mild adverse health effects, i.e., respiratory symptoms, in the general population. The results also identify the need to better characterize the dose-response relationship in indoor air pollution monitoring studies that include subsamples of this population.
The principal aim of this study was to evaluate, on biochemical grounds, whether injection of a low-osmolar nonionic contrast medium (iohexol) can induce a prothrombotic state and/or a change in fibrinolysis. Fifteen patients were submitted to urographic examination and the assays listed below were performed: before the injection (T0), 1 h after (T1), and 24 h after (T24) the injection of the contrast medium. The following assays were performed: fibrinopeptide A (FPA), prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2), thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT) and D dimer (D-D). The assays were carried out on 6 of the patients to whom a saline infusion was administered. Only a mild statistically significant increase was found in FPA levels at 1 h after injection of the contrast medium (mean and CI 95%: T0 4.4, 3.7-5.5; T1 6.0, 4.9-9.1; p = 0.003). F1+2, TAT and D-D did not show any significant change after the injection. These findings show that after injection of iohexol, only a mild, though statistically significant, increase in FPA levels was observed as an expression of increased thrombin activity. In the absence of any significant increases in TAT, F 1+2 and D-D, we have no evidence of a prethrombotic state.
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Twenty-one malignant cerebral tumors treated with chemotherapy after operation or clinical diagnosis were studied. The brains were cut in coronal slices that were embedded in paraffin. The histological picture of the whole tumor and of the adjacent normal tissue was carefully investigated, and it was compared with the histological features noted on biopsy. The general characteristics of glioblastoma, including wide central necrosis, were present in all of the cases. No specific alterations referable to chemotherapy were found. The increase of monstrous cells and the decrease of mitoses, although observable in some areas, were not of general importance. There was a statistical relationship between the occurrence of reactive astrocytes with bizarre nuclei and repeated chemotherapy or length of time after radiotherapy.
Water retention and hyponatraemia are typically observed in the final stages of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and the onset of edema is a poor prognostic factor. For several years the pathogenesis of edema in COPD patients was attributed to heart impairment because of pulmonary hypertension, but the evidence that cardiac output is often adequate for the metabolic demands has suggested, since 1960, that the pathogenesis of edema in these patients would be correlated with gas exchange impairment and in particular with carbon dioxide (CO2) retention. The gas exchange impairment induces, in these patients several hormonal abnormalities: renin (Rn), angiotensin II (AnII), aldosterone (Ald), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), vasopressin (ADH) and endothelial factors are some of the factors involved. The systemic response to hypercapnia has the effect of reducing the renal blood flow and, as a result, increasing water and sodium retention with the final effect of edema and hyponatraemia. The aim of this brief review is to highlight the current knowledge on renal/hormonal abnormalities in COPD and their therapeutic implications.
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Authors review several methods for diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii on BAL fluid in AIDS patients aiming to identify ideal routine technic. Giemsa, Gomori and Toluidine Blue staining. Direct and Indirect Immunofluorescence. Immunocytochemical methods were tested and advantages/disadvantages compared on BAL fluid from AIDS patients. Pneumocystis carinii was detected in 7 out 21 cases (33%). Gomori staining and Toluidine Blue staining were chosen for routine Pneumocystis carinii detection while IF technics are deserved as very useful in fields showing high fungal ++ contamination (inducted sputum).
Current knowledge on the multiple aspects of intracranial glioma is presented. In particular, after illustrating the most recent epidemiological data and the latest acquisitions in the biological and biochemical fields, the present status of multidisciplinary treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, and chemo-immunotherapy) of these neoplasia is described.
The rational application of chemotherapy in tumors of the central nervous system is discussed in particular the use of the new derivatives of nitrosourea: BCNU (1-3 bis-(2-cloroetil) 1-nitrosourea) and CCNU (cloroetil-cicloesil-nitrosourea). The results of therapy with antimetabolites, alkylating agents, antibiotics, and plant alcaloids, are reported as well as those obtained with radio - sensitizing substances (containing B10 or BUdR, IUdR, FUdR). The results obtained in the United States and in Japan with BCNU and CCNU are considered as well as the personal data of 43 cases treated with BCNU and 10 cases treated with CCNU (including intracranial glial tumors, spinal glial tumors and metastatic tumors of the central nervous system).
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The authors have presented the current state of surgical therapy of malignant gliomas underlining the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and stereotactic surgery, preparation for surgery, mortality, morbidity, prognostic factors, and complications. Particular attention was placed on cell kinetic studies. Of the methods used in this study we would like to recall those of flow cytometry associated with administration of BUdR and utilization of the monoclonal antibody Ki-67 associated with immunohistochemical techniques.
It has been recently observed that arachidonic acid (AA) metabolites may modulate many of the mechanisms involved in tumor growth and metastasis. In order to clarify the role played in human brain tumors, authors have determined AA metabolic profiles in 63 surgical specimen of human intracranial tumors (mostly neuroepithelial tumors and meningiomas). The five metabolites via the cyclooxygenase pathway (PGD2, PGE2, TxB2, PGF2a, 6-Keto-PGF1a) were measured by high resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after "ex vivo" metabolism of endogenous AA by tumor homogenates. The overall synthesis capacity of AA metabolites widely varied among different oncotypes, and, except in two cases of dermoid cysts, was higher than in normal brain tissue. AA metabolism seems more active in neuroepithelial tumors with the highest grade of anaplasia; some changes in the percentage of each metabolite is evident when anaplastic features changed. Thromboxane B2 was the most represented and 6-Keto-PGF1a the less abundant metabolite. Meningiomas and neuroepithelial tumors showed different relative proportion of AA metabolites which have in some cases reported to positively or negatively affect tumor growth. In histological subgroups of meningiomas AA metabolites synthesis capacity did not show any statistical difference. In the six cases of brain metastasis there is a wide range of overall synthesis capacity, with predominant synthesis of thromboxane B2 and prostaglandin E2, while the percentage of prostaglandin D2, reported as antimetastatic, is very low.