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Biomedical subjects

P Pinelli

Publications and source records attributed to P Pinelli.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Motor reactivity, pain threshold and effects of sleep deprivation in unipolar depressives.

The authors studied the motor reactivity by means of serial choice reaction, electromyography of simple reactions, and defense reflexes in normal and in depressed patients. Significant differences were observed between normal and depressed patients, especially in those with retardation. The 'retarded' depressives exhibited higher pain threshold values, a lower number of motor reactions, and more prolonged reaction times. 2 normal and 4 depressed patients were submitted to the same tests after 1 night's total sleep deprivation. In normals negative effects were found in the levels of vigilance and endurance. In depressed patients, at variance with normals, the number of motor reactions increased, the reaction time decreased, and the rate of basal motor innervation improved, tending to normalization. On the contrary, pain threshold underwent the same type of changes as in controls. Sleep deprivation seemed to specifically reduce retardation phenomena in depressives, thus strongly improving motor reactivity.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Myasthenia due to carnitine treatment.

Severe weakness of lower cranial and girdle muscles has been found in 4 subjects among 20 dialysis patients treated with carnitine in order to correct their high plasma triglyceride level. Neurophysiological investigation showed an impairment of neuromuscular transmission with short-term reduction of evoked muscle responses to repetitive stimulation and the presence of "post-activation exhaustion phenomenon" 3 min after the train. Both the weakness and the neurophysiological findings were less pronounced after edrophonium. These findings suggest a hemicholinium activity of carnitine at synaptic level.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Amitriptyline, nortriptyline plasma levels and clinical response in women with affective disorders.

The relationship between the plasma levels of amitriptyline and its metabolite nortriptyline, as well as their side-effects and clinical response, were studied in 102 depressed female in-patients, treated with different dosages of amitriptyline. For 50 and 100 mg dosages, significant positive correlations were found between amitriptyline concentration and the Hamilton amelioration scores, as well as between Hamilton final values and side effects. For depressive neurosis and involutional melancholia best therapeutic responses were yielded at a dosage of 50 mg, while in the treatment of manic-depressive illness, comparable results occurred at a 150 mg dosage. In the depressive neurosis and in the involutional melancholia the upper plasma concentration limits for the therapeutic effect of nortriptyline were identified. The lower plasma concentration limits of amitriptyline and nortriptyline in the treatment of manic-depressive illness were also pointed out.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1980

A critical appraisal of neuromuscular stimulation and electrotherapy in neurorehabilitation.

The problems of neuromuscular electrostimulation in patients affected by central or peripheral nervous system chronic lesions have been analysed during an interdisciplinary meeting held in Pavia on Dec. 9, 1978 and evolved to the discussion of two previous workshops concerning the same topic. The effective value of functional electrical stimulation, especially for the lower limbs, seems to be proved in some patients with upper motor neuron lesions. However, a clear definition of patient selection criteria has not been given yet, while a comparison with the results with vibratory techniques is still be carried out. With regard to the so-called electrotherapy of denervated muscles. it has been stressed that the trophic state can also be promoted by vibratory mechanical stimulation while the electrical stimulation could partly reduce the diffuse type of membrane excitability present in the devervated muscle fibres; this effect might interfere negatively with the process of collateral nerve sprouting.

Electric Stimulation Therapy↗
PubMed1980

Palmoplantar keratoderma and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

A close association was noted between palmoplantar keratoderma (PPK) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) in nine members of a family in five generations. Clinical, genealogic, electroneurophysiologic, chromosome, urinary amino acid, and histopathologic studies were performed to define the two entities. Charco-Marie-Tooth disease occurred with advancing age in all of the members with PPK, but in none without PPK. Palmoplantar keratoderma and CMT appear to be genetically associated and transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of an association between PPK and CMT.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Intrathecal IgG synthesis in multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases: a comparative evaluation by IgG-index and isoelectric focusing.

Intrathecal IgG synthesis has been investigated by determining the IgG index and by isoelectric focusing in 30 cases of definite multiple sclerosis, in 15 cases of probable multiple sclerosis and in 128 patients affected by other neurological diseases. The blood-brain barrier function was evaluated at the same time by serum albumin/CSF albumin quotient and isoelectric focusing. The IgG index was found elevated in 73.3% of definite multiple sclerosis patients, while oligoclonal IgG bands occurred in 90%. In the other neurological diseases the IgG index was abnormally increased in 35.1% but IgG bands were present only in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 1.5% and both in the CSF and serum in 7% of patients. The high capacity of isoelectric focusing to detect IgG oligoclonal bands in the CSF is pointed out as an extremely useful diagnostic tool in multiple sclerosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Subclinical myopathic findings in patients affected by malignant tumours. An autopsy study.

Histoenzymologic studies on representative muscles and the peripheral microcirculation from selected autopsies of non cachectic patients dying of neoplasms, without signs of neuromuscular involvement, demonstrate a high incidence of neuromuscular and microcirculatory changes. A correlation between neuromuscular changes and the peripheral microcirculation particularly evident in myopathic cases is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

[Neurophysiology of hypnosis. The suggestive process and contributions of the learned control of brain waves].

The contribution that neurophysiological examination, subordinate to psychodynamic analysis, can bring to the investigation of facts and results in the therapeutic application of hypnosis is discussed. Phenomena with a suggestive background are analysed, particularly those of ideomotor transformation with reference to prereflective though (Polanyi & Dyer). A special case is represented by phobic-obsessive disturbances. Here analysis of the process of ideative reinforcement must take account of the untranslatability of certain linguistico-syntactic connotations at this level. The part played by sensorimotor EEG biofeedback training in practical therapeutics is also examined.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1975

Myasthenic decrement and myasthenic myopathy. A study on the effects of thymectomy.

Motor unit action potentials, M responses to repetitive nerve stimulation, and anticholinesterase tests were investigated in 12 myasthenic patients before and after thymectomy. In six of them the endarterial acetylcholine test was also carried out. Responsiveness to ACTH or to prednisone treatment was evaluated before and after thymectomy. The typical myasthenic presynaptic disorders were improved by thymectomy, while signs of myasthenic myopathy (according to Rowland's definition) were apparently increased. This process of 'functional myopathophanerosis' is discussed and explained in terms of a previous presynaptic disorder blocking the voluntary recruitment threshold of those motor units which are most affected at both presynaptic and postsynaptic level.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1975

A case of late onset lipid storage myopathy. Electromyographic, histochemical and ultrastructural findings.

A 65-year-old woman showed the clinical picture of a myogenic myopathy, confirmed electromyographically. Detailed histopathological, histochemical and ultrastructural studies were performed on deltoid and quadriceps femoris biopsy specimens. Many muscle fibres were found to contain vacuolar spaces with lipid droplets: perivascular inflammatory changes were also observed. The affected fibres were consistently type I. Under the electron microscope the fibres contained large numbers of lipid droplets, usually next to normal mitochondria. A slight improvement occurred after prednisone therapy.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

[Contributions of histochemistry to the development of electromyography: pathological genesis of the subunit and heterogeneity of recruitment of the motor units].

Histochemical homogeneity of the motor unit and depletion of muscle unit glycogen by motoneurone repetitive-stimulation (Kugelberg and Edström) have offered the most suitable way of investigating how the fibres of the individual motor unit are distributed in skeletal muscles of animals. Revised analysis of the potential field of motor units action potentials in human beings (Buchthal and Rosenfalk) confirms that the fibres of a motor unit in normal human muscle lie solitary. Therefore the concept of the motor subunit in normal human muscle has been abandoned, while bundles of fibres belonging to the same motor unit are now known to occur only by reinnervation. Because of these findings, single fibre electromyography, as developed since 1963 by Ekstedt and Stalberg, appears as a main method to investigate the properties of different muscle fibres within the muscle unit. With regard to the heterogeneity of fibres and motor units, one must consider that statistical analysis of motor units and single fibre electrophysiological parameters have never shown any evidence of bi-or pluri-modal distribution in the histograms of duration and amplitude values. Consistent differences however have been found in the patterns of recruitment frequency of at least two types of motor units (Grimby and Kugelberg). It is suggested that these differences may represent the primary fact by which the structural, histochemical and other functional properties may be affected and maintained. The typization of muscle fibres should be conceived as the effect of a plastic process (in accordance with the continuous range of values) rather than a static one (in the absence of bimodal distribution).

Electromyography↗