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Biomedical subjects

R Cerbo

Publications and source records attributed to R Cerbo.

66 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Epidemiological monitoring of psychological, neurological and sensory handicaps in the 0-24-year-old Abruzzo population (Italy). Preliminary results].

OBJECTIVE: To describe the setting up of the Abruzzo Region (Italy) Service for Prevention and Epidemiological Register of Handicaps, to show prevalence data of occurring diseases and fit regression models aimed at explicating disease occurrence in terms of risk factors; to discuss services access data in terms of their efficacy in fitting social and health needs. SETTING AND DESIGN: We managed data obtained from a regional information system, based upon primary information sources operating in the Local Health Agencies (i.e. school medicine services, general practitioners, paediatricians, familiar counseling services, rehabilitation centers) and specialistic structures for diagnostic detection (multidisciplinary school équipes, hospital division of infant neuropsychiatry, outpatient infant neuropsychiatry services). The data managing model is a population-based epidemiological register. The target population is the 0-24 years population of the Abruzzo Region. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Occurrence data are expressed as prevalence rates, using standardisation according to the global population of the area of interest. Diagnoses have been defined according to the standard ICD-9 and ICD-10 criteria; definition of handicaps has been made according to the WHO classification (1981). Association between indicator (socio-demographic and anamnestic) variables and occurrence of disease has been fitted by logistic regression models. RESULTS: Prevalence estimates obtained for the main infant neuropsychiatric diseases, as well as for the main handicap-determining genetic and/or congenital diseases, are consistent with the findings of literature in similar settings. An exception is the high occurrence of hyperkinetic disorders in both sexes. Rehabilitation is the main health need for all diagnostic axes. With respect to social needs, school and home personal care seem to be scarcely relevant if related to disease prevalence. Logistic regression analysis indicates socio-economic status and presence of handicapped relatives in the family as factors associated with the occurrence of disease. Respectively, the two factors are negatively associated with the occurrence of hyperkinetic disorders and positively associated with occurrence of mental retardation. Moreover, living in a natural family is negatively associated with evolutive disorders. CONCLUSIONS: This is a report about the preliminary results obtained by a specialised register for infant psychological and neurological handicaps. The findings suggest, as operating indications, the standardisation of diagnostic procedures and the definition of common managing guidelines in different areas. Anyhow, the findings of this report highlight the importance of an epidemiological knowledge of handicap in order to design correct prevention strategies and health services planning.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Impact of the International Headache Society criteria on the use of neuroimaging for headache diagnosis in a headache clinic.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the introduction of the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria on the use of neuroimaging for headache diagnosis in a specialist outpatient center. BACKGROUND: The general indications for neuroimaging in headache are a matter of debate. International Headache Society criteria should improve diagnostic accuracy, consequently reducing the use of expensive diagnostic procedures such as brain CT or MRI scan. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of all 2739 new patients seen in our center from 1984 to 1996, analyzing the records of those patients who underwent neuroimaging before or after the introduction of the IHS criteria in 1988. RESULTS: There were no differences in the number of CT scans ordered in the period before (6.04%) or after (6.06%) the introduction of the IHS criteria. Only 12 scans revealed significant abnormalities, probably unrelated to headache. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the yield of CT scanning patients seen in a headache clinic is very low, even when alarm signs are present notwithstanding strict adherence to dignostic criteria. An improved definition of secondary forms of headache might help to reduce this adjunctive cost to the care of patients with headache in a headache clinic.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
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Empty sella and headache.

Empty sella is an anatomical condition caused by herniation of the subarachnoid space into the pituitary fossa through an incompetent sellar diaphragm. Headache seems to be one of the most frequently reported symptoms. We studied 13 headache patients (12 females, 1 male) presenting with primary empty sella (PES) on CT scan. The characteristics of the headache were analyzed and plasma levels of pituitary hormones or cortisol assessed. We confirmed the nonspecific nature of the headache in PES even though the majority of our patients complained of daily headache, mostly localized anteriorly. Hormone plasma levels were within normal range in all the patients assessed. However, four patients reported earlier endocrine disorders and more than half of the patients presented with obesity. In our opinion, PES should be suspected in middle-aged overweight women with daily headache even in the absence of endocrine symptomatology.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Migraine and other clinical syndromes in children affected by EEG occipital spike-wave complexes.

Twenty EEG recordings obtained in children showed temporo-parieto occipital or temporo-occipital spikes or spike-wave complexes suppressed by eye-opening. Patients showed different neurological syndromes: classic migraine, vertebrobasilar migraine, visual phenomena, epilepsy, psychomotor retardation. Thirteen subjects were affected by epileptic seizures, which were preceded by visual phenomena in 12 cases. In 6 cases, a combination of classic migraine, visual phenomena and seizures was found. In one case of vertebrobasilar migraine, seizures occurred 5 years after the first episode of migraine. Follow-up data indicate a non-benign evolution of occipital epilepsy: partial or generalized seizures persisted in 13 treated cases. Moreover, the EEG finding of occipital spike-wave complexes seems to extend to different neurological syndromes.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Double-blind clinical study: flunarizine versus pizotifen in a single nightly dose in hemicrania patients].

In this double-blind clinical trial we compared the prophylactic efficacy of the calcium-entry blocker flunarizine (15 mg nocte) with that of pizotifen (1,5 mg nocte). In 30 patients affected by classical and common migraine. During a two months treatment both drugs showed a good efficacy. Flunarizine tended to more markedly suppress severity of pain and duration of attacks than pizotifen. Daytime drowsiness and weight gain occurred with both drugs; the first side effect was more evident in the group treated with flunarizine, the second one in the group treated with pizotifen.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Double-blind study of the effects of amitriptyline and of a combination of amitriptyline and lithium on patients with chronic primary headache].

The Authors report their experience in a "double-blind" study in patients affected by chronic primitive headache. 30 patients have been examined: the first one were prescribed amitriptyline, the other one amitriptyline plus lithium association for 30 days. The study pointed out treatments have been effective in reducing frequency, duration and intensity of headache, even though the amitriptyline is more effective in the prophylaxis of chronic headache, whilst amitriptyline plus lithium association seems to be more effective in subacute headache.

Amitriptyline↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Double-blind study of tiapride and placebo in patients with subcontinuous essential headache].

25 patients with subcontinual primary headache were treated with Tiapride an Placebo in a controlled double-blind study. The duration of trial was 13 weeks. Blood samples were taken to value PRL in 10 patients and in 10 normal subjects. During the pharmacological trial no side-effects appeared. Authors refer results elaborated through statistical examinations. Tiapride is useful to reduce the frequency of the attacks (in 65% of the patients) with percentage of improvement statistically significant in comparison with placebo. Headache index appears influenced although in non statistically significant way.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Apnostresstherapy and psychosomatic pathology.

The authors, after having underlined history and peculiarities of the Apnostresstherapy, set out a range of 80 cases treated of infantile psychosomatic pathology. They describe diagnostic criteria with relative diagnosis of 80 cases, indications and modalities of the treatment. Clinical results, statistically evaluated, are reported, at first on the whole group and, then, in a differential way, in a group that have carried out the treatment for 3-6 months and in another group to whom the treatment length is been of 6-12 months.

Adolescent↗