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Biomedical subjects

R Miniero

Publications and source records attributed to R Miniero.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Etoposide-containing regimens with autologous bone marrow transplantation in children with malignant brain tumors.

Despite improvements in neurosurgical and neuroradiotherapeutic techniques, children with malignant brain tumors have a dismal prognosis. In an attempt to improve the efficacy of cytotoxic therapy, dose intensification of effective chemotherapeutic agents followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has been tried. Between May 1991 and August 1996, high-dose chemotherapy and autologous BMT were administered to 11 children with malignant brain tumors: 10 had recurrent (n = 8) or progressive (n = 2) disease, and 1 was treated before progression. The histological diagnoses were medulloblastoma (3), glioblastoma multiforme (2), supratentorial PNET (2), ependymoma (2), anaplastic astrocytoma (1), and anaplastic oligodendroglioma (1). In 6 of the 11 patients measurable disease was present at the time of BMT. The preparative regimen included BCNU 600 mg/m2 and VP16 1500 mg/m2 in 5 cases, and thiotepa 900 mg/m2 and VP16 1500 mg/m2 in 6 cases. The median times to achieve a neutrophil count over 0.5 x 10(9)/l and a platelet count over 50 x 10(9)/l were 14 and 28 days, respectively. The overall incidence of severe toxicity (grade III-IV) was 18% and consisted of oropharyngeal mucositis and diarrhea. Among the 6 patients with measurable disease at the time of BMT there were 2 with stable disease, whereas 4 patients had tumor progression: all these patients died of tumor recurrence 2-10 months after BMT. Five patients in whom there was no evidence of disease at the time of BMT are alive and free of progression with a median follow-up of 20 months (range 3-67). These preliminary results show that high-dose chemotherapy and BMT may be effective in children with malignant brain tumors. Etoposide-containing regimens seem to have significant activity in this setting, and the toxicity was manageable. The most important variable prognostic for progression-free survival is the disease status at the time of transplantation.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An overview of TCDD half-life in mammals and its correlation to body weight.

Major determinants of TCDD half-life in organisms are lipophilicity, metabolism, and hepatic binding sites. In addition, half-life seems to be empirically correlated to organism body weight. In this paper, this correlation is evaluated by a regression analysis of half-life measures and body weight data selected from the literature. Single exposure studies on laboratory mammals and human half-life data were specifically taken in consideration. The analysis outcome appears to be highly significant probably owing to the stability and generally slow metabolism of the substance in the organisms considered. The effect on half-life of factors other than body weight does not seem to influence significantly data dispersion around the regression line. The potential effects of a dose-dependent excretion cannot be excluded as toxicokinetic studies have been usually carried out at high exposure doses.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a girl treated for osteosarcoma.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was diagnosed in a 13-year-old girl who had been treated previously for osteosarcoma of the left distal femur (23 months after her first cancer onset and 12 months after the end of treatment). The patient started chemotherapy for ALL and achieved complete remission; she is in continuous complete remission 5 years after the diagnosis of secondary ALL and 7 years after the onset of osteosarcoma.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Severe Shwachman-Diamond syndrome and invasive parvovirus B19 infection.

Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is the causative agent of infectious erythema. In healthy children the virus causes transient erythroid aplasia, whereas in children with chronic hemolytic anemias it can cause severe aplastic crises, and in immunodeficient individuals it can produce chronic red cell aplasia. If contracted during pregnancy, the infection may induce serious damage to the fetus (abortion or hydrops fetalis). Shwachman-Diamond (S-D) syndrome, a rare autosomal recessive condition, consists of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency plus neutropenia; many patients develop either anemia or thrombocytopenia or both. We describe a newborn baby with severe congenital bone marrow failure who was diagnosed with S-D syndrome and persistence of PVB19 virus contracted by the mother in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Bone Marrow Diseases↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cryptococcal meningitis following a thrombotic microangiopathy in an unrelated donor bone marrow transplant recipient.

In patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation cryptococcosis is rarely encountered. We report a fatal case of Cryptococcus meningitis in a 12-year-old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in second remission who had a transplant from a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-identical unrelated bone marrow donor. The conditioning regimen was thiotepa, cyclophosphamide, and total body irradiation (TBI); graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis consisted of cyclosporin A, methotrexate, and antilymphocyte globulin (ALG). The patient experienced stage III GVHD responsive to high-dose corticosteroids. On day +54 a thrombotic microangiopathy occurred. On day +64 neurological status worsened; a brain computed tomographic (CT) scan showed hyperdense lesions suggesting fungal infection. Detection of cryptococcal antigen by latex agglutination was positive but India ink stain and culture were negative. Despite treatment with amphotericin B, 5-flucytosine, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, the patient died 13 days after the diagnosis.

Bone Marrow Transplantation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Vitamin E: physiology and pathology].

The purpose of this report is to present an overview on vitamin E distribution, requirements, absorption and biochemical and nutritional aspects. A continuous interest in biochemical functions is recently developed and vitamin E certainly plays an important role throughout the body. The best known of its effects and still actively considered in recent years is the role as an important biological antioxidant. The red blood cell is an ideal model for studying the antioxidant role of vitamin E in cell membranes. Nutritional deprivation is a rare occurrence in developed countries. In prematurely delivered newborns the deficiency is due to marginal stores and to transient malabsorption but it can also be iatrogenic. In infants and adults vitamin E deficiency does occur in syndromes characterized by increased consumption or reduced absorption. Various gastrointestinal disorders induce, with steatorrhoea, marked alteration of vitamin E levels. Cystic fibrosis (CF), the commonest cause of pancreatic insufficiency during the first decades of life, is of particular interest. The fat malabsorption, often severe, may not well respond to pancreatic therapy and the hepatobiliary disease, increased in frequency with improved survival, induce a further reduction in intestinal bile salt concentration. Several manifestations have been attributed to vitamin E deficiency in CF and, although overt neurological complications seem to be relatively uncommon, it is recommended to maintain an adequate supplementation.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Bone marrow aplasia].

Aplastic anaemia is a haematological syndrome in which pancytopenia is due to a depletion, damage of inhibition of hemopoietic stem cells. The pathogenetic factors are still unclear: damage or inhibition of hemopoietic stem cells may be direct or indirect mediated through changes in the cellular humoral environment; evidence is accumulating that in some cases these processes are of autoimmune nature. The prognostic evaluation is based on hematological parameters at diagnosis: severe aplastic anemia (SAA) is defined by the following criteria: neutrophils less than 0.5 X 10(9)/l; reticulocytes less than 0.5 X 10(9)/l and platelets less than 20 X 10(9)/l. Survival rates in children with SAA are poor; the probability of survival at 1 year from diagnosis being 10%. In this form treatment is based on supportive therapy (transfusion and prevention of infections) and on a specific therapy: immunosuppression and/or BMT. BMT is reserved to patient with an HLA identical sibling donor and may be curative in 70-80% of cases. To date the use of antilymphocytoglobulin in SAA has also given satisfactory results with a favorable response in 50-60% of cases.

Anemia, Aplastic↗