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Biomedical subjects

R Naccarato

Publications and source records attributed to R Naccarato.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Pancreolauryl test in chronic pancreatitis.

The pancreolauryl test was performed in 30 subjects with chronic pancreatitis, in order to evaluate its behavior in relation to the duration of the clinical history and the presence of pancreatic calcifications, diabetes mellitus, jaundice, and pancreatic pseudocysts. A significant inverse linear correlation was found between the onset of symptoms and FDL test values. While calcifications and diabetes were present in patients with both normal and abnormal test results, those with pseudocysts or jaundice always had pathological results.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

CA 19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen in pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

CA 19-9 (Centocor, Malvern, PA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), two recently developed immunoradiometric assays utilizing monoclonal antibodies, were evaluated in the sera of 139 subjects in order to assay their individual and combined value in pancreatic cancer diagnosis and to assess the influence of jaundice. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in detecting pancreatic cancer were 69%, 85%, and 54% for CA 19-9; and 28%, 78%, and 6% for CEA, respectively. Combined evaluation gave the highest specificity (95%) when both, and the highest sensitivity (79%) when at least one, gave pathologic results. The receiver-operating characteristic curves demonstrated that CA 19-9 is more discriminating than CEA, for any serum value. A correlation between serum bilirubin and CA 19-9 was demonstrated in pancreatic and extrapancreatic disease. CEA determination, performed using monoclonal antibodies, seems to be unsatisfactory as compared to CA 19-9 in pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and combined assessment does not improve the results of CA 19-9 alone. Jaundice may influence serum CA 19-9 in pancreatic and extrapancreatic diseases.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Is tissue polypeptide antigen more accurate than serum CEA for diagnosing pancreatic cancer?

Tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were determined in the sera of 36 control subjects, 30 patients with pancreatic cancer, 35 with chronic pancreatitis and 25 with non-pancreatic digestive disease to evaluate their role in detecting pancreatic malignancy. Abnormal values of TPA and CEA were found in 28 and 19 of 30 patients with pancreatic cancer, and in four and seven of 35 patients with chronic pancreatitis, respectively. Raised titres of TPA were observed more often than equivalent serum CEA in simulated pancreatic diseases. The receiver-operating (ROC) characteristic curves showed that TPA was more discriminating than CEA in detecting pancreatic cancer. Specificity was enhanced when both titres were abnormally high and sensitivity when one titre was raised, but the diagnostic accuracy of TPA alone has not improved, which satisfactorily discriminates pancreatic cancer from chronic pancreatitis.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Prospective evaluation of the diagnostic efficacy of CA 19-9 assay as a marker for gastrointestinal cancers.

Levels of a new carbohydrate antigen, CA 19-9, which is a monosialoganglioside identified by a monoclonal antibody raised against colorectal carcinoma cells, were compared to conventional CEA assays in 615 sera from healthy controls, patients with benign gastrointestinal disorders, and patients with cancers of gastrointestinal or extragastrointestinal origin. Whereas CEA levels were higher in smokers, CA 19-9 values were independent of the smoking history. CA 19-9 was undetectable in lymphoma and myeloma patients, but some patients with extraintestinal epithelial cancers expressed this antigen in serum. For benign and malignant gastrointestinal diseases, CA 19-9 displayed higher sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values than CEA. CA 19-9 was elevated as frequently as CEA in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, but in patients with localized disease, CA 19-9 was elevated more often than was CEA. In colorectal cancer, patients with and without metastases were detected at similar rates by both assays. It is concluded that CA 19-9 is a marker of epithelial cancers, does not vary with the smoking status, and is superior to CEA in detecting gastrointestinal malignancies, especially those arising from the pancreatic gland.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1986

Serum elastase 1 and immunoreactive trypsin in chronic pancreatic disease: is there any relationship with trypsin inhibitors?

In order to investigate modifications of serum levels of elastase 1, immunoreactive trypsin, alpha 1-antitrypsin and alpha 2-macroglobulin in chronic pancreatic disease, and to speculate on the possible relationships among these parameters, the enzymes and inhibitors were assayed in the sera of 33 control subjects, 34 pancreatic cancer, 28 chronic pancreatitis and 36 extra-pancreatic diseases. An increase of elastase 1, alpha 1-antitrypsin and alpha 2-macroglobulin was detected in pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis and extra-pancreatic diseases; no changes were found for serum immunoreactive trypsin. Multiple regression analyses showed that only 7% of elastase 1 was explained by inhibitors with alpha 1-antitrypsin playing a major role. Inhibitors did not influence immunoreactive trypsin. Our data indicate that the variations of the serum levels of proteases and antiproteases in chronic pancreatic disease are probably independent of each other.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Personality profiles of patients with duodenal ulcer.

Cluster analysis of personality profiles determined by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire separated 79 patients with duodenal ulcer into three homogeneous subgroups: 32 dependent and anxious patients, 31 neurotic and anxious patients, and 16 patients with a balanced personality. No significant differences among these three groups emerged for the variables of age, sex, duration of illness, fasting total serum pepsinogen, fasting serum pepsinogen group I, and number of cigarettes smoked per day, although there was a nonsignificant trend for both pepsinogen values to be higher in the patients with a balanced personality than in the other two groups. These results support the concept of heterogeneity of peptic ulcer disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Discriminant analysis in the clinical and biochemical diagnosis of primary liver cancer.

Discriminant analysis was used in evaluating the importance of clinical aspects and the value of routine and experimental biochemical markers in the differential diagnosis of primary liver cancer (PLC) and chronic, non-neoplastic, liver diseases. Our results show that: 1) Clinical signs, such as the presence of pain, weight loss or mass, correctly indicate the diagnosis in 76% of the cases; 2) The determination of alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes is shown by the computer to be the most useful marker and provides an overall diagnostic accuracy which is higher than that of alpha-fetoprotein. We also found that, by using these two markers together, "by intersection," the best overall accuracy (85%) is obtained. We, therefore, suggest determination of alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes and alpha-fetoprotein in screening the populations at risk for liver cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Hepatitis B vaccine: immune response in student nurses. A fifteen-month follow-up.

The authors describe a 15-month follow-up of twenty-nine nurse students vaccinated against hepatitis B with Hevac B Pasteur. At three months all subjects were anti-HBs positive, with a geometric mean titre (GMT) of 1187 mIU/ml. At the time of booster dose (T14) GMT had fallen to 380 mIU/ml; after one month (T15) GMT had risen again to 9332 mIU/ml. Such a high antibody level suggests a long lasting protection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

CA 19-9 assay in differential diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma from inflammatory pancreatic diseases.

Levels of a new carbohydrate antigen CA 19-9, which is a monosialoganglioside identified by a monoclonal antibody raised against colorectal carcinoma cells, were compared to carcinoembryonic antigen and tissue polypeptide antigen assays in 250 sera from patients with different pancreatic diseases including acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer. All three tumoral markers were elevated at the onset of an acute pancreatic attack in a few patients. All but five patients with chronic pancreatitis displayed normal levels with each of the three markers; in two of these five cases an extraintestinal cancer was later discovered. CA 19-9 displayed higher sensitivity and predictive value of a negative result than the other two markers. The best operational characteristic of CA 19-9 was its high predictive value for a positive test which suggests a "ruling in" usage of it for pancreatic cancer diagnosis. CA 19-9 assay was of extreme value in disclosing both localized and metastatic pancreatic cancer while the other two markers were more often positive in the latter case. Of 71 cancer patients with positive markers, only four would have escaped a right diagnosis by assaying CA 19-9 alone.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1986

Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in pancreatic cancer. Role of age and liver dysfunction.

In order to ascertain the clinical usefulness of CA 19-9 in detecting pancreatic cancer in comparison with CEA, and to verify the influence of age and liver dysfunction on serum levels of these two antigens, serum CA 19-9 and CEA were assessed in 32 control subjects, 32 patients with pancreatic cancer, 26 with chronic pancreatitis and 43 with gastrointestinal extra-pancreatic diseases. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of CA 19-9 and CEA in detecting pancreatic cancer were: 69% and 44%, 91% and 75%, 60% and 19% respectively. Linear correlations were observed between the age of the subjects on the one hand and CA 19-9 or CEA on the other. Significant relationships were also noticed between alanine-amino-transferase or bilirubin serum levels and CA 19-9 values. Serum CA 19-9 seems to be a better diagnostic tool than CEA in the assessment of pancreatic cancer; nevertheless the influence of liver dysfunction and age to some extent limits the diagnostic value of CA 19-9.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Serum deoxyribonuclease and ribonuclease in pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis.

Serum ribonuclease (RNase) and deoxyribonuclease (DNase) were investigated in 18 control subjects, and in 22 patients with pancreatic cancer, 13 with chronic pancreatitis and 29 with extrapancreatic diseases in order to assess their clinical usefulness in pancreatic cancer diagnosis and to evaluate whether modifications were consensual and/or age-related. Increased DNase and RNase values were found not only in a notable proportion of pancreatic cancer, but also in chronic pancreatitis and extra-pancreatic diseases. Thus the clinical value of both enzymes in pancreatic cancer diagnosis is negligible. DNase does not seem to be strictly age-dependent, whereas serum RNase does. Elevated levels of the two enzymes, when present, were consensual, suggesting that factors involved in such an increase were partially common to both.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Serum elastase 1 in chronic pancreatic disease.

Elastase 1 and immunoreactive trypsin were assessed by a RIA technique in the sera of 29 control subjects, 24 pancreatic cancer patients, 22 patients with chronic pancreatitis and 31 with extra-pancreatic diseases to ascertain and compare their usefulness in chronic pancreatic disease diagnosis. Increased levels of elastase 1 were detected in 60.9% of pancreatic cancer and in 61.1% of chronic pancreatitis patients; low values were found in only two subjects with pancreatic disease. A close correlation between the two enzymes was found in patients suffering from pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis. These data suggest that serum elastase 1, as well as immunoreactive trypsin, is of limited value in chronic pancreatic disease diagnosis; increased levels of the two enzymes always occur simultaneously; low immunoreactive trypsin values together with normal elastase 1 serum levels are detectable in a number of patients with chronic pancreatitis and severe exocrine insufficiency.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Nuclear membrane-staining antinuclear antibody in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

An antinuclear antibody specific for nuclear membrane (ANMA) was observed by the immunofluorescence method in sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). ANMA was present in 18 of 63 PBC sera (28.5) and in 1 of 431 control sera (0.2%). Its reaction appeared as a thin fluorescent ring confined to the nuclear envelope and was more evident when the sera were highly diluted and the fluorescence, due to frequently associated antimitochondrial antibody, faded. The ANMA fluorescent pattern was confirmed by indirect immunoperoxidase staining. ANMA was seen on both tissue cryostat sections and HEp-2 cells. It was a poorly or non-complement-fixing IgG, specific for an antigen resistant to DNase I, RNase, and trypsin. The significance of its presence in PBC in unknown at present. Identification of its antigen with one of the centromeric antigens is suggested.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

CA 19-9 in the differential diagnosis between pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis.

CA 19-9 serum concentration was determined by a immunoradiometric technique in 130 subjects to evaluate its role in differentiating pancreatic cancer from chronic pancreatitis. Two threshold values were chosen, 17 and 37 U/ml. With the former, sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy were 86.7, 62.3 and 49.0 respectively, with the latter 73.3, 87.0 and 60.3%. The receiver-operating characteristic curves demonstrated a satisfactory discriminating capacity of CA 19-9 as regards pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis; in contrast, the discrimination was poor for other gastrointestinal diseases, mainly of a malignant nature.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Copper, zinc and copper/zinc ratio in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

Serum copper and zinc levels and their ratio were evaluated in 48 control subjects, 29 patients with pancreatic cancer, 46 with chronic pancreatitis and 32 with extra-pancreatic diseases, with the purpose of ascertaining modifications in chronic pancreatic disease. Hepatic involvement and age were also investigated as possible factors influencing results. Cu/Zn ratio was found to be significantly increased in pancreatic cancer (2.66 +/- 0.16, mean +/- SE) as compared to controls (1.39 +/- 0.06, p less than 0.001), chronic pancreatitis (1.82 +/- 0.09. p less than 0.001) and extra-pancreatic diseases (1.81 +/- 0.18, p less than 0.001), but without practical clinical value. Serum zinc levels appear to decrease with age, while copper and Cu/Zn ratio increase. However, covariance analysis demonstrated that age does not play an important role in influencing copper and Cu/Zn ratio. A decreased liver synthetic function, at least in part age-related, seems to be an additional factor in decreasing serum zinc values.

Adult↗