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Biomedical subjects

S Bernasconi

Publications and source records attributed to S Bernasconi.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Effects of human growth hormone on blood polyamines in hypopituitarism.

Blood levels of polyamines were evaluated in hypopituitary patients after i.m. injection of human growth hormone (hGH). After hGH administration polyamine concentration increased significantly in the first 60 minutes. The concentration of spermidine and spermine increases more in patients previously untreated or treated intermittently with hGH than in patients under continuous treatment. The results suggest that in human as well as in experimental models, polyamines could be involved in the growth process and that hGH probably stimulates polyamine synthesis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

[Mental retardation and sexual development in chromosomal syndrome (author's transl)].

Mental retardation and natural sexual development appear to be a more consistent feature in the autosomal rather than in the sex chromosome anomalies. On the contrary the anatomical and functional sexual disfunction characterize the sex chromosome syndromes. An early diagnosis and a better knowledge of the chromosomal abnormalities are important for the social integration and the control of the sexual development and behaviour of this patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Considerations on the radiological treatment of inoperable bronchogenic carcinomas or recurrences after surgical intervention].

From 1964 to 1977, 315 carcinomas of the bronchus either inoperable or recurring following surgery were treated by radiotherapy using high energy machines (telecobalt therapy and/or Betatron: X-rays or electrons). 116 patients (36.8%) had well-differentiated squamous cell carcinomas, 70 (22.2%) had undifferentiated or poorly differentiated carcinomas, 97 (30.8%) had small-cell anaplasic carcinomas, and 32 patients (10.2%) had adenocarcinomas or other types of bronchial carcinoma. 199 patients (63.2%) were treated exclusively by radiotherapy and 116 (36.8%) by surgery followed by radiotherapy: 28 had exploratory thoracotomies, 73 curative resections and 15 palliative resections. At the end of irradiation treatment 140 patients (44.5%) showed a subjective and objective (clinical and radiological) improvement, whereas 111 patients, (35.2%) although chest X-rays showed no radiological improvement, had a subjective response; 64 patients (20.3%) showed deterioration. 33.5% of the patients (88/263) lived at least 1 year after completion of radiotherapy: in 25.9% (42/162) the treatment was exclusively radiotherapy and 45.5% (46/101) underwent irradiation after surgery. 12.4% (31/249) of the patients were alive 2 years after completion of irradiation and 5.4% (11/203) after 5 years.

Carcinoma, Bronchogenic↗
PubMed1979

Evidence against serotonin involvement in the tonic component of electrically induced convulsions and in carbamazepine anticonvulsant activity.

Intraventricular injection of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine, selective destruction of descending serotoninergic neurons by 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine or electrolytic and chemical lesions of the nucleus raphe dorsalis did not affect the electroconvulsive threshold in rats. No effect was observed after the systemic administration of drugs known to increase central serotonin transmission, such as quipazine, m-chlorophenylpiperazine, and moderate doses of d-fenfluramine, whereas p-chlorophenylalanine, an inhibitor of serotonin synthesis, decreased seizure susceptibility. The anticonvulsant activity of carbamazepine was not modified in animals with the same experimental lesions. The results, in relation to the high selectivity of the experimental procedures employed to deplete brain and spinal cord serotonin, do not bear out any involvement of serotonin in the tonic component of electrically induced convulsions or in the action of carbamazepine.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Aggressiveness by isolation and brain serotonin turnover changes in different strains of mice.

In the framework of aggressive behavior a great amount of studies deal with altered brain monoamine levels or turnover. The involvement of brain serotonergic mechanisms in aggression has been demonstrated in the majority of the studies. In the present work, the biochemical and behavioral changes induced by prolonged socioenvironmental isolation in seven strains of mice were studied. Brain serotonin turnover varies significantly only in those strains which react to isolation with a constant degree of aggressiveness and there appears to exist an inverse correlation between these two parameters. Nevertheless a certain degree of aggression may develop even in the absence of alterations of brain serotonin turnover. Still the intensity of serotonin turnover decrease seems to represent a good indicator of the magnitude of the aggressive reaction.

Aggression↗
PubMed1979

[Evaluation of the pituitary reserve of gonadotropins and seminal function of the testis in subjects operated for cryptorchism].

76 patients (prepuberal, puberal and adults) who had undergone surgery for monolateral (35) or bilateral (41) cryptorchidism in childhood were studied. Testicular volume (76 cases), seminiferal function (18 cases) and pituitary gonadotropin reserve (51 cases) were evaluated. We obtained the following results: 1) the prepuberal patients had a normal testicular volume, while 70% of the puberal and adult patients had a mean testicular volume below normal levels. 2) 55.6% of the adults who underwent spermiogram had a pathological seminiferal function. 3) The number of patients whith exagerated gonadotropin response to GnRH-test increases with increasing puberal stage and reaches its highest significance after complete puberal development. These data confirm that: 1) the long permanence of one or both testis out of their natural position has a negative influence on their trophism; 2) the long-term prognosis of the tubular function of the testis after orchidopessis is poor in a high percentage of cases. 3) the endocrine anomalies which follow the early morphologic and functional changes of the cryptorchid testis are more easily detected during puberty as a reduced hypothalamic feedback of the gonadotropin secretion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Posttraumatic anterior pituitary insufficiency in childhood.

5 patients are presented in whom cerebral trauma of varying intensity during childhood was followed by pituitary insufficiency. There was no correlation between the severity of injury and subsequent hormonal defects. Among other anterior pituitary hormone defects, growth retardation secondary to growth hormone deficiency is a predominant feature in the pediatric age group. Only one patient requires treatment of neurohormonal diabetes insipidus. The prevalence of traumatic origin among the hypopituitary dwarfs observed in our departement is 3.7%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Serial evaluation of blood polyamines in children treated with growth hormone].

Blood polyamines were evaluated in normal children of various ages (from infancy to adolescence). Polyamines show a distinctive pattern: maximal values were observed during infancy; they decrease during childhood and again increase at puberty. After i.m. injection of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), polyamine concentrations increase significantly in the first 60 minutes. Polyamines increase more in patients previously untreated or treated intermittently with HGH than in patients under continuous treatment. The results suggest that in humans as well as in animals, polyamines could be involved in the growth processes and that the effect of HGH probably consists in a stimulation of polyamine synthesis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

McCune-Albright syndrome in a male child: a clinical and endocrinologic enigma.

A 6 5/12-year-old boy with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, café-au-lait pigmentation of the skin, and precocious pubertal development was studied for two years. Parathormone, calcium, phosphorus, testosterone, cortisol, and growth hormone levels were within normal limits. Urinary 17-ketosteroids, 17-ketogenic steroids, and estrogens were at the upper limits of normal. After GnRH stimulation, there was only a very slight increase in LH and no increase in FSH. There was no increase in TSH after TRH, and plasma levels of T4 and T3 were normal. The plasma prolactin level was within normal limits, and increased after TRH stimulation (with a second, delayed upsurge). Abnormal distribution of 131I in the thyroid was evident, without clearcut evidence of hyperfunctioning areas after TSH stimulation and T3 suppression tests followed by conventional scanning and gamma camera scintiphotography. Our findings do not support the claimed, single, hypothalamic origin of the disease that is presumed to result in overproduction of releasing hormones; they are more in keeping with a pleiotropic, scattered peripheral lesion, possibly of embryonal origin.

Child↗
PubMed1978

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus and Werdnig-Hoffmann disease in a child: an unusual association.

The unusual association of Werdnig-Hoffmann disease and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in a 5-month-old child is described for the first time. The association is casual, considering the different pathways of genetical transmission in these two diseases. The possibility of identifying the heterozygote is discussed and it appears to be limited to nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

Diabetes Insipidus↗
PubMed1978

Alcohol, prolonged isolation and barbiturate sedation in two strains of mice.

Mice subjected to prolonged socioenvironmental deprivation gradually develop hyperirritability and hyperreactivity to physical stimuli. This heightened neuroexcitability may or may not debouch into aggressiveness according to strain and sex of the animals, and it is accompanied by a reduced sensitivity to CNS depressants. Socioenvironmental deprivation or isolation is shown to decrease the sensitivity either to pentobarbital or to ethanol potentiation of pentobarbital sleeping time in male mice from two different strains.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Pseudohypoparathyroidism and idiopathic hypoparathyroidism: relationship between serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels and urinary cyclic adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate response to parathyroid extract.

Forty patients with hypocalcemia and/or Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy were studied. Based on the estimation of serum calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels as well as the urinary cAMP response to infusions with parathyroid extract, it was possible to classify all of the patients studied as cases with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism (n = 6, low PTH, normal cAMP response), pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) type I (n = 18, high PTH, low cAMP response) and type II (n = 2, high PTH, normal cAMP response), as well as pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (n = 14, normal PTH, normal cAMP response). In three cases studied at the age of 12, 17, and 23 yr, the signs of Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy were not observed. PTH levels were unusually high for a given serum calcium concentration in some patients with PHP, the increased PTH levels were, however, normalized during iv calcium infusions. In two young children with PHP, a gradual increase of serum PTH levels occurred despite persistent normocalcemia over a period of 3 yr. This suggests that factors other than hypocalcemia or frequent small unobservable falls of the serum calcium concentration, such as a deficient formation of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, secretion of an abnormal PTH, or an abnormal metabolism of the hormone, may contribute to the secondary hyperparathyroidism in PHP.

Adolescent↗