The assessment of the peak of reflex cough in subjects with acquired brain injury and tracheostomy and healthy controls.

Introduction: There is no standard procedure to evaluated the peak of reflex cough flow (PCF-reflex) in the literature, which is important assessment in subjects with acquired brain injury and tracheostomy cannula. The present study aims to investigate the PCF of the reflex cough in a broad sample of healthy controls and, furthermore, the presence and the strength of voluntary and reflex cough in subjects with ABI with tracheostomy cannula.

Materials And Methods: We recruited 147 participants including the healthy subjects (n = 105) and acquired brain injury subjects (n = 43), who underwent respiratory assessment: the Tidal Volume, Forced Vital Capacity, PCF of voluntary cough (PCF-voluntary) and PCF-reflex (using a spirometer connected with a nebulizer by a bidirectional).

Validation of the Italian version of Mini-ICF-APP, a short instrument for rating activity and participation restrictions in psychiatric disorders.

Aims. The assessment of limitations in social capacities can be done with the Mini-ICF-APP, a rating scale built in reference to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and the convergent validity of the Italian version of this scale.

The role of growth patterns, according to Kodama's classification, and lymph node status, as important prognostic factors in early gastric cancer: analysis of 412 cases.

BACKGROUND: During the 1970s, a special type of Gastric Cancer with excellent prognosis (early gastric cancer; EGC) was identified by the Japanese Research Society for Gastric Cancer. EGC has been defined as a tumor which invades the mucosa and/or submucosa, regardless of the lymph node status. Using this definition, we identified an initial phase of tumor development which could be treated both endoscopically and surgically.

Risk factors for lymph node metastases and their prognostic significance in early gastric cancer (EGC) for the Italian Research Group for Gastric Cancer (IRGGC).

Background: Lymph node metastases are present in only about 15% of patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) and for this reason, the majority of these patients do not require lymphadenectomy. In Japan, EGC patients undergo less invasive treatment (endoscopic mucosal resection, wedge resection, laparoscopy). However, the indications for and results of these types of treatment are still uncertain.

Lymph node micrometastases in patients with early gastric cancer: experience with 139 patients.

Background: Although lymph node metastases in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) is an important prognostic factor, the prognostic relevance of lymph node micrometastases is still uncertain.

Methods: The authors studied 1488 lymph nodes, which were histologically confirmed as pN0, dissected from 139 patients who were treated for EGC between 1976-1994. Micrometastases were defined as a single or small cluster of neoplastic cells identifiable only by immunohistochemical methods.