Depleted Uranium and Human Health.

Depleted uranium (DU) is generally considered an emerging pollutant, first extensively introduced into environment in the early nineties in Iraq, during the military operation called "Desert Storm". DU has been hypothesized to represent a hazardous element both for soldiers exposed as well as for the inhabitants of the polluted areas in the war zones. In this review, the possible consequences on human health of DU released in the environment are critically analyzed.

Effects of Erythropoietin Administration on Adrenal Glands of Landrace/Large White Pigs after Ventricular Fibrillation.

Aim. To evaluate the effects of erythropoietin administration on the adrenal glands in a swine model of ventricular fibrillation and resuscitation. Methods.

Hypoxia-induced endothelial damage and microthrombosis in myocardial vessels of newborn landrace/large white piglets.

Objective: Evaluating the presence of endothelial changes in myocardial vessels in an experimental model of hypoxia and resuscitation in newborn piglets.

Methods: Fifty male Landrace/Large White neonatal piglets were studied: ten of them were allocated in group A (control group, SHAM-operated). In group B (forty animals, experimental group) normocapnic hypoxia was induced by decreasing inspired concentration of O2 to 6%-8%.

S100B immunoreactivity: a new marker of hypoxia-related cardiac damage in newborn piglets.

Objective: The evaluation of the expression of S100B protein, in the swine heart in an experimental model of hypoxia - reoxygenation.

Methods: Normocapnic hypoxia was induced in 40 male Landrace/Large White neonatal piglets by decreasing the inspired concentration of oxygen to 6-8%. When animals developed bradycardia or severe hypotension, reoxygenation was initiated.

Multiple organ failure syndrome in the newborn: morphological and immunohistochemical data.

Multiple organ failure (MOF) syndrome, also known as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) represents a common but complex problem in critically ill patients in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) centers, and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in newborns. MOF is considered the result of an inappropriate generalized inflammatory response of the newborn to a variety of acute insults. This study was aimed at analyzing, at histology, multiple organ pathological changes in two newborns admitted to the NICU center of our University Hospital, who showed a progressive clinical picture of MOF, in order to verify the pathological changes of vascular structures and of endothelial cells in the different organs affected by MOF.

S100B protein expression in the heart of deceased individuals by overdose: a new forensic marker?

Objective: The evaluation of S100B protein expression in the human heart and its correlation with drug-related death.

Method: Left ventricular samples were collected from 74 serial forensic autopsies (15 overdose-related deaths; 59 non-overdose-related deaths) from 2007 to 2010. Tissue sections from each sample were immunostained for S100B protein by a commercial antibody.

Hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced myocardial lesions in newborn piglets are related to interindividual variability and not to oxygen concentration.

Objective: Evaluation of myocardial histological changes in an experimental animal model of neonatal hypoxia-reoxygenation.

Methods: Normocapnic hypoxia was induced in 40 male Landrace/Large White piglets. Reoxygenation was initiated when the animals developed bradycardia (HR <60 beats/min) or severe hypotension (MAP <15 mmHg).