[Recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in the long-term treatment of AIDS-related neutropenias].

Neutropenia is a common finding in patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex (ARC), and limits their survival and therapies. We administered recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rG-CSF) 300 micrograms/day to 15 AIDS patients with severe neutropenia (< 1000/microliters). without discontinuing zidovudine, ganciclovir or other myelosuppressive drugs (e.

[Cardiac echinococcosis. Case report and review of the literature].

Cardiac echinococcosis is a rare disease. We report the case of a patient affected by cardiac echinococcosis who underwent surgical treatment successfully. A forty year old woman was hospitalized referring palpitation and dyspnea.

Extrahepatic abdominal hydatidosis: surgical features of 11 cases.

We have described 11 cases of rare abdominal localization of hydatosis in the kidney, spleen and serous tissues. The clinical and surgical features have also been discussed.

Carotid body tumours. A review of eight cases.

Between 1968 and 1988, eight patients with carotid body tumour have been operated on at Istituto di Clinica Chirurgica at the University of Pisa. We undertook the follow-up of all these patients. Two of them presented with bilateral and familial lesions.

Multicentric breast tumour: an anatomical-clinical study of 100 cases.

Multicentric tumours (MT) represent a potential limit to the treatment by conservative surgery of cancer of the breast. In order to determine which anatomical-clinical features of breast cancer would indicate the highest risk of MT, we studied 100 patients with MT and 452 patients with unicentric tumours (UT), all of whom had been subjected to radical mastectomy during the period 1980 to 1988. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the two groups of parameters for bilateral breast cancer (with regard both to metachronous and synchronous lesions), for primary tumours of over 2 cm in size, for both lobular and invasive ductal histotypes and for involvement of the nipple-areola complex.

Measurement of alkaline phosphatase activity in serum with N-methyl-D-glucamine as a buffer: evaluation of the method for routine use.

Some aspects of the measurement of alkaline phosphatase activity concentration in human serum, using N-methyl-D-glucamine as a buffer, were evaluated with a view to the possible routine use of the method. The evaluated characteristics included: the temperature-dependence of the pH of the buffer; the effect of adding the magnesium/zinc ions buffer; the effect of the serum volume fraction; the substrate-starter versus the serum-starter mode; the effect of modifying the formulation of reagents; the within-run and the between laboratory imprecision; the correlation with an alternative routine method. Also, sex- and age-related reference values were produced, based on 2968 values from selected reference sample groups in 7 laboratories.

[Activity of natural fatty acids on erythrocyte osmotic resistance].

The aim of the present study was to assess the influence on the functional characteristics of the erythrocyte membrane of adding in vitro different natural fatty acids to blood taken from normal subjects. Blood samples were collected without stasis from healthy volunteers, anticoagulated with heparin or EDTA and incubated at 37 degrees C for 60 min with the different fatty acids at concentrations ranging between 1 x 10(-4) and 3 x 10(-2) molar. Two ml of blood were used for each test.

[Focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver associated with cardial achalasia, situs viscerum inversus and gastric mucosal ectopia in the duodenum].

The authors describe the clinical case of a young woman with a focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) of the liver associated with achalasia of the cardia, situs inversus totalis and ectopy of gastric mucosa in duodenum, and discuss the etiopathogenic aspects of the hepatic lesion. The frequent association of the FNH with various malformations, as the literature and this case-report relate, seems to confirm the hypothesis of a dysgenetic hamartomatous origin. Therefore any liver single mass in a patient with a malformative syndrome must rouse the suspicion of a FNH.

[In vitro activity of folic acid on the proliferation dynamics of human bone marrow CFU-GM in propyphenazone-induced granulocytopenia].

The in vitro action of folic acid was tested on the proliferation of bone marrow granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells from a patient with drug-induced (propyphenazone) neutropenia in remission 20 days after the drug had been suspended. Various bone marrow cultures were prepared with standard stimulant, adding, respectively: folic acid, propyphenazone and both folic acid and propyphenazone together. Growth was tested on day 7, 12 and 19 of incubation.

[Role of diaphanoscopy in breast diseases].

The diagnostic value of diaphanoscopy in a series of 200 cases of breast diseases, all confirmed by cytohistologic examination, is illustrated. Diaphanoscopy showed a high sensitivity towards haemorrhagic cysts, early age fibroadenomas, adenosic dysplasia, haematomas as well as carcinomas.

An assessment of the operating characteristics of Coulter Counter Model S-Plus STKR.

Background And Methods: The operating performance of the Coulter Counter S Plus STKR was evaluated in two hospital laboratories in Rome and in Florence. Experimental design conformed to both the ICSH and NCCLS Standards for the evaluation of hematologic analyzers, and to the ECCLS guidelines for the multicenter evaluation of analyzers in clinical chemistry.

Results And Conclusions: Cell counts in K3 EDTA were unchanged over 6 hours at room temperature and 72 hours at 4 degrees C, while MCV, MPV and leukocyte differentials were far less stable.

Cooperativity of papain-substrate interaction energies in the S2 to S2' subsites.

Enzyme-substrate contacts in the hydrolysis of ester substrates by the cysteine protease papain were investigated by systematically altering backbone hydrogen-bonding and side-chain hydrophobic contacts in the substrate and determining each substrate's kinetic constants. The observed specificity energies [defined as delta delta G obs = -RT ln [(kcat/KM)first/(kcat/KM)second)]] of the substrate backbone hydrogen bonds were -2.7 kcal/mol for the P2 NH and -2.

Analysis of leucocyte populations with the Coulter S-Plus STKR as a screening tool for haematological abnormalities.

In two institutions at Rome and Florence we evaluated the clinical sensitivity of two Coulter STKR systems using the NCCLS standard H20-T for leucocyte differential count in a patient population with high prevalence of haematologic abnormalities. Reference ranges of normal leucocytes were obtained on 278 adult subjects. On a population of 455 patient specimens, 200 specimens (44%) were flagged by the STKR because of a distributional abnormality, and 122 (27%) because of a morphological abnormality.

[Neck masses in childhood. Surgical experience in 154 cases].

Neck masses of children often constitute a complex problem of diagnosis and treatment. Despite the currently available diagnostic techniques, excisional biopsy still remains the procedure of first choice in a high percentage of cases to obtain a definitive diagnosis. In the present research, we analyze the problems of differential diagnosis and surgical treatment of neck masses in children, on the basis of 154 cases recruited in 20 years (at the Dept.

Growth of bone marrow CFU-GM in a case of cyclical neutropenia. Preliminary report.

We studied bone marrow CFU-GM growth behaviour of a 9-year-old male child with cyclic neutropenia. The cultures were performed on day 0 and on day 13 of cyclic oscillation, in order to study some correspondences between CFU-GM culture parameters and the phases of a whole cyclic oscillation "in vivo". We explored the CFU-GM growth under three different conditions of GM-CSA production: a) standard source of CSA; b) endogenous GM-CSA assay; c) GM-CSA-gamma-globulin assay.

[Sinus bradycardia in chronic neuroglycopenic syndrome. A case of "short intestine" syndrome].

The clinical pattern of the chronic hypoglycemic disorders is different from that of the acute disorders. While in acute hypoglycemic syndromes tachycardia usually occurs, in chronic hypoglycemic disorders there is, even if seldom, sinusal bradycardia. The bradycardia occurs after months with glycemia under 60 mg/dl and may be correlated to the neuroglycopenic state.

Coordinated amino acid changes in homologous protein families.

In the tobamovirus coat protein family, amino acid residues at some spatially close positions are found to be substituted in a coordinated manner [Altschuh et al. (1987) J. Mol.

[Changes in carcinoembryonic antigen and tissue polypeptide antigen in monitoring the post-operative course of some tumor types].

The authors tested TPA in association with CEA in colon rectal, breast and stomach cancer. The results proved the reliability of TPA in these neoplasms and the correct use of TPA in association with CEA test in monitoring breast cancer. It's use proved to be typical screening test both for the high percentage of true positive and the lack of false negative.

[Association of ferritin with the CEA test in post-operative monitoring of colo-rectal, breast and stomach carcinomas].

On the basis of more than 3,000 tests carried out on 1,561 patients suffering from suspected or certain malignant tumours, the authors established the necessity of CEA test in post-operative follow-ups, according to the plentiful literature regarding this matter. New tumoral markers led the authors to verify if it was useful to associate the ferritin to CEA test. From the results and the statistical data, they concluded that it was useful to associate the two markers only in negative CEA test when confronted with clinical suspected metastatic diffusion.

[Initial observations in a cardiovascular poly-instrumental study of a homogeneous sample of young football players].

A group of 20 football players (from 12 to 15 aged) has been taken for a boodless test of cardiology (such as polygraphic and echocardiographic test) at the beginning of a longitudinal study in order to give the exact meaning, as much as possible, to the fitness for an agonistic training. One of the subjects examined was not for that test because of his cardiomegaly, another one had an anomalous mitral valve, in both the subjects the clinic and instrumental side resulted within normal ranges only if searched by E.C.

[Observations and significance of extrasystole in very young athletes].

80 very young football players (from 8 to 12) have been examined for three months by some clinical and instrumental cardiologic tests (starting E.C.G.

[Diagnostic significance of assaying glycoproteins, immunoglobulins, complement fractions and carcinoembryonic antigen in pleural and peritoneal exudates and transudates].

The Authors have determinated the concentration of some glicoproteins, IgG, IgA and IgM, C3 and C4 and CEA in 61 peritoneal and pleuric effusions, of various aethiology. Results obtained for glicoproteins and C3 appear to have a diagnostic value in distinguishing inflammatory and neoplastic effusions from non-inflammatory and non-neoplastic forms. A greater diagnostic value can be attributed to the results of the CEA which is constantly and almost exclusively increased in neoplastic effusions.