Simvastatin, transdermal patch, and oral estrogen-progestogen preparation in early-postmenopausal hypercholesterolemic women: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) seems to have a favorable influence on the plasma lipid profile. Only a few investigations have examined the effects of HRT versus hepatic hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors. We compared the relative effects of different hypolipidemic strategies on lipoproteins and coagulative parameters in women with recent-onset spontaneous menopause.

Primary systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (CD30+): advances in biology and current therapeutic approaches.

In 1985, Stein et al demonstrated the expression of the lymphoid activation antigen CD30/Ki by neoplastic cells. Fifteen years after the first description, anaplastic large-cell lymphomas (ALCL) are now thought to be a heterogeneous group in terms of their clinical, morphologic, phenotypic, cytogenetic, and molecular biology features. However, on the basis of a specific genetic anomaly and expression of a chimeric nucleophosmin anaplastic lymphoma kinase (NPM-ALK) protein and its variants, a distinct clinicopathologic entity defined as "ALK-positive lymphoma" or "ALKoma" can be recognized.

Plasma lipoproteins in soy-treated postmenopausal women: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background And Aim: Postmenopausal modification of the lipid profile plays a major role in the risk of ischemic heart disease. Lifestyle counseling and estrogen replacement therapy have all been proposed as first-line measures, but there is no agreement on the best way to treat climacteric dyslipidemia. Soybean-based diet seems particularly attractive in this context, given its cholesterol lowering potential, its hypothetical anticancerous effects and possible modification of climacteric symptoms.

Vaccination against hepatitis B in health care workers.

Hepatitis B is the most important infectious occupational disease for health care workers. The high risk of being infected is the consequence of the prevalence of virus carriers in the assisted population, the high frequency of exposure to blood and other body fluids and the high contagiousness of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Vaccination is able to prevent the most threatening consequences of the infection (acute disease and chronic carriage) in responders, even after loss of detectable antibodies.

Reversal of bone marrow hypoplasia in anorexia nervosa: case report.

Background: Bone marrow hypoplasia seems to be uncommon in anorexia nervosa. This marrow abnormality is rapidly reversible with intensive nutritional rehabilitation. The patient described in this case report had anorexia nervosa.

Dietary soy supplementation and phytoestrogen levels.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between levels of phytoestrogens in blood and urine and symptom control in postmenopausal women whose diets were supplemented with soy containing high levels of phytoestrogen.

Methods: Phytoestrogen levels in blood and urine were correlated with the number of hot flushes and vaginal maturation indices in 104 postmenopausal women whose diets were supplemented with 60 g of soy powder daily for 3 months in a double-masked, parallel, placebo-controlled trial. The effect of soy supplementation on menopausal symptoms in this study population was reported previously.

The effect of dietary soy supplementation on hot flushes.

Objective: To assess the effect of daily dietary supplementation of soy protein isolate powder on hot flushes in postmenopausal women.

Methods: We carried out a double-blind, parallel, multicenter, randomized placebo-controlled trial of 104 postmenopausal women. Fifty-one patients (age range 48-61 years) took 60 g of products containing 40 g of isolated soy protein [corrected] daily and 53 patients (age range 45-62 years) took 60 g of placebo (casein) daily.

Primary infection by HHV-6 variant B associated with a fatal case of hemophagocytic syndrome.

The association of a human herpesvirus 6 primary infection with a fatal case of hemophagocytic syndrome in a 3 month old baby is described. The trigger mechanism of the virus for the clinical syndrome is discussed.

Sequential addition of low dose of medrogestone or medroxyprogesterone acetate to transdermal estradiol: a pilot study on their influence on the endometrium.

We evaluated bleeding pattern and endometrium following the administration of two of the most common types of progestogens used in hormone replacement therapy, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and medrogestone acetate. Twenty eight patients in spontaneous menopause were randomly allocated to two groups. Group 1 (n = 14) received 5 mg/day of of MPA and group 2 (n = 14) received 5 mg/day of medrogestone: both the progestogens were sequentially added for the last 12 days of a 21-day period of transdermal estradiol administration (50 micrograms per day).

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis presenting as progressive multineuritis: clinical, pathologic, and MRI study.

Two patients developed a persistent illness characterized clinically and electrophysiologically by asymmetric involvement of spinal roots, of cranial and peripheral nerves. In the first case the disease was not discovered clinically but only after autopsy. The primary neoplasm remained undetected at autopsy.

Hepatitis C virus infection in subsets of neoplastic lymphoproliferations not associated with cryoglobulinemia.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is both hepatotropic and lymphotropic and a clear-cut association has been proposed between HCV infection and mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC), a benign lymphoproliferative disorder, which sometimes evolves into a frank malignant B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL). Moreover, in the presence of antibodies to HCV, as well as of HCV-specific genomes has been reported in the sera of over 37% patients with B-NHL, not associated with MC. Thus, we decided to perform both a serologic and a molecular study to give insights into a possible relationship between HCV infection and neoplastic lymphoproliferations.

Trazodone: a non-hormonal alternative for neurovegetative climacteric symptoms.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the treatment of choice for neurovegetative climacteric symptoms. In some women, however, HRT may either be contraindicated, or the patients themselves may prefer a non-hormonal form of treatment. Trazodone is a drug that acts a weak, but specific, inhibitor of the uptake of 3H-serotonin and is generally used for its antidepressant effects.

The menopausal transition: a dynamic approach to the pathogenesis of neurovegetative complaints.

In our cross-sectional study we investigated the separate influence of three main factors, namely menopausal and estrogen status, and chronological age, on ten neurovegetative climacteric complaints reported in the scale of Kupperman et al. A multivariate statistical analysis was performed by a multivariate statistical approach on 1161 untreated women seen at the Menopause Center of the Ferrara University Hospital. Ninety women (age range, 41-54 years) were premenopausal; 492 women (age range, 38-55 years) were perimenopausal with irregular periods or amenorrhea for less than 12 months; 468 women (age range, 41-69 years) had a spontaneous menopause (age range, 37-66 years); 111 had had hysterectomy with bilateral ovariectomy while still regularly menstruating.

Influence of spontaneous and surgical menopause on atherogenic metabolic risk.

We evaluated serum total-, LDL-, HDL-, cholesterol and triglycerides in 858 women. Sixty-seven were in premenopause, 307 in perimenopause, 326 in spontaneous menopause, and 158 women underwent hysterectomy. Of these, 101 had bilateral ovariectomy, 24 with unilateral ovariectomy and 33 with retention of both ovaries.

Haematocervix during hormonal replacement therapy.

A postmenopausal woman, receiving cyclic hormonal therapy, presented to our clinic with acute pelvic pain, absence of withdrawal bleeding and clinical signs of vagal stimulation (nausea and vomiting). Vaginal exploration and ultrasonographic imaging accounted for haematocervix, which was confirmed by surgical blood evacuation.

Evaluation of bone metabolic markers as indicators of osteopenia in climacteric women.

Lumbar bone mass (LBM) determination by quantitative computerized tomography in pre-, peri- and postmenopausal women was utilized to identify subjects at risk to develop osteoporosis. The results were related to determinations of bone metabolic markers (serum osteocalcin and urinary calcium excretion). Osteocalcin was the only metabolic marker which underwent significative changes.

[Normal ranges of bone mineral content of the distal radius determined with single photon absorptiometry. Study of 1521 cases].

The normal ranges and mathematical equations of bone mineral content (BMC), normalized to radial width (BMC/W) vs. age at the distal radius, were obtained by single photon absorptiometry (SPA), and compared in two different normal populations, one of postmenopausal females and the other of control males. The female population included 1359 postmenopausal women, aged 35 to 75 years; normal control males were 162, of the same age.

Influence of estrogens on serum free fatty acid levels in women.

A relationship between plasma levels of FFA and incidence of hormone-dependent breast cancer has been suggested. This observation has drawn our attention to possible complementary actions of ovarian steroids on circulating FFA levels. Measurements taken in normal women during the menstrual cycle and in ovariectomized women with and without estrogen replacement therapy demonstrate that 1) levels of FFA present in serum are lower during the luteal phase than during the follicular phase; 2) levels of FFA are significantly higher after ovariectomy; and 3) these are again reduced by substitutive estrogen therapy.

[Quantitative analysis of bone density in multiple myeloma].

Bone lesions are the main sign of neoplastic proliferation of multiple myeloma (MM), a disseminated malignant disease which originates in, invades and replaces normal bone marrow. The most characteristic radiographic pattern is a focal lytic lesion, well-defined or "punched-out", generally with no surrounding bone reaction. The association is confirmed between MM and osteoporosis, as reduced bone density (osteopenia) and pathologic fractures (ribs, spine).