Effects of dietary protein restriction on fibrinogen and albumin metabolism in nephrotic patients.

Background: Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is characterized by profound changes in albumin and fibrinogen levels. Dietary protein restriction has been advocated in the treatment of patients with NS, but its effects on albumin and fibrinogen metabolism have not been fully elucidated.

Methods: We evaluated the effects of dietary protein restriction on endogenous leucine flux (ELF), fibrinogen and albumin metabolism in seven patients with NS who consumed either a normal protein diet (NPD; 1.

mig-14 is a horizontally acquired, host-induced gene required for salmonella enterica lethal infection in the murine model of typhoid fever.

We have characterized a host-induced virulence gene, mig-14, that is required for fatal infection in the mouse model of enteric fever. mig-14 is present in all Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovars and maps to a region of the chromosome that appears to have been acquired by horizontal transmission. A mig-14 mutant replicated in host tissues early after infection but was later cleared from the spleens and livers of infected animals.

Minilaparoscopic ovarian biopsy performed under conscious sedation in women with premature ovarian failure.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of a bilateral multiple ovarian biopsy through minilaparoscopy under local anesthesia and conscious sedation and to assess the efficacy of this technique as compared to the traditional laparoscopic approach.

Study Design: Twenty-five infertile women with premature ovarian failure underwent bilateral ovarian biopsy plus chromoperturbation. Twelve patients were treated with minilaparoscopy (minilap group) and preoperatively received mepivacaine for subcutaneous local anesthesia and midazolam plus fentanyl for conscious sedation.

Macrophage-dependent induction of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 type III secretion system and its role in intracellular survival.

Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 (SPI-2) encodes a putative type III secretion system necessary for systemic infection in animals. We have investigated the transcriptional organization and regulation of SPI-2 by creating gfp fusions throughout the entire gene cluster. These gfp fusions demonstrated that SPI-2 genes encoding structural, regulatory and previously uncharacterized putative secreted proteins are preferentially expressed in the intracellular environment of the host macrophage.

Flow cytometry immunophenotyping and polymerase chain reaction-site-specific primers genotyping for HPA-1 alloantigens in an Italian blood donor population.

Background And Objectives: There is increasing interest in the development of rapid and reliable techniques for human platelet alloantigen (HPA) typing. This study investigates the reliability of flow cytometry for large-scale immunophenotyping of platelet alloantigens.

Materials And Methods: We used flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction-site-specific primer (PCR-SSP) for the characterization of the human platelet antigen 1 (HPA-1) mosaic in blood donors.

Increased concentrations of renin, aldosterone and Ca125 in a case of spontaneous, recurrent, familial, severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

We report for the first time increased concentrations of aldosterone and renin in a case of spontaneous, recurrent, familial, severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). High concentrations of Ca125 were also found. Our patient was a 26 year old woman, gravida 2, para 1, affected by severe OHSS, who denied having ever consumed any ovulation drug.

Process control of filtered red blood cells: which counting method?

Various counting methods have been described and reported for process control of leuco-epleted blood components. The recent production of high-efficiency leucocyte removal filters intensifies the need for sensitivity in determining the ever lower residual concentration of white cells (WBCs) in filtered units. In order to assess which method was the most efficient and feasible in the laboratory for the control of WBC-reduced packed red blood cells, we compared the sensitivity of four counting methods: Nageotte chamber analysis, flow cytometry, the fluorochrome method by Borzini and Nageotte chamber analysis as modified by Prati.

Coccoid and spiral Helicobacter pylori differ in their abilities to adhere to gastric epithelial cells and induce interleukin-8 secretion.

Helicobacter pylori exists as an actively dividing spiral form and a nonculturable, but viable, metabolizing coccoid form. Both forms are present in the stomach, but their relative pathophysiologic significances are unknown. Here we show that the coccoid form of H.

Platelet transfusion in a patient affected by Glanzmann's thrombasthenia with antibodies against GPIIb-IIIa.

Patients affected by Glanzmann's thrombasthenia often require blood and platelet transfusions due to bleeding. They may develop antibodies against platelet antigens and become refractory to platelet transfusions. In this study we present our approach to platelet transfusion in a thrombasthenic patient with platelet antibodies directed against gpIIb/IIIa.

Correlation between glomerular morphology and renal haemodynamic response to amino-acid administration in patients with IgA nephropathy.

Rationale: To establish relationship, if any, between renal morphology and renal haemodynamic response to amino acids.

Design And Methods: We investigated the correlation between renal haemodynamic regulation and morphology in a group of 15 patients with primary IgA nephropathy (IgAN) (age 26 +/- 2 years, BMI 24.4 +/- 1, GFR 64 +/- 5 ml/min, RPF 377 +/- 34 ml/min, FF 0.

[Postpartum psychoses. A case report].

The puerperal period is a critical one in the life of a woman, due to the numerous changes which occur at biological and psychological levels and also at the level of relationships. Various disturbances of a psychiatric nature may emerge during this period which represents a "risky" phase from a psycho-pathological point of view. Among some of these disturbances, so-called "puerperal psychoses", there is an uncertain nosographic connection.

Finasteride in the treatment of hirsutism: new therapeutic perspectives.

Objective: To determine of the clinical and hormonal effects of finasteride (Proscar; Merck, Sharp, and Dohme, Rahway, NJ) in the treatment of idiopathic hirsutism and hirsutism in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Design: Controlled clinical study.

Setting: Istitute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Naples "Federico II.

Identification of a domain in Rck, a product of the Salmonella typhimurium virulence plasmid, required for both serum resistance and cell invasion.

Rck is encoded on the Salmonella typhimurium virulence plasmid and is a member of a family of related 17- to 19-kDa outer membrane proteins of Enterobacteriaceae, including Ail (Yersinia enterocolitica) and PagC (S. typhimurium). Structural models for these proteins predict eight membrane-spanning domains alternating with hydrophilic inner and outer loops.

Epidemiological characteristics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains causing infection in an Italian general hospital. A one-year surveillance.

During the 1989 calendar year, P. aeruginosa caused clinical infections in 0.46% of patients admitted to Ospedali Riuniti (a general hospital), Bergamo, Italy.

Hepatitis C virus-related acute and chronic hepatitis in hemodialysis patients.

The incidence of HCV antibodies has been evaluated in 123 chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients (Group A; 55 M and 68 F) and in 37 consecutive HD patients (group B) admitted to our hospitals for acute hepatitis. In group A, HCV antibodies were present in 27% of the patients. 20 of 36 (55%) had previously received blood transfusions.

Elevated dietary protein intake impairs the renal hemodynamic response to hyperaminoacidemia in patients with primary glomerular diseases.

We have evaluated the renal hemodynamic response to a mixed amino acid infusion in 7 control subjects and in 8 patients with primary glomerulonephritis (GN). In order to evaluate the role of dietary protein intake in this response, GN patients were maintained for 3 weeks on two separate dietary regimens providing 130 +/- 5 g of protein/day (study 1) and 60 +/- 3 g of protein/day (study 2), respectively. Normal subjects were studied while consuming a free diet.

Differential expression of CD54/intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in myeloid leukemias and in lymphoproliferative disorders.

Indirect immunofluorescence staining with monoclonal antibody (MoAb) CL203.4 of malignant cells from 269 patients with hematologic malignancies showed a heterogeneous expression of CD54/intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). This marker was expressed by malignant cells of 57 out of 118 patients with myeloid malignancies and 69 out of 135 with B-lymphoid malignancies.

[Ascites and carcinoma of the endometrium].

The authors exopound three cases of women affected by endometrial carcinoma in which the ascithis has represented the first clinic manifestation in absence of metrorrhage (first two cases); in the third case, instead, the ascithis has appeared four years after the surgical operation of total laparohysterectomy with bilateral annexiectomy and telecobaltotherapy. The association of the malign ascithis with endometrial adenocarcinoma is of rare observation. The Authors think very likely that the intraperitoneal semination in the cases they examined, is due to the infiltration of the myometry, of the regional and iuxtaregional lymphonoids with formation of ascithis.

Characterization of the detergent solubilized receptor for gastrin-releasing peptide.

Properties of detergent solubilized gastrin-releasing peptide receptor were investigated. Swiss 3T3 membranes were covalently labeled with [125I]GRP and homobifunctional cross-linkers. A major labeled protein of 75 kDa was resolved using SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Solubilization of the receptor for the neuropeptide gastrin-releasing peptide (bombesin) with functional ligand binding properties.

The receptor for the neuropeptide gastrin-releasing peptide, the mammalian homologue of bombesin, was solubilized from rat brain and Swiss 3T3 cells by using the zwitterionic detergent 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonic acid (CHAPS) and the cholesteryl hemisuccinate ester (CHS). Only the combination of the detergent CHAPS and the cholesteryl ester CHS in a glycerol-containing buffer satisfactorily preserved the binding activity upon solubilization. Specific binding activity was only solubilized from cell lines and tissue preparations known to express the GRP receptor.

Immunodiagnosis of acute leukemia displaying ectopic antigens: proposal for a classification of promiscuous phenotypes.

The nature of the blast cells in 163 cases of acute leukemia was investigated by immunophenotyping, with particular emphasis on the expression of "ectopic" surface membrane structures. Although no antigen included in our panel except CD3 revealed absolute lineage restriction, immunological typing allowed a definite characterization of blast cells in more than 90% of cases. Four groups of patients were identified (A, B, C, D) with different degrees of antigen ectopic expression.

Malignant hyperthermia crisis.

Clearly the malignant hyperthermia crisis offers a significant challenge in the well cosmetic surgical patient. Aggressive early treatment is mandatory in these cases. Any delay can be disastrous.

Human glioblastoma cell lines have neuropeptide receptors for bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide.

Bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide receptors were characterized in human glioblastoma cell lines. [125I]Gastrin-releasing peptide or ([125I]Tyr4)bombesin bound with high affinity to these cell lines. Binding to cell line U-118 was time dependent, reversible, and specific.

Maxilla-premaxilla approach to septal surgery in the cosmetic patient.

The maxillary-premaxillary approach to septal deformity developed by Cottle and Loring in 1958 is presented. The method is examined in terms of not only its role in repairing nasal function but also its advantages in controlling the septum for better cosmetic results. Excellent results were achieved using this approach in 350 patients with concomitant functional and cosmetic complaints.

Whole body glucose kinetics in type I diabetes studied with [6,6-2H] and [U-13C]-glucose and the artificial B-cell.

Dynamic aspects of whole body glucose metabolism were assessed in ten young adult insulin-dependent (type I) diabetic men. Using a primed, continuous intravenous infusion of [6,6-2H]glucose and [U-13C]glucose, endogenous production, tissue uptake, carbon recycling, and oxidation of glucose were measured in the postabsorptive state. These studies were undertaken after blood glucose had been maintained overnight at 5.