Publications by authors named "Dina Costa"

Cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) elicits an inflammatory response and has a multitude of biological consequences, ranging from subclinical organ dysfunction to severe multiorgan failure. Pediatric patients are more prone to have a reaction that can jeopardize their outcome. Cytokines are supposed to be important mediators in this response: limiting their circulating levels is, therefore, appealing.

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Oxovanadium(IV) complexes with ligands derived from the reaction of salicylaldehyde with L-cysteine and with D- and D,L-penicillamine are prepared. The compounds are characterised by elemental analysis, spectroscopy (UV-VIS, CD, EPR), TG, DSC and magnetic susceptibility measurements (9-295 K). We discuss several aspects related to the structure of these complexes in the solid state and in solution; in particular, the possibility of forming thiazolidine complexes, and their comparison with the characterised complexes is studied by molecular mechanics and density functional theory calculations.

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Background: To evaluate the plasmatic changes of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) during and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in normothermia and hypothermia.

Methods: Twenty-three patients (n = 23) undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery were randomly assigned to two groups. In Group I (n = 11), the patients underwent operation in normothermia; in Group II (n = 12), the operation was performed in hypothermia (26 degrees C).

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Minimally invasive surgical techniques have been employed successfully for a wide spectrum of cardiothoracic procedures. These approaches were proven to be as safe and effective as traditional surgical techniques. Unfortunately, it remains a lack of adequate instrumentations and anatomic features, particularly in the pediatric pool of patients.

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