Analysis of non-derivatized 2-(4-R-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-[(2-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine using short column gas chromatography - mass spectrometry.

The 25R-NBOH family is a group of thermally labile compounds that are relevant for forensic sciences and traditionally analyzed by GC-MS after derivatization - a step that is time consuming in a routine work. In this paper, the use of short analytical columns (4 and 10 m) showed to decrease compound degradation in the GC oven during chromatographic separation and to allow the analysis of non-derivatized 25R-NBOH compounds by GC-MS. A shorter column demanded a higher gas flow rate, and both factors decreased residence time of the analytes in the column and their degradation.

Do prostaglandin analogs affect eyelid position and motility?

Purpose: The authors aim at investigating the possible clinical effects of topical Prostaglandin Analogs on eyelid position and motility with this single masked protocol in a cross-sectional study.

Methods: A group (group A) of 182 patients on treatment for glaucoma with prostaglandin analogs (latanoprost, travoprost, and bimatoprost) and a group of 191 age-matched normal controls (group B) were enrolled in the study. Group A was subdivided into 3 subgroups according to the prostaglandin analogs used by the patients.

Metronomic administration of zoledronic acid and taxotere combination in castration resistant prostate cancer patients: phase I ZANTE trial.

Background: Docetaxel (DTX) and zoledronic acid (ZOL) are effective in patients with hormone resistant prostate cancer (HRPC) with bone metastases. A phase I clinical trial of metronomic administration of Zoledronic Acid AN d TaxoterE combination (ZANTE trial) in 2 different sequences was conducted in HRPC.

Results: The maximum tolerated dose was not achieved with sequence A.

Role of neuroendocrine pathways in cognitive decline during aging.

The pineal and pituitary-adrenocortical secretions play an important role in adaptive responses of the organism acting as coordinating signals for both several biological rhythms and multiple neuroendocrine and metabolic functions. The more relevant neuroendocrine changes occurring with ageing affect the secretion of melatonin and of corticosteroids. These changes may be clearly appreciated by the study of their circadian rhythmicity.

Ab interno trabeculectomy: ultrastructural evidence and early tissue response in a human eye.

Purpose: To report the results of ultrastructural analysis of the postoperative effects of ab interno trabeculectomy in a human eye.

Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Palmanova Hospital, Palmanova, Udine, Italy.

Methods: A 60-year-old woman with cataract and glaucoma had enucleation for a choroidal melanoma 10 days after ab interno trabeculectomy combined with phacoemulsification.

Long-term heart rate variability as a predictor of patient age.

Patients age has been estimated in healthy population by means of the heart rate variability (HRV) parameters to assess the potentiality of HRV indexes as a biomarker of age. A long-term analysis of HRV has been performed, computing linear time and frequency domain parameters as well as non-linear metrics, in a dataset of 113 healthy subjects (age range 20-85 years old). The principal component analysis has been used to capture age-related influence on HRV and then three different models have been applied to predict subjects age: a robust linear regressor (RLR), a feedforward neural network (FFNN) and a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN).

Stress and dementia: the role of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis.

Hippocampus plays a crucial role in learning and memory and, in spite of its remarkable plasticity, it is also particularly sensitive to stress hormones due to its high concentration of corticosteroid receptors. Indeed, adrenal steroids modulate hippocampal plasticity, acting on excitability and long term potentiation or depression. By a chronobiological approach, we studied the cortisol and DHEAS secretion in clinically healthy old subjects and in age-matched demented patients, including both the degenerative and the vascular type.

New emerging drugs in soft tissue sarcoma.

Doxorubicin and ifosfamide are the two most active drugs in the treatment of patients with advanced, soft tissue sarcoma (STS) of most histologic subtypes, aside from gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). However, after failure of these drugs, alone or in combination, patients with advanced STS have few therapeutic options and the search for new active drugs is well worth pursuing. ET-743, a DNA minor groove binder, which blocks cell cycle progression in G2/M phase through a p53-independent apoptotic process, represents the most promising among novel compounds in STS, since recently completed phase II trials have consistently shown high survival, in spite of the relatively low incidence of major objective responses.

Cardiovascular, anthropometric and neurocognitive features of healthy postmenopausal women: effects of hormone replacement therapy.

Unlabelled: Randomized clinical trials have not shown long-term benefit of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (PHT) nor have they shown conclusively that the harmful consequences outweighs the benefits of the treatment. Rather, it is possible that an individualized hormone replacement therapy in questionably clinically healthy postmenopausal women may lead to different results than randomized trials.

Design: In this cross-sectional study we evaluated anthropometric parameters, body composition, serum lipids, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV) and neurocognitive functions in 39 healthy postmenopausal women PHT users or not users (n=13, age 53.

Combined clear corneal phacoemulsification and ab interno trabeculectomy: three-year case series.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a novel surgical approach, ab interno trabeculectomy, in a combined procedure (clear corneal phacoemulsification + ab interno trabeculectomy) for the management of concurrent cataract and glaucoma with prognostic factors for filtration failure.

Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Palmanova Hospital, Udine, Italy.

Methods: A prospective noncomparative case series of 11 eyes of 11 consecutive cataract patients with medically uncontrolled primary open-angle glaucoma or pseudoexfoliation glaucoma was performed.

Second-line intra-arterial chemotherapy in advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

The present study was conducted to evaluate activity and toxicity of the FLEC (folinic acid 100 mg/m2; 5-fluorouracil 1000 mg/m2; carboplatin 300 mg/m2; epirubicin 60 mg/m2) schedule as second-line treatment for progressive locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer (LAMPC). FLEC was administered every 3 weeks with an angiographic catheter introduced into the tumor vascular bed. Thirty-two patients were enrolled.

Activity of chemotherapy in mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer: a retrospective study.

Objective: Mucinous ovarian carcinoma has a poorer prognosis compared with other histological subtypes. The aim of this study was to evaluate, retrospectively, the activity of first-line and second-line chemotherapy in patients with mucinous ovarian cancer in a mono-institutional series.

Patients And Methods: In the period under survey (1996-2003), 225 new patients with ovarian cancer were treated.

Levofloxacin disposition over time in aqueous humor of patients undergoing cataract surgery.

The ocular disposition of levofloxacin in patients receiving two 500-mg oral doses 10 h apart before cataract surgery was assessed with the intent of defining drug ocular exposure over time. The mean aqueous humor concentrations persisted above 1.5 mg/liter between 1.

Defect of a subpopulation of natural killer immune cells in Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis: normalizing effect of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate.

Background: The study of the natural killer (NK) immune compartment could provide important findings to help in the understanding of some of the pathogenetic mechanisms related to autoimmune thyroid diseases (Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT)). Within this context, it was suggested that alterations in NK cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) and NK production of cytokines might occur in subjects with GD and HT, whereas the normalization of NK functions could potentially contribute to the prevention of the onset or the progression of both diseases.

Objective: Due to the hypothesis of alterations in NK in autoimmune thyroid diseases, we were interested to evaluate NKCC in GD and HT patients and to modulate NK function and secretory activity with cytokines and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) in an attempt to normalize NK cell defect.

Decreased release of the angiogenic peptide vascular endothelial growth factor in Alzheimer's disease: recovering effect with insulin and DHEA sulfate.

Changes of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion have recently been demonstrated in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Since VEGF has been involved in brain angiogenesis, neuroprotection and cerebromicrovascular exchange of substrates and nutrients, the study of VEGF could have important relapses into the pathogenesis and treatment of AD. Within this context, 35 healthy subjects (16 of young and 19 of old age), 18 patients with dementia of the vascular type (VAD) and 22 with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (AD) were included in the study.

Endocrine pancreatic dysfunction in HIV-infected children: association with growth alterations.

Background: The pancreatic endocrine system normally guarantees a quick and efficient response to daily metabolic perturbations, but associated data for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients are lacking. A prospective study was performed to evaluate pancreatic endocrine secretion and its possible association with failure to thrive among HIV-infected children.

Methods: Fourteen well-nourished, prepubertal, HIV-infected children (6 boys and 8 girls; age range, 5-11 years), none of whom were receiving protease inhibitors, and 16 clinically healthy sex- and age-matched children formed the patient group and the control group, respectively.

Decreased membrane fluidity and altered susceptibility to peroxidation and lipid composition in overweight and obese female erythrocytes.

The increased generation of reactive oxygen species that occurs in the condition of obesity may be responsible for oxidative injury to erythrocyte membranes, which could lead to a decrease in tissue oxygenation. Therefore, we have looked into the effects of obesity on both indexes of oxidative damage and physical-chemical properties of erythrocyte membranes in 50 overweight or obese [25 < body mass index (BMI) < 33], normotensive, nondiabetic women and 50 age-matched lean healthy women (BMI < 25). In the obese group compared with the lean group, we found that a) the onset of free radical-induced erythrocyte hemolysis and the ratio between reduced and oxidized glutathione were reduced, whereas the rate of free radical-induced damage increased; b) the n-3 fatty acid and the phospholipid contents decreased; c) the ratio between cholesterol and phospholipids increased; and d) the membrane fluidity decreased.

Metabolic effects of orally administered amino acid mixture in elderly subjects with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The reduction of muscle mass and increased protein catabolism in aging can determine the occurrence of metabolic alterations-such as hyperglycemia and reduced insulin sensitivity-in elderly subjects with diabetes mellitus. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of nutritional supplementation with oral amino acid mixture (OAAM) in elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes. This approach was conducted in an attempt to antagonize muscle catabolism by means of increased endogenous protein synthesis and to improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

Qualitative and quantitative changes of melatonin levels in physiological and pathological aging and in centenarians.

Melatonin secretion is an endogenous synchronizer, and it may possess some anti-aging properties. Thus we examined melatonin levels in physiological aging, in extreme senescence and in senile dementia. In healthy old (age 66-94 yr) and young subjects (age 23-39 yr) and in demented patients (age 68-91 yr) plasma melatonin was measured by radioimmunoassay in eight serial blood samples.

Comparative effects of lercanidipine, lacidipine, and nifedipine gastrointestinal therapeutic system on blood pressure and heart rate in elderly hypertensive patients: the ELderly and LErcanidipine (ELLE) study.

This study was conducted to compare the antihypertensive efficacy and safety of lercanidipine with those of lacidipine and nifedipine gastrointestinal therapeutic systems in patients aged 65 years or above with mild-to-moderate hypertension. Patients were randomized to receive lercanidipine 5 mg, lacidipine 2 mg, or nifedipine 30 mg for 24 weeks. After 2 weeks, the dose was doubled in non-responding patients.

Circadian organization of serum electrolytes in physiological aging.

Age-related structural and neurochemical changes occurring in the central nervous system have been related to changes in some rhythmometric parameters. In spite of their clinical importance, only a few studies have investigated the modifications over time of serum electrolytes in senescence. The aim of our study was to evaluate the circadian pattern of serum potassium, chloride, sodium, calcium and phosphorus in 30 clinically healthy elderly subjects, with no cognitive impairment, and to compare the findings with those given by 24 healthy young controls.

Nutritional assessment of demented patients: a descriptive study.

Background And Aims: It is well-known that subclinical and overt malnutrition are strong predictive indices of morbidity and mortality in old subjects, particularly in demented ones, and may deeply affect the quality of life. The aim of this study was evaluation of nutritional status in demented patients, as a whole and according to type of dementia, at the moment of hospital admission and before discharge.

Methods: The study concerns 174 old demented patients, aged 80.

Circadian temporal organization of lipidic fractions in elderly people. Entrainment to the dietary schedule.

Background And Aims: Changes in some rhythmometric parameters have been reported in the elderly as a consequence of both structural and neurochemical changes occurring in the central nervous system. Since alterations of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism are directly involved in several age-related disorders, the aim of this study was to investigate the circadian temporal organization of some important lipidic fractions (total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, apolipoprotein A1 and B) in physiological aging.

Methods: Thirty old hospitalized subjects were synchronized for daily activities, sleeping/waking habits, and time/quality of meals.