Laparoscopy versus minilaparotomy in women with symptomatic uterine myomas: short-term and fertility results.

Objective: To retrospectively compare the feasibility, safety, morbidity, and pregnancy outcome of laparoscopy (LPS) and minilaparotomy (LPT) in the treatment of symptomatic uterine myomas.

Design: Retrospective, nonrandomized study.

Setting: Advanced Gynecological Endoscopy Center, Malzoni Medical Center, Avellino, Italy.

Total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy versus abdominal radical hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy in patients with early cervical cancer: our experience.

Background: The aim of this study was to retrospectively compare, in a series of 127 consecutive women, the safety, morbidity, and recurrence rate of total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (TLRH) with lymphadenectomy and abdominal radical hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy (ARH) for early cervical carcinoma.

Methods: A total of 127 consecutive patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage Ia1 (lymphvascular space involvement), Ia2, and Ib1 early cervical cancer, 65 of whom underwent TLRH and 62 of whom underwent ARH with pelvic lymph node dissection, comprised the study population. The para-aortic lymphadenectomy with the superior border of the dissection being the inferior mesenteric artery was performed in all cases with positive pelvic lymph nodes discovered at frozen section evaluation.

Inhibition of protein kinase Cbeta prevents foam cell formation by reducing scavenger receptor A expression in human macrophages.

Background: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake by monocyte-derived macrophages is a crucial step in foam cell formation and early atherosclerotic lesion. Increasing evidence supports the theory that activation of protein kinase Cbeta (PKCbeta) is involved in many mechanisms promoting atherosclerosis. Thus, we investigated whether inhibition of PKCbeta prevents foam cell formation.

c-Jun N-terminal kinase 2 deficiency protects against hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress.

Background: Hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial dysfunction due to excessive production of reactive oxygen species is a major trigger of atherogenesis. The c-Jun-N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are activated by oxidative stress and play a key role in atherogenesis and inflammation. We investigated whether JNK2 deletion protects from hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress.

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy versus abdominal hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy for early-stage endometrial cancer: a prospective randomized study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare, in a series of 159 women the feasibility, safety and morbidity of total laparoscopic hysterectomy (LPS) and abdominal hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy (LPT) for early-stage endometrial cancer and to assess disease-free survival and recurrence rate.

Methods: 159 patients with clinical stage I endometrial cancer were enrolled in a prospective randomized trial and treated with LPS or LPT approach. The para-aortic lymphadenectomy was performed in all cases with positive pelvic lymph nodes discovered at frozen section evaluation, in patients with poorly differentiated tumors with myometrial invasion greater than 50% (ICG3), and non-endometrioid carcinomas.

Pulsatile stretch induces release of angiotensin II and oxidative stress in human endothelial cells: effects of ACE inhibition and AT1 receptor antagonism.

Mechanical forces and the activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may alter the NO/O2(*-) balance, imparing endothelial nitric oxide (NO) availability. This study investigates the link between RAS and NO/O2(*-) balance in human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) exposed to pulsatile stretch with and without ACE inhibitor quinaprilat or angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor antagonist losartan. Pulsatile stretch increased Ang II levels and O2(*-) production, reducing NO release.

Impact of fasting glycemia and regional cerebral perfusion in diabetic subjects: a study with technetium-99m-ethyl cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography.

Background And Purpose: Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of ischemic stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and changes in regional cerebral perfusion (CP) in subjects with DM.

Methods: CP was assessed in 24 subjects (mean age 44+/-2.

Laparoscopic radical hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy in patients with early cervical cancer: our instruments and technique.

The purpose of this study is to describe the technique of total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (type III procedure) with lymphadenectomy as performed at the Advanced Gynecological Endoscopy Center of the Malzoni Medical Center, Avellino, Italy. Seventy-seven patients underwent total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (type II, III) with lymphadenectomy between January 2000 and March 2008. FIGO stage included five patients Ia1 with LVSI (lymph-vascular involvement), 24 patients Ia2, and 48 patients Ib1.

Feasibility, safety, and efficacy of conservative laparoscopic treatment of borderline ovarian tumors.

Objective: To outline the most recent information regarding conservative laparoscopic surgery for young women with borderline ovarian tumors.

Design: Review article.

Setting: Advanced Gynecological Endoscopy Center, Malzoni Medical Center, Avellino, Italy.

The role of p66Shc deletion in age-associated arterial dysfunction and disease states.

Accumulation of oxidative stress with age is hypothesized to be the primary causative mediator of age-associated diseases. Among different tissues, aging vessels are known to accumulate oxidative damage and undergo functional impairment. Oxidative stress affects the availability and/or balance of key regulators of vascular homeostasis and favors the development of cardiovascular disease.

Final common molecular pathways of aging and cardiovascular disease: role of the p66Shc protein.

Oxidative stress affects the availability of key-regulators of vascular homeostasis and controls a number of signaling pathways relevant to myocardial and vascular disease. Reactive oxygen species are generated by different intracellular molecular pathways principally located in mitochondria. The notion that mice carrying a targeted mutation of the p66(Shc) gene display prolonged lifespan, reduced production of intracellular oxidants, and increased resistance to oxidative stress-induced apoptosis prompted a series of studies aimed at defining the biochemical function of p66(Shc) and its possible implication in cardiovascular diseases.

Feasibility, morbidity, and safety of total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy: our experience.

Study Objective: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate, in a series of 65 patients, the feasibility, morbidity, and safety of total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy for early cervical carcinoma.

Design: Retrospective, nonrandomized study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

Setting: Advanced Gynecological Endoscopy Center, Malzoni Medical Center, Avellino, Italy.

Aging and endothelial dysfunction.

Aging is the major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of morbidity, mortality and disability in western countries. Mounting data suggest that cardiovascular structure and function change with time as result of an "aging process", regarded as an independent process which accompanies aging, interwines and modulates superimposed traditional cardiovascular risk factors to determine the peculiar occurrence, presentations and prognosis of heart disease in the elderly. A whole body of data underlies the impairment of endothelial function due to oxidative stress as a crucial feature of the aging process acting on the cardiovascular system.

Restoring the dysfunctional endothelium.

Nowadays the endothelium is considered a key determinant of vascular health. NO is the principal mediator of all endothelial protective effects, due to its antiinflammatory, antiproliferative, immunomodulatory and vasorelaxant properties. On the contrary, a growing body of evidence suggests that endothelial dysfunction is associated with cardiovascular events.

Genetic deletion of p66(Shc) adaptor protein prevents hyperglycemia-induced endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress.

Increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and loss of endothelial NO bioavailability are key features of vascular disease in diabetes mellitus. The p66(Shc) adaptor protein controls cellular responses to oxidative stress. Mice lacking p66(Shc) (p66(Shc-/-)) have increased resistance to ROS and prolonged life span.

[Vascular medicine: the near future].

During the last 20 years new insights on the pathophysiology of vascular diseases has led to the development of new therapeutic strategies. Their potential benefits are being increasingly appreciated by clinicians today, providing a solid background for a growing use in the near future. In this review we focus our attention on three different issues: endothelial dysfunction as a prognostic marker of cardiovascular events, stem cells and their therapeutic role, and percutaneous carotid stenting as an alternative promising treatment of carotid stenosis.

Nitric oxide release is impaired in hypertensive individuals with familial history of stroke.

Background: A genetic origin of cerebrovascular accidents has long been suspected on the basis of epidemiologic evidence and familial aggregation. Nevertheless, the final phenotype is largely influenced by concomitant risk factors. We aimed to investigate whether impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilation can be used as an informative intermediate vascular phenotype in hypertensive patients with familial history of stroke.

Statins blunt thrombin-induced down-regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in human endothelial cells.

Thrombin plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of acute coronary syndromes by mediating thrombus formation and endothelium-dependent vasomotor dysfunction. In human endothelial cells, prolonged incubation with thrombin down-regulates endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression via activation of Rho. Statins are effective in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 mediates endothelial cell activation by tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

Background: Endothelial cell transformation to a thrombogenic and inflammatory phenotype plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, but the responsible signaling pathways remain to be elucidated. This study was designed to investigate the regulatory role of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) in tissue factor (TF) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 expression in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-stimulated endothelial cells.

Methods And Results: In human endothelial cells, TNF-alpha as well as thrombin induced rapid and transient dephosphorylation and hence, activation of GSK-3.