Gallium distribution in several human brain areas.

Gallium is an element of increasing biological interest: It is involved in problems related to environmental pollution (Ga compounds are used in electronics industry) and to clinical treatments (Ga radionuclides are employed to detect neoplastic lesions). Moreover, since its chemical behavior is similar to that of aluminum, gallium could play a role in the health effects attributed to this element. Data on naturally occurring Ga levels in human samples from healthy subjects are scanty; regarding the brain, the only reliable values available in the literature were published by Hamilton in 1972/73.

Paraneoplastic syndrome in the course of Hodgkin disease. Case report.

A woman with Hodgkin disease presented a neoplastic syndrome of unusual magnitude affecting both the CNS and PNS. The severity of the clinical pattern contrasted strongly with the paucity of neuropathological findings. The report is followed by a brief discussion of the etiological and clinical problems of paraneoplastic syndromes affecting the nervous system.

Aluminum removal after chronic intoxication in rats.

Aluminum concentrations were measured in serum and in the bone, liver, spleen, kidney and brain of male Wistar rats treated with aluminum lactate. The administration was performed intraperitoneally over a period of 109 days, giving a total elemental aluminum dose of 128 mg per rat. After loading, a group of animals was killed together with blanks to verify the level of aluminum accumulation.

Bone aluminum content in predialysis chronic renal failure and its relation with secondary hyperparathyroidism and 1,25(OH)2D3 treatment.

32 patients with slowly evolving predialysis chronic renal failure, who were not exposed to aluminum-containing antacids, were studied. A low aluminum intake was considered a useful condition to examine the bone deposition of the element as dependent variable, not interfering with PTH secretion and bone metabolism. Iliac bone biopsies for bone aluminum content and histomorphometric and histodynamic evaluations were taken.

Experimental aluminum intoxication and parathormone: effects on the mineralization process.

In order to study the effect of aluminum intoxication on bone and bone cells in normal animals and its relationship with hyperparathyroidism, and so to obtain further data on a pathogenetic role of this condition in inducing osteomalacia in uremic patients, 31 rats divided in four groups were injected intraperitoneally for 11 weeks with: Al (75.6 mg); Al-PTH (Al = 75.6 mg + PTH = 200 USP during the last week); C (saline solution), and C-PTH (saline solution + PTH = 200 USP during the last week).

Distribution of aluminium following intraperitoneal injection of aluminium lactate in the rat.

An animal experiment was performed to evaluate the absorption and distribution of aluminium in serum and tissues of normal rats. The animals were intraperitoneally injected with an aluminium lactate solution at a pH adjusted to 7.0.

Mercury, cadmium and lead levels in marine organisms (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk.) collected along the Italian coasts.

The growing importance assumed in the last ten years by contamination of the marine environment caused by heavy metals has evidenced the necessity to constantly deepen the knowledge of pollutant concentration that can reach man through the food chain. Particularly interesting is the determination of potentially toxic elements in marine organisms which through accumulation and concentration processes can provide a direct correlation with the ecosystem's degree of contamination. The present study takes into account the determination of mercury, cadmium and lead in samples of Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk.

Predictive value of serum aluminium levels for bone accumulation in haemodialyzed patients.

Uremic patients undergoing long-term dialysis risk accumulating tissue aluminium burdens and developing aluminium-related syndromes, such as dialysis encephalopathy and osteomalacia. A statistical retrospective study on 253 uremic subjects was carried out to verify the predictive value of serum aluminium levels on bone aluminium accumulation. Serum and bone samples collected at the same time were analyzed for aluminium content.

Cardiotoxicity of the lipophilic compound aluminum acetylacetonate in rabbits.

Aluminum acetylacetonate was administered to New Zealand white rabbits as liposome preparations and was found to distribute approximately 1:1 between water and phosphatidylcholine dipalmitoyl vesicles. Biochemical monitoring proved that after 2 weeks of daily injection of 40 micrograms of Al(III) in the above form, the animals developed significant signs of cardiac suffering, evidenced by variations in lactic dehydrogenase and creatinine phospokinase. Histopathologic investigation revealed that aluminum acetylacetonate caused unambiguous myocardial infarcts, characterized by myocardial contraction bands.

Diverse point mutations in the human glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene cause enzyme deficiency and mild or severe hemolytic anemia.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD; EC 1.1.1.

Alzheimer dementia and the aluminum hypothesis.

The possible involvement of environmental aluminum in the etiology of Alzheimer disease and of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type is supported by both direct and indirect relationships between some encephalopathies and the abnormal presence of aluminum(III) in human and animal brain tissues. Proposals for further biochemical, toxicological and analytical work are illustrated.

Aluminum bone content in dialysis osteodystrophy with secondary hyperparathyroidism.

To assess whether parathyroid hormone (PTH) has any effect on bone aluminium (A1) accumulation, we evaluated the relationship between bone quantitative histomorphometry and bone A1 content in 25 dialysis patients with clinical features of secondary hyperparathyroidism. By means of bone biopsy, patients were classified as showing predominant hyperparathyroidism in 17 cases and mixed lesions in 8. The A1 burden was low, judging from the dialysate A1 and the oral A1 assumption.

Intracranial sarcoma with reactive glioma: a clinicopathological case report.

The clinicopathologic picture of a case of so-called 'sarcoglioma' is reported. This tumor is characterized by a core of sarcomatous tissue, surrounded by an area of gradual transition from reactive to neoplastic glial cells; it occurs in children or in young adults and is very rare in comparison with the secondary sarcoma deriving from the vascular component of a glioblastoma (so-called 'gliosarcoma'). The clinical and laboratory features and the pathology of this case are discussed in detail.

A neutral lipophilic compound of aluminum(III) as a cause of myocardial infarct in the rabbit.

Intravenous administration of aluminum(III) in the form of the hydrolytically stable and moderately lipophilic complex acetylacetonate in the rabbit a severe pathological picture, the most significant feature of which is the occurrence of a myocardial infarct.

Pineal germinoma: diagnosis, treatment and tumor response.

We report the case of pineal germinoma in a 25 year old man. The neurological signs and symptoms were insidious in onset; Parinaud syndrome allowed a topical diagnosis, confirmed by CT scan. Computerized Tomography and CSF cytological examination were of the utmost importance to diagnosis and treatment and it confirmed the success of radiotherapy.

L-ascorbatemia during biofiltration.

In a study of the intradialytic behaviour of l-ascorbatemia during acetate and bicarbonate dialysis we noted the paradoxical increase in l-ascorbatemia during the first hour of acetate dialysis. During biofiltration, the intradialytic curve of l-ascorbatemia is similar to that in bicarbonate dialysis, even though an acetate dialysis bath is used. Thus the paradoxical rise of l-ascorbatemia during acetate dialysis may be due to the relative acidosis of the first hour.

[Neoplasms of the brain stem: clinico-pathologic correlations].

We report here the clinico-pathological data about 4 patients with brainstem tumors. Clinical symptoms were variable but allowed a correct topical diagnosis. On the other hand, all the neuroradiological examinations, especially CT scan of the brain, resulted always negative or without diagnostic value.