Plasma and urinary endothelin-1 titers and plasma von Willebrand activity in Pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

We found high endothelin-1 and von Willebrand factor plasma titers not only in two individuals (daughter and father) affected with Pseudoxanthoma elasticum but also in a young unaffected relative. These findings raise the possibility that these molecules could be the first biochemical fingerprints of this, still not clinically evident, rare inherited disorder of elastic tissue.

Epirubicin and etoposide combination chemotherapy to treat hepatocellular carcinoma patients: a phase II study.

Approximately half the patients affected with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) present with unresectable disease, so that efficacious systemic chemotherapy protocols are badly needed. We report the results of a phase-II study aimed at testing the efficacy and toxicity of a combination of epirubicin and VP-16. Thirty six patients (80 men and 6 women) received epirubicin (40 mg/m2, on day 1) and VP-16 (120 mg/m2, on days 1, 3 and 5) every 28th day.

[Connections between the phrenic arteries and various visceral arteries].

During an angiographic research carried out over more than 1100 cases, some connections between the phrenic arteries and the arteries of the hepatic, superior mesenteric and renal districts were observed. The AA. point out the presence of these connections even of thin calibre, their right prevalence (71%), and their uncertain embryologic origin.

Alcohol impairs age-dependent adaptation of human lymphocyte beta-adrenergic receptors.

Lymphocyte beta-adrenergic receptor function and norepinephrine (NE) plasma concentration have been compared in normal subjects and in ethanol-addicted patients of different ages. Direct measurement of the density and properties of beta-adrenoceptors in membrane fractions was performed using the radioligand 125I-Iodocyanopindolol (ICYP). In normal subjects beta-receptor density decreased and norepinephrine plasma concentration increased with age.

Erythrocyte 3H-ouabain binding and digitalis treatment in ethanol addicted patients.

The binding of 3H-ouabain to human erythrocytes was analyzed in a population of hospitalized male ethanol addicted patients under long term digitalis treatment. In the non-alcoholic patient group the long term digitalis treatment induced an increase in Bmax and Kd values; such modification was not observed in the alcoholic patients. Chronic alcohol intake itself induced an increase in 3H-ouabain kinetic parameters.