Publications by authors named "N M Durante"

Thyroid dysfunction and toxic metal exposure have been linked to the increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, the relationship between those factors remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the serum level of hormones, namely thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (fT3), free thyroxine (fT4), and urinary cadmium (U-Cd) and urinary manganese (U-Mn), in patients with ASD. The study group consisted of 129 adolescents with ASD, and the control group consisted of 86 healthy persons.

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Manipulation of chemistry and film growth via external electric fields is a longstanding goal in surface science. Numerous systems have been predicted to show such effects but experimental evidence is sparse. Here we demonstrate in a custom-designed UHV apparatus that the application of spatially extended, homogeneous, very high (>1 V nm(-1)) DC-fields not only changes the system energetics but triggers dynamic processes which become important much before static contributions appreciably modify the potential energy landscape.

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The pharmacokinetics of oral dexniguldipine, a new multidrug-resistance-modifying agent under clinical evaluation, and its pyridine metabolite M-1 were determined in plasma, tumor, and renal tissue in Wag/Rij rats bearing a multidrug-resistant CC531 colon adenocarcinoma tumor under the renal capsule. The pharmacokinetics were studied in four experiments. After a single administration of dexniguldipine (30 mg/kg), tumors and kidneys were collected after 5 (experiment 1), 24 (experiment 2), and 48 h (experiment 3).

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The efficacy of isolated limb perfusion (ILP) for 'intransit' metastases from malignant melanoma and irresectable soft tissue sarcoma has been improved considerably by the addition of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) alpha. A rat sarcoma tumour model was, therefore, developed to evaluate the effects of TNF-alpha, melphalan and the combination of these drugs in the treatment of sarcoma. In BN rats bearing the non-immunogenic BN 175 sarcoma ILPs were performed with perfusate only, TNF-alpha, melphalan alone, or in combination when tumours had grown to approximately 1.

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