MR-based simplified extraprostatic extension evaluation: comparison of performances of different predictive models.

Objectives: To test reproducibility and predictive value of a simplified score for assessment of extraprostatic tumor extension (sEPE grade).

Methods: Sixty-five patients (mean age ± SD, 67 years ± 6.3) treated with radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer who underwent 1.

Bioresorbable vascular scaffold in patients with complex coronary artery disease.

The advent of fully bioresorbable stent technology is heralded as breakthrough technology in the current era of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). Bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) have the potential to introduce a paradigm shift in interventional cardiology, representing an anatomical and functional "vascular restoration" therapy instead of an artificial stiff tube encased by persistent metallic foreign body. Among BRS, the everolimus-eluting scaffold (ABSORB, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA, USA) has been the most extensively investigated in clinical studies.

Plasma endothelin-1 concentrations during cold exposure in essential acrocyanosis.

To assess endothelin-1 (ET-1) response to cold stimulation in essential acrocyanosis (EA), the authors measured ET-1 plasma concentrations in 6 patients with EA (6 women, age range seventeen to thirty-seven years) and in 6 controls (5 women, 1 man, age range twenty-one to thirty-seven years) before and after cold challenge by unilateral hand immersion in water bath at 13 degrees C for five minutes. The contralateral upper limb was considered as control. Blood samples were simultaneously drawn from an antecubital vein in the cooled side and in the contralateral upper limb at baseline, at the end of cooling, and at ten and ninety minutes after cooling was begun.

Raised plasma endothelin-1 concentrations in patients with primary hypercholesterolemia without evidence of atherosclerosis.

The present study was designed to investigate the pattern of circulating endothelin-1 (ET-1), a potent vasoconstricting mitogenic endothelium-derived peptide, in relation to primary increase in serum cholesterol in humans. We measured plasma ET-1 concentrations by radioimmunoassay (Amersham, UK) in 8 patients (6 females and 2 males, aged 42-62 years) with primary hypercholesterolemia, non-smokers, without evidence of cardiovascular disease, and in 8 healthy sex-and age-matched control subjects. The mean (+/- SD) values of serum total cholesterol, low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglycerides in the hypercholesterolemic subjects were 7.

The vasoactive peptidergic system.

A great body of evidence emerging, for the most part, from studies on molecular biology has recently supported the existence of a hypothetical peptidergic system acting at the perivascular level for "local" control of vasomotion. Other well-known systems involved in the homeostasis of circulation, i.e.

Atrial natriuretic peptide response to postural changes and upright exercise in patients with venous valvular insufficiency.

To investigate the effects of postural changes and upright exercise on atrial natriuretic peptide release and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system behavior in patients with venous valvular insufficiency, plasma ANP, plasma renin activity and aldosterone were measured in 11 patients with venous disease and in 11 age-matched controls. In patients with large varicose veins and venous valvular dysfunction, standing was associated with a greater fall in circulating ANP levels (p < 0.05) and upright exercise was accompanied by a smaller rise in ANP concentrations (p < 0.

Transient myocardial ischemia stimulates atrial natriuretic factor release.

Atrial natriuretic factor release during transient myocardial ischemia was investigated in 29 patients with coronary artery disease and symptoms of angina (Canadian Cardiovascular Association classes II-III). Eleven patients (group I) underwent single-vessel percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Repeat determinations of mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure and blood sampling from pulmonary artery for atrial natriuretic factor measurements were performed at baseline, and at 2, 5, and 15 minutes after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty was begun.

Plasmatic markers of bone metabolism.

Bone metabolism is characterized by continuous remodeling in which different cell lines, hormone systems and local mediators intervene. A useful method for the study of this process is evaluation of the physiopathological and clinical significance of substances which are involved in local turnover and at the same time are present in general circulation. These plasmatic markers are represented chiefly by bone-Gla-protein and alpha-HS-glycoprotein--peptides which belong to the more specific proteic component of the organic matrix in which reabsorption and neoformation take place, from the phosphatases to interleukin-1.

Comparison of ketanserin and enalapril in the treatment of mild-to-moderate essential hypertension.

In a double-blind 3-month study in mild-to-moderate essential hypertensive patients over 50 years of age, ketanserin, a selective S2-serotoninergic antagonist with additional alpha 1-adrenergic blocking properties, has been compared with enalapril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. Supine and upright blood pressures and heart rates were recorded for placebo and during active treatment (-4, -2, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks). Metabolic profile (plasma glucose, creatinine, sodium, potassium, total and HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid) was monitored during treatment with placebo and at the end of the study.

Baseline and post-atrial pacing release of atrial natriuretic factor in mitral stenosis.

To investigate the release of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in mitral stenosis and the influence of the increase on the frequency of atrial contraction or atrial distention on ANF secretion, we studied 10 patients with symptoms of congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association classes II and III) in sinus rhythm, who were undergoing cardiac catheterization as part of an evaluation workup for mitral stenosis. Echocardiographic tracings, repeat determinations of mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure (MPAWP) and mean right atrial pressure, and blood sampling from the pulmonary artery for measurements of ANF were performed at baseline, during atrial pacing (pacing rate of 125 beats/min for 5 minutes), and 5 minutes after the pacing protocol was completed. Baseline ANF levels were closely related to right atrial pressure (r = 0.

Evidence for a further stimulation of atrial natriuretic factor release by atrial pacing in patients with mitral stenosis.

To investigate the release of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in mitral stenosis and the effect of an increased atrial contraction frequency on atrial distension and ANF secretion, we studied 14 patients [New York Heart Association (NYHA) grades II-III] in sinus rhythm, undergoing cardiac catheterization for mitral stenosis. Echocardiographic tracings, repeat determinations of mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure and blood samples from the pulmonary artery for ANF measurements were taken at baseline, during atrial pacing (125 beats/min for 5 min) and 5 min after pacing. After pacing, ANF levels rose markedly with a parallel increase in mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure and left atrial size.

Acute effects of salmon calcitonin in man include stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.

The present double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over study was designed to evaluate the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system behavior after a short-term infusion of a pharmacological dose (100 MRC U) of salmon calcitonin. Overall, a significant increase in plasma renin activity, aldosterone and serum angiotensin-converting enzyme was seen throughout. This effect may be, at least in part, due to the renal loss in sodium and calcium ions, while the increased kaliuresis could be interpreted as a consequence of the stimulation of aldosterone release.

[Social unsuitability in the developmental age. Hypothesis for new structures helping social adjustment].

In this report the Authors analise, according to their different competences, from a psychiatric, psycho-sociological, and of judicial politics point of view, a case of neurosis of conflict during adolescence, with an anti-social development, regarding which it has been ascertained that the measures of restoration, which have been adopted, have failed their purpose. They have, as a matter of fact, paradoxically fixed the subject even more in his anti-social condition, not giving him the possibility of escaping the psycho-pathological destiny of negative sociopatic deviation. The Authors, in this report, reflect upon the meaning of the Institutes of restoration and punishment in the light of the new re-educational conceptions, pointing out their limits.