Search results for " Medicina Interna"
showing 10 items of 1302 documents
Guinea pig transglutaminase immunolinked assay does not predict coeliac disease in patients with chronic liver disease
2001
BACKGROUND—It has been suggested that serological screening for coeliac disease (CD) should be performed in patients with chronic unexplained hypertransaminasaemia. AIMS—To evaluate the specificity for CD diagnosis of serum IgA antitissue transglutaminase (tTG) determination in consecutive patients with chronic hypertransaminasaemia using the most widely utilised ELISA based on tTG from guinea pig as the antigen. PATIENTS AND METHODS—We studied 98 patients with chronic hypertransaminasaemia, evaluated for the first time in a hepatology clinic. Serum anti-tTG and antiendomysial (EmA) assays were performed. Patients positive for EmA and/or anti-tTG were proposed for intestinal biopsy. Finally…
Contact dermatitis due to nickel allergy in patients suffering from non-celiac wheat sensitivity
2017
Background: Non‐celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS) is a new clinical entity in the world of gluten‐related diseases. Nickel, the most frequent cause of contact allergy, can be found in wheat and results in systemic nickel allergy syndrome and mimics irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Objective: To evaluate the frequency of contact dermatitis due to nickel allergy in NCWS patients diagnosed by a double‐blind placebo‐controlled(DBPC)challenge,and to identify the characteristics of NCWS patients with nickel allergy. Methods: We performed a prospective study of 60 patients (54 females, 6 males; mean age 34.1 ± 8.1 years) diagnosed with NCWS from December 2014 to November 2016; 80 age‐ and sex‐matched…
Lomitapide affects HDL composition and function
2016
Abstract Background Lomitapide reduces low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) but also high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. The latter may reduce the clinical efficacy of lomitapide. We investigated the effect of lomitapide on HDL-C levels and on cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) of HDL in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Methods and results Four HoFH patients were treated with increasing dosages of lomitapide. Lomitapide decreased LDL-C (range −34 to −89%). Total HDL-C levels decreased (range −16 to −34%) with a shift to buoyant HDL. ABCA1-mediated CEC decreased in all patients (range −39 to −99%). The changes of total, ABCG1- and SR-BI-me…
A case of bowel schistosomiasis not adhering to endoscopic findings
2005
Schistosomiasis is a chronic worm infection caused by a species of trematodes, the Schistosomes. We may distinguish a urinary form from Schistosomes haematobium and an intestinal-hepatosplenic form mainly from Schistosomes mansoni characterized by nausea, meteorism, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, rectal tenesmus, and hepatosplenomegaly. These infections represent a major health issue in Africa, Asia, and South America, but recently S mansoni has increased its prevalence in other continents, such as Europe countries and North America, due to international travelers and immigrants, with several diagnostic and prevention problems. We report a case of a 24-year-old patient without HIV infecti…
[Cardiac arrhythmias in hypertensive subjects with and without left ventricular hypertrophy compared to the circadian profile of the blood pressure].
1990
To evaluate possible correlations between cardiac arrhythmias and circadian pattern of blood pressure (BP) and of heart rate (HR), we studied 2 groups of 20 males with stable arterial hypertension of mild to moderate entity, with (Group I) or without (Group II) left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). In patients with LVH the mean age (56 vs 46 years), the duration of the hypertensive state (48.1 vs 15.7 months), the thickening of interventricular septum (IVS; 13.7 vs 9.6 mm) and of the posterior wall of the left ventricle (13.2 vs 9.2 mm) and the mass of LV (149.8 vs 99.7 g/m2) were significantly greater (p less than 0.01). On the contrary, the 2 groups did not show significant differences conc…
Ageing, lifestyle modifications, and cardiovascular disease in developing countries.
2006
Developing countries face the double menace of still prevalent infectious diseases and increasing cardiovascular disease (CVD) with epidemic proportions in the near future, linked to demographic changes (expansion and ageing), and to urbanisation and lifestyle modifications. It is estimated that the elderly population will increase globally (over 80% during the next 25 years), with a large share of this rise in the developing world because of expanding populations. Increasing longevity prolongs the time exposure to risk factors, resulting in a greater probability of CVD. As a paradox, increased longevity due to improved social and economical conditions associated with lifestyle changes in t…
Association between reduced lymphocyte beta-adrenergic receptors and left ventricular dysfunction in young obese subjects
1994
This study was designed to evaluate total (t) and surface (s) beta-adrenergic receptors (BAR) density and their relationships with left ventricular function in young obese subjects. BAR density, plasma insulin, catecholamines and left ventricular function were evaluated in 27 young obese subjects (BMI30.5 kg/m2 for males and27.3 kg/m2 for females) without other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (smoking, hypertension, diabetes and lipid abnormalities) and in 20 lean controls (BMI25 kg/m2 for males and24.7 kg/m2 for females). Both groups were matched for gender, age and body height. BAR density was evaluated according to Böyum and De Blasi methods. Plasma catecholamines by high perfus…
Clinical course of rhinitis and changes in vivo and in vitro of allergic parameters in elderly patients: a long-term follow-up study
2012
Changes in rhinitis symptom severity tend to decrease with aging, but whether the decrease is associated with allergic skin test reactivity, serum total and specific IgE, and nasal eosinophils or determined only by aging is poorly understood. The aim of the study was to analyze sensitivity in vivo and in vitro some 15 years after primary testing, skin prick test (SPT), serum total and specific IgE, ratio sIgE/tIgE, and nasal eosinophils in order to evaluate changes due to age and changes due to the severity of rhinitis symptoms. One hundred and eight rhinitis patients who had been investigated in 1995 were re-interviewed and their current allergy re-assessed after a follow-up of 15 years. A…
Lipid Peroxidation, Nitric Oxide Metabolites, and Their Ratio in a Group of Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome
2014
Our aim was to evaluate lipid peroxidation, expressed as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), nitric oxide metabolites (nitrite + nitrate) expressed asNOx, and TBARS/NOxratio in a group of subjects with metabolic syndrome (MS). In this regard we enrolled 106 subjects with MS defined according to the IDF criteria, subsequently subdivided into diabetic (DMS) and nondiabetic (NDMS) and also into subjects with a low triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) index or with a high TG/HDL-C index. In the entire group and in the four subgroups of MS subjects we found an increase in TBARS andNOxlevels and a decrease in TBARS/NOxratio in comparison with normal controls. Regarding all these …
Evaluation of serum s-IgE/total IgE ratio in predicting clinical response to allergen-specific immunotherapy.
2009
Background: To date, no predictive tests for the clinical response to allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASI) are available. Therefore an in vivo or in vitro test would be of great value. Objective: We sought to evaluate pretreatment parameters used in diagnosing allergic rhinitis and determining serum specific IgE (s-IgE) levels, serum total IgE (t-IgE) levels, and blood eosinophil counts and to identify whether can be used to predict clinical improvement in monosensitized patients with allergic rhinitis with or without asthma treated with immunotherapy. Methods:We analyzed 279 patients who had undergone 4 years of ASI administered either by means of the subcutaneous immunotherapy (76 patien…