La Ricerca in clinica e in laboratorio最新文献

In a group of 23 patients with advanced liver cirrhosis we have found a statistically significant positive correlation (r = 0.746; p less than 0.0001) between fibronectin and prealbumin levels measured in plasma by immunonephelometric methods and found significantly lower than in healthy controls (p less than 0.001). On the contrary, no correlation of fibronectin neither to albumin nor to the presence of an enlarged spleen was observed. Since the sensitivity of prealbumin as an index of liver function is believed to be higher than that of albumin, our results support the view that the decreased fibronectin in advanced cirrhotics is mainly due to their liver failure, an enlarged spleen playing only a minor role.

Plasma B beta 15-42 and fibrinopeptide A (FPA) concentrations, which are respectively indicators of plasmin and thrombin in vivo activity, were measured in 46 patients with ischemic arterial disease without signs of acute thrombosis. In the group as a whole, an increase in both B beta 15-42 and FPA was found. When the patients were divided in two groups on the basis of their reversible (transitory ischemic attacks and unstable angina) or irreversible (stroke and myocardial infarction) ischemic episodes, the levels of B beta 15-42 were significantly elevated only in the former group when compared to controls (p less than 0.01). In the latter group we found significantly increased levels of FPA with respect to both controls (p less than 0.01) and patients with reversible and transient ischemic episodes (p less than 0.05). Moreover, the B beta 15-42/FPA ratio was significantly lower in patients with irreversible ischemic episodes than in controls (p less than 0.01) and patients with transient ischemic episodes (p less than 0.01), while no difference was found between the latter group and controls, although FPA and B beta 15-42 were significantly higher. These results suggest that in patients with transient and reversible ischemic episodes fibrinolytic activity is able to counterbalance an increased thrombin activity, while this does not appear to occur in patients with irreversible ischemic episodes.

Authors report the results of the isoenzyme analysis of strains of Entamoeba histolytica isolated from international travellers. This recently developed method allows the detection of pathogenic strains by evaluating the electrophoretic mobility of cytoplasmic enzymes and was proved to be more reliable and quickly feasible than previous ones. The experience reported refers to three strains isolated from travellers coming from Ecuador, Brazil and Indonesia, respectively; the zymodeme XIX (in accordance with the Sargeaunt's classification) was identified in all the three cases. This zymodeme has been first detected in 1981 and should currently be considered rare; moreover, it has never been previously reported from the Americas.

The effect of different stimuli on the expression of the low-affinity receptor for the Fc fragment of IgE (Fc epsilon R2/CD23) on peripheral blood B cells from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was investigated. CLL B cells cultured for 3 days in medium alone showed a progressive decrease of the Fc epsilon R2/CD23 expression, while the addition to the cell cultures of IgE or interleukin-4 had a slackening effect on the decrease of the Fc epsilon R2/CD23. In contrast, in the presence of interferon-gamma the proportion of Fc epsilon R2/CD23+ cells was more rapidly reduced compared to CLL B cells cultured in medium alone. Stimulation of CLL B cells with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SAC) bacteria, which are able to enhance the expression of Fc epsilon R2/CD23 on normal B cells, induced a rapid loss of the Fc epsilon R2/CD23 from CLL B cells.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the changes of common laboratory parameters in the natural evolution of liver cirrhosis, as well as their relationships with the occurrence of ascites onset and death. Routine laboratory findings of 458 patients suffering from liver cirrhosis admitted to a 9-year follow-up period were retrospectively investigated, but only data of the 138 subjects (95 males and 43 females) who died within the follow-up period were considered. Data were grouped into different classes according to the months elapsed before ascites onset or death. The statistical differences among the various groups were evaluated employing analysis of variance and Turkey's test. No laboratory parameter showed statistically significant changes before or at the time of ascites onset, while significant modifications occurred in four liver indexes (albumin, total bilirubin, platelet count and gammaglobulin percentage) during the course of the illness, thus confirming the reliable prognostic value of these laboratory parameters in liver cirrhosis.

In 498 subjects (205 normolipidemics and 293 hyperlipidemics) of both sexes, the cholesterol content of high density lipoprotein (HDL) subfractions has been determined. The serum concentration of total HDL-cholesterol appears to be more strictly related to the cholesterol content of HDL2 than to that of HDL3. This latter one, however, gives a contribution to the variability of HDL-cholesterol so that the value of HDL-cholesterol cannot be assumed as a reliable estimate of the serum level of the more anti-atherogenic HDL2 subfraction. The cholesterol content of HDL and its subfractions is higher in women than in men and decreases with increasing serum VLDL-cholesterol level and body weight. Both HDL2- and HDL3-cholesterol appear to largely depend from the metabolism of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins in accordance with the data of experimental studies.

Cholesterol/phospholipids molar ratio and fatty acid composition have been estimated in erythrocyte membrane of 12 patients suffering from nephrotic syndrome and compared to values obtained in 23 normal subjects matched for sex and age. The membrane lipid composition has been correlated with the activity of erythrocyte Li-Na countertransport of the same subjects. The results show a significant increase in cholesterol/phospholipids ratio and total saturated fatty acids when erythrocytes of nephrotic patients are compared to normal erythrocytes, whereas total unsaturated fatty acids were lower in nephrotics (p less than 0.002). Li-Na countertransport was higher in nephrotics (p less than 0.001) and it was positively correlated with the total amount of saturated fatty acids of the erythrocyte membrane (r = +0.451; p less than 0.01). On the contrary, Li-Na countertransport was negatively correlated with the total amount of unsaturated fatty acids (r = -0.468; p less than 0.01).

Research during the last 15 years has conclusively shown that viroids are not only fundamentally different from viruses at the molecular level, but that they are most likely not directly related to viruses in an evolutionary sense. Today, viroids are among the most thoroughly studied biological macromolecules. Their molecular structures have been elucidated to a large extent, but much needs to be learned regarding the correlation between molecular structure and biological function. The availability of the tools of recombinant DNA technology in viroid research promises rapid progress in these areas of inquiry.

The immunocytochemical characterization of neoplastic cells recognized by a large panel of monoclonal antibodies in fine needle aspirates obtained from 16 subjects with superficial or profound tumoral masses of unknown origin was carried out using alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase (APAAP) immunoenzymatic method. The patients were selected on the basis of particular clinical criteria or since a correct cytohistological diagnosis was not available. APAAP immunophenotyping allowed to establish the existence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 6 cases, hairy cell leukemia in 1 case and carcinoma in 5 cases, while in other 2 patients the existence of Hodgkin's disease was suspected and subsequently confirmed; only in 2 subjects diagnostic informations were lacking. Furthermore, the evaluation of growth fraction by means of Ki 67 monoclonal antibody revealed a high degree of malignancy in all cases of lymphoma. Although some cautions have to be considered in the interpretation of results, APAAP immunocytochemical typing of fine needle aspirates appears a simple and reliable noninvasive diagnostic tool in selected patients.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated to different clinical and laboratory hemostatic alterations. The most important is thrombocytopenia, which very often leads to a picture indistinguishable from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura with poor clinical relevance but with possible important problems of differential diagnosis. Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is sometimes associated to HIV infections, although only few reports there exist. Finally, the high incidence of lupus anticoagulant in some phases of HIV infection has not a clinical relevance, but is essentially a laboratory finding which is to be known because it can cause a prolonged partial thromboplastin time.