1,720,959 research outputs found
Primary Cardiac Fibroma and Cardiac Conduction System Alterations in a Case of Sudden Death of a 4-month-old Infant
No full textA 4-month-old female infant considered to be in good health died suddenly and unexpectedly. Post- mortem examination was requested, with clinical diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome. At autopsy the infant was described in good health. Histo- logical examination of the heart found a cardiac fibroma compressing the atrio-ventricular node and the examination of the cardiac conduction system showed an accessory fiber of Mahaim (nodo-ventricular) and cartilaginous metaplasia of the cardiac fibrous body. Probably the concomitant presence of cardiac conduction system abnormalities and a septal fibroma, compressing the atrio-ventricular node, could have an important role in causing the sudden death
Feto-Placental atherosclerotic lesions in intrauterine fetal demise: role of parental cigarette smoking
No full textThe atherogenic effect of cigarette smoking is already recognizable in coronary arteries of fetuses in the
last gestational weeks. In this study we analyzed the atherogenic effect of mother’s and father’s smoking habit on
coronary arteries and even on adnexa of 30 human fresh fetuses died from 32 to 41 gestational weeks. In 12 cases only
the mothers of the victims were cigarette smokers, in 7 cases only the fathers were smokers, whereas in 11 cases nobody
smoked.
We observed pre-atherosclerotic and initial atherosclerotic lesions of the adnexa in 21 cases, of which 11 cases
had only mother smokers and 6 cases only father smokers. The atherogenic effect is statistically significant in both
smoker groups, but stronger in maternal one. The atherosclerotic lesions found in umbilical and placental arteries are
similar to those described in fetal coronary arteries: thickening of the arterial walls caused by proliferation and migration
of the smooth muscle cells of the tunica media with loss of polarity and infiltration of the subendothelial connective tissu
Italian national data bank of stillbirth vs. SIDS.
Full text linkSudden perinatal death, which includes antepartum
death (from 22 completed weeks of gestation), intrapartum
death and early neonatal death (occurring
within seven completed days of life), and sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS), represents one of the major
sociomedical and scientific problems still lacking a
solution in today’s medicine.1 However, little effort is
being made to find a cause of these deaths, as there is
no standard method of performing an autopsy in these
victims, and no database exists from which researchers
can draw autopsy results. Therefore, the need to submit
the young victims to necropsy procedures through a
standardized protocol is unanimously recognized, and
the chance of preventing perinatal unexpected death
and SIDS relies mainly on a better knowledge of the
underlying alterations of organs and etiopathogenetic
mechanisms. Similarly, for diagnostic purposes, an
accurate and careful examination of the circumstantial,
environmental, and familial situation within which the
death occurred is extremely important.
All the information related to victims of sudden
and unexplained fetal death and SIDS will soon be
made available in Italy through a specific data bank
established under the Law 31/2006 “Regulations for
Diagnostic Post Mortem Investigation in Victims of
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Unexpected
Fetal Death.”2 This law mandates that infants
who die suddenly within one year of life, and fetuses
that die after 22 weeks of gestation without any
apparent cause, must be rapidly submitted—with the
consent of both parents—to diagnostic postmortem
investigation.3 Information about the pregnancy, fetal
development and delivery, and, in the case of SIDS,
the environmental and familial situation in which the
death occurred—in addition to information related
to risk factors—must be collected by the obstetriciangynecologist,
neonatologist, pediatrician, and pathologist
involved in the case and recorded in the registry of
the data bank. In addition, to facilitate the collection
and analysis of the data, this data bank will allow the
Lino Rossi Research Center in collaboration with the
Epidemiology Center of the Italian National Health
Institute to update the population through public
education
and prevention programs aimed at decreasing
the incidence of stillbirth and SIDS
Severe intra- and periventricular hemorrhage: role of arteriolosclerosis related to maternal smoke
Full text linkThe authors aimed to describe the atherosclerotic lesions of the cerebral arterioles, as a substrate of their rupture and bleeding for ests.
The study was performed on brain of 9 caucasian fetal victims of intra- and periventricular hemorrhage, all grade IV, and 9 control cases.
In the 9 victims of hemorrhage the arteriolar wall structure was altered, focally transformed into a deposit of amorphous eosinophilic material. Such changes often affected the full-thickness of the wall, causing rupture and hemorrhage. In 8 of these cases and in 2 victims of the control group the mothers were heavy cigarette smokers (15-20 cigarettes/day) before and during pregnancy.
The authors conclude that intra- and periventricular haemorrhage can be ascribed to the toxic effects of prenatal absorption of nicotine
Neuropathology of the area postrema in sudden intrauterine and infant death syndromes related to tobacco smoke exposure
No full textThe area postrema is a densely vascularized small protuberance at the inferoposterior limit of the fourth ventricle, outside of the blood-brain barrier. This structure, besides to induce emetic reflex in presence of noxious chemical stimulation, has a multifunctional integrative capacity to send major and minor efferents to a variety of brain centers particularly involved in autonomic control of the cardiovascular and respiratory activities.
In this study we aimed to focus on the area postrema, is so far little studied in humans, in a large sample of subjects aged from 25 gestational weeks to 10 postnatal months, who died of unknown (sudden unexplained perinatal and infant deaths) and known causes (controls). Besides we investigated a possible link between alterations of this structure, sudden unexplained fetal and infant death and maternal smoking.
By the application of morphological and immunohistochemical methods, we observed a significantly high incidence of alterations of the area postrema in fetal and infant victims of sudden death as compared with age-matched controls. These pathological findings, including hypoplasia, lack of vascularization, cystic formations and reactive gliosis, were related to maternal smoking. We hypothesize that components from maternal cigarette smoke, particularly in pregnancy, could affect neurons of the area postrema connected with specific nervous centers involved in the control of vital functions. In conclusion, we suggest that the area postrema should be in depth examined particularly in victims of sudden fetal or infant death with smoker mothers
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Sudden death of an infant with cardiac, nervous system and genetic involvement – a case report
No full textWe present a case of sudden death of a 1-month-old male infant with heart, brainstem and genetic polymorphism involvement. Previously considered quite healthy, the child died suddenly and unexpectedly during sleep. The autopsy protocol included an in-depth anatomopathological examination of both the autonomic nervous system and the cardiac conduction system, and molecular analysis of the serotonin transporter gene promoter region, in which a specific genetic condition seems to be associated with sudden infant death. Histological examination revealed the presence of congenital cardiac alterations (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and an accessory Mahaim fiber in the cardiac conduction system), severe hypodevelopment of all the raphe nuclei and a heterozygous genotype L/S related to the serotonin transporter gene. The sudden death of this infant was the unavoidable outcome of a complex series of congenital anomalies, each predisposing to SIDS
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