1,896 research outputs found
Cholesterol metabolism in primary biliary cirrhosis during simvastatin and UDCA administration
No full textLittle is known about the effects of cholesterol-lowering agents in hypercholesterolemic patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The aim of this study was to compare the changes induced by simvastatin and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) on cholesterol metabolism in patients with PBC and preserved liver function. Six patients with PBC were administered simvastatin (40 mg/day) for 30 days and, after a washout period of 30 days, ursodeoxycholic acid (600 mg/day) for 30 days. Serum levels of lathosterol, campesterol, 7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol, and 27-hydroxycholesterol were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. During simvastatin administration, reduction of cholesterol levels (34% in 30 days) was paralleled by the decrease of lathosterol (55%), whereas concentrations of campesterol and of the two hydroxysterols were not substantially modified. During ursodeoxycholic acid administration, a trend toward a decrease of serum cholesterol concentrations was observed after only one year of treatment, and these changes were paralleled by the decrease of campesterol serum levels. Both simvastatin and UDCA were well tolerated, and a reduction of serum liver enzyme levels occurred with the latter. Simvastatin proved to be safe and effective in reducing serum cholesterol levels in patients with PBC by an inhibitory effect on cholesterol synthesis occurring within 24 h. --Del Puppo, M., M. Galli Kienle, A. Crosignani, M. L. Petroni, B. Amati, M. Zuin, and M. Podda. Cholesterol metabolism in primary biliary cirrhosis during simvastatin and UDCA administration. J. Lipid Res. 2001. 42: 437--441
Effects of fenofibrate on biliary lipids and bile acid pool size in patients with type IV hyperlipoproteinemia
No full textLipid-lowering drugs, notably clofibrate, may induce a supersaturation of bile with cholesterol, thus favouring the development of cholelithiasis. In order to see whether or not fenofibrate, a clofibrate analogue, has any influence on biliary cholesterol saturation, we determined the lipid composition of gallbladder bile and the bile acid pool size in 15 patients with type IV hyperlipoproteinemia before and after 6-8 weeks of treatment with a daily dose of 300 mg of the drug. At the end of treatment plasma triglycerides were markedly decreased, whereas no detectable influence on liver cell integrity or bile excretory function could be demonstrated in any patient by comparing the pre- and post-treatment serum levels of liver enzymes, bilirubin and bile acids. The mean bile cholesterol saturation index did not significantly change and cholic acid was the only bile acid to increase significantly. In the 3 patients with an initial saturation index of less than 1, bile became supersaturated with cholesterol. However, in no case were the limits of the metastable phase for cholesterol solubility in bile exceeded. Though only long-term prospective studies may give a definitive answer about the lithogenic potential of fenofibrate, our data on gallbladder bile composition in patients with type IV hyperlipoproteinemia indicate that it is not very likely that fenofibrate administration will increase the risk of gallstone formation in severely hyperlipidemic patients
High on treatment platelet reactivity as a risk factor for adverse left ventricular remodelling after STEMI
No full textGenes and goals: An approach to microarray analysis in autoimmunity
No full textOertelt S, Selmi C, Invernizzi P, Podda M, Gershwin ME. Genes and goals: An approach to microarray analysis in autoimmunity. Autoimmunity Reviews. 2005;4(7):414-422
Platform-Basins relationships in the Norian of the Carnia Region (NE Italy)
No full textCarulli G.B., Longo Salvador G., Podda F., Ponton M. Platform-Basins relationships in the Norian of the Carnia Region (NE Italy). In: Géologie Méditerranéenne. Tome 21, numéro 3-4, 1994. Perimediterranean carbonate platforms. First International Meeting. Marseille – France (5-8 septembre 1994) sous la direction de Jean-Pierre Masse. pp. 27-30
Graphgen-redux: a Fast and Lightweight Recurrent Model for labeled Graph Generation
No full textThe problem of labeled graph generation is gaining attention in the Deep Learning community. The task is challenging due to the sparse and discrete nature of graph spaces. Several approaches have been proposed in the literature, most of which require to transform the graphs into sequences that encode their structure and labels and to learn the distribution of such sequences through an auto-regressive generative model. Among this family of approaches, we focus on the Graphgen model. The preprocessing phase of Graphgen transforms graphs into unique edge sequences called Depth-First Search (DFS) codes, such that two isomorphic graphs are assigned the same DFS code. Each element of a DFS code is associated with a graph edge: specifically, it is a quintuple comprising one node identifier for each of the two endpoints, their node labels, and the edge label. Graphgen learns to generate such sequences auto-regressively and models the probability of each component of the quintuple independently. While effective, the independence assumption made by the model is too loose to capture the complex label dependencies of real-world graphs precisely. By introducing a novel graph preprocessing approach, we are able to process the labeling information of both nodes and edges jointly. The corresponding model, which we term Graphgen-redux, improves upon the generative performances of Graphgen in a wide range of datasets of chemical and social graphs. In addition, it uses approximately 78% fewer parameters than the vanilla variant and requires 50% fewer epochs of training on average
Soluble CD40L in Plasma of Patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
No full textOertelt S, Invernizzi P, Selmi C, Podda M, Gershwin ME. Soluble CD40L in Plasma of Patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2005;1051(1):205-210
Indagine conoscitiva sul comportamento sesuale dai 2 ai 12 anni attraverso il child sexul behavior inventory: considerazioni neuropsicoendocrinologiche
No full textScopo: Scopo del presente lavoro è stato quello di indagare la sessualità infantile nella popolazione italiana fra i 2 ed i 12 anni attraverso l’osservazione materna e valutare le differenze di genere nell’espressione di tali comportamenti. Parallelamente si sono volute creare le condizioni per la validazione del Child Sexual Behavior Inventory 3 (Friedrich, 1997) in lingua italiana.
Materiali e Metodi: Dopo aver tradotto il Child Sexual Behavior Inventory mediante translation back translation, si è svolta una ricerca pilota per valutare l’applicabilità dello strumento nella popolazione italiana. Successivamente si è iniziata la somministrazione del CSBI-3 in piccoli gruppi per raccogliere dati sulla sessualità infantile italiana. La ricerca pilota ha raccolto l’osservazione di 466 mamme; la ricerca successiva ha raccolto l’osservazione di 351 mamme. Sono state elaborate le differenze di genere attraverso il test del chi quadro.
Risultati: i risultati suggeriscono che il CSBI può essere somministrato anche nella popolazione italiane e che, in linea con la letteratura internazionale, il comportamento sessuale varia in funzione dell’età e del genere. I comportamenti sessuali maggiormente espressi dai bambini italiani sono quelli relativi ai domini di: autostimolazione, esibizionismo, distanze interpersonali, conoscenze sessuali. I maschi mostrano maggiori comportamenti autostimolatori, maggiore preferenza per la visione di foto di nudi, maggiori conoscenze sessuali rispetto alle femmine. Le femmine, nel confronto con i maschi, giocano di più con le bambole, sono più seduttive, vestono maggiormente come il sesso opposto e preferiscono vedere in tv scene di nudità o sesso.Objective: the aim of the present study has been to investigate child sexuality in Italian population between 2 and 12 years trough maternal observation and to value gender differences in the expression of these behaviors. At the same time, has been established the conditions for the validation of Child Sexual Behavior Inventory 3(Friedrich, 1997) in Italian language.
Method: After the translation of the CSBI 3 trough translation-back-traslation, has been realised a pilot study to evaluate the applicability of this questionnaire for Italian population. Subsequently the CSBI 3 has been administred to small groups of mothers to reach data about Italian child sexuality. The pilot study has obtained valid results from 466 mothers whereas the next study has reached 351 observations. The gender differences has been elaborated trough chi-square test.
Results: findings suggest that CSBI can be utilized in Italy too and that, in accord with international literature, sexual behaviour change in relation of age and gender. The mainly expressed behaviours by Italian child are the ones connected to the following domains: self-stimulation, exhibitionism, boundary problems, sexual knowledge. Males, compared with females, express more behaviours of self-stimulation, more preference to observe pictures of nude. Females, compared with males, instead prefer to do sexual play with dolls, are more seductive, dress like opposite sex, prefer to watch TV or movies that show nudity or sex.
Key words: child sexual behaviour, CSBI
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