La littérature géographique des années 50 a mis en évidence les transformations profondes de l'agencement territorial italien et révélé la formation et l'aggravation de divergences entre le ...Mezzogiorno, le Nord et la capitale. Cela a conduit à prononcer des jugements sévères sur le réseau urbain méridional que la présente étude, fondée sur l'examen minutieux et synchronique de la structure démographique (par âge et par distribution), du patrimoine résidentiel et des services de type métropolitain, dans toutes les communes du Mezzogiorno à partir du début des années 90, se propose de réexaminer.
Massimi Gerardo, Salvatori Franco. Évolution démographique et tissu métropolitain en Italie du Sud. In: Petites et grandes villes du Bassin Méditerranéen. Études autour de l’oeuvre d’Étienne Dalmasso. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1998. pp. 79-93. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 246)
The microscopic and anatomic features and bacteriologic culture results of different portions of single, explanted dacron synthetic vascular grafts (SVG) were studied together with patient clinical ...data. With this complete study protocol a better understanding of the healing process and its associated pathology can be achieved. We studied three, amply distanced graft portions from each of five patients (15 total graft portions) undergoing revision for infectious and non-infectious reasons. We divided the SVG portions studied into a Group 1, with high degrees of graft healing and into a Group 2, with both infection-dependent, early healing complications and perigraft chronic inflammatory reaction-dependent, late healing complications. These late healing complications were found dependent upon a host vs graft reaction. This study confirmed in humans the important role of an internal and external fibrotic graft incorporation in the definitive healing of a SVG. A host vs graft reaction was suggested to be an alternative to the frequently cited low virulent infection pathogenesis of late SVG healing complications. A sure definition and treatment of late SVG healing complications will only be established by means of a complete study protocol performed on a large number of explanted SVGs.
We compared the receptor-mediated endocytosis for galactose and mannose exposing ligands in primary cultures of hepatocytes from newborn and adult rats. The endocytic pathway was revealed ...ultrastructurally using colloidal gold particles coupled to lactosylated bovine serum albumin and invertase. The binding activity on the cell surfaces is observed by keeping the cells at 4 degrees C. For both ligands used, the binding capacity for hepatocytes from adult rats was greater than for neonatal cultured cells. Increasing the temperature to 37 degrees C, we observed that the protein-gold complexes entered the intracellular endocytic organelles. Within 5-15 min, the marker was confined in vesicles close to the cell surface and in the endosome, while after 60 min, the marker is found in lysosome-like compartments. We found that the process of endocytosis is similar for galactose and mannose exposing ligands. The organelles involved in the process of endocytosis in newborn cultured hepatocytes are not different in shape from those of cultured cells of adult rats, but the process of internalization is slower.
Amino acid uptake mediated by system A was studied in cultured fetal and adult hepatocytes, subjected to growth stimulation by EGF and insulin, or to growth inhibition by high cell density. The ...mitogenic stimulation induced a strong transport increase only in fetal cells, while the cell density-dependent growth inhibition, probably mediated by molecules present on adult hepatocyte membranes, provoked the decrease of amino acid uptake only in the adult cells. The results indicate that the different modulation of amino acid transport by cell growth is dependent on the age and the differentiation stage of hepatocytes.
The effect of epinephrine on the amino acid transport mediated by system A was investigated by determining the uptake of 2-amino 1-14Cisobutyric acid (AIB) in rat hepatocytes, freshly isolated at ...different stages of pre- and postnatal development. The data obtained show that the hormone increased AIB uptake, enhancing the Vmax, while Km was unchanged. This effect was evident in cells from adult, 18- to 20-day-old fetus, and neonate rat. Actinomycin D or cycloheximide abolished the hormone dependent increase. Experiments carried out with alpha- and beta-antagonists showed that the effect of epinephrine was beta-mediated in fetal life and alpha-mediated in adult life. Membrane binding experiments showed a higher value for epinephrine and beta-agonist dihydroalprenolol in the fetus versus the adult. The calcium depletion obtained after cell incubation with EGTA or calcium ionophore A23187 reduced the hormonal stimulation in the adult, and was ineffective in the prenatal period. An involvement of cAMP was present in the epinephrine modulation of AIB transport, both in adult and in fetal life.
The 2-aminoisobutyric acid transport in hepatocytes isolated from 3- and 24-month-old rats was studied and some age-related differences were observed. The basal uptake appeared to be almost constant ...in cells from old animals during the incubation time, while, in the cells from adults, it showed a progressive increase, interpreted as being due to a derepression mechanism. Epinephrine and glucagon increased the transport in hepatocytes from animals of both ages, even if with a slightly different pattern; the hormones increased the Vmax, while the Km was unchanged at each age tested. However, the glucagon-induced increase in Vmax was lower in the older animals. The mechanism of hormonal action appeared to be similar in adult and old rats. In fact the uptake stimulation by glucagon and epinephrine showed a dependence on protein synthesis. The epinephrine effect was mediated by alpha-adrenergic receptors. No effect was exerted by extracellular amino acids on hepatocytes from 24-month-old animals, suggesting a loss of adaptative regulation mechanism with aging. This behaviour was reflected in the kinetic parameters; in fact the Vmax was not modified by extracellular amino acids at 24 months of age, while it appeared to be strongly decreased in the adult.
The aim of this study was to analyze the long-term results of the surgical management of craniopharyngioma in children by reviewing a series of patients consecutively treated in a single institution, ...and to assess the efficacy of intratumoral chemotherapy with interferon-alpha.
Sixty-one paediatric patients (38 males and 23 females; mean age: 8 years) have been surgically treated in the last 20 years. The goal of surgery was to remove the tumour as much as possible. Postoperative radiotherapy was administered only to children aged more than 4 year old and with postsurgical evolutive remnant. Three patients were treated with intratumoral administration of interferon-alpha. The mean follow-up is 8.4 years (median: 7 years).
All the 55 surviving patients enjoy a normal social life, except for 3 of them (visual and/or neurological deficits); endocrine function, compromised in 3/5 of cases, is managed by chronic hormone replacement; neuropsychological assessment is satisfactory in almost all the cases. Although obesity does not seem to be an important social limit, it represents a real management problem. Interferon-a was useful in transitorily arresting the growing cystic craniopharyngiomas.
The current experience confirms the still remarkable challenges in the treatment of craniopharyngioma in childhood. Surgery should aim not only at removing the tumour, but also at preserving the late neuro-endocrinological functions. Intracystic chemotherapy with interferon-alpha might represent an effective option to postpone the surgical operation until the maturation of the hypothalamic-hypophyseal pathway is completed. However, it can not replace the traditional surgical management.
Similar frequencies of atopic diseases and of elevated total serum IgE levels were observed in 40 children with serum IgA levels below 5 mg/dl and absence of salivary IgA (severe selective IgA ...deficiency, SIgAD) and in 40 children with serum IgA levels above 5 mg/dl but below -2 SD of age-normal mean values and presence of salivary IgA (partial SIgAD). These findings suggest that the absence of secretory IgA, which has been postulated to play a protective role by excluding allergens at the mucosal level, does not appear to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of atopic diseases.
Endoscopic third-ventriculostomy (ETV) became the treatment of choice for non-communicating hydrocephalus and its effectiveness is largely reported. On the contrary, specific articles on ...complications and failures of this technique are very rare and this review aims at supplying further information about it. Therefore, an analysis of the main and up-to-date series is made and exhaustive data about complications and failures of ETV and about their incidence are obtained. The overall frequency rate of complications is 6-20%. Their severity may vary either because of the length of the damage (transient or permanent) or the value of the involved structures (basilar artery, areas of the CNS, hypothalamus) or the importance of the injury (from subclinical sequelae to fatal complications). Moreover, this study showed both the risk that the endoscopic procedure must be suspended (intra-operative failure) and the risk of an early (before 1 month) or delayed (even some years after the intervention) narrowing of the ventriculostomy. The rate of and the reasons for failure have been analysed and the success of a second ETV has been estimated. The results of this analysis suggest that the children proposed for ETV are carefully selected and meticulously studied during the follow-up.
