[A comparison of the efficacy of aminophylline and doxapram in preventing idiopathic apnea in preterm newborn infants]. / Comparazione dell'efficacia dell'Aminofillina e del Doxapram nella prevenzione della apnea idiopatica dei neonati pretermine.

Doxapram is an analeptic of the respiratory system that has been used in the last few years for the treatment of idiopathic apnea spells in infants who show resistance to methylxantine. In this study we have compared the efficacy of aminophylline and doxapram for the prevention of idiopathic apnea spells in two groups of preterm infants comparable for gestational age, birthweight and postnatal age. The two drugs resulted to be effective in preventing the spells of apnea in 66% and 60% of the cases respectively. In the cases in which there was a partial or negative response, the association of the two substances resulted in a noticeable reduction of the apnea spells. The positive effect of the association of aminophylline and doxapram is probably due to the different action mechanism on the stimulation of the respiratory system.

[Epidemiological,and physiopathological findings in retinopathy of prematurity: the authors' personal cases]. / Rilievi epidemiologici e fisiopatologici sulla retinopatia del prematuro: contributo casistico personale.

The authors present a retrospective epidemiological study on retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), performed on 738 newborns with a gestational age of 34 +/- 2.41 weeks and birth weight of 1971 +/- 351 g. They excluded all cases with severe respiratory distress and other pathological conditions. First stage of ROP shows no correlation with gestational age and birth weight, whereas second and third stages of ROP show an inverse correlation with the above mentioned factors, particularly birth weight. Among neonates with the same gestational age, the incidence of ROP is higher in those "small for date". Regarding the pathogenesis of ROP, the authors outline the importance of perinatal hypoxia.

Red cell sorbitol concentration in relation to short- and medium-term variation of plasma glucose.

To evaluate the time course of changes in red cell sorbitol (RCS) concentration in relation to variations of plasma glucose levels, RCS was determined in 7 normal subjects during i.v. glucose infusion (IVGTT); in 6 hyperglycemic insulin-dependent diabetic subjects while glycemia was normalized with Biostator GC 115 and in 4 diabetic patients in previously poor metabolic control, in whom normal glycemia was obtained in 8-10 days by intensive insulin therapy. During IVGTT, plasma glucose levels increased with significant differences from baseline at 5, 10, 16, 25, 60, 100 and 160 min and returned to basal levels after 3h; RCS concentration showed small and insignificant increases. During i.v. insulin infusion, plasma glucose fell to almost normal levels within roughly 3h; RCS levels showed a gradual reduction becoming significant at 180 min. In the third study, decrease in plasma glucose was always associated with a fall in RCS level which became significant between the 2nd and the 3rd day of the study. Thus, RCS levels were not affected by very short-term variations of glycemia but by a previous hyperglycemic crisis that lasted a few hours. There were therefore medium-term variations of RCS level. In conclusion, RCS determination is not useful as an index of metabolic control in diabetes.