Proinflammatory and regulatory cytokine levels in AIDS cachexia.

The serum concentrations of inflammatory (Interleukin-1 beta, Tumor necrosis alpha, Interleukin-6) and regulatory cytokines (Interleukin twelve) have been studied in ten AIDS cachectic patients and compared to a control group. A cytokine imbalance, and peculiarly a significant increase in proinflammatory cytokines (Interleukin-1, Interleukin-6, Tumor necrosis Factor alpha) and a decrease in regulatory cytokines such as Interleukin-12 were found. A significant correlation resulted between weight loss and Interleukin-1 beta and 6. A negative correlation between Interleukin-1 and 12 was noted, indicating that this last cytokine has an important regulatory role also in advanced state of the disease.

[Analysis of a microdeletion in the AZF gene region in azoospermic patients: from research to molecular biology laboratory routine]. / Analisi di microdelezioni della regione genica AZF in pazienti azoospermici: da ricerca a routine di laboratorio di biologia molecolare.

Microdeletions in AZF (Azoospermia Factor) region of the Y Chromosome have been recently described in azoospermic or oligozoospermic men. A Y chromosome molecular analysis was performed in peripheral blood DNA obtained from 16 azoospermic patients. Microdeletions within the interval 6 of the long arm of chromosome Y were analysed using the PCR (Polimerase Chain Reaction) technique. The presence of the DAZ (SY255) sequence was tested in 6 patients, while the remaining 10 patients were analysed for 6 different loci mapped to AZFb and AZFc regions. Microdeletion was detected in one azoospermic patient in the YRRM2 sequence. This result supports the finding of microdeletions not involving the DAZ sequence and suggests that routine investigation of azoospermic patients for microdeletions spanning the interval 6 region of y chromosome is also required.

Tumor microcirculation and its significance in therapy: possible role of omega-3 fatty acids as rheological modifiers.

Despite the great efforts to find new drugs or devices to suppress cancer cells, attempts to modify microcirculation and therefore the state of tumor cells and their surrounding normal tissues have not been given the attention they deserve. Solid tumors are composed of highly heterogeneous populations of malignant, stromal and inflammatory cells in a continuously adapting extracellular matrix. All of the above components interact and regulate each other to produce distinct microenvironments within the tumor mass. Abnormal microcirculation plays a particular role in the maintenance of this anomalous condition and favors the formation of metastasis, but on the other hand provides the therapist with an important site for intervention. In this brief overview we attempt to outline three aspects: (a) how the anomalous tumor blood flow provokes the nonuniform distribution of oxygen and nutrients within the tumor mass, thus determining different responses to the various cancer therapies; (b) how hemorheology is the clinical parameter most easily modified and (c) how omega-3 essential fatty acids are natural drugs that could be used in this sense beyond their antitumoral properties.

IgG2 deficiency in children with febrile convulsions: a familial study.

The IgG subclasses were investigated in children with febrile convulsions (FC) and in their first degree relatives in the search for a selective immunological deficiency associated with FC and its occurrence in the relatives of affected subjects. The results of the study show lower IgG2 concentrations in FC patients than in controls. But it was not possible to demonstrate familial transmission of the IgG2 subclass deficiency, since it was present only in children with FC and tended to normalize in adulthood. The immunoglobulin subclass deficiency might be responsible for the recurrent infections connected with FC.