The "all-or-none" law in skeletal muscle and nerve fibres.

In 1905 the Cambridge physiologist Keith Lucas extended the "all-or-none" principle (introduced by H. P. Bowditch for the cardiac tissue) to skeletal muscle and nerve fibres. Nevertheless, in a short time it was clear that nerve fibres obey this law, but also that frequency of discharge is another relevant factor in the nervous conduction.

Does the brain oscillate? The dispute on neuronal synchronization.

The present essay concisely analyses the contemporary neurobiological debate concerning the hypothesis of the "temporal correlation" advanced to solve the perceptual problem of linking different features in a unitary object or visual scene. Although fascinating and grounded on simulations and brain models, in addition to important electrophysiological findings on the sensory systems, this hypothesis is regarded as not conclusive, and it still excites numerous critical observations from different approaches. Nevertheless, it has contributed to an innovative use of the idea of cortical oscillations, as regards its usual employment in reference to the electrical activity of the brain. It also opens a new perspective in the assumption of the temporal pattern to read the neural code.

[Not Available]. / Giulio Bizzozero e la funzione ematopoietica del midollo osseo.

The essay aims at bringing to light a minor but interesting chapter in the history of medicine between the 19th and the 20th centuries. The Italian G. Bizzozero and the German E. Neumann were enquiring into the function of the bone marrow as a haemopoietic organ, and were drawn into a fierce prioritiy dispute. Though Bizzozero's name is traditionally linked to the discovery of platelets, his investigation into the seedbed of blood corpuscles is also relevant in the context of the development of haematology. This scientific controversy also explains the complicated relations between the different elements of the blood, in normal and pathological states.

[A comparative evaluation between streptokinase and r-TPA in limiting the myocardial damage during an acute myocardial infarct. An echocardiographic study]. / Valutazione comparativa tra streptokinasi ed r-TPA nella limitazione del danno miocardico in corso di infarto miocardico acuto. Indagine ecocardiografica.

Once the experience of GISSI I was concluded, the as yet unresolved problem of the choice of one fibrinolytic agent in preference to others emerged. In the present study, the authors used echocardiography in order to compare streptokinase with r-TPA in order to limit myocardial damage in acute myocardial infarction in 33 patients, average age 64.6 years. No statistically significant difference between the two drugs was observed as far as left ventricular contractility and extent of the infarcted region was concerned. This was in accordance with the findings of the Italian PAIMS study.

[Prevalence of hyperkinetic ventricular arrhythmias in an ambulatory population of nonprofessional athletes. A study controlled by ambulatory electrocardiography]. / Prevalenza di aritmie ipercinetiche ventricolari in una popolazione ambulatoriale di atleti non professionisti. Studio controllato con elettrocardiografia dinamica.

Hyperkinetic ventricular arrhythmia being the main cause of electrical destabilization and hence fatal tachy-arrhythmias, we have studied, by Holter test, the prevalence of these arrhythmias in ambulatory non-professional athletes and compared it with a homogeneous group of sedentary subjects in order to evaluate if sports, even if not in athletic competitions, represent a potential risk for sudden death. The results show the prevalence of hyperkinetic ventricular arrhythmias to be similar in the two groups and not related to sports.

[Acute myocardial infarction in the aged patient: comparison between the male and female sexes]. / Infarto del miocardo acuto nel soggetto anziano: confronto fra sesso maschile e femminile.

The authors evaluate old patients of both sexes with acute myocardial infarction. They study coronary risk factors, symptomatology onset, infarction site, complications and survival in Intensive Care Unit. The elderly women show significant features in comparison with the male as the particular predictive value of diabetes and hypertension and the greater atypia of clinical findings. The unforeseeable development of coronary artery disease in the female is confirmed also in the elderly.

[Acute myocardial infarction in elderly subjects. Significance of risk factors and method of presenting the clinical picture in the analysis of a cohort at a coronary care unit]. / Infarto miocardico acuto nel soggetto anziano. Significato dei fattori di rischio e modalità di presentazione del quadro clinico nell'analisi di una casistica di una Unità Coronarica.

Acute myocardial infarction in the elderly shows epidemiological and clinical features different from those observed in the same pathology in the young-adult subject. In this study, the authors compare literature data with their experience of 309 subjects aged greater than or equal to 65 years vs. 268 controls. All these patients were hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction in an Intensive Care Unit. Risk factors, symptomatology at onset, lesion site and survival in the Intensive Care Unit were examined. Our study establishes that cardiologists need special diagnostic accuracy to evaluate coronary artery disease in old patients.