Serum and red blood cell magnesium levels in juvenile migraine patients.

Recently an important role for magnesium in establishing the threshold for migraine attacks has become evident. Accordingly, we measured serum and red blood cell magnesium levels in juvenile migraine patients with and without aura interictally. In comparison with normal subjects, migraineurs had significantly lower serum and red blood cell magnesium levels.

Usefulness of coagulation markers in staging of gastric cancer.

Thirty-six patients with nonmucinous adenocarcinoma of the stomach, candidates for surgical laparotomy, were studied to evaluate the presence and extent of coagulation disorders in gastric cancer. They were staged according to TNM cancer staging (T: extent of primary tumor; N: lymph node involvement; M: presence of metastases), and a blood sample was collected before surgery. Platelets, platelet factor four (PF4), beta-thromboglobulin (BTG), activated partial thromboplastine time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), factors five (V) and seven (VII), fibrinogen, cross-linked fibrin degradation products (XDP), fibrinopeptide-A (Fp-A), and antithrombin three (AT III) were assayed. Only fibrinogen, Fp-A, PF4, and factors V and VII were increased in more than 50% of patients. Fibrinogen and Fp-A were positively correlated with T(r = 0.29, p < p < 0.05; and r = 0.35, p < 0.05; respectively), whereas the other parameters did not show any statistically significant relationship with T, N, and M. Considering the subgroups including only the patients with pathological values, Fp-A (31 patients) was positively correlated with N (r = 0.4, p < 0.05), PF4 (25 patients) showed a positive correlation with T and N (r = 0.42, p < 0.05; r = 0.46, p < 0.05; respectively), and a significantly higher median in the presence than in the absence of metastases (median in the M+ subgroup: 42.7 ng/ml, range 38.6 to 102.8; median in the M- subgroup: 33.7, range 20.3 to 85; p < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Changes in intracellular magnesium concentrations during cisplatin chemotherapy.

Magnesium is mainly an intracellular cation, and its availability is not represented reliably by plasma levels. The effects of cisplatin on Mg concentrations in plasma (PMg) and erythrocytes (EMg) were investigated in 22 neoplastic patients. Assays were done before and 1, 2, 4 and 7 days after cisplatin administration; 10 patients were also checked following six courses of chemotherapy. PMg decreased progressively either day by day after a single dose of cisplatin (p < 0.001 on the 7th day) or month by month after cumulative doses (p < 0.05 after two courses and p < 0.001 after six). EMg decreased till the 4th day (p < 0.001), but recovered pretreatment levels on the 7th day; an actual depletion was manifested only after the third course of chemotherapy (p < 0.05) and became more marked after the 6th. These results suggest that, besides renal Mg wasting, Mg metabolism is influenced by cisplatin also at a cellular level. The cisplatin-induced injury on membrane transport systems, where Mg is abundant and plays an important stabilizing role, might induce an early shift of Mg from cells into the blood stream. When repair systems begin to act, Mg is taken up from plasma to recover the normal cellular content. The lack of an actual depletion of Mg body stores till the third course of chemotherapy possibly makes the early Mg supplementation commonly administered before or contemporaneously to cisplatin infusion unnecessary. Oral supplements between the courses might be sufficient to prevent Mg depletion without exposing the patients to the risk of hypermagnesemia in case of cisplatin-induced acute renal failure.

[CEA, GICA, TPA, fibrinopeptide-A, gamma-GT and gastric cancer. A contribution to the rationalization of a combined assay]. / CEA, GICA, TPA, fibrinopeptide-A, gamma-GT e cancro gastrico. Un contributo alla razionalizzazione di un dosaggio combinato.

CEA, GICA, TPA, Fibrinopeptide-A (FpA) and Gamma-GT serum levels were evaluated in 312 patients affected by gastric cancer, to assess their effectiveness in diagnosis, evaluation of disease extension and follow-up of gastric cancer. In 204 patients neoplasia was limited to the stomach, in 108 liver metastases, ascertained by ultrasonography and/or TAC, were present. CEA was increased in 224 cases (71.8%); mean values were significantly higher in metastatic patients than in metastasis-free group (p less than 0.001), but overlap of values between the two groups was observed in about one third of cases. GICA was increased in 268 patients (86%) and TPA in 306 (98%), without significant differences between metastatic and metastasis-free group. FpA was increased in all patients; when metastases were present it was significantly higher than in metastasis-free patients (p less than 0.001), with negligible overlap of values between the two groups. Gamma-GT was normal in 202 metastasis-free patients (99%) and increased in 105 patients with liver metastases (97%). On the basis of these data CEA does not seem to have striking diagnostic sensibility nor reliability in differentiating presence from absence of liver metastases in patients with gastric cancer. Combined assay of TPA, FpA and Gamma-GT seems to be the most reliable serological approach in diagnosis, staging and follow-up of gastric cancer.

Serum thymidine kinase in diagnosis and follow-up of the small cell carcinoma of the lung.

Serum thymidine-kinase (sTK) was assayed in 48 males affected by small cell carcinoma of the lung (SCCL) at the time of diagnosis. On the same drawing carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and beta 2microglobulin (beta 2 microG) were assayed in 19 of these subjects. For staging, the criterion of limited (LD) and extensive (ED) disease was used. Mean sTK and CEA values were above normal range in both the LD and ED groups, while mean beta 2 microG value remained below normal range. Thirty-two patients were subsequently submitted to therapy; sTK was assayed at the end of each treatment cycle. Mean sTK concentrations differed depending on response to therapy. From the data obtained it is concluded that sTK assay is helpful for diagnosis of SCCL; CEA to a lesser extent, above all in association with sTK, and beta microG not at all. sTK assay can also be useful for prognosis and follow-up.