Respiratory manifestations due to nickel.

Nickel sulphate more frequently determines allergic dermatitis due to contact (contact eczema); less known are nasal inflammation (rhinitis) and bronchial asthma caused by nickel sulphate. Sporadic cases, often related to patients' work have been reported in the literature. The research described herein refers to 20 patients presenting clear nickel allergy with rhinitis (associated in 11 cases with asthma). The patients, all females, revealed positivity to this kind of allergy: patch test, prick tests with nickel sulphate, nasal provocation test by nickel sulphate, computed tomography of paranasal sinuses, spirometry and bronchial provocation test with metacholine, oral provocation test with nickel sulphate were employed. A strict long-term diet with food with low nickel content (2-4 months at least) led to a progressive reduction of nasal symptoms (rhinorrea, sneezing, nasal obstruction) and an improvement in bronchial symptoms and functional parameters.

[The study of factors affecting ABR in high risk newborn infants]. / Studio sui fattori influenzanti i parametri dei potenziali acustici a breve nei neonati a rischio.

A.B.R. was employed to examine auditory pathways in a group of 78 newborn infants at risk and one of 20 normal infants. The impaired newborn group suffered of various risk factors or pathologies: 20 premature infants, 12 undersize (small for date), 12 with breathing distress, 11 hiv positive, 5 with neonatal jaundice, 4 suffered of convulsion, 4 at risk for hereditary deafness, 4 born by mothers with mellitus diabetes, 2 with dolichocefalia, 1 with the Albers-Schomberg syndrome, 1 with congenital heart disease and 1 with congenital glycogenosis. The results of A.B.R. of the risk group were compared statistically employing the "t Student's test" with those of the group of normal infants. The influence of risk factors in the first group on alterated A.B.R. parameters was then examined using a step-by-step logistic regression analysis method. The result showed a significant increase in a latency of waves V and III and inter-waves I-V and III-V in risk infants, while wave I and I-III internals were normal. These findings appear to demonstrate that in infants at risk, brainstem acoustic pathways are more sensitive to damage than the cochlea and acoustic nerve. This could be explained by the different degree of maturation that exists between the central acoustic pathways and the coclea and acoustic nerve. Analysis of the influence of pathologies and risk factors on A.B.R. indicate that birth weight followed by chronological age and length of the gestation period are significant in the development of A.B.R. alterations. The Albers-Schomberg syndrome, dolicocephalia, microcephalia, congenital glicogenosys, hiv infection, breathing difficulty and neonatal jaundice proved to be the main pathologies responsible for bringing about A.B.R. alterations.

The distribution of arsenic and cobalt in patients with laryngeal carcinoma.

The objective of this study was to evaluate tissue and plasma concentrations of arsenic and cobalt in an attempt to discover the role of these elements in the malignant process. Using neutron activation analysis, arsenic and cobalt levels were determined in plasma and in non-malignant and malignant human tissues in 15 patients with laryngeal carcinoma. Arsenic and cobalt levels were about 60% higher in tumor than in adjacent non-malignant tissue (P less than 0.001): arsenic 72.4 +/- 18.0 ng/g versus 43.1 +/- 9.4 in non-malignant tissues, and cobalt 68.7 +/- 7.3 ng/g versus 39.6 +/- 7.0 in non-malignant tissues. Mean plasma arsenic and cobalt levels were also significantly higher in patients with laryngeal carcinoma than in healthy control subjects.

Plasma and tissue levels of some lanthanide elements in malignant and non-malignant human tissues.

Lanthanum (La) levels in plasma, in erythrocyte hemolysate and in tissue from healthy subjects and patients with laryngeal carcinoma were determined by neutron activation analysis. Plasma lanthanum levels were significantly higher in laryngeal carcinomas than in either healthy controls or in subjects suffering from localized inflammation (e.g. epicondylitis of the elbow) (p less than 0.001). The mean La concentration in malignant tissue samples was 57.5 +/- 7.2 ng g-1; the corresponding level in normal adjacent tissue from the same organ was 94.6 +/- 12.0 ng g-1. This 61% decrease in the concentration of La in malignant tissues was highly significant (p less than 0.001). In patients with laryngeal carcinoma we did not observe any detectable level of lanthanum in erythrocyte hemolysate; the mean La erythrocyte hemolysate level in healthy controls and in patients suffering from localized inflammatory condition was 14.3 and 33.2 ng ml-1, respectively. Further studies are in progress to evaluate whether or not this element can serve as a marker for diagnosis or prognosis in cancer.