Construction, assembling and application of a trehalase-GOD enzyme electrode system.

Trehalose is a disaccharide important in foods, serving as a glucose source in many and also as an additive in the food preparation. Because of its peculiar physico-chemical properties it plays an important role as preservative in drying and deep-freezing treatments. A new biosensor for trehalose determination has been realized by means of a flow system, based on a reactor in which the trehalase enzyme catalyses its hydrolysis into two alpha,d-glucose molecules, and a GOD (glucose oxidase) amperometric biosensor is employed for the glucose determination. The optimum operative conditions have been laid out and a particular attention has been paid to the immobilization procedure of the two enzymes. The electrode used is of the SPE (screen-printed electrode) type and has been activated with the Prussian Blue (PB) and then assembled using GOD immobilized with Nafion. The reactor has been prepared with the trehalase enzyme chemically immobilized on an Immunodyne ABC membrane. As demonstration of its utility, the biosensor has been tested on a real sample of Boletus edulis mushroom.

Risk of genital prolapse and urinary incontinence due to pregnancy and delivery. A prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Recent literature shows conflicting results regarding this subject. Using a prospective study, we analysed the possible effects of pregnancy and delivery upon the pelvic floor support. METHODS: In a group of 344 patients who received our phone-call 3 months after delivery, only 58 accepted the investigation, and came for an exam. We looked out for pathologies such as genital prolapse and stress urinary incontinence (IUS). During the exam we analysed: vagino-perineal scars; descensus of the vaginal walls and of the uterus; dyspareunia; urinary frequency and urgency; urge Incontinence and IUS; weakening of pelvic floor muscles. RESULTS: We objectively identified in cystocele the prevalent "anatomic" damage, and in IUS, the most frequent "functional" damage. We then tried to find a statistical correlation between these pathologies and the most important risk factors cited in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: Through the systematic analysis of the obtained data, we thus identified the most important risk factors that lead to the development of these pathologies: operative delivery, pluriparity, heavy work, high BMI in mothers and newborns. The results that emerged from our study lead to some remarks of interest and discussion.

A phase I trial with fixed-dose carboplatin and escalating doses of paclitaxel in advanced ovarian cancer.

A dose-finding study involving 27 untreated patients with ovarian cancer was performed to define the maximum tolerated dose of a 3-hour infusion of paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) combined with a fixed dose of carboplatin. The median age of the study patients was 55 years (age range, 30 to 74 years), the median Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was 0 (range, 0 to 2), and residual tumor to first surgery was > or = 1 cm in 14 patients and less than 1 cm in 13 patients. All patients received carboplatin at a fixed dose of 300 mg/m2 over 1 hour. Paclitaxel was administered at five dose levels starting at 150 mg/m2 and increasing in 25-mg/m2 increments to 250 mg/m2. In the absence of toxicity, courses were repeated every 4 weeks for a total of six cycles. World Health Organization grade 1 hypersensitivity and cardiotoxicity were observed in 7.4% and 14.8% of patients, respectively. Moderate peripheral neuropathy was experienced by 29.6% of patients. Grades 3 and 4 neutropenia lasted less than 7 days; no patient required hospitalization for sepsis or febrile neutropenia, and no supportive treatment with granulocyte or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor was needed. The maximum tolerated paclitaxel dose was not achieved.