Clinical nutrition : official journal of the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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Observational Study
Reliability of bedside ultrasound for measurement of quadriceps muscle thickness in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury.
In patients with Acute Kidney Injury there is a lack of nutritional variables that can assess nutritional status, more specifically lean body mass (LBM) and skeletal muscle mass, at the individual level. In this clinical setting, ultrasound (US)) of the quadriceps femoris could represent a widely available, non-invasive, affordable, and reliable tool to evaluate skeletal muscle. ⋯ In patients with AKI, US of quadriceps femoris could represent a simple, accurate, and non-invasive method to evaluate quantitative changes in skeletal muscle.
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Recent clinical trials and in vivo models demonstrate probiotic administration can reduce occurrence and improve outcome of pneumonia and sepsis, both major clinical challenges worldwide. Potential probiotic benefits include maintenance of gut epithelial barrier homeostasis and prevention of downstream organ dysfunction due to systemic inflammation. However, mechanism(s) of probiotic-mediated protection against pneumonia remain poorly understood. This study evaluated potential mechanistic targets in the maintenance of gut barrier homeostasis following Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) treatment in a mouse model of pneumonia. ⋯ These data demonstrate LGG can maintain intestinal barrier homeostasis by enhancing gut mucin expression/barrier formation, reducing apoptosis, and improving cell proliferation. This was accompanied by reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in the gut and in a downstream organ (spleen). These may serve as potential mechanistic targets to explain LGG's protection against pneumonia in the clinical and in vivo setting.
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There is sparse evidence on the relationship between the Mediterranean diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) style diet, and metabolic health, especially comparing cardiometabolic phenotypes among in normal weight and obese populations. We aimed to investigate the association of the Mediterranean diet scores (MDS) and DASH index with metabolically healthy obese (MHO) and metabolically obese normal weight (MONW) phenotypes in a representative U.S. ⋯ Adherence to Mediterranean diet or DASH style diet was favorably associated with MHO and MONW phenotypes only in the younger age group, suggesting that potential dietary intervention to prevent cardiometabolic disease differ by age group.
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The National Veterans' Affairs Surgical Risk Study identified preoperative hypoalbuminemia as an independent risk factor for postoperative morbidity and mortality. Since that time, few studies have investigated the use of preoperative markers as tools to risk stratify colon cancer patients. The purpose of our study is to determine if there is an association between preoperative hypoalbuminemia and 30-day patient morbidity and mortality in colon cancer patients using the Targeted-Colectomy American College of Surgeons National Surgery Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP). ⋯ Preoperative hypoalbuminemia is associated with an increased risk of early patient morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing surgery for colon cancer. Preoperative optimization of this patient population warrants further investigation in order to prevent delay from surgical intervention to adjuvant therapy.