Nutrition
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Recent medical history has largely viewed our bacterial symbionts as pathogens to be eradicated rather than as essential partners in optimal health. However, one of the most exciting scientific advances in recent years has been the realization that commensal microorganisms (our microbiome) play vital roles in human physiology in nutrition, vitamin synthesis, drug metabolism, protection against infection, and recovery from illness. Recent data show that loss of "health-promoting" microbes and overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria (dysbiosis) in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) appears to contribute to nosocomial infections, sepsis, and poor outcomes. ⋯ Overall, growing data for probiotic and symbiotic therapy reveal a need for definitive clinical trials of these therapies, as recently performed in healthy neonates. Future studies should target administration of probiotics and synbiotics with known mechanistic benefits to improve patient outcomes. Optimally, future probiotic and symbiotic studies will be conducted using microbiome signatures to characterize actual ICU dysbiosis and determine, and perhaps even personalize, ideal probiotic and symbiotic therapies.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary l-threonine supplementation on the growth performance, intestinal immune function, mucin synthesis, and goblet cell differentiation in weanling piglets with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). ⋯ Dietary l-threonine supplementation attenuates inflammatory responses, facilitates Muc2 synthesis, and promotes goblet cell differentiation in the ileum of IUGR piglets.
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Observational Study
Diet quality of patients with acute coronary syndrome receiving public and private health care.
The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of the diets consumed by patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who received public and private health care. ⋯ The overall post-ACS diet quality remained unsatisfactory, especially in terms of cardioprotective components and among patients receiving public health care. Sociodemographic factors and the assistance model/quality were determinants of the observed differences in dietary quality.
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The biological basis of abdominal obesity leading to more severe outcomes in patients with normal body mass index (BMI) on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) is unclear. The aim of this study was to compare the properties of abdominal obesity in different BMI categories of patients on MHD. ⋯ Normal-weight MHD patients with abdominal obesity exhibited a more proatherogenic profile in terms of inflammatory markers and adipokine expression, lower body composition reserves, and lower physical ability than patients with abdominal obesity with overweight and obesity. This at least partially explains the abdominal obesity paradox in the MHD population in which worse clinical outcomes are seen in abdominally obese patients with normal BMIs, as opposed to overweight and obese patients who are also abdominally obese.
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To our knowledge, there is currently no consensus in the literature on the association between dietary fatty acids and circulating levels in plasma. The aim of this study was to assess the association of the intake of fatty acids with their relative plasma concentrations. ⋯ Plasma and dietary polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids exhibited low correlation and agreement, as well as weak association between each other. No association between intake and plasma concentrations of monounsaturated fat was found. Plasma fatty acids are not good biomarkers of food intake.