1,720,957 research outputs found
Impact of Nutritional Status on Muscle Architecture in Elderly Patients Hospitalized in Internal Medicine Wards
No full textNutritional alterations are highly prevalent in older rather than adult hospitalized patients. In these subjects, a loss of physical performance is dependent on the impairment of muscle architecture. This study aimed to investigate the association between the nutritional status and muscle architecture in elderly patients hospitalized in internal medicine wards. 68 aged patients admitted in internal medicine wards were consecutively enrolled and stratified in three groups based on the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) score: well-fed (WF), at risk of malnutrition (RM), and malnourished (M). Biochemical indices and anthropometric parameters were sampled at hospital admission. Furthermore, all patients were assessed at admission and after 7 days of hospitalization for muscle strength (hand-grip test), mass (bioimpedentiometry), and architecture (ultrasonography of vastus lateralis). At hospital admission, M patients showed lower percentage of fat free mass and muscle mass with respect to WF and RM. Furthermore, M group presented with lower muscle thickness and pennation angle, as compared to WF and RM. At admission, the MNA score was positively related to the pennation angle and muscle strength. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the nutritional status at admission was the only significant factor influencing pennation angle. Finally, during the first 7 days of hospitalization, a decrease of pennation angle occurred in all the groups studied. We conclude that malnutrition at admission is associated with impaired muscle architecture in elderly patients hospitalized in internal medicine wards. Moreover, muscle architecture is impacted by early hospitalization, irrespective of nutritional status
Malnutrition in Hospitalized Old Patients: Screening and Diagnosis, Clinical Outcomes, and Management
No full textMalnutrition in hospitalized patients heavily affects several clinical outcomes. The prevalence of malnutrition increases with age, comorbidities, and intensity of care in up to 90% of old populations. However, malnutrition frequently remains underdiagnosed and undertreated in the hospital. Thus, an accurate screening to identify patients at risk of malnutrition or malnourishment is determinant to elaborate a personal nutritional intervention. Several definitions of malnutrition were proposed in the last years, affecting the real frequency of nutritional disorders and the timing of intervention. Diagnosis of malnutrition needs a complete nutritional assessment, which is often challenging to perform during a hospital stay. For this purpose, various screening tools were pro-posed, allowing patients to be stratified according to the risk of malnutrition. The present review aims to summarize the actual evidence in terms of diagnosis, association with clinical outcomes, and management of malnutrition in a hospital setting
Association between Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) Score and Body Composition, Inflammation and Frailty in Hospitalized Elderly Patients (Q1 WoS)
No full textUnlabelled: The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score has demonstrated its ability to identify patients with poor nutritional status and predict various clinical outcomes. Our objective was to assess the association between the CONUT score, inflammatory status, and body composition, as well as its ability to identify patients at risk of frailty in hospitalized elderly patients. Methods: a total of 361 patients were retrospectively recruited and divided into three groups based on the CONUT score. Results: patients with a score ≥5 exhibited significantly higher levels of inflammatory markers, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), Neutrophil/Lymphocytes ratio (NLR), main platelet volume (MPV), and ferritin, compared to those with a lower score. Furthermore, these patients showed unfavorable changes in body composition, including a lower percentage of skeletal muscle mass (MM) and fat-free mass (FFM) and a higher percentage of fatty mass (FM). A positive correlation was found between the CONUT score and inflammatory markers, Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF), and FM. Conversely, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Mini-Mental Status Examination, activity daily living (ADL), instrumental activity daily living (IADL), Barthel index, FFM, and MM showed a negative correlation. Frailty was highly prevalent among patients with a higher CONUT score. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve demonstrated high accuracy in identifying frail patients (sensitivity). Conclusions: a high CONUT score is associated with a pro-inflammatory status as well as with unfavorable body composition. Additionally, it is a good tool to identify frailty among hospitalized elderly patients
Sarcopenia Is Associated with Changes in Circulating Markers of Antioxidant/Oxidant Balance and Innate Immune Response
No full text(1) Background: The involvement of redox balance alterations and innate immunity is suggested to play a key role in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia. This investigation aimed to define and relate modifications in circulating markers of redox homeostasis and the innate immune response in human sarcopenia. (2) Methods: A total of 32 subjects aged >65 years old and affected by sarcopenia according to the second “European Working Group on sarcopenia in older people” guidelines were compared with 40 non-sarcopenic age-matched controls. To assess systemic redox homeostasis, reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) blood glutathione and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA)– and 4-hydroxy-2,3-nonenal (HNE)–protein adducts were measured. Immune cells and circulating interleukins were determined to compare the innate immune response between both groups. (3) Results: Impaired redox balance in sarcopenic patients, characterized by a high blood GSSG/GSH ratio and plasma MDA/HNE–protein adducts, was sustained by reduced antioxidants in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Furthermore, sarcopenic patients showed higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios and interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) with respect to non-sarcopenic patients. Linear regression analysis resulted in a strong association between redox balance and immune response markers in the sarcopenic group. (4) Conclusions: These results support the interplay between redox homeostasis alteration and disruption of the innate immune response in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia
An Amino Acid Mixture to Counteract Skeletal Muscle Atrophy: Impact on Mitochondrial Bioenergetics (Q1 WoS)
No full textSkeletal muscle atrophy (SMA) is caused by a rise in muscle breakdown and a decline in
protein synthesis, with a consequent loss of mass and function. This study characterized the effect of an amino acid mixture (AA) in models of SMA, focusing on mitochondria. C57/Bl6 mice underwent immobilization of one hindlimb (I) or cardiotoxin-induced muscle injury (C) and were compared with controls (CTRL). Mice were then administered AA in drinking water for 10 days and compared to a placebo group. With respect to CTRL, I and C reduced running time and distance, along with grip strength; however, the reduction was prevented by AA. Tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were used for histology and mitochondria isolation. I and C resulted in TA atrophy, characterized by a reduction in both wet weight and TA/body weight ratio and smaller myofibers than those of CTRL.
Interestingly, these alterations were lightly observed in mice treated with AA. The mitochondrial yield from the TA of I and C mice was lower than that of CTRL but not in AA-treated mice. AA also preserved mitochondrial bioenergetics in TA muscle from I and C mice. To conclude, this study demonstrates that AA prevents loss of muscle mass and function in SMA by protecting mitochondria
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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