42,213 research outputs found

    Morbid obesity in a young woman affected by advanced chronic kidney disease: an exceptional case report. Does a high dose of essential amino acids play a key role in therapeutic success?

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    A 38-year-old woman, obese (219 kg), diabetic, hypertensive, chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 4, with low plasma albumin level (2.9 g dl(-1)) and marked proteinuria (22 g per day) was studied. Given the advanced-stage CKD with nephrotic proteinuria, we supplemented low-protein diet with high doses of a tailored essential amino acid mixture (AAs: 44 g per day) to improve weight reduction in the patient. After 20 months of conservative therapy, the patient lost 43 kg; despite two episodes of infection, albumin plasma levels increased up to 3.7 g per day. After a further 20 months of dialysis, the patient maintained a diet of 1800 kcal supplemented with 32 g of AAs and lost 47 kg, whereas both albumin (3.89±0.12 g dl(-1)) and C reactive protein returned to normal. During the follow-up period, anemia improved, erythropoietin was thus discontinued and insulin requirement decreased to 105 IU. This therapeutic option may be beneficial in advanced CKD patients with obesity and diabetes resulting from malnutrition

    Cholesterol absorption in cirrhosis: the role of total and individual bile acid pool size

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    Dietary cholesterol absorption was studied in patients with either "mild" (n = 23) or "severe" (n = 12) liver cirrhosis in relation to both total and individual bile acid pool size. Cholesterol absorption was significantly reduced in both groups of patients, and it was inversely related (r = -0.68; p less than 0.001) to the severity of the disease. Total, cholic acid, and deoxycholic acid p ool sizes were significantly reduced in cirrhosis, and a correlation was found between cholesterol absorption and cholic acid pool size (r = 0.78; p less than 0.001). In 5 patients, cholesterol absorption and bile acid pool size were estimated both before and after treatment with cholic acid (15 mg/kg/day) plus ampicillin (2 g/day). The treatment was followed by a mean threefold increase of cholic acid pool and by a sharp enhancement of cholesterol absorption in each patient. In conclusion, cholesterol absorption is often impaired in cirrhosis and is related to the severity of the disease. The correlation between cholic acid pool and cholesterol absorption and the constant increase of the absorption values after cholic acid pool expansion suggest that the size of cholic acid pool may be considered as an important factor in the regulation of cholesterol absorption.PMID: 7227768 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

    The dialogue between the author and the hero in the “Notes” of G. R. Derzhavin

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    В центре внимания автора статьи «Записки» Г. Р. Державина, представляющие по своей сути его автобиографию. Труд этот был создан на закате жизни, он включает все важнейшие события жизни Г. Р. Державина, поэта и государственного деятеля. Рассказ ведется от третьего лица, что придает особую атмосферу повествованию, выстраивается своеобразный диалог между автором и героем, все это и является предметом исследования автора статьи.The focus of the author of the article “Notes” G. R. Derzhavin, representing in essence his autobiography. This work was created at the end of his life; it includes all the most important events in the life of G. R. Derzhavin, poet and statesman. The story is told in a third person, which gives a special atmosphere to the story, a certain dialogue emerges between the author and the hero, all this is the subject of the author's research

    Expansion of intracellular IFN-g positive lymphocytes during Mycoplasma agalactiae infection in sheep

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    A method to assess the expansion of antigen-specific intracellular IFN-c positive T cell subsets during the infection will be helpful for a better understanding of mycoplasmal infections physiopathology in the sheep. We analysed the percentage of antigen-specific lymphocytes positive for intracellular IFN-c during the infection of sheep with Mycoplasma agalactiae by culturing peripheral blood mononuclear cells of infected or uninfected animals with irradiated M. agalactiae. The expansion of antigen-specific IFN-c positive lymphocytes in infected sheep was initially sustained by CD4+ T cells at day 15 after infection, when antigen specific IgG start to be detectable, followed by CD8/IFN-c double positive cells. cd T-cells were not expanded at any time point analysed. IFNc+ T cells disappear 60 days after infection, suggesting that antigen specific IFNc+ T cells, mainly detected in the early phase of the disease, could be useful to understand the role of cell-mediated immunity during M. agalactiae infection

    MATRICES OF A HYDROPHOBICALLY FUNCTIONALIZED HYALURONIC ACID DERIVATIVE FOR THE LOCOREGIONAL TUMOUR TREATMENT

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    A hyaluronic acid (HA) derivative bearing octadecylamine and acylhydrazine functionalities has been here employed for the production of a paclitaxel delivering matrix for locoregional chemotherapy. Through a strategy consisting in a powder compression and a plasticization with a mixture water/ethanol, a physically assembled biomaterial, stable in solutions with physiologic ionic strengths, has been produced. Two different drug loading strategies have been adopted, by using paclitaxel as chemotherapic agent, and obtained samples have been assayed in terms of release in enhanced solubility conditions and in vitro and in vivo tumoural cytotoxicity. In particular sample with the best releasing characteristics was chosen for an in vivo evaluation against a HCT-116 xenograft on mice. Local tumour establishment and metastatic diffusion was assayed locally at the site of xenograft implantation and at the tributary lymphnodes. Obtained results demonstrated how loading procedure influenced paclitaxel crystallinity into the matrix and consequently drug diffusion and its cytoreductive potential. Chosen paclitaxel loaded matrix was able to drastically inhibit HCT-116 establishment and metastatic diffusion
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