Nutrition
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) has been proposed as a technique to estimate body composition. Its application has extended beyond the clinical setting, however, it remains to be determined if the BIA prediction formulas published to date provide comparable body composition estimates in elderly populations. The objective of this study was to compare the estimates of body fat derived from...
Postoperative patients are hypercatabolic. They also suffer a degree of gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction impairing nutritional intake. Safe enteral absorption had been limited to a maximum of 500 kcal provided over the initial 24 h in all previously reported regimens. Several days of negative nitrogen balance and diminution of serum branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) result. Some data suggest...
Endothelial cell growth in vitro is limited to the availability of nutrients from commercially available media and added serum. Nutrients, such as amino acids, are chiefly derived from the cell culture medium, rather than from added serum, and optimal endothelial cell growth may be dependent on amino acid levels in the culture media. To test this hypothesis, porcine pulmonary artery-derived endothelial...
We compressed 16 test-pattern classes of albumin (ALB), cholesterol (CHOL), and total protein (TPR) in 545 chemistry profiles to 4 classes by converting decision values to a number code to separate malnourished (1 or 2) from nonmalnourished (NM) (0) patients, using as cutoff values for nonmalnourished (0), mild (1), and moderate (2): ALB 35, 27 g/L; TPR 63, 53 g/L; CHOL 3.9, 2.8 mmol/L; and BUN 9...
To better understand the long-term weight stability of postobese patients who underwent biliopancreatic diversion (BPD), we studied 24-h energy and nutrient balance in eight women at least 3 yr after surgery (PO) and compared the results to those obtained in eight normal never-obese control women (C), matched by age and weight. Body composition was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA)...
This study examines whether muscle wasting in critically ill patients can be prevented by passive stretching alone in the absence of contractile activity. Five critically ill patients who required a complete neuromuscular blockade for 7 days of ventilator support were studied. One leg of each patient was treated with continuous passive motion (CPM) for three 3-h periods daily while the other leg...
High fat enteral formulas have been advocated for the nutritional support of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients because dietary fat utilization under ideal conditions produces less CO 2 per O 2 consumed than carbohydrate. No data exist for these patients comparing the effects of a moderate fat vs. a high fat enteral formula on gastric emptying times (GE) and subsequent...
The requirements for essential fatty acids in patients on home parenteral nutrition are not well described. We therefore studied the needs of 12 patients receiving parenteral nutrition for at least 4 mo (range: 4 mo-17.3 yr; mean 7.0 ± 5.2 yr). Prior to the study, each patient had been receiving intravenous lipids either weekly or biweekly and had a triene to tetraene ratio (TTR) on plasma phospholipids...
It is becoming increasingly apparent that certain types of inflammatory tissue injury are mediated by reactive oxygen metabolites. The most likely sources of these oxidizing agents are the phagocytic leukocytes (e.g., neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, and eosinophils) that invade the tissue. These reactive radicals and oxidants may injure cells and tissue directly via oxidative degradation of...