Anorexia is one of several abnormalities characterizing chronic kidney disease (CKD) that cause cachexia, the loss of muscle and adipose stores. It has been attributed to mechanisms ranging from accumulation of toxic "middle molecules" to psychological problems. In this issue of the JCI, Cheung and coworkers used elegant techniques to demonstrate that CKD-associated anorexia is caused by defect...

Many patients with advanced cancer undergo a wasting syndrome characterized by anorexia, loss of weight, asthenia, and a poor prognosis, referred to as the cancer anorexia/cachexia syndrome. In defining these terms further, anorexia describes loss of appetite and/or an aversion to food. The term “cachexia” refers to a loss of body mass, including lean body mass and fat, in the setting of a dise...

mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalo-myopathy (mngie) is a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by thymidine phosphorylase (tp) gene mutation. here we report a patient with mngie in whom sensorimotor polyneuropathy was the first presenting symptom and had a fluctuating course. this 26-year-old female patient developed acute-onset demyelinating polyneuropathy from the age of 6 with t...

Individuals affected with either acute or chronic diseases often show disorders of nutrient balance. In some cases, a devastating state of malnutrition known as cachexia arises, brought about by a synergistic combination of a dramatic decrease in appetite and an increase in metabolism of fat and lean body mass. Stimulation of the hypothalamic melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4-R) produces relative an...

BACKGROUND Progressive loss of muscle mass is a major characteristic of cancer cachexia. Consensus definitions for cachexia provide different options to measure muscle mass. This study describes the effect of different methods to determine muscle mass on the diagnosis of cancer cachexia. In addition, the association of cachexia with other features of cachexia, quality of life, and survival was ...

INTRODUCTION Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) independent of traditional risk factors. The aim of this study was to analyze the associations between diet, body composition, lipids and atheroprotective natural antibodies against phosphorylcholine (anti-PC) in patients with RA. METHODS A total of 80 RA patients (76% women), mean age...

BACKGROUND Cancer-related cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterised by progressive loss of body weight and it affects a large proportion of patients with advanced cancer. Cachexia is associated with reduced treatment tolerance, response to therapy, quality of life and duration of survival, whereas some of its mechanisms are shared across the whole continuum of diseases in the populati...

abstract intraabdominal schwannomas are rare tumors that may arise from viscera or abdominal wall. the rarity accompanied by occurrence in odds places may make their diagnosis difficult and delayed. we present a case of distal paraesophageal schwannoma with long-term cachexia. a34-year-old man presented with long-lasting vomiting, dysphagia, and progressive cachexia for four years. multiple par...