Nutritional support has become an important intervention for critically ill patients. Many studies have reported on the effects of nutritional support for the patients within the intensive care unit (ICU); however, no studies have specifically assessed patients with gastrointestinal diseases who may have difficulty absorbing enteral nutrition (EN) in the ICU.Sixty-two patients with gastrointest...

AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of this prospective study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and to evaluate a more sensitive marker to assess the nutritional status in patients undergoing RT for head and neck cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS The prospective study included 51 (mean age of 57.6 ±11.2 years) patients undergoing RT for head and neck cancer. Malnutrition was defined as weight l...

In recent years the issues of protein stability, folding and aggregation have become central in several pathological conditions and in particular in amyloid diseases. Here, we review the recent developments on the molecular mechanisms of amyloid formation by transthyretin (TTR), in particular, in what concerns to protein conformational stability, protein folding and

Although intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) is a method used widely to combat protein-calorie malnutrition in hemodialysis patients, its effect on survival has not been thoroughly studied. We conducted a prospective, randomized trial in which 186 malnourished hemodialysis patients received oral nutritional supplements with or without 1 year of IDPN. IDPN did not improve 2-year mortality ...

In order to assess the nutritional status of children with heart diseases and to evaluate nutritional parameters for predicting postoperative complications, 50 children undergoing to cardiac surgery and classified in high and low surgical risk prospectively evaluated. Assessment parameters included anthropometry and plasma proteins albumin, transferrin and prealbumin. The nutritional classifica...

We studied the correlation of thyroxin (T4)-binding proteins with the apparent free T4 (FT4) in 101 patients with nonthyroidal illness (NTI). Most patients (95%) were seriously ill at the time of blood collection. Concentrations of T4-binding prealbumin (transthyretin), albumin, and T4-binding globulin (TBG) often were low in the sera of these patients. Albumin was the most frequently subnormal...

The protein content of normal human tears from five subjects was examined by molecular weight separation using SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and by charge separation using agarose isoelectric focusing (IEF) gels. After separation, specific proteins were identified by immunoblot and immunofixation. Tear proteins examined included albumin, IgA, IgG, prealbumin, lactoferrin, lysozy...

We report that aurone derivatives of plant extracts produce potent, dose-dependent, and ultimately complete inhibition of three different metabolic monodeiodination pathways catalyzed by rat liver microsomal type I iodothyronine deiodinase. These data show that (3'),4',4,6-(tetra)trihydroxyaurones are the most potent naturally occurring plant-derived inhibitors of this deiodinase enzyme (IC50 V...