Internal and emergency medicine
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Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome involving the breakdown of skeletal muscle causing myoglobin and other intracellular proteins and electrolytes to leak into the circulation. The development of rhabdomyolysis is associated with a wide variety of diseases, injuries, medications and toxins. While the exact mechanisms responsible for all the causes are not fully understood, it is clear that muscle damage can occur from direct injury or by metabolic inequalities between energy consumption and energy production. ⋯ Regardless of these controversies, the overall prognosis for rhabdomyolysis is favourable when treated with early and aggressive IVF resuscitation, and full recovery of renal function is common. Irrespective of the cause of rhabdomyolysis the mortality rate may still be as high as 8%. This is a comprehensive review of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, complications and treatment options for rhabdomyolysis.
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Multicenter Study
Clinical outcome of long-term home parenteral nutrition in non-oncological patients: a report from two specialised centres.
Forty-one (20 m, 21 f) non-oncological home parenteral nutrition (HPN) patients (52.0+/-16.6 years, BMI 20.2+/-4.0 kg/m(2)), enrolled from 1995 to 2005, underwent a clinical and biochemical follow-up at 3 months, 1 and 3 years. ⋯ The experience of the nutritional team and careful patient and caregiver training reduce CVC infection rate and the overall risk of complications possibly due to HPN.
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The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence and degree of depression at baseline of a large cohort of smokers intending to quit. ⋯ The study showed a high degree of pre-treatment depression in smokers intending to quit. Although the association between depression and nicotine dependence has been consistently reported many times, and it is well known that depressed subjects find it more difficult to quit, most guidelines seem not to consider this connection. These findings suggest the need for baseline assessment of depression by screening all smokers seeking assistance in quitting, a priority health objective because smoking is the number one avoidable killer in developed countries.