Nutrition
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The aim of this overview of systematic reviews was to synthesize, appraise, and present all systematic review (SR) evidence on the clinical efficacy of glutamine administration to severely ill patients. ⋯ Glutamine could demonstrate a beneficial role in critical care patients of diminishing the rate of infectious complications and hospital and ICU LOS. However, future studies with better quality would confirm this finding.
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Flavonoids modulate tight junction barrier functions in hyperglycemic human intestinal Caco-2 cells.
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease requiring lifelong medical attention. With hundreds of millions suffering worldwide and a rapidly rising incidence, diabetes mellitus poses a great burden on health care systems. Recent studies investigating the underlying mechanisms involved in disease development in diabetes point to the role of the dysregulation of the intestinal barrier. Hyperglycemia-mediated tight junction deformity is known to contribute to leaky gut in various metabolic disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the role of oxidative stress on intestinal epithelial tight junction (TJ) barrier functions in hyperglycemia. Because many flavonoids are known to influence the cellular redox state, exploring these flavonoids may help to understand the role of TJ barrier in hyperglycemia-mediated oxidative stress, which in turn might unfold the association of oxidative stress and dysfunction of barrier-forming TJs. ⋯ These findings indicate that flavonoids confer protection against hyperglycemia-mediated oxidative stress and enhance intestinal barrier functions by modulating underlying intracellular molecular mechanisms.
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Impaired phagocytic function has been established in uremic patients. Chemotaxis, particle ingestion, and free radical and metabolic activity were all found to be disturbed in dialysis patients. Malnutrition is common among hemodialysis (HD) patients, with an estimated prevalence of 40% to 70%. Malnutrition-Inflammation Score (MIS) appears to be a useful tool for risk stratification of chronic HD patients. We assessed the correlation between MIS and phagocyte function in HD patients. ⋯ Impaired phagocytic function was identified in chronic HD patients. The severity of the impairment was associated with nutrition and inflammation parameters, as well as Malnutrition-Inflammation Score.
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To examine the effects of a selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-α) agonist treatment on interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) whitening, focusing on thermogenic, lipolysis, and lipid oxidation markers in mice fed a high-fat or high-fructose diet. ⋯ The PPAR-α agonist countered iBAT whitening by inducing the thermogenic pathway and reducing the lipid droplet size, in addition to enhanced VEGF-A expression, adrenergic stimulus, and lipolysis in HF-fed mice.
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Currently 1 million Australians are living with depression each year, with an average of one in eight men experiencing the disorder. Studies have shown that individual nutrients, fruit and vegetable intake, polyphenols, and whole dietary patterns can have a positive effect on depressive symptoms. In particular, the Mediterranean diet has shown promising preliminary findings. The aim of this study was to assess the diet quality and knowledge of young men in relation to depressive symptoms. ⋯ These results highlighted the relatively poor diets of this population. This group of young men would greatly benefit from a quality diet such as the Mediterranean diet. The reported willingness to change their diets is encouraging and supports the viability of dietary intervention trials in this demographic. The dietary data presented in this study can be used to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving the diets of young men with depression.