Nutrition
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Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the leading cause of alcohol-related deaths worldwide. Experimental ALD models are expensive and difficult to reproduce. A low-cost, reproducible ALD model was developed, and liver damage compared with the gut microbiota. The aims of this study were to develop an experimental model of ALD, through a high-fat diet, the chronic use of ethanol, and intragastric alcohol binge; and to evaluate the composition of the gut microbiota and its correlation with markers of inflammatory and liver disease progression in this model. ⋯ The model induced nutritional, biochemical, histologic, and gut microbiota changes, and appears to be useful in the study of therapeutic targets.
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The aim of this study was to validate the cachexia staging score (CSS), a multidimensional, item-based diagnostic method of cachexia severity, for patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care. ⋯ The CSS predicted life expectancy in a population of patients receiving palliative care and had excellent prognostic discriminative power to classify patients at different stages of cachexia.
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Case Reports
Vitamin B12 deficiency presenting as intestinal pseudo-obstruction in short bowel syndrome: A case report.
Bowel obstruction and nutrient deficiencies are commonly encountered complications seen during follow-up of patients with short bowel syndrome. It is rare to see vitamin B12 deficiency among micronutrient deficits. The onset of B12 deficiency can be insidious, with autonomic features preceding other symptoms. In this study, we report a case in which vitamin B12 deficiency presented with intestinal dysmotility mimicking mechanical bowel obstruction.