Nutrition
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We assessed whether sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption increases fatness in British children. ⋯ In this cohort of British children there was no evidence of an association between SSB consumption at age 5 or 7 y and fatness at age 9 y. The positive relation between consumption of low-energy beverages and fatness at 9 y, which was explained by overweight status at 5 and 7 y, suggests that heavier children may consume low-energy beverages as part of an ineffective weight-control program.
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This study investigated the effects of glutamine administration on the expression of the heat-shock protein 72 (Hsp72) in the liver during sepsis. The role of heat-shock factor 1 (HSF-1) was analyzed for possible mechanisms to the phenomenon. ⋯ These results demonstrated that Hsp72 could be induced by glutamine in septic liver only if the liver was preconditioned by heat-shock response. The selective facilitating effect might depend on the accumulation of intranuclear phosphorylated HSF-1 caused by previous heat-shock treatment.
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Patients with chronic heart failure (HF) develop important changes in body composition. Nevertheless, the usual methods of body composition assessment can be misleading in patients with HF because tissue hydration is altered. Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) works without making any assumption about constant soft tissue hydration. In this study, patients with HF and systolic dysfunction (HFS) and preserved systolic function (HFPSF) underwent a body composition evaluation by the BIVA method; the comparison was done between New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classes I-II and III-IV. ⋯ Bioelectrical impedance analysis allows an easier evaluation of body composition and this might be particularly useful to stratify the severity of HF.
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Comparative Study
Mineral deficiency in patients who have undergone gastrectomy.
We investigated the nature of nutritional deficiencies that arose in gastrectomy patients by comparing mineral absorption in patients with total and subtotal gastrectomies before and after operation. ⋯ In the short term, gastrectomy does not seem to affect the levels of most minerals in the body. However, changes in sodium levels indicate that gastrectomy affects sodium absorbency in gastric cancer patients. Potassium levels increased significantly in patients who received total gastrectomies; this may also be an area that nutritional treatment should focus on.
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We report the case of a 42-y-old morbidly obese woman who presented persistent anemia as result of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. ⋯ Iron absorption tests provided evidence that the reduction of intestinal iron absorption capacity was the most probable cause of the persistent anemia.