(Press-News.org) To help healthcare providers stay abreast of the latest and ever-changing developments in clinical nutrition, the Journal of Parenteral and External Nutrition (JPEN) makes research available as soon as possible. The following are selections from JPEN's OnlineFirst articles, which are published online before they appear in a regular issue of the journal:
A.S.P.E.N. Clinical Guidelines: Support of Pediatric Patients With Intestinal Failure at Risk of Parenteral Nutrition–Associated Liver Disease
Embargoed until 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Children in care for severe intestinal failure who receive prolonged intravenous feeding are susceptible to the development of liver disease. Through a review of existing evidence, this clinical guideline is designed to develop recommendations for the care of such pediatric patients by answering four questions:
1. Is ethanol lock effective at preventing blood-stream infection and catheter removal in children at risk?
2. What lipid strategies can be used to reduce the risk of or treat liver disease?
3. Can ursodeoxycholic acid through tube feeding improve the treatment of liver disease?
4. Are outcomes improved when patients are managed by a multidisciplinary intestinal rehabilitation team?
Causes and Consequences of Interrupted Enteral Nutrition: A Prospective Observational Study in Critically Ill Surgical Patients
Embargoed until 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Malnutrition and underfeeding are major challenges in caring for critically ill patients. This study looked at interruptions in enteral (tube) feeding and its impacts on patients in post-surgery intensive care. The study found that feeding interruption was frequent, typically unavoidable, and led to negative outcomes. One strategy to counter this problem is to maximize nutrient delivery before and after feeding interruptions.
Intensive Nutrition in Acute Lung Injury: A Clinical Trial (INTACT)
Embargoed until 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 10, 2014
Both intravenous and tube feeding have been common practices in ICUs for decades. However, there is little evidence to show how effective they are. In this trial of patients with acute lung injury, one set of patients received more than 75 percent of their nutrition needs through intravenous feeding and adequate oral diet (known as "intensive medical nutrition therapy,") while another set received standard nutrition care. The trial found that patients who received intensive therapy had a higher mortality rate than those who received standard care. In fact, the trial was stopped early due to higher mortality rates. Further analysis is needed to account for this difference.
ERAS—Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: Moving Evidence-Based Perioperative Care to Practice
Published online before print February 24, 2014: http://pen.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/19/0148607114523451.abstract
Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) is a term often used to describe care programs given before, during, and after surgery that have been shown to improve outcomes after major surgery. This article gives a brief history of the development from fast-track surgery to ERAS.
Vitamin D Status and Severity of Clostridium difficile Infections: A Prospective Cohort Study in Hospitalized Adults
Published online before print January 9, 2014: http://pen.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/01/08/0148607113519129.abstract
Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea, affecting up to 10 percent of hospitalized patients. This study looked at suggested connections between vitamin D levels and the severity of Clostridium difficile infections. The study found that higher vitamin D levels reduced the severity of infections. Further studies are needed to see if vitamin D supplementation can improve patient outcomes.
Pediatric Intestinal Failure–Associated Liver Disease Is Reversed With 6 Months of Intravenous Fish Oil
Published online before print July 26, 2013: http://pen.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/07/26/0148607113495416.abstract
Intravenous fish oil has been shown in studies to be effective at treating direct hyperbilirubinemia in pediatric patients. However, the duration of such treatment has not been established. This study looked at whether or not 24 weeks of fish oil treatment was effective for the treatment of intestinal failure associated liver disease (IFALD). The study found that a limited duration of fish oil is safe and effective in treating IFALD.
INFORMATION:
A publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.), the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN) is the premier scientific journal of nutrition and metabolic support. It publishes original, peer-reviewed studies that define the cutting edge of basic and clinical research in the field. It explores the science of optimizing the care of patients receiving enteral or intravenous therapies. All published JPEN articles are available online at http://pen.sagepub.com.
News from the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN) April 2014
2014-04-10
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers develop novel molecular blood group typing technique
2014-04-10
Philadelphia, PA, April 10, 2014 – Scientists in France have designed a new system for molecular blood group typing that offers blood banks the possibility of extensive screening of blood donors at a relatively low cost. Their approach is described in the current issue of The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
Although blood transfusion is generally safe, alloimmunization (when an antibody is formed in response to an antigen that is not present on a person's own red blood cells [RBCs]) remains a dreaded complication, particularly in patients with sickle cell diseases. ...
Head injuries can make children loners
2014-04-10
New research has found that a child's relationships may be a hidden casualty long after a head injury.
Neuroscientists at Brigham Young University studied a group of children three years after each had suffered a traumatic brain injury – most commonly from car accidents. The researchers found that lingering injury in a specific region of the brain predicted the health of the children's social lives.
"The thing that's hardest about brain injury is that someone can have significant difficulties but they still look okay," said Shawn Gale, a neuropsychologist at BYU. ...
There's no faking it -- your sexual partner knows if you're really satisfied
2014-04-10
There is no point faking it in bed because chances are your sexual partner will be able to tell. A study by researchers at the University of Waterloo found that men and women are equally perceptive of their partners' levels of sexual satisfaction.
The study by Erin Fallis, PhD candidate, and co-authors Professor Uzma S. Rehman and Professor Christine Purdon in the Department of Psychology at Waterloo, identified sexual communication and ability to recognize emotions as important factors that predict accuracy in gauging one partner's sexual satisfaction.
The study ...
Researchers discover how the kissing disease virus hijacks human cells
2014-04-10
This news release is available in French. University of Montreal researchers have discovered how a component of the Epstein Barr (EBV) virus takes over our cells gene regulating machinery, allowing the virus to replicate itself. The EBV virus causes a variety of diseases such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and Burkitt's lymphoma, with the most prevalent disease being infectious mononucleosis commonly known as "kissing disease" because of its mode of transmission between humans. It turns out that the diseases begin with kiss of a molecular sort; a viral protein contacting the ...
Periodontal disease associated with cardiovascular risk in large multicenter study
2014-04-10
Sophia Antipolis, 10 April 2014. Periodontal disorders such as tooth loss and gingivitis have been identified as a potential risk marker for cardiovascular disease in a large study reported today.(1) More than 15,000 patients with chronic coronary heart disease provided information on their dental health, with results showing that indicators of periodontal disease (fewer remaining teeth, gum bleeding) were common in this patient group and associated with numerous cardiovascular and socioeconomic risk factors.
Conversely, a lower prevalence of tooth loss was associated ...
Breastfeeding and infant sleep
2014-04-10
In a new article published online today in the journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, Professor David Haig argues that infants that wake frequently at night to breastfeed are delaying the resumption of the mother's ovulation and therefore preventing the birth of a sibling with whom they would have to compete.
It has already been documented that smaller gaps between the births of siblings are associated with increased mortality of infants and toddlers, especially in environments where resources are scarce and where infectious disease rates are high, and Professor ...
Extinct carnivorous marsupial may have hunted prey larger than itself
2014-04-10
The reconstruction of an extinct meat-eating marsupial's skull, Nimbacinus dicksoni, suggests that it may have had the ability to hunt vertebrate prey exceeding its own body size, according to results published April 9, 2014, in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Marie Attard from the University of New England together with colleagues from the University of New South Wales.
Nimbacinus dicksoni is a member of an extinct family of Australian and New Guinean marsupial carnivores, Thylacinidae. Aside from one recently extinct species, the majority of information known about ...
Rare leafcutter bee fossils reveal Ice Age environment at the La Brea Tar Pits
2014-04-10
VIDEO:
This is a spinning animation of fossil of male pupa and its position within the nest cell.
Click here for more information.
LOS ANGELES — The La Brea Tar Pits, the world's richest and most important Ice Age fossil locality, is most celebrated for it collection of saber-toothed cats and mammoths. The site's lesser known, but equally vast insect collection, is also of great significance. Recent examination of fossil leafcutter bee nest cells containing pupae, led by Anna R. ...
Spironolactone not reduce primary outcome, did reduce hospitalizations for heart failure
2014-04-10
Boston, MA – Findings from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial, have revealed that adding the medication known as spironolactone (Aldactone) to existing therapy did not significantly reduce the composite time to either death from cardiovascular causes, surviving a cardiac arrest, or hospitaliization to manage heart failure in patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction in a study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health.
The study will be ...
Study confirms impact of clinician-patient relationship on health outcomes
2014-04-10
A meta-analysis of studies that investigated measures designed to improve health professionals' interactions with patients confirms that such efforts can produce health effects just as beneficial as taking a daily aspirin to prevent heart attack. In contrast to previous such reviews, the current report from the Empathy and Relational Science Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) only included randomized, controlled trials with more reliable results than those included in earlier studies. While it has long been believed that a good patient-clinician relationship ...