More Frequent Nutrition Counseling Limits Weight Loss and Improves Energy Intake During Oncology Management: A Longitudinal Inpatient Study in Taiwan

Introduction: Malnutrition increases the risk of cancer treatment-related complications. Nutritional intervention is beneficial for the outcomes of outpatients with cancer. This study investigated the impacts of nutrition consultation and care on energy intake and weight change in inpatients receiving cancer treatment.

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study, enrolling 3221 inpatients with head and neck, lung, hepatobiliary, upper gastrointestinal, colorectal, breast, or gynecological cancer who received at least two nutrition consultations between April 2010 and July 2015. In every consultation, a dietitian calculated the total energy requirement and the actual energy intake was assessed using a 24-h dietary recall.

Results: Patients with head and neck cancer lost the most weight (1.16?kg/mo). For every consultation, a 0.03-kg weight gain per month was observed (P?=?0.001). The average energy consumption percentage (% estimated energy requirement) at the third consultation was 87.0%. After controlling for potential covariates, the energy consumption percentages at the third, fourth, fifth–seventh, eighth, and subsequent consultations were significantly higher than those at the first consultation (P?<?0.05).

Conclusion: For oncology inpatients, routine screening and at least three active nutrition consultations with dietitians effectively improved energy intake and preserved body weight.     

亮氨酸氨基肽酶在妊娠妇女血清中的水平变化及其意义

目的:探讨血清亮氨酸氨基肽酶(LAP)在妊娠妇女不同时期血清中的变化规律及其临床意义。方法:选取2011年1月~2013年12月在该院产检的正常妊娠妇女180例,根据孕周分为早期组、中期组和晚期组,每组各60例,另选取60例健康未孕妇女为未孕组;同时选取该院收治的妊娠期高血压疾病妇女33例为妊娠期高血压疾病组、早产孕妇22例为早产组,采用速率法分别检测各组孕妇血清LAP水平并进行比较。结果:未孕组、早期组、中期组、晚期组妇女的血清LAP、血清肝胆酸(CG)、碱性磷酸酶(ALP)、α-L-岩藻糖苷酶(AFU)水平比较,差异有统计学意义(P均<0.05)。妊娠期高血压疾病组的CG、ALP、AFU、LAP水平显著高于早期组、中期组和晚期组(P均<0.05);早产组的CG、ALP、AFU、LAP水平显著高于早期组、中期组(P均<0.05),仅CG水平高于晚期组(P<0.05)。结论:随着妊娠周期的增加,妊娠妇女的血清LAP水平逐步升高,在合并妊娠期高血压疾病时LAP升高更加显著,结合CG、ALP、AFU水平的变化能够对妊娠期高血压疾病的发病情况进行动态监测。     

Family Caregivers' Subjective Caregiving Burden,Quality of Life,and Depressive Symptoms Are Associated With Terminally Ill Cancer Patients' Distinct Patterns of Conjoint Symptom Distress and Functional Impairment in Their Last Six Months of Life

Context

Family caregivers constitute a critical component of the end-of-life care system with considerable cost to themselves. However, the joint association of terminally ill cancer patients' symptom distress and functional impairment with caregivers' subjective caregiving burden, quality of life (QOL), and depressive symptoms remains unknown.

Effects of bimatoprost 0.03% on ocular hemodynamics in normal tension glaucoma.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of bimatoprost 0.03% on ocular hemodynamics in patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG). METHODS: Twenty-two (22) patients with NTG were consecutively recruited. After basic eye examination and diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, color Doppler imaging was used to measure the peak systolic and end diastolic velocities and resistive index of the central retinal, lateral posterior ciliary, and medial posterior ciliary arteries. Patients received bimatoprost 0.03% for 4 weeks, and these measurements were then repeated. The worse eye of each NTG patient was used in the statistical analysis. RESULTS: Bimatoprost 0.03% significantly reduced mean IOP from 15.1 +/- 3.8 mmHg at baseline to 12.0 +/- 2.9 mmHg after treatment in our sample of NTG patients (P < 0.001). No significant changes in blood velocities or resistance indices were observed in the retrobulbar vessels after the 4-week treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Topical bimatoprost 0.03% significantly reduced IOP in our NTG patients without causing significant hemodynamic changes in the retrobulbar vessels.     

Optimal control of a revenue management system with dynamic pricing facing linear demand

This paper considers a dynamic pricing problem over a finite horizon where demand for a product is a time‐varying linear function of price. It is assumed that at the start of the horizon there is a fixed amount of the product available. The decision problem is to determine the optimal price at each time period in order to maximize the total revenue generated from the sale of the product. In order to obtain structural results we formulate the decision problem as an optimal control problem and solve it using Pontryagin's principle. For those problems which are not easily solvable when formulated as an optimal control problem, we present a simple convergent algorithm based on Pontryagin's principle that involves solving a sequence of very small quadratic programming (QP) problems. We also consider the case where the initial inventory of the product is a decision variable. We then analyse the two‐product version of the problem where the linear demand functions are defined in the sense of Bertrand and we again solve the problem using Pontryagin's principle. A special case of the optimal control problem is solved by transforming it into a linear complementarity problem. For the two‐product problem we again present a simple algorithm that involves solving a sequence of small QP problems and also consider the case where the initial inventory levels are decision variables. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inhibition of the expression of lysyl oxidase and its substrates in cadmium-resistant rat fetal lung fibroblasts.

Copper (Cu)-dependent lysyl oxidase (LO) catalyzes crosslinking of collagen and elastin stabilizing the extracellular matrix (ECM). Chronic inhalation of cadmium (Cd), a toxic metal, induces emphysema. To probe mechanisms of Cd injury to the lung, we developed Cd-resistant (CdR) cells from rat fetal lung fibroblasts (RFL6) by chronic exposure to CdCl(2) from 1 to 40 microM and further examined their expressions of LO, LO substrates, and Cu-scavenging thiols. Levels of cellular thiols, metallothionein, and glutathione in CdR cells were elevated to 13.0- and 3.2-fold of parental controls, respectively, whereas LO mRNA and protein levels were markedly reduced in these cells, with catalytic activity declining to only 16% of the parental control. A conspicuous 52 kDa species rather then the normal 50 kDa proenzyme appeared in the CdR cell extract but not in the conditioned medium, which was codistributed with the endoplasmic reticulum marker [DiOC5(3)] within the cell, implying the Cd-induced 52 kDa species as a product of an abnormal LO-processing defect in secretion. Addition of Cu into CdR cell cultures enhanced the expression of LO mRNA, protein and catalytic activities reflecting limitation of Cu bioavailability for LO in these cells. With inhibition of LO, CdR cells also displayed downregulation of collagen and elastin, substrates of LO. Restoration of collagen synthesis by exposure of CdR cells to purified LO or Cu suggests that inhibition of LO and limitation of Cu cofactor by Cd, as key phenotype changes, accelerated collagen and elastin damage, a critical event pertinent to emphysema pathogenesis.