Body composition assessment of Crohn's outpatients and comparison with gender- and age-specific multiple matched control pairs.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Routine clinical care for Crohn's disease (CD) outpatients does not cover the assessment of body composition (BC); although this disease (because of inflammation, surgeries, lack of physical activity and appetite) may have a severe impact on lean body mass. The main aims of this prospective research were to assess the nutritional status of the patients and to compare their data with apparently healthy gender- and age-specific matched control pairs. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Overall, 136 CD patients and 1752 apparently healthy people were involved in the study. All participants were measured by the same bioelectrical impedance analyser. RESULTS: Using body mass index (BMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI) as the markers of nutritional status, we found low BMI for 21% of the patients and low FFMI for 30% of them. Low BMI values were not gender specific, but substantially more females had low FFMI values. Low BMI was diagnosed in the patients' vs the control group for 21 vs 4% for men and 21 vs 2% for women; whereas low FFMI was diagnosed for 25 vs 5% for men and 36 vs 14% for women. Significant differences were found between patients' and control groups (median BMI: 22.0 vs 25.1 kg/m2, P<0.0001; FFMI: 17.3 vs 18.4 kg/m2, P=0.0044). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the higher prevalence of low FFMI than that of low BMI among the subjects. We recommend implementing the assessment of BC into routine clinical care to diagnose low FFMI and to start intervention in time.

Special nutrition intervention is required for muscle protective efficacy of physical exercise in elderly people at highest risk of sarcopenia.

Progressive loss of muscle mass and strength is a physiological consequence of aging, and without interventions, it usually deteriorates into sarcopenia. In this study, the hypothesis that combined special nutritional-physiotherapeutical intervention to prevent or reverse this biological deterioration in elderly people was tested. The effects of the regular resistance muscle training (PT, n = 17) alone and the combined exercise + special nutrition therapy containing whey protein and vitamin D (PT + NT, n = 17) were monitored for 3 months in 34 elderly patients (12 men and 22 women; mean age: 66.47 years) randomly distributed into two groups at a long-term care facility. Physical exercise alone did not result in significant improvement in skeletal muscle mass or strength, whereas combined intervention significantly increased the muscle strength (22.51 ± 2.35 vs. 24.54 ± 2.65, [Formula: see text] ± SEM, kg, p = 0.027). When therapeutic responses to the intervention were compared, a significant advantage of PT + NT over PT was found. The same trend was found when the non-significant post-therapeutic alterations (χ2 test) of the distribution of normal vs. pre-sarcopenic + sarcopenic conditions within the two groups were compared. Combined intervention (PT + NT) is necessary for the efficient protection of the musculature in the high-risk elderly patients.

Age and inter-stimulus interval effects on event-related potentials to frequent and infrequent auditory stimuli.

The aim of this study was to investigate aging effects on non-attended changes of auditory stimulation, by using psychophysiological methods. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to frequent (standard; 950 Hz, p = 0.9) and infrequent (deviant; 1045 Hz, p = 0.1) auditory stimuli in older (mean age = 60.8 years) and younger (mean age = 21.3 years) subjects. In various blocks the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) was either 800, 2400 or 7200 ms. During the experimental sessions the subjects read books, and ignored the auditory stimuli. As a function of ISI, the amplitude of the N1 and the amplitude and latency of the P2 increased. The P2 amplitude was larger in the younger group. In the 120-180 ms latency range the deviant stimuli elicited more negative ERPs (mismatch negativity, MMN) than the standard stimuli. The amplitude of the MMN did not change as a function of ISI. MMN was larger in the younger group. Thus the younger subjects were more sensitive to the deviant stimuli. In the younger group, at the two shorter ISIs, the MMN was followed by a positive wave (P3a). The emergence of this component is an indication of the increased activity of the orienting system in the younger subjects, in comparison to the older age group.

A contribution to the kinetics of dissolution of some modern drugs.

A report is presented on the investigation of some drugs being used in modern therapy from the point of view of dissolution kinetics in aqueous and in aqueous micellar solutions. It has been established that the dissolution (saturation) process, in accordance with previous assumptions, is kinetically of the first order both in aqueous and in aqueous micellar solutions. The rate constants describing these processes are nearly identical for the same drug, hence the saturation rates are nearly identical. The amount of drug dissolved within the unit of time decreases in the case of drotaverine and "RJ-64" in direct proportion to the concentration of the surfanctant, whereas in the case of the other drugs examined an increase occurred. The interpretation of the process for drotaverine and "RJ-64" needs further experimental clarification. The importance of kinetic concepts in pharmaceutical technology is emphasized.