Nutritional status in post SARS-Cov2 rehabilitation patients.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: After prolonged hospitalization, the assessment of nutritional status and the identification of adequate nutritional support is of paramount importance. In this observational study, we aimed at assessing the presence of a malnutrition condition in SARS-Cov2 patients after the acute phase and the effects of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program on nutritional and functional status. METHODS: We recruited 48 patients (26 males/22 females) admitted to our Rehabilitation Unit after discharge from acute Covid Hospitals in northern Italy with negative swab for SARS-Cov2. We used the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria to identify patients with different degrees of malnutrition. Patients underwent a 3 to 4-week individual multidisciplinary rehabilitation program consisting of nutritional intervention (energy intake 27to30 kcal/die/kg and protein intake 1-1.3 g/die/kg), exercise for total body conditioning and progressive aerobic exercise with cycle- and arm-ergometer (45 min, 5 days/week). At admission and discharge from our Rehabilitation Unit, body composition and phase angle (PhA) (BIA101 Akern), muscle strength (handgrip, HG) and physical performance (Timed-Up-and-Go, TUG) were assessed. RESULTS: At admission in all patients the mean weight loss, as compared to the habitual weight, was -12.1 (7.6)%, mean BMI was 25.9 (7.9) kg/m2, mean Appendicular Skeletal Muscle Index (ASMI) was 6.6 (1.7) kg/m2 for males and 5.4 (1.4) kg/m2 for females, mean phase angle was 2.9 (0.9)°, mean muscle strength (HG) was 21.1 (7.8) kg for males and 16.4 (5.9) kg for females, mean TUG value was 23.7 (19.2) s. Based on GLIM criteria 29 patients (60% of the total) showed a malnutrition condition. 7 out of those 29 patients (24%) presented a mild/moderate grade and 22 patients (76%) a severe grade. After a rehabilitation program of an average duration of 25 days (range 13-46) ASMI increased, with statistically significant differences only in females (p = 0.001) and HG improved only in males (p = 0.0014). In all of the patients, body weight did not change, CRP/albumin (p < 0.05) and TUG (p < 0.001) were reduced and PhA increased (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: We diagnosed a malnutrition condition in 60% of our post SARS-Cov2 patients. An individualized nutritional intervention with adequate energy and protein intake combined with tailored aerobic and strengthening exercise improved nutritional and functional status.

Hedonic eating in Prader-Willi syndrome is associated with blunted PYY secretion.

Hedonic and homeostatic hunger represent two different forms of eating: just for pleasure or following energy deprivation, respectively. Consumption of food for pleasure was reported to be associated with increased circulating levels of both the orexigenic peptide ghrelin and some specific endocannabinoids in normal-weight subjects and patients with morbid obesity. To date, the effects of palatable food on these mediators in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) are still unknown. To explore the role of some gastrointestinal orexigenic and anorexigenic peptides and endocannabinoids (and some related congeners) in chocolate consumption, we measured changes in circulating levels of ghrelin, cholecystokinin (CCK), peptide YY (PYY), anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol (2-AG), palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) and oleoylethanolamide (OEA) in eight satiated adult PWS patients after consumption of chocolate and, on a separate day, of a non-palatable isocaloric food with the same macronutrient composition. Evaluation of hunger and satiety was also performed by visual analogic scale. The anticipatory phase and the consumption of food for pleasure were associated with decreased circulating levels of PYY. An increase in PEA levels was also observed. By contrast, circulating levels of ghrelin, CCK, AEA, 2-AG and OEA did not differ before and after the exposure/ingestion of either chocolate or non-palatable foods. Hunger and satiety were similar in the hedonic and non-palatable sessions. In conclusion, when motivation to eat is promoted by highly palatable foods, a depressed post-prandial PYY secretion is observed in PWS. Although preliminary, these findings seem to hypothesize a possible role of PYY agonists in the management of PWS patients. Abbreviations: AEA, Anandamide; 2-AG, 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol; CB1, cannabinoid receptor type 1; OEA, oleoylethanolamide; PEA, palmitoylethanolamide; PWS: Prader-Willi syndrome; VAS, visual analog scales.

Similarities in the surnames of island and continental populations of the north-western Mediterranean area.

This paper compares the structures of the surnames of 75 municipal populations living in six north-western Mediterranean regions. Its purpose is to unravel the relations between the local populations in Corsica and Sardinia and the links between these populations and those living in the Italian and French continental territory. On the basis of the matrix of similarity of surnames, some topological representations have been drafted showing the above-mentioned relations between populations under the light of their geographical position, their recent history and studies of genetic analysis. Corsica has an eterogeneous surname structure and evident similarity of the north with Tuscany and some centres of continental France. When only the populations of Sardinia were taken into consideration, it emerged that they differ among each other in relation to their geographical position and their history; when, instead, they were considered in relation to other populations outside the island, it was possible to observe that they form a highly different cluster. This study also identified many differences in the analysed geographical areas of Sardinia. In the minor islands - Elba, Giglio, Capraia - the structure of the surnames has a Tuscan origin as well as some similarity with other geographically distant areas, as in the case of the island of Giglio, if compared with some communities of Liguria.

[Biodemography: analyses on an actual urban population]. / Biodemografia: analisi su una popolazione urbana attuale.

PIP: The population dynamics of the Italian city of Parma are analyzed over the period 1989-1993 using data from the city's population records. Separate consideration is given to migration to and from the city, family characteristics, and family migration.^ieng

Anthropometrical study of the Asmat (Irian Jaya).

An anthropometric study in the Asmat population, a coastal group of Papua living in the south-western part of Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) covered 318 subjects of both sexes, belonging to four different villages (Basim, Senggo, Ewer and Piramanak) of the Asmat region. The dimensions and derived indices, describing body, head and face morphology as well as body composition show the Asmat to be slender and muscular, with shoulders, chest and pelvis of medium dimensions and with long legs in relation to the trunk. They are dolichocephalic with narrow faces and rather large noses. Comparisons of the four Asmat groups indicate the importance of geographic position on size of the subjects and the similarities detected between the groups by discriminant and principal component analysis.

Historical reconstitution of Varaita Valley population 1770-1970.

The reconstitution of the real structure of the population in individuals, families and genealogies, obtainable from the nominative acts through specific techniques mostly prepared by historical demographers, allow also the biologist of human population, a real comparison of the modalities with which the structure of a population has modified in the course of time and those with which the common pool of genes has been transmitted from generation to generation. In this paper the author summarizes the characteristics of the starting data collected from the registry records of Varaita Valley (Cuneo, Italy) beginning from 1770 to 1970; elucidates the methods used in the different steps of reconstitution (reconstruction of individual vital history, reconstruction of families, reconstruction of genealogies); and presents a short description of the results obtained in the historical reconstruction of the Varaita Valley population.

[Differential mortality and fertility structure of human populations]. / Mortalita'e fecondita' differenziali e struttura genetica di popolazioni umane.

PIP: The differential mortality and fertility influence the structure and evolution of the genetic pool of a population. Evolution, defined as the variation in gene frequencies, is determined both by forces which act directly on the genetic material introducing new mutant alleles, and by forces which, acting on the individuals (phenotypes) according to their biological variability and to their behavior, especially reproductive, differentiate the contribution in genes given by each one of them to the formation of the genetic pool of the following generation. The latter ones in synthesis are shown to depend on the capacity of each individual to survive until the adult age and to produce descendants which are themselves able to reproduce. This process appears, in conclusion, to depend on the differential mortality and fertility. Some examples are reported and some lines of research are suggested for the analysis of the consequences, on the genetic structure of human populations, of the mortality trend according to age (mortality during the prereproductive, reproductive, postreproductive periods) and on the basis of the causes of death. The influence of the reproductive behavior is studied in its aspects: 1) the choice of partner (moment of interaction among biological structures, demographic structure and socioeconomic and cultural features of the population); and 2) the trend of fertility, the latter being a parameter that specifically affects the evolution of the biological structure of of the populations. (Author's)^ieng

[Formation and size of complete families in the high Parma valley, 1750-1924].

PIP: The study represents an attempt to reconstruct fertility rates on families over 3 centuries in 40 parishes in the High Parma Valley, in Central Italy. It was possible to reconstruct family sizes of families who remained stable in their villages for several generations, and it was noted that male mortality amply exceeded female mortality. Because of the death of the father before the mother's 50th birthday, which, for the purpose of this study, is taken as onset of menopause and, hence, of sterility, many families remained incompleted. Mean number of children per family increases from 1750 to the middle 1800s; it then remains stable till the end of the century, to rapidly decrease from that moment on. The highest number of children per family was calculated to be 8 for the period 1800-1849 for women who were 15-19 at time of marriage.^ieng

Heterozygous effects on cell yield and generation time in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The data obtained analyzing generation time, cell yield and their variability in different culture media in diploid strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae demonstrate the existence of a biochemically determined heterotic effect, that could be of some relevance for the study of yeast population genetics, as well as for the improvement of microbial fermentation processes.

[Genetic observations on hereditary spherocytosis in some family groups in a region of Mantova north of the Po and/in the province of Parma]. / Osservazioni genetiche sulla sferocitosi ereditaria in alcuni gruppi familiari dell-Oltrepo Mantovano e della provincia di Parma

Hereditary spherocytosis is an haemolitic disease, generally characterized by anaemia, jaundice, and splenomegaly. With reference to data collected in the territory of Quistello, in the Province of Mantova and in the Hospital of the City of Parma, about 280 persons were examined, belonging to the families most affected by hereditary spherocytosis. The results support the hypothesis that the disease is due to an autosomic dominant gene with an almost complete penetrance (0.9). No significant decrease in fitness, measured as a function of fertility, was observed, nor was it possible, from the data examined, to evaluate any correlation between presence of the disease and cases of abortion or perinatal mortality. It is worthy of note that all the observed cases pertain to families that are distributed along the course of the Po River. A biochemical enquiry, based upon an evaluation of the differences in protein composition between the membranes of spherocytes and normal eritrocytes, by electrophoresis on gel of polyacrylamide, gave contrasting results.