Phase IV prospective clinical study to evaluate the effect of taurine on liver function in postsurgical adult patients requiring parenteral nutrition.

BACKGROUND: Taurine's role in bile acid metabolism and anti-inflammatory activity could exert a protective effect on hepatobiliary complications associated with parenteral nutrition (PN). In this study, the effects of 2 amino acid solutions, with and without taurine, on liver function administered to nonacutely ill postsurgical patients as part of a short-term PN regimen were prospectively compared. METHODS: Adult patients randomly received (double-blind) Tauramin 10% or a standard PN solution without taurine as the control (1.5 g amino acid/kg body weight [bw]/d; infusion rate of ≤4 mg glucose/kg bw/d) for a period of 5-30 days. γ-Glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and other indicators of liver function, glucose metabolism, lipid profile, inflammation markers, and treatment safety data were collected. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients receiving taurine PN and 39 receiving control PN were enrolled (intention-to-treat [ITT] population). Most patients (n = 62) discontinued after day 7 of follow-up (per-protocol [PP] population: n = 24 and n = 27, respectively). ITT patients with high GGT values after 5 days of PN comprised 68.6% and 64.1%, respectively. The mean change in GGT values with respect to the baseline values was 167 ± 192 and 157 ± 185 IU/L, respectively. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels after 7 days of PN were significantly decreased in the taurine PN group of PP patients (-2.83 ± 30.9 vs 23.9 ± 27.0 mg/dL for control PN; P < .05). None of the adverse events reported (taurine PN: n = 6; control PN: n = 7) were treatment related. CONCLUSION: PN solutions with and without taurine had similar effects on liver function parameters, except for an LDL reduction in PN with taurine, when administered to nonacutely ill postsurgical patients in the short term (5-7 days).

Insulin action in adipose tissue in type 1 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Insulin action has been reported to be normal in type 1 diabetic patients. However, some studies have reported an insulin resistance state in these patients. The aim of this study was to investigate insulin resistance in a group of type 1 diabetic patients. We studied the insulin action in adipose tissue and analyzed the effects of duration of disease, body mass index (BMI), and glycosylated hemoglobin on insulin action at the receptor and postreceptor levels in adipocytes. METHODS: Nine female type 1 diabetic patients with different durations of disease and eight nondiabetic female patients of comparable age and BMI were studied. (125)I-insulin binding and U-[(14)C]-D-glucose transport was measured in a sample of subcutaneous gluteus adipose tissue obtained by open surgical biopsy from each subject. RESULTS: The duration of disease was negatively correlated with both (125)I-insulin binding capacity (r = -0.70, P < 0.05) and basal and maximum insulin-stimulated glucose transport (r = -0.87, P < 0.01, and r = -0.88, P < 0.01, respectively). Maximum specific (125)I-insulin binding to the receptors in adipocytes was higher in the group of patients with a shorter duration of disease (P < 0.01). Basal and maximum insulin-stimulated glucose transport was significantly higher in the group with less than 5 years of disease (P < 0.01). No correlation was found between BMI and insulin action. CONCLUSION: Female type 1 diabetic patients have normal insulin action. There is a high glucose uptake in the early phase of the disease, although a longer duration of disease appears to be a contributing factor to a decrease in insulin action in these patients, and involving both receptor and postreceptor mechanisms.

Determination of fifteen active compounds released from paraffin-based active packaging in tomato samples via microextraction techniques.

Automated headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and hollow-fibre liquid-phase microextraction (HFLPME) methods for the determination of 15 active chemicals released from essential-oil-based active packaging have been considered. The HS-SPME procedure demonstrates good performance and was therefore optimised and validated, providing detection limits in the low microgram per kilogramme range and wide and convenient linear ranges from 40.0 to 900.0 microg/kg. Extraction temperature has been demonstrated to be the most critical experimental parameter requiring accurate monitoring.