Effects of Nutritional Interventions on Nutritional and Functional Outcomes in Geriatric Rehabilitation Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: It has been recognized that nutritional interventions play a role in improving the nutritional and functional status of older persons. This systematic review summarizes the evidence on nutritional and functional outcomes of nutritional interventions alone or in combination with physical exercise in geriatric rehabilitation patients.

Design: Eight electronic databases were searched until July 1, 2019 to identify nutritional intervention studies in patients aged ≥60 years who were admitted to geriatric rehabilitation.

Nutritional status and functionality in geriatric rehabilitation patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Since there is only limited evidence available for geriatric rehabilitation patients, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to characterize the nutritional status in this population and its relationship with functionality.

Methods: Eight databases were searched for full-text articles reporting baseline nutritional intake and status of adults ≥ 60 years in rehabilitation settings. Pooled estimates were calculated for prevalence of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition based on the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and for mean body mass index (BMI).

A specific synbiotic-containing amino acid-based formula restores gut microbiota in non-IgE mediated cow's milk allergic infants: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Altered gut microbiota is implicated in cow's milk allergy (CMA) and differs markedly from healthy, breastfed infants. Infants who suffer from severe CMA often rely on cow's milk protein avoidance and, when breastfeeding is not possible, on specialised infant formulas such as amino-acid based formulas (AAF). Herein, we report the effects of an AAF including specific synbiotics on oral and gastrointestinal microbiota of infants with non-IgE mediated CMA with reference to healthy, breastfed infants.

Status of nutrients important in brain function in phenylketonuria: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Despite early and ongoing dietary management with a phe-restricted diet, suboptimal neuropsychological function has been observed in PKU. The restrictive nature of the PKU diet may expose patients to sub-optimal nutritional intake and deficiencies which may impact normal brain function. A systematic review of the published literature was carried out, where possible with meta-analysis, to compare the status of nutrients (Nutrients: DHA, EPA phospholipids, selenium, vitamins B, B, E, C, A, D, folic acid, choline, uridine, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, iodine and cholesterol) known to be important for brain development and functioning between individuals with PKU and healthy controls.

Lower brain and blood nutrient status in Alzheimer's disease: Results from meta-analyses.

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients are at risk of nutritional insufficiencies because of physiological and psychological factors. Recently, we showed the results of the meta-analyses indicating lower plasma levels of vitamins A, B, C, E, and folate in AD patients compared with cognitively intact elderly controls (controls). Now, additional and more extensive literature searches were performed selecting studies which compare blood and brain/cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, micronutrients, and fatty acids in AD patients versus controls.

The medical food Souvenaid affects brain phospholipid metabolism in mild Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Synaptic dysfunction contributes to cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease and may be countered by increased intake of nutrients that target brain phospholipid metabolism. In this study, we explored whether the medical food Souvenaid affects brain phospholipid metabolism in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: Thirty-four drug-naive patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (Mini Mental State Examination score ≥20) were enrolled in this exploratory, double-blind, randomized controlled study.

Decision analysis to identify the ideal treatment for adult spinal deformity: What is the impact of complications on treatment outcomes?

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of treatment complications on outcomes in adult spinal deformity (ASD) using a decision analysis (DA) model.

Methods: The study included 535 ASD patients (371 with non-surgical (NS) and 164 with surgical (S) treatment) from an international multicentre database of ASD patients. DA was structured in two main steps; 1) Baseline analysis (Assessing the probabilities of outcomes, Assessing the values of preference -utilities-, Combining information on probability and utility and assigning the quality adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for each treatment) and 2) Sensitivity analysis.

Early-Life Events, Including Mode of Delivery and Type of Feeding, Siblings and Gender, Shape the Developing Gut Microbiota.

Colonization of the infant gut is believed to be critically important for a healthy growth as it influences gut maturation, metabolic, immune and brain development in early life. Understanding factors that influence this process is important, since an altered colonization has been associated with a higher risk of diseases later in life. Fecal samples were collected from 108 healthy neonates in the first half year of life.

A decision analysis to identify the ideal treatment for adult spinal deformity: is surgery better than non-surgical treatment in improving health-related quality of life and decreasing the disease burden?

Background: Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is a major public health problem. There are pros and cons of the available treatment alternatives (surgical or non-surgical) and it had been difficult to identify the best treatment modality.

Aim: To construct a statistical DA model to identify the optimum overall treatment in ASD.

Smooth estimation of survival functions and hazard ratios from interval-censored data using Bayesian penalized B-splines.

We discuss the use of Bayesian P-spline and of the composite link model to estimate survival functions and hazard ratios from interval-censored data. If one further assumes proportionality of the hazards, the proposed strategy provides a smoothed estimate of the baseline hazard along with estimates of global covariate effects. The frequentist properties of our Bayesian estimators are assessed by an extensive simulation study.