Protein-energy malnutrition among the elderly: implications for nursing care.

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), a condition that affects many elderly individuals, consists of a variety of alterations including decreased intake, increased metabolic rate, increased energy expenditure, and excess nutrient loss. Protein-energy malnutrition occurs when too few calories and/or protein are being supplied to the body because of malnutrition, and from acute conditions, such as infection, trauma, or organ failure, which increase the protein and energy demands of the body. This article explores the phenomenon of protein-energy malnutrition and how nurses working with the elderly can assess and intervene in this condition to prevent unnecessary mortality and morbidity.

Rapid identification of fungal pathogens in BacT/ALERT, BACTEC, and BBL MGIT media using polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer regions.

We report a direct polymerase chain reaction/sequence (d-PCRS)-based method for the rapid identification of clinically significant fungi from 5 different types of commercial broth enrichment media inoculated with clinical specimens. Media including BacT/ALERT FA (BioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) (n = 87), BACTEC Plus Aerobic/F (Becton Dickinson, Microbiology Systems, Sparks, MD) (n = 16), BACTEC Peds Plus/F (Becton Dickinson) (n = 15), BACTEC Lytic/10 Anaerobic/F (Becton Dickinson) (n = 11) bottles, and BBL MGIT (Becton Dickinson) (n = 11) were inoculated with specimens from 138 patients. A universal DNA extraction method was used combining a novel pretreatment step to remove PCR inhibitors with a column-based DNA extraction kit.