Publications by authors named "Dvorkin E"

Aim: To assess the incidence and associated risk factors of asymptomatic urinary retention in elderly women upon admission to the Internal Medicine department.

Methods: Two hundred and two consecutive elderly women (mean age 84.4 ± 5.

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Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of L-carnitine supplementation on fatigue in patients with terminal human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study, patients who had end-stage HIV/AIDS with carnitine deficiency and fatigue received 3 g of oral L-carnitine or placebo for 2 weeks, followed by a 2-week, open-label phase with the same amount of L-carnitine for all patients. The primary outcome was the degree of fatigue according to the Brief Fatigue Inventory.

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Carnitine deficiency is prevalent in populations with chronic illness, including cancer. In a recent open-label study, L-carnitine supplementation was well tolerated and appeared to improve fatigue and other outcomes in cancer patients. To further evaluate this finding, adult patients with advanced cancer, carnitine deficiency (free carnitine more than 35 micromol/L for males or less than 25 micromol/L for females, or acyl/free carnitine ratio of more than 0.

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Carnitine deficiency is among the many metabolic disturbances that may contribute to fatigue in patients with cancer. Administration of exogenous L-carnitine may hold promise as a treatment for this common symptom. Little is known about L-carnitine safety, tolerability, and dose-response in patients with cancer.

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Nutritional factors are among the postulated causes of fatigue, a highly prevalent symptom in the cancer population, with serious impact on patients' quality of life. Deficiency of the micronutrient carnitine may play a role by reducing energy production through fatty acid oxidation. We present preliminary data of an open-label, dose-finding study to determine safety and maximally tolerated dose (MTD) of 1 week of L-carnitine supplementation in cancer patients with fatigue and carnitine deficiency.

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