Value of body mass index in the detection of severe malnutrition: influence of the pathology and changes in anthropometric parameters.

Background & Aims: We have estimated the prevalence of severe malnutrition in groups of patients hospitalized for different medical causes and assessed the sensitivity of BMI in the diagnosis of severe malnutrition.

Design: A prospective study enrolled 1052 patients: 396 patients with liver cirrhosis including 165 non-ascitic patients (NAP), 124 patients with mild ascites (MAP), 107 patients with tense ascites (TAP), 251 patients after cardiac surgery (SCP), 81 patients with cardiac diseases (MCP), 85 patients with stroke (SP), 36 patients with degenerative neurological diseases (DNP), 68 patients after surgery of a hip fracture (HFP), 91 patients with palliative care for cancer (CP) and 44 elderly patients with medical affections (EP). BMI, mid-arm muscular circumference (MAMC) and triceps skinfold thickness (TST) were measured within 48 h after admission.

A 5-year epidemiological study of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in a medium- and long-stay neurological unit.

Thirty-eight different strains of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL Kp), isolated from urine and pus samples of 38 patients hospitalized in a medium- and long-stay neurology department between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1996, were analysed by antibiotic resistance phenotyping, DNA macrorestriction by pulsed-field electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing of beta-lactamases. An epidemiological survey was conducted to identify risk factors for infection by ESBL Kp in this setting. The 38 isolates were distributed into 13 antibiotypes, three of which predominated (13, six and six isolates).

Lipid-lowering drugs and mitochondrial function: effects of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors on serum ubiquinone and blood lactate/pyruvate ratio.

1. Statins inhibit synthesis of mevalonate, a precursor of ubiquinone that is a central compound of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The main adverse effect of statins is a toxic myopathy possibly related to mitochondrial dysfunction.

[Outbreak of infections of Klebsiella pneumoniae with extended spectrum beta-lactamase in a hospital unit with a long and medium stay].

Fourteen extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ES beta la) Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were isolated from 14 inpatients between February 1993 and February 1994, in a medium- and long-stay neurological unit. For this reason an epidemiological study was begun, based on strain typing and examination of patient files. Strain typing was carried out by two methods (i) the analysis of antibiotic resistance, showing 7 different antibiotypes among the 14 strains studied, (ii) the analysis of esterase and dehydrogenase electrophoretic polymorphism in polyacrylamide-agarose gel.

[Polyglucosan body disease].

A 78 year-old male presented with a bilateral pyramidal syndrome, urinary incontinence and mild intellectual slowing. He died seven months after onset of the neurological signs from cerebral infarct and heart failure. Neuropathological examination showed predominant involvement of the cerebral white matter including diffuse myelin pallor, astrocytic gliosis and small necrotic foci.