Chemo-bacterial synthesis of conjugatable glycosaminoglycans.

Conjugatable glycosaminoglycans hold promise for medical applications involving the vectorization of specific molecules. Here, we set out to produce bacterial chondroitin and heparosan from a conjugatable precursor using metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains. The major barrier to this procedure was the glucuronylation of a lactosyl acceptor required for polymerization.

Correction of protein-energy malnutrition in older adults: effects of a short-term aerobic training program.

Twenty malnourished subjects (average age 67 years old) treated by cyclic enteral nutrition were assigned to an active or control group according to whether they took part or not in a 3-week aerobic training program. Subjects underwent the following tests on d(0)-d(1) and d(20)-d(21): calculation of a global nutritional deficiency index (GND), bioelectrical impedance analysis, evaluation of daily energy expenditures using a 24 h heart rate (HR) recorder and a pedometer, maximal voluntary isometric strength assessment (MVIS), and symptoms limited maximal oxygen uptake ((.)VO(2 max.

Effects of refeeding by cyclic enteral nutrition on body composition: comparative study of elderly and younger patients.

Previous reports suggest that correcting the malnourished state may be more difficult in elderly people than in younger people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 21 days of cyclic enteral nutrition (CyEN) on nutritional and body composition parameters in elderly, compared with younger patients. Twenty-four patients younger than 65 years (mean age 50 years) and 26 patients 65 years of age and older (mean age 75 years) referred for refeeding, having lost at least 20% of their body weight or at least 10% in 3 months, were studied.

[Cancer of an ectopic pancreas in the duodenal wall].

Ectopic pancreas is defined as pancreatic tissue outside the normal location of the pancreas. It can be affected by the same complications as the orthotopic pancreas, such as adenocarcinoma. This extremely rare complication (only 14 published cases) may have a better prognosis that adenocarcinoma of an orthotopic pancreas.

Rare localization of a portal cavernoma in the wall of the common bile duct.

The first communication on biliary complications secondary to a portal cavernoma was published in 1965 [Br. J. Surg.