Development and validation of the disease-specific Short Bowel Syndrome-Quality of Life (SBS-QoL™) scale.

Background & Aims: Subjects with short bowel syndrome (SBS) have impaired quality of life (QoL). No disease-specific instrument has been available to measure treatment-induced changes in QoL over time. Therefore, the aim was to develop and validate an SBS-specific QoL scale.

Bovine colostrum to children with short bowel syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, crossover pilot study.

Background: Management of short bowel syndrome (SBS) aims to achieve intestinal autonomy to prevent fluid, electrolyte, and nutrient deficiencies and maintain adequate development. Remnant intestinal adaptation is required to obtain autonomy. In the newborn pig, colostrum has been shown to support intestinal development and hence adaptive processes.

Effect of glucagon-like peptide-2 exposure on bone resorption: Effectiveness of high concentration versus prolonged exposure.

Objective: In healthy subjects, subcutaneous injections of GLP-2 have been shown to elicit dose-related decrease in the bone resorption marker, carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX), and have been proposed for the treatment of osteoporosis. This study investigated the relation between GLP-2 exposure and decreases in CTX in order to determine whether high concentrations or prolonged exposure was the most effective mode of administration. High GLP-2 concentrations resulted from iv bolus injections, whereas a more protracted stimulation was obtained by subcutaneous injections and the addition of an inhibitor of GLP-2 degradation, a DPP-4 inhibitor, sitagliptin.

Spontaneous high frequency diameter oscillations of larger retinal arterioles are reduced in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Purpose: Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by morphological changes in the retina secondary to disturbances in retinal blood flow. Vasomotion is a mechanism for regulating blood flow by spontaneous oscillations in the diameter of retinal resistance arterioles, and has been shown to be disturbed outside the eye in diabetic patients. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to characterize spontaneous oscillations in the diameter of retinal arterioles in normal persons and in persons with different severity of diabetic retinopathy.

Etiology and epidemiology of catheter related bloodstream infections in patients receiving home parenteral nutrition in a gastromedical center at a tertiary hospital in denmark.

We conducted a retrospective epidemiologic study of catheter related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) in patients receiving long-term home parenteral nutrition (HPN) from January 2002 to December 2005. Our results showed that coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) were the most prevalent pathogens (44.7% of all CRBSI episodes), followed by Enterobacteriaceae (33.

UV-light exposure of insulin: pharmaceutical implications upon covalent insulin dityrosine dimerization and disulphide bond photolysis.

In this work we report the effects of continuous UV-light (276 nm, ~2.20 W.m(-2)) excitation of human insulin on its absorption and fluorescence properties, structure and functionality.

Cost-effectiveness of early intervention in first-episode psychosis: economic evaluation of a randomised controlled trial (the OPUS study).

Background: Information about the cost-effectiveness of early intervention programmes for first-episode psychosis is limited.

Aims: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an intensive early-intervention programme (called OPUS) (trial registration NCT00157313) consisting of enriched assertive community treatment, psychoeducational family treatment and social skills training for individuals with first-episode psychosis compared with standard treatment.

Method: An incremental cost-effectiveness analysis of a randomised controlled trial, adopting a public sector perspective was undertaken.

Glucagon-like peptide-2 stimulates mucosal microcirculation measured by laser Doppler flowmetry in end-jejunostomy short bowel syndrome patients.

Background: In animal and human studies glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) has been shown to increase blood flow in the superior mesenteric artery and the portal vein. This study describes the effect of GLP-2 measured directly on the intestinal mucosal blood flow by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in end-jejunostomy short bowel syndrome (SBS) patients.

Methods: In five SBS patients with end-jejunostomy a specially designed laser Doppler probe was inserted into the stoma nipple, and blood flow measured directly on the jejunal mucosa for 105 min in relation to no treatment, systemic saline infusion, topical adrenaline application and a subcutaneous injection of 800 μg native GLP-2.

The incidence of retinal detachment after cataract surgery.

Purpose: To estimate the cumulative risk of retinal detachment (RD) after routine cataract surgery by phacoemulsification.

Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark

Methods: Retrospective cohort study based on 12.222 consecutive cataract surgeries in 7.

Teduglutide reduces need for parenteral support among patients with short bowel syndrome with intestinal failure.

Background & Aims: Teduglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 2 analogue, might restore intestinal structural and functional integrity by promoting growth of the mucosa and reducing gastric emptying and secretion. These factors could increase fluid and nutrient absorption in patients with short bowel syndrome with intestinal failure (SBS-IF). We performed a prospective study to determine whether teduglutide reduces parenteral support in patients with SBS-IF.

Randomised controlled trial of colostrum to improve intestinal function in patients with short bowel syndrome.

Background/objectives: Colostrum is rich in immunoregulatory, antimicrobial and trophic components supporting intestinal development and function in newborns. We assessed whether bovine colostrum could enhance intestinal adaptation and function in adult short bowel syndrome (SBS) patients.

Subjects/methods: Twelve SBS patients in this randomised cross-over study received 4 weeks oral supplement of bovine colostrum or an iso-energetic and iso-proteinaceous control (2.

Chronic exposure to leucine in vitro induces β-cell dysfunction in INS-1E cells and mouse islets.

Chronic hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia cause deleterious effects on β-cell function. Interestingly, increased circulating amino acid (AA) levels are also a characteristic of the prediabetic and diabetic state. The chronic effects of AAs on β-cell function remain to be determined.

Impact of glucagon-like peptide-1 (7-36) amide, isosteviol and 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide 1-β-d-ribofuranoside on leucine-mediated α-cell dysfunction.

Aim: To investigate the acute and chronic effects of l-leucine on pancreatic α-cell function in vitro. Furthermore, we wanted to explore if glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), isosteviol (ISV) and 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide 1-β-d-ribofuranoside (AICAR) counteract changes in α-cell function induced by chronic exposure to leucine.

Methods: Isolated mice islets were incubated with 10 mM leucine for 2 or 72 h.

Teduglutide, a novel glucagon-like peptide 2 analog, in the treatment of patients with short bowel syndrome.

Short bowel syndrome results from surgical resection, congenital defect or disease-associated loss of absorption. Parenteral support (PS) is lifesaving in patients with short bowel syndrome and intestinal failure who are unable to compensate for their malabsorption by metabolic or pharmacologic adaptation. Together, the symptoms of short bowel syndrome and the inconvenience and complications in relation to PS (e.

Sprint interval running increases insulin sensitivity in young healthy subjects.

High intensity cycling training increases oxidative capacity in skeletal muscles and improves insulin sensitivity. The present study compared the effect of eight weeks of sprint interval running (SIT) and continuous running at moderate intensity (CT) on insulin sensitivity and cholesterol profile in young healthy subjects (age 25.2 ± 0.

Isosteviol has beneficial effects on palmitate-induced α-cell dysfunction and gene expression.

Background: Long-term exposure to high levels of fatty acids impairs insulin secretion and exaggerates glucagon secretion. The aim of this study was to explore if the antihyperglycemic agent, Isosteviol (ISV), is able to counteract palmitate-induced α-cell dysfunction and to influence α-cell gene expression.

Methodology/principal Findings: Long-term incubation studies with clonal α-TC1-6 cells were performed in the presence of 0.

Synchronization, retiming and time-division multiplexing of an asynchronous 10 Gigabit NRZ Ethernet packet to terabit Ethernet.

An asynchronous 10 Gb/s Ethernet packet with maximum packet size of 1518 bytes is synchronized and retimed to a master clock with 200 kHz frequency offset using a time lens. The NRZ packet is simultaneously converted into an RZ packet, then further pulse compressed to a FWHM of 400 fs and finally time-division multiplexed with a serial 1.28 Tb/s signal including a vacant time slot, thus forming a 1.

Ultra-high-speed optical serial-to-parallel data conversion by time-domain optical Fourier transformation in a silicon nanowire.

We demonstrate conversion from 64 × 10 Gbit/s optical time-division multiplexed (OTDM) data to dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) data with 25 GHz spacing. The conversion is achieved by time-domain optical Fourier transformation (OFT) based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in a 3.6 mm long silicon nanowire.

10 GHz pulse source for 640 Gbit/s OTDM based on phase modulator and self-phase modulation.

We demonstrate a high-quality cavity-free 10 GHz 680 fs pulse source starting from a continuous wave (CW) laser. The pulse source is employed in a 640 Gbit/s on-off keying (OOK) OTDM data generation and demultiplexing experiment, where the error-free bit error rate (BER) performance confirms the high pulse quality. The pulse source is based on a linear pulse compression stage followed by two polarization-independent non-linear pulse compression stages.

Nonlinear properties of and nonlinear processing in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides.

We propose hydrogenated amorphous silicon nanowires as a platform for nonlinear optics in the telecommunication wavelength range. Extraction of the nonlinear parameter of these photonic nanowires reveals a figure of merit larger than 2. It is observed that the nonlinear optical properties of these waveguides degrade with time, but that this degradation can be reversed by annealing the samples.

Impact of high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets on liver metabolism studied in a rat model with a systems biology approach.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the use of an integrated metabolomics and proteomics approach in the elucidation of diet-induced effects on hepatic metabolism in a rat model. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics of liver extracts revealed a pronounced effect of a high-fat diet on the hepatic betaine content, whereas a carbohydrate-rich diet induced increases in hepatic glucose. In addition, the metabolomic investigations revealed that the high-fat diet was associated with increased hepatic lipid levels, which was not evident with the carbohydrate-rich diet.

Treatment of adult short bowel syndrome patients with teduglutide.

Introduction: Parenteral support is lifesaving in short bowel syndrome patients with intestinal failure (SBS-IF), who are unable to compensate for their malabsorption by metabolic or pharmacologic adaptation. Mutually, the symptoms of SBS-IF and the inconveniences and complications in relation to parenteral support may cause impairment of the quality of life of SBS-IF patients. Conventional treatments include dietary manipulations, oral rehydration solutions, antidiarrheal and antisecretory treatments.

One-to-six WDM multicasting of DPSK signals based on dual-pump four-wave mixing in a silicon waveguide.

We present WDM multicasting based on dual-pump four-wave mixing in a 3-mm long dispersion engineered silicon waveguide. One-to-six phase-preserving WDM multicasting of 10-Gb/s differential phase-shift-keying (DPSK) data is experimentally demonstrated with bit-error rate measurements. All the six multicast signals show error-free performance with power penalty less than 3.

Modern treatment of adult short bowel syndrome patients.

By definition, intestinal failure prevails when oral compensation is no longer feasible and parenteral support is necessary to maintain nutritional equilibrium. In the past, conventional treatment has mainly focused on "making the most of what the short bowel syndrome patient still had" by optimizing remnant intestinal function through dietary interventions, antidiarrheals and antisecretory agents. However, modern treatment options are in the near horizon, and the increased understanding of the mediators for intestinal adaptation will lead to the expansion of the limited treatment armamentarium in short bowel syndrome patients with intestinal failure.

Glucotoxicity and α cell dysfunction: involvement of the PI3K/Akt pathway in glucose-induced insulin resistance in rat islets and clonal αTC1-6 cells.

Aim/hypothesis: The objective of this study was to assess how long-term exposure to high glucose affects the α cell function and whether the increased glucagon secretion is mediated via insulin resistance.

Materials And Methods: We established a β cell-depleted rat model to obtain pure primary α cells. Furthermore, isolated rat islets and TC1-6 cells (a clonal α cell line) were exposed to high glucose (25 or 30 mmol/L) and low glucose (5.