Publications by authors named "Juan B Ochoa"

The current clinical nutrition paradigm is that decreased caloric intake, resulting in a caloric deficit, is central to the development disease-related malnutrition (DRM). In following with this paradigm, one should assume that nutrition interventions with artificially administered nutrition (food substitution paradigm) aimed at preventing a caloric deficit should result in the prevention and/or successful treatment of DRM. However, clear evidence demonstrates that the DRM observed in diverse illnesses is at least partially resistant to nutrition interventions aimed at preventing the development of a caloric deficit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have previously advocated that nutritional care be raised to the level of a human right in a close relationship to two well recognized fundamental rights: the right to food and the right to health. This paper aims to analyze the implication of nutritional care as a human right for healthcare practitioners. We will focus on the impact of the Human Rights Basic Approach (HRBA) on health care professionals (HCPs), namely how they can translate HRBA into routine clinical practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have previously advocated that nutritional care be raised to the level of a human right, in close relationship to two well-recognized fundamental rights: the right to food and the right to health. This article aims to analyze the implication of nutritional care as a human right for healthcare practitioners. We will focus on the impact of the Human Rights Basic Approach (HRBA) on healthcare professionals (HCPs), namely how they can translate HRBA into routine clinical practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic in 35% of cases to severe in 20% of patients. Differences in the type and degree of inflammation appear to determine the severity of the disease. Recent reports show an increase in circulating monocytic-myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSC) in severe COVID 19 that deplete arginine but are not associated with respiratory complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Low plasma arginine bioavailability has been implicated in endothelial dysfunction and immune dysregulation. The role of arginine in COVID-19 is unknown, but could contribute to cellular damage if low. Our objective was to determine arginine bioavailability in adults and children with COVID-19 vs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The International Working Group for Patients' Right to Nutritional Care presents its position paper regarding nutritional care as a human right intrinsically linked to the right to food and the right to health. All people should have access to food and evidence-based medical nutrition therapy including artificial nutrition and hydration. In this regard, the hospitalized malnourished ill should mandatorily have access to screening, diagnosis, nutritional assessment, with optimal and timely nutritional therapy in order to overcome malnutrition associated morbidity and mortality, while reducing the rates of disease-related malnutrition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The International Working Group for Patients' Right to Nutritional Care presents its position paper regarding nutritional care as a human right intrinsically linked to the right to food and the right to health. All people should have access to food and evidence-based medical nutrition therapy including artificial nutrition and hydration. In this regard, the hospitalized malnourished ill should mandatorily have access to screening, diagnosis, nutritional assessment, with optimal and timely nutritional therapy in order to overcome malnutrition associated morbidity and mortality, while reducing the rates of disease-related malnutrition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic in 35% of cases to severe in 20% of patients. Differences in the type and degree of inflammation appear to determine the severity of the disease. Recent reports show an increase in circulating monocytic-myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSC) in severe COVID 19, that deplete arginine but are not associated with respiratory complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Plasma samples were collected from 20 individuals exposed to or recovering from COVID-19, revealing that all subjects had SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG antibodies, with most showing high levels of nAb and strong ADCC activity.
  • * The results suggest that vaccines should not only assess neutralizing antibodies but also the ability to mediate ADCC, highlighting the need for a broader understanding of immune responses to SARS-CoV-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reached worldwide, and until a vaccine is found, it will continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality. The clinical presentation of COVID-19 ranges from that of being asymptomatic to developing a fatal illness characterized by multiple organ involvement. Approximately 20% of the patients will require hospitalization; one-quarter of hospitalized patients will develop severe COVID-19 requiring admission to the intensive care unit, most frequently, with acute respiratory failure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The need to promote the right to nutritional care, to fight against malnutrition and to advance in education and research in clinical nutrition has led all the FELANPE's societies to sign on May 3rd, during the 33rd Congress of the Colombian Clinical Nutrition Association (ACNC) in the city of Cartagena, the International Declaration on the Right to Nutritional Care and the Fight against Malnutrition, "Declaration of Cartagena". The Declaration provides a coherent framework of 13 principles which can serve as a guide for societies, schools and associations affiliated to FELANPE in the development of action plans. In addition, it will serve as an instrument to promote, through governments, the formulation of policies and legislation in the field of clinical nutrition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Children with developmental delays are often dependent on enteral nutrition. The aim of our study was to evaluate improvement in tolerance parameters in these children who were switched from an intact protein formula to a 100% whey, peptide-based formula. A retrospective chart review of children with developmental delays who were failing to reach adequate nutritional goals on standard polymeric formulas were switched to a 100% whey peptide-based formula.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dietary arginine supplementation has been suggested as a means of improving T lymphocyte function and has found its greatest clinical utility in patients undergoing elective surgery. In other illnesses, arginine supplementation is controversial. Breakthroughs in understanding arginine metabolism have led to the identification of myeloid cells that express arginase 1, causing significant depletion of arginine - an essential amino acid for normal T lymphocyte function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To explore the hypothesis that decreased arginine availability by myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) is a cause of T-cell dysfunction after physical injury (PI).

Background: Arginine is an essential amino acid for normal T-cell function whose availability becomes limited after PI. MDSCs expressing arginase 1 are induced by PI.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dysphagia, a symptom characterized by difficulty swallowing, is an independent predictor of poor outcome, worsening morbidity, increasing the risk for hospital readmissions, health care costs and mortality. Dysphagia is a result of a number of illnesses including neurological diseases, after surgery for head and neck pathology, observed in the intensive care unit after prolonged endotracheal intubation among others, and is particularly frequent in the elderly. Dysphagia increases the incidence of malnutrition, which in turn delays patient recovery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Oral or enteral dietary supplementation with arginine, omega 3 fatty acids and nucleotides (known as immunonutrition) significantly improve outcomes in patients undergoing elective surgery. The objective of the study was to determine the impact on hospital costs of immunonutrition formulas used in patients undergoing elective surgery for gastrointestinal cancer.

Methods: US hospital costs of stay with and without surgical infectious complications, and average cost per day in the hospital for patients undergoing elective surgery for gastrointestinal cancer were estimated using data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's 2008 Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: There has not been an appraisal of outcomes of appendectomy for more than 10 years. More reliable diagnostic techniques and minimally invasive surgery are now in widespread use, yet the impact of these advances remains unknown.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 453 patients who underwent appendectomy for appendicitis at a single hospital from 2004 to 2009.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is associated with alterations in systemic concentrations of IL-8/CXCL8 functional homologs in a murine model. Whether RBC transfusion alters systemic neutrophil chemokine concentrations in individuals sustaining traumatic injury is not known. We conducted a retrospective, single-center study of severely injured trauma patients presenting within 12 h of injury with a base deficit greater than 6 and hypotension in the field.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Arginine metabolism and availability after surgery or trauma (ST) is an important modulator of immune responses. Arginine levels are significantly depleted in human trauma patients. Diets containing arginine administered to surgery patients have restored immune function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The creation of a medical food with potential health benefits for a particular patient population is a surprisingly complex process. Fortunately, the developmental process for a specific medical food is not as rigorous or as tightly regulated as that of a pharmaceutical agent. However, numerous factors unique to the enteral formulation of a new product come into play, such as physical/chemical compatibility, pH, stability, bioavailability, decay, and even palatability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

T cell dysfunction significantly increases susceptibility to infections and organ failure after trauma or surgery (physical injury). This coincides with a persistent drop in arginine availability, a necessary amino acid for normal T cell function. Recent data led to the identification of a novel mechanism of T cell suppression caused by the depletion of arginine through the induction of arginase 1 (ARG1) in a specialized group of immature myeloid cells, now named myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF