Cysteic Acid in Dietary Keratin is Metabolized to Glutathione and Liver Taurine in a Rat Model of Human Digestion.

Poultry feathers, consisting largely of keratin, are a low-value product of the poultry industry. The safety and digestibility of a dietary protein produced from keratin (KER) was compared to a cysteine-supplemented casein-based diet in a growing rat model for four weeks. KER proved to be an effective substitute for casein at 50% of the total dietary protein, with no changes in the rats' food intake, weight gain, organ weight, bone mineral density, white blood cell counts, liver glutathione, or blood glutathione.

Bone health comparison in seven Asian countries using calcaneal ultrasound.

Background: Bone density measurements by DXA are not feasible for large population studies, whereas portable ultrasound heel scanners can provide a practical way of assessing bone health status. The purpose of this study was to assess bone health in seven Asian countries using heel ultrasound.

Methods: Stiffness index (SI) was measured and T-scores generated against an Asian database were recorded for 598,757 women and 173,326 men aged over 21 years old using Lunar Achilles (GE Healthcare) heel scanners.

"The food here is tasteless!" Food taste or tasteless food? Chemosensory loss and the politics of under-nutrition.

A common complaint voiced by older people living in residential care is that the food lacks taste. When older people find food tasteless, the pleasure gained from eating and therefore, their appetite may be compromised, as will their food choices, nutrition, immune systems, functional status and well-being. However, often nurses overlook these symptoms as 'inevitable and irreversible' aspects of ageing, which they are not.

The fragmented story of pain: a saga of economic discourse, confusion and lack of holistic assessment in the residential care of older people.

The long-standing problem of overlooked and/or undertreated pain experienced by so many older people living in Australian residential care facilities condemns these people to a life robbed of quality. Such a degree of suffering experienced by older people calls into question the pain assessment skills of staff who work in residential care. However, the problem of undetected and unresolved pain experienced by older people is not simply a skill or knowledge issue.

Pain assessment and cognitive impairment: part 1.

People with cognitive impairment are often unable to inform others of their pain. Nurses need to be able to assess pain in cognitively impaired adults so that appropriate pain management strategies can be implemented. Evidence suggests that certain verbal, facial and behavioural signs may be indicative of pain.