Administration of Free Amino Acids Improves Exogenous Amino Acid Availability when Compared with Intact Protein in Critically Ill Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Background: Protein digestion and amino acid absorption appear compromised in critical illness. The provision of enteral feeds with free amino acids rather than intact protein may improve postprandial amino acid availability.

Objective: Our objective was to quantify the uptake of diet-derived phenylalanine after the enteral administration of intact protein compared with an equivalent amount of free amino acids in critically ill patients.

Nutritional strategies during gastrointestinal dysfunction.

Purpose Of Review: Gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction is common among critically ill patients and is associated with poor outcomes. In particular, nutrient delivery can be impaired in patients with GI dysfunction and pose a significant challenge to clinicians in daily clinical practice. This review aims to summarize the impact of GI dysfunction on nutrition therapy during critical illness and provide an update on recent advances in nutritional strategies during gastrointestinal dysfunction.

The impact of high versus standard enteral protein provision on functional recovery following intensive care admission (PRECISE trial): study protocol for a randomized controlled, quadruple blinded, multicenter, parallel group trial in mechanically ventilated patients.

Background: Critically ill patients are subject to severe skeletal muscle wasting during intensive care unit (ICU) stay, resulting in impaired short- and long-term functional outcomes and health-related quality of life. Increased protein provision may improve functional outcomes in ICU patients by attenuating skeletal muscle breakdown. Supporting evidence is limited however and results in great variety in recommended protein targets.

Pulmonary pathophysiology development of COVID-19 assessed by serial Electrical Impedance Tomography in the MaastrICCht cohort.

Patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection present with different lung compliance and progression of disease differs. Measures of lung mechanics in SARS-CoV-2 patients may unravel different pathophysiologic mechanisms during mechanical ventilation. The objective of this prospective observational study is to describe whether Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) guided positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) levels unravel changes in EIT-derived parameters over time and whether the changes differ between survivors and non-survivors.

Protein metabolism in critical illness.

Purpose Of Review: Critically ill patients experience skeletal muscle wasting that may contribute to the profound functional deficits in those that survive the initial injury. Augmented protein delivery has the potential to attenuate muscle loss, yet the ability for dietary protein to improve patient outcomes is reliant on effective protein metabolism. This review will discuss the recent literature on protein delivery and digestion, amino acid absorption, and muscle protein synthesis (MPS) in critically ill adults.

Ingestion of Free Amino Acids Compared with an Equivalent Amount of Intact Protein Results in More Rapid Amino Acid Absorption and Greater Postprandial Plasma Amino Acid Availability Without Affecting Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates in Young Adults in a Double-Blind Randomized Trial.

Background: The rate of protein digestion and amino acid absorption determines the postprandial rise in circulating amino acids and modulates postprandial muscle protein synthesis rates.

Objective: We sought to compare protein digestion, amino acid absorption kinetics, and the postprandial muscle protein synthetic response following ingestion of intact milk protein or an equivalent amount of free amino acids.

Methods: Twenty-four healthy, young participants (mean ± SD age: 22 ± 3 y and BMI 23 ± 2 kg/m2; sex: 12 male and 12 female participants) received a primed continuous infusion of l-[ring-2H5]-phenylalanine and l-[ring-3,5-2H2]-tyrosine, after which they ingested either 30 g intrinsically l-[1-13C]-phenylalanine-labeled milk protein or an equivalent amount of free amino acids labeled with l-[1-13C]-phenylalanine.

Edema in critically ill patients leads to overestimation of skeletal muscle mass measurements using computed tomography scans.

Objectives: Changes in muscle mass and quality are important targets for nutritional intervention in critical illness. Effects of such interventions may be assessed using sequential computed tomography (CT) scans. However, fluid and lipid infiltration potentially affects muscle area measurements.

Postprandial rise of essential amino acids is impaired during critical illness and unrelated to small-intestinal function.

Background: Postprandial rise of plasma essential amino acids (EAAs) determines the anabolic effect of dietary protein. Disturbed gastrointestinal function could impair the anabolic response in critically ill patients. Aim was to investigate the postprandial EAA response in critically ill patients and its relation to small-intestinal function.

Decreased serial scores of severe organ failure assessments are associated with survival in mechanically ventilated patients; the prospective Maastricht Intensive Care COVID cohort.

Background: The majority of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for mechanical ventilation. The role of multi-organ failure during ICU admission as driver for outcome remains to be investigated yet.

Design And Setting: Prospective cohort of mechanically ventilated critically ill with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Serial measurements in COVID-19-induced acute respiratory disease to unravel heterogeneity of the disease course: design of the Maastricht Intensive Care COVID cohort (MaastrICCht).

Introduction: The course of the disease in SARS-CoV-2 infection in mechanically ventilated patients is unknown. To unravel the clinical heterogeneity of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in these patients, we designed the prospective observational Maastricht Intensive Care COVID cohort (MaastrICCht). We incorporated serial measurements that harbour aetiological, diagnostic and predictive information.

Kinetic modelling of quantitative proteome data predicts metabolic reprogramming of liver cancer.

Background: Metabolic alterations can serve as targets for diagnosis and cancer therapy. Due to the highly complex regulation of cellular metabolism, definite identification of metabolic pathway alterations remains challenging and requires sophisticated experimentation.

Methods: We applied a comprehensive kinetic model of the central carbon metabolism (CCM) to characterise metabolic reprogramming in murine liver cancer.

Muscle wasting associated co-morbidities, rather than sarcopenia are risk factors for hospital mortality in critical illness.

Background: Low skeletal muscle mass on intensive care unit admission is related to increased mortality. It is however unknown whether this association is influenced by co-morbidities that are associated with skeletal muscle loss. The aim of this study was to investigate whether sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for hospital mortality in critical illness in the presence of co-morbidities associated with muscle wasting.