Bedside assessment of executive cognitive impairment: the executive interview.

Objective: This study is a pilot validation of the Executive Interview (EXIT), a novel instrument designed to assess executive cognitive function (ECF) at the bedside.

Design: Inter-rater reliability testing and validation using inter-group comparisons across levels of care and measures of cognition and behavior.

Participants: Forty elderly subjects randomly selected across four levels of care.

Evidence for colonic conservation of malabsorbed carbohydrate in short bowel syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether energy from malabsorbed carbohydrate could be conserved through colonic fermentation in short bowel syndrome. Seven patients with short bowel anastomosed to the remaining colon and five patients with short bowel without a colon were selected from the home total parenteral nutrition (TPN) program. Six normal volunteers also were studied.

Clinical significance of colonic fermentation.

Recent evidence of the potential benefits of short chain fatty acids has prompted renewed interest in the area of human colonic fermentation. This paper reviews the clinical and metabolic consequences of colonic fermentation.

Effect of rectal infusion of short chain fatty acids in human subjects.

Solutions containing 90 mmol sodium acetate plus 30 mmol sodium propionate (90 mM; isotonic), 180 mmol acetate plus 60 mmol propionate (180 mM; hypertonic) or an equivalent volume of isotonic saline were given over a 30-min period in random order by rectal infusion to six healthy subjects. Peripheral venous blood samples were obtained at 30-min intervals over the next 2 h. After the 90 mM infusion, the serum acetate response reached a peak at 60 min and had fallen to baseline by 120 min.

Dopaminergic mediation of reward: evidence gained using a natural reinforcer in a behavioral contrast paradigm.

Previous studies suggest a dopaminergic basis for the apparent reward properties of self-stimulation of certain brain areas with electrical current. The data of this present study indicate that there may be a dopaminergic role in the perceived hedonic quality of natural reinforcers. Using a classical behavioral contrast paradigm, we observed in rats that the perceived reward of a saccharin solution was decreased by haloperidol and increased by apomorphine, in doses that did not cause non-specific performance effects.