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Biomedical subjects

I Escobar

Publications and source records attributed to I Escobar.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Evaluation of nonglucose carbohydrates in parenteral nutrition for diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE: There is little information on the advantages of nonglucose carbohydrates in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) for diabetic patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate glycemic control and insulin requirements in diabetic patients who received TPN with different sources of carbohydrates, and to determine whether insulin requirements are different when septic and non-septic diabetic patients are studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One-hundred and thirty-eight patients were randomly divided into two groups receiving either glucose (G), n=71, or glucose-fructose-xylitol 2:1:1 (GFX), n=67. There were no differences between the demographic or anthropometric characteristics of the groups, nor between the patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2, nor the initial TPN composition. Acceptable glycemic control was considered when glycemia reached <200 mg/dl. RESULTS: Glycemic control was attained in 79.7% of patients (74.6 vs 85.1%), in the same period of treatment. At the end of treatment, insulin requirements were not different (45+/-19 vs 45+/-26 UI/day) in both groups, while similar amounts of carbohydrates (191+/-36 vs 187+/-45 g/day) were infused. The ratio insulin/body weight and insulin/carbohydrates were equal in both groups. In the GFX group nonseptic and septic patients needed less and more insulin, respectively, than their counterparts in the G group. No major adverse events related to carbohydrate infusions were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Either G or GFX could be used in TPN for diabetic patients, providing glycemic control in most cases with similar insulin requirements. GFX mixtures were slightly more beneficial to attain glycemic control in nonseptic patients, but septic diabetic patients had higher insulin needs in this group.

Aged↗

Healing over and muscle contraction in toad hearts.

The influence of temperature, contractures, and CA²⁺ on the processes of healing over and muscle contraction was investigated in toad myocardium by simultaneously measuring the size of the injury potential and the twitch tension. Stimulation with single pulses and electrically induced contractures of short duration (2-3 seconds) markedly increased the rate of healing, and epinephrine (10⁻⁶ g/ml) increased the effectiveness of stimulation. Other results supported the view that the healing process was largely dependent on temperature, since at 15°C or 10°C the rate of healing over was greatly reduced. The effect of temperature was probably related to a reduction in Ca²⁺ uptake. A possible change in junctional conductance produced by low temperature probably was not the reason for the decrease in rate of healing. Strontium, which replaces Ca²⁺ in the mechanical process, was also a good substitute for Ca²⁺ in healing over. The results stress the parallelism between the healing process and the contractile process in heart muscle.

Action Potentials↗

Study of the validity of a questionnaire to assess the adherence to therapy in patients infected by HIV.

PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to examine the validity of a questionnaire to detect nonadherence in HIV-infected patients under antiretroviral treatment. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study to validate a diagnostic test. Participants consisting of 242 HIV-infected patients were elected by consecutive sampling in a hospital in Madrid. The validation standard was the pharmacy dispensing records with the cut point being 80% and 90% of delivered drugs. Sensitivity (S), specificity (SP), positive predictive value (PPV), and positive likelihood ratio (PLR) of the questionnaire were estimated. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 36.2 years old (SE 0.42), 55% were men, and 68.2% had used parenteral drugs. Eighty-three patients (34.3%) did not reach 80% of the prescribed dose and 129 patients (53.3%) did not reach 90%. In the 80% group, S was 25.3% (95% CI, 16.7%-36.2%),SP was 86.2% (95% CI, 79.6%-90.9%), PPV was 48.9% (95% CI, 33.5%-64.3%), and the PLR was 1.83 (95% CI, 1.07-3.13). In the 90% group, the S was 19.4% (95% CI, 13.4%-27.4%), SP was 84.0% (95% CI, 75.7%-90.0%), PPV was 58.1% (95% CI, 42.4%-72.6%), and PLR was 1.22 (95% CI, 0.70-2.12). CONCLUSION: The proposed questionnaire is not a reliable diagnostic method to detect nonadherence. It should only be incorporated into the daily clinical practice along with other methods of nonadherence measurement.

Adult↗