Volatile sulfur compounds, with H2S and CH3SH as the main components, in mouth air are the prominent elements of malodor. Volatile sulfur compounds were decreased by more than 50% after tongue scraping. Nonsurgical periodontal treatment and oral hygiene instruction/chlorhexidine + cetyl pyridinium gargling maintained a significantly lower level of malodor compared with baseline.

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The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and acute physiology, age, chronic health evaluation III (APACHE III) scoring systems obtained on the first day of intensive care unit (ICU) admission in predicting hospital mortality in critically ill cirrhotic patients. The study enrolled 102 cirrhotic patients consecutively admitted to ICU during a 1-year period. Twenty-five demographic, clinical and laboratory variables were analysed as predicators of survival. Information considered necessary to calculate the Child-Pugh, SOFA and APACHE III scores on the first day of ICU admission was also gathered. Overall hospital mortality was 68.6%. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that mean arterial pressure, SOFA and APACHE III scores were significantly related to prognosis. Goodness-of-fit was good for the SOFA and APACHE III models. Both predictive models displayed a similar degree of the best Youden index (0.68) and overall correctness (84%) of prediction. The SOFA and APACHE III models displayed good areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (0.917 +/- 0.028 and 0.912 +/- 0.029, respectively). Finally, a strong and significant positive correlation exists between SOFA and APACHE III scores for individual patients (r(2) = 0.628, p < 0.001). This investigation confirms the grave prognosis for cirrhotic patients admitted to ICU. Both SOFA and APACHE III scores are excellent tools to predict the hospital mortality in critically ill cirrhotic patients. The overall predictive accuracy of SOFA and APACHE III is superior to that of Child-Pugh system. The role of these scoring systems in describing the dynamic aspects of clinical courses and allocating ICU resources needs to be clarified.

Background: In vitro and animal studies suggested that soy protein and isoflavones promote weight and body fat loss. However, clinical trials in humans were few and the effects remained uncertain. Objectives: To examine whether soy protein with isoflavones and isoflavone extracts exert beneficial effects on body composition among postmenopausal women. Design: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial was conducted among 180 postmenopausal Chinese women with mild hyperglycemia. After a 2-week adaptation, participants were randomly assigned to one of the three arms to receive 15 g soy protein and 100 mg isoflavones (Soy group), or 15 g milk protein and 100 mg isoflavones (Iso group), or 15 g milk protein (placebo group) on a daily basis for 6 months. Results: We observed a mild but significant favorable effect of soy protein with isoflavones on the changes of body weight (BW), body mass index, and body fat percentage relative to isoflavone extracts and milk protein after 6-month supplementation. The mean differences of BW between the Soy and the Iso groups were À0.75 kg (95% CI: À1.363 to À0.136, P ¼ 0.017), and between the Soy and the placebo groups were À0.60 kg (95% CI: À1.209 to À0.019, P ¼ 0.047). The mean difference of change percentage in body fat percentage between the Soy and the Iso groups was À3.74% (95% CI: À6.88 to À0.60%, P ¼ 0.02), and between the Soy and the placebo groups was À2.54% (95% CI: À5.69 to 0.12%. P ¼ 0.08). Conclusions: Six-month supplementation of soy protein with isoflavones had a mild favorable effect on body composition in postmenopausal women.