The integrated assessment of nutritional status and presence of sarcopenia would help improve clinical outcomes of in-hospital aged patients. We compared three common nutritional screening tools with the new Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) diagnostic criteria among hospitalized older patients. To this, 152 older patients were assessed consecutively at hospital admission by the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002). A 46% prevalence of malnutrition was reported according to GLIM. Sensitivity was 64%, 96% and 47%, and specificity was 82%, 15% and 76% with the MUST, SGA, and NRS-2002, respectively. The concordance with GLIM criteria was 89%, 53% and 62% for the MUST, SGA, and NRS-2002, respectively. All the screening tools had a moderate value to diagnose malnutrition. Moreover, patients at high nutritional risk by MUST were more likely to present with sarcopenia than those at low risk (OR 2.5, CI 1.3-3.6). To conclude, MUST is better than SGA and NRS-2002 at detecting malnutrition in hospitalized older patients diagnosed by the new GLIM criteria. Furthermore, hospitalized older patients at high risk of malnutrition according to MUST are at high risk of presenting with sarcopenia. Nutritional status should be determined by MUST in older patients at hospital admission, followed by both GLIM and the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2) assessment.
Infertility is among the most serious medical problems worldwide. Male factors contribute to 40%–50% of all infertility cases, and approximately 7% of men worldwide are affected by infertility. Spermatozoa are extremely vulnerable to oxidative insult. Oxidative stress results in axonemal damage and increased midpiece sperm morphological defects, which lead to reduced sperm motility. The aim of the study is to evaluate the association between sperm motility and the levels of selected antioxidants, cytokines, and markers of oxidative damage in the seminal plasma. The study group included 107 healthy males, who were split into two subgroups based on the percentage of motile spermatozoa after 1 hr: low motility (LM, n = 51) and high motility (HM, n = 56). The glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity was 52% lower in the LM group compared to that in the HM group. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was 12% higher in the LM group compared to that in the HM group. Similarly, the median values of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were higher in the LM group than those in the HM group. Results of the present study revealed that the percentage of motile spermatozoa after 1 hr correlated positively with the levels of IL-1β, IL-10, IL-12, and TNFα. The lower motility of spermatozoa in healthy men is associated with a decreased activity of G6PD and increased levels of cytokines, which may be related to increased oxidative stress in seminal plasma that manifests as an increased level of MDA.
Safety of healthcare workers in hospitals is a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being exposed for several working hours per day to infected patients, nurses dealing with COVID-19 face several issues that lead to physical/psychological breakdown. This study focused on burnout and its associated factors in nurses working in an Italian University Hospital during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. We designed a web-based cross-sectional study addressed to nurses working at the University Hospital in Foggia, Italy. The online questionnaire was organized in sections aimed at collecting demographic and occupational variables, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OBI). Two hundred and ninety-three nurses agreed to participate. According to MBI, we reported moderate/high emotional exhaustion in 76.5%, depersonalization in 50.2%, and personal gratification in 54.6% of participants. COVID-19-related burnout measured by OBI resulted medium/high in 89.1% of participants. Among demographic and occupational factors, a multivariate regression analysis identified emotional support, consideration of leaving job, and workload as predictive of burnout in nurses. In conclusion, this study suggests that the improvement of employer and family support to nurses, as well as reduction of workload and job-related stress, would contribute to reducing burnout in nurses during COVID-19 pandemics.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the parameters of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense in relation to the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in patients diagnosed with oligozoospermia and asthenozoospermia. Based on the basic parameters of the spermogram, the examined group (n = 243) was divided into three groups: oligospermic group (sperm count less than 15 × 106/ml) consisting of 152 men, astenozoospermic group (less than 40% of progressively moving sperm cells) consisting of 142 men, and oligoastenozoospermic group (both criteria met) consisting of 90 men. The control group consisted of 103 males with normal semen profile according to the WHO criteria. Total superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in seminal plasma and spermatozoa lysate was significantly lower by 12% and 22%, respectively, in males with oligospermia than in the control group. Analogically, Mn-SOD activity in spermatozoa lysate was significantly lower in males with oligospermia, asthenospermia, and oligoasthenospermia by 44%, 32%, and 45%, respectively. By contrast, CuZn-SOD activity in spermatozoa lysate was significantly higher in males with oligospermia by 60%. The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in seminal plasma was also significantly higher in males with oligospermia and oligoasthenospermia by 56% and 78%, respectively. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in seminal plasma was significantly higher in males with asthenospermia than in the control group by 12%. By contrast, the level of MDA in spermatozoa lysate was significantly lower in males with oligospermia, asthenospermia, and oligoasthenospermia by 26%, 20%, and 26%, respectively. The level of interleukin- (IL-) 8 in seminal plasma was significantly higher in males with asthenospermia and oligoasthenospermia by 64% and 67%, respectively. Abnormalities in spermogram, such as oligospermia, asthenospermia, and oligoasthenospermia, may be related to a decreased activity of Mn-SOD in spermatozoa and increased levels of chemokines in seminal plasma.
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