Inadequate dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes in renal-transplant recipients in Ireland.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the dietary calcium and vitamin D intake in adult renal-transplant recipients attending at a large teaching hospital in Ireland for follow-up. SETTING: Outpatient renal-transplant follow-up clinic. SUBJECTS: Fifty-nine adult renal transplant recipients (58% male) with a mean age of 46 years, a median transplant duration of 6 years, and a mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 50 mL/min per 1.73 m2. Fifty-three percent were at National Kidney Foundation stage 3 chronic kidney disease, and 14% had stage 4 chronic kidney disease. INTERVENTION: This cross-sectional, observational study used a tailored food frequency questionnaire specific for calcium and vitamin D intake in Irish adults, which was completed during a face-to-face interview with each subject. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The main outcome measure was the average daily dietary and supplemented calcium and vitamin D intake. RESULTS: The median interquartile range (IQR) dietary calcium intake was 820 mg/day (range, 576-1,177 mg/day), and was similar in men and women (recommended intake > or = 1,000 mg/day in adult men and nonmenopausal adult women, > or = 1,500 mg/day in menopausal women). Five participants received calcium supplementation. Overall, 59% of men and 64% of women had total calcium intakes below the recommended amounts. The median IQR estimated dietary vitamin D intake was 5.2 microg/day (range, 2.4-6.4 microg/day) in women, and 4.6 microg/day (range, 2.2-6.6 microg/day) in men (recommended intake, > or = 10 microg/day). Six subjects received vitamin D supplementation. Total vitamin D intakes were suboptimal in 91% of men and 87% of women. Dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes significantly correlated with each other, but neither was significantly related to eGFR category, and was similarly low in both presumed menopausal women and in the initial year posttransplantation. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that dietary and total calcium and vitamin D intakes in adult renal-transplant patients are in many cases inadequate.     

Incidence of malnutrition in adult patients at Groote Schuur Hospital, 1984

In order to determine nutritional status and the incidence of malnutrition 700 consecutive adult medical (395) and surgical (305) patients admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital between January and November 1984 were studied. Significant depletion in body weight was observed in 20% of all patients, fat depletion in 30% and muscle depletion in 15%; 40% were hypo-albuminaemia. Intergroup analysis demonstrated that malnutrition was more common in medical than surgical patients, and in non-white patients 38% of coloureds and 42% of blacks were fat depleted. Since malnutrition is associated with enhanced mortality and morbidity rates from any disease state, the results indicate that, particularly in non-white patients, nutritional support should be given greater emphasis in overall patient care.     

Benefits of glucose and oxygen in multidose cold cardioplegia.

We tested the effects of glucose and oxygen in cardioplegic solutions on myocardial protection in the isolated perfused working rat heart. Recovery from 2 hours' hypothermic (8 degrees C) cardioplegic arrest was examined in 93 hearts. Cardioplegic solution, which was delivered every 15 minutes, was supplemented with glucose 28 mmol/L as a substrate or sucrose 28 mmol/L as a nonmetabolizable osmotic control; it was equilibrated with either 98% oxygen or 98% nitrogen, both with 2% carbon dioxide. Four combinations of hyperkalemic cardioplegic solution were studied: nitrogen-sucrose, nitrogen-glucose, oxygen-sucrose, and oxygen-glucose. During hypothermic arrest, oxygenation of cardioplegic solution greatly reduced myocardial lactate production and prevented ischemic contracture as indicated by coronary vascular resistance. Glucose increased lactate production modestly but significantly only when the cardioplegic solution was nitrogenated. Although end-arrest myocardial adenosine triphosphate and creatine phosphate were greatly increased by oxygenation of cardioplegic solution (p less than 0.005), we could not detect improved preservation of these high-energy phosphates by glucose. Averaged over reperfusion, percent recovery of cardiac output for the nitrogen-sucrose, nitrogen-glucose, oxygen-sucrose, and oxygen-glucose solutions was 32.3% +/- 6.1%, 45.9% +/- 4.6%, 44.5% +/- 4.6%, and 62.2% +/- 4.5%, respectively. Oxygenation of the glucose solution or addition of glucose to the oxygenated solution significantly improved recovery of cardiac output. The benefits of glucose and oxygen were additive, so that the oxygen-glucose cardioplegic solution provided the best functional recovery. We conclude that the addition of glucose to the fully oxygenated multidose cold cardioplegic solution improves functional recovery without increasing lactate production during arrest.     

SRTR Center-Specific Reporting Tools: Posttransplant Outcomes

Measuring and monitoring performance—be it waiting list and posttransplant outcomes by a transplant center, or organ donation success by an organ procurement organization and its partnering hospitals—is an important component of ensuring good care for people with end-stage organ failure. Many parties have an interest in examining these outcomes, from patients and their families to payers such as insurance companies or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; from primary caregivers providing patient counseling to government agencies charged with protecting patients.
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients produces regular, public reports on the performance of transplant centers and organ procurement organizations. This article explains the statistical tools used to prepare these reports, with a focus on graft survival and patient survival rates of transplant centers—especially the methods used to fairly and usefully compare outcomes of centers that serve different populations. The article concludes with a practical application of these statistics—their use in screening transplant center performance to identify centers that may need remedial action by the OPTN/UNOS Membership and Professional Standards Committee.     

Severe Malnutrition Associated with α-Heavy Chain Disease: Response to Tetracycline and Intensive Nutritional Support

A 20-yr-old black male was admitted with a 5-month history of profound weight loss and diarrhea. Appetite and dietary intake had been remarkably well preserved up until the week before admission. The severity of his depletion was evidenced by a body weight of only 38% of standard, multiple electrolyte deficiencies, and reduced metabolic expenditure, protein turnover, protein synthesis, and pancreatic function. Immunological defects included diminished lymphocyte numbers, lymphocyte transformation, gamma-globulin concentration, and cell-mediated immunity. A diagnosis of alpha-heavy chain disease (alpha-HCD) was made on endoscopic duodenal biopsy and serology--lymphoma being excluded by scanning and laparotomy. Treatment consisted initially of intravenous nutrition (because of the extreme malnutrition, severe diarrhea, and malabsorption of fluid, electrolytes, carbohydrates, and fat) and oral tetracycline. Response was dramatic, with a doubling of body weight within 6 wk, and resolution of malabsorption. He was discharged on a normal diet and long-term oral tetracycline (250 mg/day), and at 1-yr follow-up, nutritional status and gut function were normal despite persistence of duodenal mucosal abnormalities and markers of alpha-HCD and bacterial overgrowth. These results suggest that the malabsorption initially identified in this patient was not due simply to the mucosal abnormalities that characterize alpha-HCD, but was more a consequence of the superimposition of nutrient maldigestion and absorption resulting from the extreme state of protein deficiency and its effects on gut and pancreatic function.     

Refractive outcome in eyes with retinopathy of prematurity treated with cryotherapy or diode laser: 3 year follow up.

AIMS: To compare the refractive error 1 to 3 years after cryotherapy or diode laser treatment for threshold retinopathy of prematurity. METHODS: Twenty six infants treated with diode laser and 17 infants treated with cryotherapy underwent cycloplegic refraction during follow up. RESULTS: After 3 years of follow up, 94.1% of patients had myopia (right eye if bilateral) following cryotherapy and 45.5% of patients had myopia following diode laser treatment. The difference between the two proportions was 48.7% (95% confidence interval 17.8 to 80.1, p = 0.004). In the cryotherapy group 55% of patients were highly myopic (> -6.00 dioptres) while in the laser group there were no high myopes. CONCLUSIONS: In the diode laser group there were significantly fewer myopes than in the cryotherapy group up to 3 years after the procedure. There was no trend towards increasing myopia in the laser treated group and the refraction in these eyes stabilised after 1 year. In the cryotherapy group there was a significant increase in the degree of myopia between year 1 and year 3 of follow up (p = 0.02). Diode laser treatment is thought to be as effective as cryotherapy, and has the added benefit of reducing myopia, in the treatment of ROP.