Nutritional Screening and Anthropometry in Patients Admitted From the Emergency Department

Background: Due to the high prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized patients, screening and assessment of nutritional status should be routinely performed upon hospital admission. The main objective of this observational study was to evaluate the prevalence of and the risk for malnutrition, as identified by using three nutritional screening tests, and to observe whether some anthropometric and functional parameters used for nutritional evaluation were related to these test scores. Methods: This single-center observational study included 207 patients admitted from the emergency department for hospitalization in either the internal medicine or surgery units of our institution from September 2017 to December 2018. The prevalence of malnutrition among this patient sample was evaluated by using the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS-2002), the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria. Body mass index (BMI), bioimpedance analysis (BIA), handgrip strength (HGS) and calf circumference (CC) assessments were also performed. Results: According to the NRS-2002, 93% of the patients were at no risk or at low nutritional risk (NRS score < 3), and 7% were at a high nutritional risk (NRS score ≥ 3). On the other hand, according to the SGA, 46.3% of the patients were well-nourished (SGA-a), 49.8% were moderately malnourished (SGA-b), and 3.9% were severely malnourished (SGA-c). Finally, according to the GLIM criteria, 18% patients were malnourished. Body weight, body mass index (BMI), phase angle (PhA), CC and HGS were significantly lower in the patients with NRS scores ≥ 3, SGA-c and in patients with stage 1 and stage 2 malnutrition, according to the GLIM criteria. Conclusion: The NRS-2002, the SGA and the GLIM criteria appear to be valuable tools for the screening and assessment of nutritional status. In particular, the lowest NRS-2002, SGA and GLIM scores were associated with the lowest PhA and CC. Nevertheless, a weekly re-evaluation of patients with better screening and assessment scores is recommended to facilitate early detection of changes in nutritional status

OCTOCAM: A fast multichannel imager and spectrograph for the 10.4m GTC

OCTOCAM is a multi-channel imager and spectrograph that has been proposed for the 10.4m GTC telescope. It will use dichroics to split the incoming light to produce simultaneous observations in 8 different bands, ranging from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. The imaging mode will have a field of view of 2' x 2' in u, g, r, i, z, J, H and Ks bands, whereas the long-slit spectroscopic mode will cover the complete range from 4,000 to 23,000 {\AA} with a resolution of 700 - 1,700 (depending on the arm and slit width). An additional mode, using an image slicer, will deliver a spectral resolution of over 3,000. As a further feature, it will use state of the art detectors to reach high readout speeds of the order of tens of milliseconds. In this way, OCTOCAM will be occupying a region of the time resolution - spectral resolution - spectral coverage diagram that is not covered by a single instrument in any other observatory, with an exceptional sensitivity.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, SPIE 2010 Astronomical Instrumentatio

A Path to the Stars: The Evolution of the Species

During the last years, a number of telescopes have been dedicated to the followup of the GRBs. But after the Swift launch, the average observed intensity of the GRBs showed to be lower than thought before. Our experience with the robotic 60 cm REM telescope confirmed this evidence, with a large number oflostGRBs. Then, we proposed to study the feasibility of a 4 m fast pointing class telescope, equipped with a multichannel imagers, from Visible to Near Infrared. In this paper, we present the main result of the feasibility study we performed so far

Recombinant FSH improves sperm DNA damage in male infertility: A phase II clinical trial

Background and objectives: Male infertility is a global health dilemma and Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) administration has shown promising results. Several studies showed that infertile men with normal semen parameters have low levels of DNA damage while infertile men with abnormal semen parameters have more damage at the DNA level. Sperm DNA damage may affect the reproductive outcome and has been associated with failure in the achievement of competent embryos and pregnancy fulfillment. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the administration of recombinant FSH (Gonal-f® PEN 900 IU) could improve sperm DNA fragmentation in men with infertility. The secondary endpoints of this study were to evaluate the FSH effects on sperm parameters and hormonal assets. Methods: A longitudinal, prospective, multicenter, open-label clinical trial was carried out. Infertile couples were recruited from six Italian Reproductive Medical Centers and 115 infertile men were enrolled for this study. All participants were treated with subcutaneous injections of Gonal-f® 150 IU every other day, within a 3 month-time frame. The semen samples were examined in accordance to the 2010 World Health Organization criteria. Sperm DNA Fragmentation (DFI) was determined by fluorescence microscopy using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated d-UTP Nick-end Labeling (TUNEL) assay. Statistical analysis was performed using both the t-test for paired samples and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: FSH administration improved DFI in 67% of patients, with an average decrease of 35.4% compared to the baseline. This improvement is more evident in men with basal DFI lower than 17% and in those with FSH basal levels between 2.16 and 4.27 IU/L. In addition, FSH enhanced the gonadal function, increasing the hormones AMH and Inhibin B and semen parameters. Limitation of these results are represented by the absence of a placebo group and of FSHR genotype stratification sub-analysis. Conclusion: Recombinant FSH 150 IU is well tolerated and effective in eliciting a significant DFI reduction as well as in improving gonadal function

MORFEO enters final design phase

MORFEO (Multi-conjugate adaptive Optics Relay For ELT Observations, formerly MAORY), the MCAO system for the ELT, will provide diffraction-limited optical quality to the large field camera MICADO. MORFEO has officially passed the Preliminary Design Review and it is entering the final design phase. We present the current status of the project, with a focus on the adaptive optics system aspects and expected milestones during the next project phase