Acute liver injury and anorexia nervosa: A case report

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by restriction of energy intake leading to a significant decrease in body weight. While it is primarily a psychiatric disorder, numerous medical complications can occur. In this article we describe a case of a 25-year-old woman with a 12-year history of severe restrictive anorexia nervosa that was referred to the Emergency Service of our Hospital, transferred from a psychiatric institute, for severe weight loss, dehydration, and progressive increase in transaminases. During the hospital stay she developed an acute liver injury with an increase in transaminase level up to 40× the ULN. Infective and immunological causes of acute hepatitis were excluded. In the suspect of severe starvation acute liver injury, we performed a nutritional assessment and started parenteral nutrition. After 15 days of parenteral nutrition, she gained 2.5 kg of body weight and liver tests were drastically reduced and nearly normal

Acido laurico saponificato con il calcio nella dieta di suinetti in post svezzamento: effetti sulle performance di crescita e sulla salute intestinale

\uc8 noto che gli acidi grassi a media catena (MCFA) hanno un\u2019azione antibatterica, in particolare nei confronti dei batteri Gram+. Lo scopo del lavoro \ue8 stato valutare gli effetti dell\u2019acido laurico (C12) saponificato con il calcio sulle performance produttive e la salute intestinale dei suinetti in svezzamento. Per la prova sono stati impiegati 192 suinetti, ripartiti in 3 gruppi, alimentati rispettivamente con una dieta basale (Db= Ctr), Db+Amoxicillina, 400mg/kg (T1) e Db+C12-Ca, 1kg/ton (T2). L\u2019integrazione della dieta con C12-Ca ha comportato una riduzione della mortalit\ue0 e dei trattamenti medicamentosi rispetto ai soggetti Ctr. L\u2019efficienza alimentare \ue8 risultata analoga nei soggetti alimentati con la dieta integrata con laurato di calcio e in quelli trattati con antibiotico, con una differenza significativa rispetto ai controlli (P<0,05). La somministrazione del laurato ha infine determinato un miglioramento dello stato antiossidante della mucosa intestinale rispetto ai soggetti degli altri due gruppi con un aumento della capacit\ue0 antiossidante totale TAOC (P <0,01) e una riduzione dei livelli di Malondialdeide (P<0,01). I risultati suggeriscono che l\u2019inclusione nella dieta dei suinetti di C12-Ca pu\uf2 migliorare la salute intestinale e pu\uf2 rappresentare una possibile alternativa all\u2019antibiotico, impiegato per scopi di profilassi

What is theoretical progress of science?

The epistemic conception of scientific progress equates progress with accumulation of scientific knowledge. I argue that the epistemic conception fails to fully capture scientific progress: theoretical progress, in particular, can transcend scientific knowledge in important ways. Sometimes theoretical progress can be a matter of new theories ‘latching better onto unobservable reality’ in a way that need not be a matter of new knowledge. Recognising this further dimension of theoretical progress is particularly significant for understanding scientific realism, since realism is naturally construed as the claim that science makes theoretical progress. Some prominent realist positions (regarding fundamental physics, in particular) are best understood in terms of commitment to theoretical progress that cannot be equated with accumulation of scientific knowledge