Despite the fact that muscle weakness is a major problem in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), detailed information on myopathological changes at the microscopic level in these patients is scarce, if indeed available at all. Vastus lateralis biopsies of 15 COPD weight-stable patients (body mass index (BMI) 23.9+/-1.0 kg x m(-2); fat-free mass index (FFMI) 17.2+/-1.7 kg x m(-2)) and 1...

BACKGROUND Nutritional depletion is an important manifestation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which has been related to systemic inflammation. It remains unclear to what degree airway inflammation contributes to the presence or progression of nutritional depletion. OBJECTIVES To determine whether airway inflammation and lung bacterial colonization are related to nutritional ...

BACKGROUND Weight loss is associated with reduced survival in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). OBJECTIVE We hypothesized that some adult patients with a normal body mass index (BMI) have evidence of hidden fat-free mass (FFM) and bone mineral density (BMD) depletion that is linked to more severe disease. DESIGN Fat mass (FM), FFM, and BMD were determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiomet...

BACKGROUND Data on body composition in infancy may improve the understanding of the relation between variability in fetal and infant growth and disease risk through the life course. Although new assessment techniques have recently become available, body composition is rarely described in infants from low-income settings. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to provide reference data for fat ma...

Age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength are risk factors for sarcopenia, osteoporosis, falls, fractures, frailty, and mortality. Dietary magnesium (Mg) could play a role in prevention of age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass, power, and strength directly through physiological mechanisms or indirectly through an impact on chronic low-grade inflammation, itself a risk factor for ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the nutritional status of a group of institutionalized elderly with dementia by analysing the changes in the body composition according to their evolutionary state. METHOD A cross-sectional study was carried out assessing the nutritional status and the body composition (anthropometry, MNA and bioimpedance) in 63 institutionalized elderly with a diagnosis of dementia in evo...

BACKGROUND The catabolic state that follows hip fracture contributes to loss of muscle mass and strength, that is sarcopenia, which impacts functional ability and health-related quality of life. Measures to prevent such long-term postoperative consequences are of important concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined effects of protein-rich nutritional supplementation and bisphos...

RATIONALE We had shown that COPD women expressed more dyspnea than men for the same degree of airway obstruction. OBJECTIVES Evaluate gender differences in respiratory factors associated with dyspnea in COPD patients. METHODS In a FEV1 % matched population of 100 men and women with COPD we measured: age, MMRC, FEV1, FVC, TLC, IC/TLC, PaO2, PaCO2, DLCO, Pimax, P0.1, Ti/Ttot, BMI, ffmi, 6MWD ...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of childhood obesity has risen greatly worldwide. However, assessment of obesity among children and adolescents is further complicated by the changes occurring in the body composition during the growth. The aim of this study is to create gender-specific percentile curves for total body fat percentage (TBFP), total body fat mass (TBFM), fat mass index (FMI), and fat fre...

BACKGROUND Decreased physical activity is associated with higher mortality in subjects with COPD. The aim of this study was to assess clinical characteristics and physical activity levels (PALs) in subjects with COPD. METHODS Seventy-three subjects with COPD (67 ± 7 yrs, 44 female) with one-second forced expiratory volume percentage (FEV1%) predicted values of 43 ± 16 were included. The ratio...