Nutritional rate in social welfare homes - does it meet the nutritional needs of elderly residents?

The adequate nutrition for residents in social welfare homes is one of the basic tasks in terms of living needs. Numerous studies indicate that the amount allocated to nutrition service among institutionalized elderly is insufficient. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the amount of the daily rate and the quality of nutrition in social welfare homes. The research material consisted of 3000 menus from 30 social welfare homes located in Upper Silesia (Poland). The menus were evaluated using the Diet Quality Index (Kurskal-Wallis test; p = 0.05). In the quantitative assessment we took into consideration: the number of meals, the frequency of consumption of various product groups and the content of selected micro- and macro-nutrients. The research confirmed significant differences in daily rates among institutions; 14% of facilities have a daily rate of EUR 3.00 - 4.00 per person, 21% - EUR 2.00 - 2.99, 48% - EUR 1.00 - 1.99, 17% less than EUR 1.00. The establishments with a higher daily rate (EUR 3.00 - 4,00 - 35%) provide the residents with 5 meals. A similar situation applies to plant products - only 23% of institutions with the rate lower than EUR 2.00 provide fresh vegetables and fruits to residents, and in the case of the rates above EUR 2.00 it is 67%. Quantitative assessment of menus indicated that mean dietary intakes did not meet recommendations for calcium, vitamin D, fat and protein requirements. Fat intake was 1.5 times higher than recommended. This study showed significant relationship between the amount of the daily rate in social welfare homes facilities and the number of meals and the nutritional quality of foods.

Key messages

The adequate nutrition for residents in social welfare homes is one of the basic tasks in terms of living needs. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the amount of the daily rate and the quality of nutrition in social welfare homes.

The impact of interplay between electronic and steric effects on the synthesis and the linear and non-linear optical properties of diketopyrrolopyrrole bearing benzofuran moieties

Benzofuran has been proven to be the versatile substituent for tuning the optics of diketopyrrolopyrroles.

Stochastic models for fatigue damage of materials

The paper presents problems, methods and results concerned with the stochastic modelling of fatigue damage of materials. First, the physical and engineering origins of the fatigue phenomenon are briefly outlined. After that, the main existing approaches to random fatigue problems and the models proposed are described in such a way as to show their mathematical structure and usefulness for engineering practice.

Analysis of the content of cadmium and zinc in parts of the human hip joint

Cadmium is an element with proven direct and indirect toxic effects on bones. Zinc affects the content of cadmium in the human body. These elements show antagonistic interactions. The aim of the research was to determine the levels of cadmium and zinc in the hip joint tissues and interactions between these elements. The study group consisted of 91 subjects, 66 women and 25 men. The tissues were obtained intraoperatively during hip endoprosthetic surgery. The levels of cadmium and zinc were assayed by the atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) method. The analysis of the content of cadmium and zinc in different parts of the hip joint, i.e., articular cartilage, cortical bone, and cancellous bone of the femoral head as well as the articular capsule and a fragment of the cancellous bone taken from the intertrochanteric region of the femoral bone showed significant differences. The cancellous bone was found to have the highest potential to accumulate the elements studied, whereas part of the articular capsule the lowest. Higher levels of cadmium and zinc were observed in samples obtained from men. Patients with bone fractures had higher cadmium content than those with osteoarthritis. The study on the content of cadmium and zinc in the tissues of the hip joint is one of the primary research biomonitoring.

Chromium content in the human hip joint tissues

OBJECTIVE

Chromium has many important functions in the human body. For the osseous tissue, its role has not been clearly defined. This study was aimed at determining chromium content in hip joint tissues.

METHODS

A total of 91 hip joint samples were taken in this study, including 66 from females and 25 from males. The sample tissues were separated according to their anatomical parts. The chromium content was determined by the AAS method. The statistical analysis was performed with U Mann-Whitney's non-parametric test, P≤0.05.

RESULTS

The overall chromium content in tissues of the hip joint in the study subjects was as follows: 5.73 µg/g in the articular cartilage, 5.33 µg/g in the cortical bone, 17.86 µg/g in the cancellous bone, 5.95 µg/g in the fragment of the cancellous bone from the intertrochanteric region, and 1.28 µg/g in the joint capsule. The chromium contents were observed in 2 group patients, it was 7.04 µg/g in people with osteoarthritis and 12.59 µg/g in people with fractures.

CONCLUSION

The observed chromium content was highest in the cancellous bone and the lowest in the joint capsule. Chromium content was significantly different between the people with hip joint osteoarthritis and the people with femoral neck fractures.

The content of manganese and iron in hip joint tissue

Manganese and iron are elements that constitute components of bone tissue. The aim of this study was to determine presence of manganese and iron in hip joint tissue and interdependencies between these elements. The objects of the research were hip joint elements from people residing in cities on the territory of the Upper Silesian Industrial District. The number of people in the study group was 91 samples, including 66 samples from women and 25 from a man. The examined tissues were obtained intraoperatively during hip replacement procedures. The content of manganese and iron was determined using the atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) method. The lowest content of manganese and iron was found in the cortical bone, and the largest, in the case of manganese, in the articular cartilage, whereas in the case of iron in a fragment of the cancellous bone from the intertrochanteric area. The content of iron in selected elements of the hip joint decreased with age. Higher content of manganese in hip joint tissue of women compared to men was confirmed. What is more, higher content of iron in hip joint tissue of men was confirmed as well.

The occurrence of nickel and other elements in tissues of the hip joint

Nickel is applied in the production of surgical instruments and compounds of nickel affect the osseous tissue. The objective of this study was to determine the contents of nickel and 11 elements in tissues of a hip joint obtained from inhabitants of the Upper-Silesian Industrial Area. The samples were collected intra-operatively during Total Hip Replacement procedures, in most cases the indication for the surgery was hip osteoarthritis. Concentrations of nickel and 11 trace elements were measured with a Pye Unicam SP-9 acetylene-oxygen flame atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Additional analyses were conducted to identify the correlations occurring between these elements. The average content of trace elements in the hip joint was as follows (mg kg(-1)): Cd 0.66, Cr 7.58, Cu 8.43, Mn 0.79, Pb 3.75, Ni 4.82, Fe 252.13, Zn 75.65, Mg 1306.19, K 3938.67, Na 7484.52, Ca 49485.44. The study demonstrated that the content of nickel and the other elements was diversified, depending on the element of the hip joint, gender and the type of affection the endoprosthesis-plasty was performed for.

Interactions between concentrations of chemical elements in human femoral heads

Environmental and occupational exposure to various metals has been a major public health concern and the subject of many studies. With the development of industry and transportation, environmental pollution has markedly worsened. As a result, metals are now ubiquitous and are absorbed into the body with food, drinking water, and polluted air. Exposure to these elements leads to numerous health problems, affecting almost every system of the human body, including the skeletal system. Bone is a specific research material that is difficult to obtain, therefore chemical analyses of metal concentrations in this tissue are rarely found in the literature. Nevertheless, bone, due to its long regeneration period, can serve as a biomarker of a long-term metal accumulation resulting from environmental or occupational exposure. Our study was conducted on bone samples harvested from inhabitants of the Upper Silesia region during hip replacement surgery. Femoral heads removed during surgery were sectioned into slices and further subdivided into samples comprising articular cartilage, cortical bone, and trabecular bone. Concentrations of 12 trace elements were measured with an atomic absorption spectrophotometry method. We found significant correlation between concentrations of these metal elements in the samples of cortical bone. This is determined not only by the physiological functions of these metals in hydroxyapatite, but also by the specific mineral structure of the bone tissue.

Bilateral stress fracture of distal fibula and tibia--case report

The article presents a very rare case of bilateral distal tibial and fibular stress fractures in a 58-year-old white male. Excessive work load was undoubtedly the direct cause of the fractures as the patient's job involved carrying heavy (about 7 kg) packs of newspapers up stairs for 4 hours every night, with the distance covered amounting to approximately 80 floors. The available literature does not contain descriptions of similar bilateral distal tibial and fibular fractures in an otherwise healthy professionally active male patient. Supplementing the case description is a review of the epidemiology, signs, symptoms, diagnosis and methods of treatment of tibial and fibular stress fractures.

[The changes of barium and strontium content in gallstones from smoking and non-smoking women]

The problem of statistical characteristics of occurrence barium and strontium content in gallstones from smoking and non-smoking women living in southern Poland is presented in the work. The subjects of the research were gallstones, gained intraoperatively from 146 women (49 smoking, 97 non-smoking). The content of barium and strontium was determined using atomic emission spectroscopy with inductive coupled plasma (ICP-AES). The statistical characteristic of barium and strontium content in gallstones shows that smoking does not decide about content level of these elements in gallstones. Content of barium (2.32 microgBa/g) as well as strontium (3.23 microgSr/g) in gallstones from non smoking women are higher in comparison to content of these elements in gallstones from smoking women (1.91 microgBa/g and 2.76 microgSr/g).

[Aluminum in hydroxyapatites of gallstones from smoking and non smoking women]

The investigation on the aluminum changes in gallstones from 149 women, including 49 smokers and 79 non-smokers women was carried out. All patients were inhabitants of Southern Poland. Aluminum concentration was determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) with the measurement precision of 1-3% and the detectability of 0.01 microg/g. Arithmetical mean was statistically significantly higher for non-smoking women (33.39 microgAI/g) in comparison to smoking women (20.30 microgAI/g). The changes of given elements were different for smoking women in comparison to non-smoking women.

Comparison of conformational properties of proline and threonine residues

The conformational role of Thr was investigated by 13C-n.m.r. and CD methods using a following series of tetrapeptides: Thr-Ala-Ala-Ala, Ala-Thr-Ala-Ala, Ala-Ala-Thr-Ala and Ala-Ala-Ala-Thr. It was found that introduction of Thr in every position of the tetraalanine peptide chain distinctly influences conformational equilibria of the peptides. An increase of beta-turn forms in conformational equilibria is induced by ionization of the terminal carboxyl group, independent of threonine position in the peptide chain. Threonine in position 1 or 3 of the peptide chain seems to have some importance for beta-turn formation in acid solution.

Structural differences between trypsin-inhibitors isolated from Cucurbitaceae family seeds: immunological, NMR and CD studies

By manifold immunizations of rabbits with virgin or modified trypsin inhibitor III from squash seeds and trypsin inhibitor II b from cucumber seeds, specific antibodies were produced. In double immunodiffusion the anti-squash inhibitor antibody also gave weak precipitate arcs with inhibitor I from squash, inhibitor II from summer squash and with inhibitor I from zucchini, but not with inhibitor II b from cucumber seeds. The genus of Cucurbita trypsin inhibitors, preincubated with the antibody, lost their antitrypsin activity. The antibody showed a significantly weaker effect on the activity of the inhibitor from cucumber sees. 1H-NMR and CD spectra also confirm structural differences between trypsin inhibitors from the genus of Cucurbita and the cucumber (genus of Cucumis) inhibitor.

Conformation of model, alanine and proline containing tetrapeptides in water. Comparison of 13C-n.m.r. and CD results

CD spectra of model alanine and prolyl-alanine tetrapeptides were measured at different pH values. An analysis of the spectra shows that proline in position 2 or 4 of a tetrapeptide favours folding of the peptide chain, and unfolding when it is in position 3. Changes in CD spectra evidence growing amounts of the beta-turn conformation upon increasing pH, independent of proline position in the peptide chain.

Steric effect exerted by the proline residue on the antecedent alanine residue

Five model tetrapeptides: Ala-Ala-Ala-Ala, Pro-Ala-Ala-Ala, Ala-Pro-Ala-Ala, Ala-Ala-Pro-Ala and Ala-Ala-Ala-Pro, were synthesized and measured in D2O by 13 C-n.m.r. spectroscopy. The spectra analysis led us to the conclusion that for each model (irrespective of pD) in conformational equilibrium, the predominant conformation is the one in which side methyl of alanine preceding proline residue eclipses alanine carbonyl group. The influence of pD changes in cis-trans isomerism of Ala-Pro amide bond was also investigated.