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70
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Introduction
I'm Director of Nutrition Department in Santa chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy, an 800 bed hospital. My practice and my research deals about dysphagia and in particular on texture of texture mofified foods, about artificial Nutrition (botf EN and TPN), hospital catering. I teach dietetics to nurses and dental hygienists in University of Verona
Current institution
Additional affiliations
Santa Chiara Hospital APSS Trento Italy
Position
- Senior Researcher
Description
- Head, Nutrition Department
Publications
Publications (70)
Sauerkraut is a product derived from malolactic fermentation of cabbage and it is currently the most fermented product in Europe. Some scholars have linked consumption of such foods to increased immune functions, anti-inflammation activity, decreased fasting glycemia and other health beneficiary effects. This multidisciplinary study was focused on...
Sauerkraut is a traditionally fermented cabbage, and recent evidence suggests that it has beneficial properties for human health. In this work, a multi-disciplinary approach was employed to characterize the fermentation process and gut health-promoting properties of locally produced, organic sauerkraut from two distinct producers, SK1 and SK2. 16S...
Purpose
Aleurone is a cereal bran fraction containing a variety of beneficial nutrients including polyphenols, fibers, minerals and vitamins. Animal and human studies support the beneficial role of aleurone consumption in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Gut microbiota fiber fermentation, polyphenol metabolism and betaine/choline metabol...
Background & aims:
Old persons are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, which may result in higher dependency in activities of daily living. We aimed to provide a quantitative synthesis of prevalence data on malnutrition and its risk as assessed by the Mini Nutritional Assessment across different healthcare settings. The association between nu...
Chronic activation of the inflammatory response, defined as inflammaging, is the key physio-pathological substrate for anabolic resistance, sarcopenia and frailty in older individuals. Nutrients can theoretically modulate this phenomenon. The underlying molecular mechanisms reducing the synthesis of pro-inflammatory mediators have been elucidated,...
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder defined by recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors, primarily self-induced vomiting. Most common complications are due to purge behaviors and are frequently responsible for hospitalization. These include electrolyte disturbances, dehydration, hypovolemia, stomatitis, esophageal dis...
Background & aims:
Nutritional derangements are common in elderly patients, but how nutritional risk affects outcome in this subset of hospital inpatients deserves further investigation. We evaluated the impact of nutritional risk on length of stay (LOS) and in-hospital weight loss (WL) in elderly patients (>65 yrs).
Methods:
Nutritional risk wa...
A critical point of nasogastric feeding tube placement, potentially resulting in an unsafe and/or non-effective operation of the device, is the monitoring of its proper placement into the stomach. A properly obtained and interpreted radiograph is currently recommended to confirm placement. We reported the case of a 68-year-old demented woman referr...
Previous studies have reported a close relationship between nutritional and functional domains, but evidence in long-term care residents is still limited. We evaluated the relationship between nutritional risk and functional status and the association of these two domains with mortality in newly institutionalised elderly. In the present multi-centr...
OBJECTIVE
Diabetes has been associated with chronic neurodegeneration. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the relationship between pre-existing diabetes and Parkinson’s disease (PD).
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Original articles in English published up to 10 May 2011 were searched for in electronic databases (PubMed, Emba...
A critical point of nasogastric feeding tube placement, potentially resulting in an unsafe and/or non-effective operation of the device, is the monitoring of its proper placement into the stomach. A properly obtained and interpreted radiograph is currently recommended to confirm placement. We reported the case of a 68-year-old demented woman referr...
Although there is evidence that different types of dementia share similar pathophysiologic mechanisms, research studies support the concept that dementia of the Alzheimer type (AD) is a distinct clinical entity, which may differ in terms of disease progression and outcome. We assessed whether a diagnosis of probable AD in elderly patients admitted...
Aim. Adherence and pitfalls in following a gluten free diet (GFD) were studied among some celicac adult patients. Methods. A questionnaire was developed and e-mailed to some people affected by celiac disease (CD) where many questions were done about some anagraphic and clinic issues about symptoms of arousal of CD and troubles about following stric...
Diabetes has been associated with chronic neurodegeneration. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the relationship between pre-existing diabetes and Parkinson's disease (PD).
Original articles in English published up to 10 May 2011 were searched for in electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, and Scopus) and by reviewing refere...
Several tools are available for nutritional screening. We evaluated the risk of mortality associated with the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) in newly institutionalised elderly.
A prospective observational study involving 358 elderly newly admitted to a long-term care setting. Hazard ratios (HR) for...
Malnutrition and sarcopenia in institutions are very common and significantly affect the prognosis. Aging is characterized by weight and lean body mass losses. Accordingly, in elderly patients, body mass index (BMI) is considered a marker of protein stores rather than of adiposity. Current guidelines suggest a BMI 21 kg/m(2) or lower as major trigg...
Oxidative stress and inflammation together play a crucial role in the obesogenic process, and imbalances in reactive oxygen species, free radicals and antioxidants have been reported as being major mechanisms underlying obesity-related co-morbidities. Obesity and oxidative stress may be present even within the first two decades of life, and chronic...
The American Academy of Neurology suggests advising the redistribution of daily protein meal content to every Parkinson's disease (PD) patient with motor fluctuations during levodopa treatment. However, no comprehensive evaluation of this complementary therapy has been performed. A systematic review of intervention studies investigating the neurolo...
Disease-related malnutrition is a common comorbidity at hospital admission. The purpose of the present report was to describe the data on nutritional care routines collected during the Project: Iatrogenic MAlnutrition in Italy (PIMAI) study, as these may be helpful to avoid iatrogenic malnutrition and improve nutritional policies.
Standards of nutr...
The association between hyporexia/anorexia, reduced food intake and disease-related malnutrition at hospital admission is well established. However, information on fluid intake according to nutritional risk has never been provided. Thus, we assessed the attitude and adequacy of fluid intake among case-mix hospitalised patients according to nutritio...
Body weight measurement is fundamental in nutritional screening. Thus, weighing scales should be regularly calibrated. This
procedure is so important that in 1990 the Council of Europe produced an ad hoc directive. Unfortunately, little is known
about scales management in hospitals. We performed an inventory in the City Hospital of Trento (∼900 bed...
To investigate whether a disease-specific nutritional approach is more beneficial than a standard dietary approach to the healing of pressure ulcers (PUs) in institutionalized elderly patients.
Twelve-week follow-up randomized controlled trial (RCT).
Four long-term care facilities in the province of Como, Italy.
Twenty-eight elderly subjects with S...
We describe a case of refractory myasthenia gravis with bulbar involvement and the nutritional treatment solutions proposed to treat the associated dysphagia and malnutrition.
A 39-y-old woman with refractory myasthenia gravis was referred to our clinical nutrition unit for deteriorating dysphagia and progressive malnutrition.
The first-line nutrit...
Body weight measurement is fundamental in nutritional screening. Thus, weighing scales should be regularly calibrated. This procedure is so important that in 1990 the Council of Europe produced an ad hoc directive. Unfortunately, little is known about scales management in hospitals. We performed an inventory in the City Hospital of Trento (~900 bed...
A new nutrition-related risk assessment tool, the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), has been recently proposed. The aim of this review is to summarize current evidences on the use of this tool with particular focus on the rationales of its application in elderly healthcare.
Structured as a dichotomous index, based on serum albumin values and...
Malnutrition is still a widespread, unrecognised and underestimated, health problem in hospital as well as in many other settings. Consistently affecting patient's outcome (e.g. infection, pressure ulcers, poor wound healing and impaired muscle and respiratory function, increased length of stay and rehabilitation time), it is frequently a life thre...
Background & aims:
A new tool, the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), was recently proposed to predict short-term complications in elderly medical patients but no information is available when long-term follow-up periods are considered.
Methods:
A 3-year follow-up study in 245 institutionalised elderly (51 M:194 F; 83.7+/-8.6 years). Nutri...
To possibly validate the use of Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) with respect to functional status in institutionalised elderly.
One hundred twenty-three long-term care resident elderly (85.3+/-8.4 years) were recruited. Nutritional and functional states were assessed by MNA and Barthel Index (BI), respectively. Main inclusion criterion was a MNA<...
The present regulations on home artificial nutrition (HAN) in Italy resemble leopard spots, with remarkable differences even in its organization. At present time, in 10% of our country (Piemonte, Veneto, and Molise) there is a specific regional law for HAN, in 65% there are general regional resolutions (Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giul...
Many surveys on hospital malnutrition have been performed in hospitals and nurs- ing homes all over the world, and we are now sure that institutional undernutrition plays an im- portant role in worsening patient mortality and morbidity, length of stay in hospital, quality of life, and costs of care. The boards of health institutions should be promp...
Objective. To assess oral and nutritional condition in nursing home residents and their relationships looking for the potential role of a dental hygienist in the nursing home at least as consultant. Methods. Seventy residents (50 F, 20 M) of a nursing home in Nomi (Prov. Trento) were randomly selected and assessed for malnutrition with Mini Nutriti...
Two hundred and five (205) patients (152F, 53M), consecutively seen at The Nutritional Unit of the St. Clara Hospital in Trento, Italy, were asked to give their weight and height. Subsequently, after taking both weight and height, the Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using both reported and measured parameters. The results are discussed and sub...
As the treatment of hypertension in current practice is still unsatisfactory, a study was planned to assess the feasibility of improving blood pressure control and optimizing the choice of antihypertensive therapy (preferring drugs with documented preventive efficacy- diuretics and β- blockers - or with specific indications, without contraindicatio...
A case of association between pheochromocytoma and homolateral stenosis of renal artery is discussed. Until now, this is the first notification of such an association. The authors examine the possibility of a link between the two pathologies on the basis of congenital or physical factors. This association could have been so rarely just only due to...
The authors discuss a case of thoracic-lumbar arachnoidal cyst, which was not diagnosed for a long period, despite an obvious presentation with back pain and sphincteral problems. The importance of new diagnostic techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is underlined.
A case of angiosarcoma of the thyroid, the most rare tumor of this gland, is discussed. The existence of this form has been denied by many authors, but recent immunochemical analyses (endothelial Factor VII related antigen) and electron microscopy (Weibel-Palade bodies) confirm definitively its vascular origin.
Leukocyte aggregation induced by N-formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) has been measured in a group of patients with hypercholesterolaemia (n = 22) and in a group of control subjects (n = 26), age- and sex-matched. When hypercholesterolaemic patients were divided into two groups, with a discriminatory level of 7.7 mmol/l of plasma cholester...
