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Metabolic diseases are risk factors for severe Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which have a close relationship with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). To evaluate the presence of MAFLD and fibrosis in patients with COVID-19 and its association with prognosis. Retrospective cohort study. In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the presence of liver steatosis was determined by computed tomography scan (CT). Liver fibrosis was assessed using the NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS score), and when altered, the AST to platelet ratio index (APRI) score. Mann-Whitney U, Student´s t-test, logistic regression analysis, Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analysis were used. 432 patients were analyzed, finding steatosis in 40.6%. No differences in pulmonary involvement on CT scan, treatment, or number of days between the onset of symptoms and hospital admission were found between patients with and without MAFLD. The presence of liver fibrosis was associated with higher severity scores, higher levels of inflammatory markers, requirement of mechanical ventilation, incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI), and higher mortality than patients without fibrosis. The presence of fibrosis rather than the presence of MAFLD is associated with increased risk for mechanical ventilation, development of AKI, and higher mortality in COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low crude protein (CP) diets can reduce nitrogen (N) excretion and costs by increasing N utilization efficiency. Exogenous proteases may further improve protein digestibility in low CP diets. This study first evaluated in vitro the efficacy of a multiprotease on amino acid (AA) release from feedstuffs and broiler feed. Later, a broiler study evaluated the effect of feeding corn-soybean meal diets containing 3 CP levels (17, 19, and 21% CP) with supplementation on top of 0 or 2,400 U/kg multiprotease on chicken growth performance, total tract CP, and ileal AA digestibilities, and energy utilization. Ross 708 male chickens were placed in 42 cages and assigned to 6 treatments resulting from a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement. Three isocaloric basal diets were formulated to reduce CP, but all diets maintained digestible Lys:CP in 5.47% and the same ideal protein profile. Data were analyzed in a completely randomized design. On average, the multiprotease increased (P < 0.05) in vitro free AA release by 27.81% in most feedstuffs evaluated compared to the control. For broiler feed, 1,200 U/g multiprotease addition improved (P < 0.001) in vitro free AA release by 18.90%. This multiprotease showed interaction effects (P < 0.05) on chicken FCR, energy, and CP digestibility. As expected, BW at 24 d, BW gain, and FCR (8-24 d) worsened (P < 0.001) as dietary CP reduced from 21 to 17%, and multiprotease addition did not improve (P > 0.05) these parameters. BW gain decreased by 12.9% when N intake was reduced from 49.32 to 38.49 g/bird. Multiprotease supplementation improved (P < 0.01) AMEn by 71 kcal/kg, CP digestibility from 59.45 to 63.51%, ileal AA digestibility, and DM digestibility from 67.08 to 73.49%, but only in the 21% CP diet. No differences in ileal AA digestibility due to CP level (P > 0.05) were detected, except for Cys digestibility (P < 0.01). In conclusion, low CP diets reduced growth performance and improved N utilization but negatively affected energy utilization efficiency. Exogenous multiprotease supplementation improved AME, AMEn, protein, ileal AA, and DM digestibility in the 21% CP diet without significantly affecting growth performance., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hemobilia is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). It is commonly iatrogenic, and is more rarely caused by tumors, lithiasis, and inflammatory or vascular disease. We describe a case of cystic artery pseudoaneurysm, which caused acute pancreatitis as an unusual complication.

Background and Objective: Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a very common condition with high mortality. Although some scales include heart failure (HF) as a risk factor of PTE, none of them have assessed the contribution of the different kinds of HF, i. e. with reduced or preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to the in-hospital outcome of patients admitted with PTE., Patients and Method: A retrospective study assessing a cohort of patients consecutively admitted to hospital with a PTE from 2012-2014. Baseline epidemiological characteristics, treatment during admission and prognostic variables during hospitalization were analyzed. Primary endpoint was defined as hospital mortality for any cause., Results: A total of 442 patients with PTE were included (88 with prior HF). Patients with a history of HF were older, more frequently had hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney or pulmonary disease, cancer, and coronary artery disease, and showed less LVEF (P<.001). Hospital mortality was significantly higher in patients with prior HF (21.6 vs. 6.8%, P<.001). Multivariate analysis found that HF with reduced LVEF but not HF with preserved LVEF resulted as an independent risk factor (respectively OR 5.54; 95% CI 2.12-14.51 and OR 129; 95% CI 0.72-4.44)., Conclusions: Patients with prior HF admitted to hospital with PTE should be considered a high-risk population, since they present high in-hospital mortality. In our cohort, patients with prior HF and reduced LVEF presented a poorer prognosis than those with preserved LVEF., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)