Medical and Health News: Australia

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Malnutrition: A Skeleton In The Health Care Closest, Australia

Main Category: Eating Disorders
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet; Seniors / Aging
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Many elderly Australians are either admitted to hospital suffering malnutrition, or become malnourished while in hospital, which increases hospital length of stay and health care costs.

In her lead article in the Dietitians Association of Australia's journal, Nutrition & Dietetics, Dr Karen Charlton said malnutrition often goes undiagnosed and untreated as it is not considered a clinical priority in hospitals and aged care settings.

Australian research has revealed more than one in three hospitals patients are malnourished and the rates can be as high as 70 per cent in residential aged carei.

In one Melbourne hospital alone, a study of 275 patients found 90 per cent of patients were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, based on measures such as weight and appetiteii. The study found only 15 per cent of malnourished patients were correctly picked up by hospital staff as being malnourished - and less than half of these were referred to a dietitian.

Dr Charlton said the results were consistent with a recent study conducted in Finland among elderly patients in long-term hospital careiii. In this study, nurses considered only 15 per cent of the patients to be malnourished, while close to 60 per cent were actually malnourished.

'This is a serious concern and is the skeleton in the closest of many Australian hospitals,' said Dr Charlton, an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

She said malnourished patients are more likely to suffer pressure ulcers and infections, and have slower recovery rates.

A recent Australian study involving older patients admitted to rehabilitation hospitals over a five year period found that malnourished and at risk patients stayed in hospital for an average of 18.5 days, compared with 12.4 days for their well-nourished counterpartsiv.

'We need to better educate nursing and medical staff to look at factors that may affect a person's risk of malnutrition, such as weight loss, reduced appetite, medications, length of stay and lack of support to eat.

'And screening is only the tip of the iceberg. We need to start treating 'food as medicine' and dietitians are key advocates for this process,' said Dr Charlton.

i Watterson C, Fraser A, Banks M et al. Evidence based practise guidelines for the nutrition management of malnutrition in adult patients across the continuum of care. Nutr Diet 2009; 66: S1-34.

ii Adams NE, Bowie AJ, Simmance N et al. Recognition by medical and nursing professionals of malnutrition and risk of malnutrition in elderly hospitalised patients. Nutr Diet 2008; 65:144-50.

iii Suominen MH, Sandelin E, Soini H, Pitkala KH. How well for nurses recognise malnutrition in elderly patients? EJCN 2009; 63:292-6.

iv Charlton KE, Nichols C, Bowden S et al. Older rehabilitation patients at high risk of malnutrition: Evidence from a large Australian database. J Nutr Health Aging 2010; 14:622-8.

Source:
Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA)

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Cancer Drug Found Hiding In Sunflower Seed Protein, Australia

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
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UQ scientists have found sunflower proteins and their processing machinery are hijacked to make rogue protein rings in a discovery that could open the door to cheaper, plant-based drug manufacturing.

Dr Joshua Mylne, who led the research, has a personal connection with sunflowers - his grandfather, Alan Lemon, introduced them to Australian farms, creating a multimillion-dollar industry.

Now, Dr Mylne hopes his research has uncovered another use for these plants through the manufacture of cheap therapeutic drugs.

Dr Mylne and Professor David Craik from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience unpicked the way sunflower seeds assemble protein rings, one of which has previously demonstrated potential as a drug for cancer.

The study, published overnight in the international journal Nature Chemical Biology, showed that the machinery used to process and mature otherwise dull seed storage proteins is commandeered by a protein ring, SFTI, for its own use.

Dr Mylne and Professor Craik used the model plant Arabidopsis for their research, demonstrating that the sunflower protein production system could be moved into another species and thus SFTI could be manufactured in a range of plants.

While this work is of interest to researchers by providing an understanding of how new proteins can evolve and how proteins are matured, it has wider applications for drug production. SFTI can be used in its natural form to block breast cancer enzymes, and in a modified form to block enzymes associated with other types of cancer.

These proteins have not been broadly adopted by drug designers despite their potential to fight cancer because of the expense of producing them using traditional, synthetic manufacturing methods.

"Although SFTI and related proteins show great promise as drug templates, the cost to manufacture them is a significant barrier to widespread use," Dr Mylne said.

"This issue could be solved through plant manufacturing. Seeds are an attractive system for the production of pharmaceuticals, as they are cheap to grow and their contents are stable at room temperature, and sterile inside their coat.

"There are also established systems in place for their production, harvest, storage and transportation, meaning they could be the ultimate low-cost drug delivery system."

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council and is available here.

Source:
University of Queensland

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