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Background and Objectives: The present study explored the utilization of verbal fluency (VF) cognitive strategies, including clustering, switching, intrusions, and perseverations, within both semantic (SVF) and phonemic (PVF) conditions, across a continuum of neurocognitive decline, spanning from normal cognitive ageing (NC) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its subtypes, amnestic (aMCI) and non-amnestic (naMCI), as well as AD. Materials and Methods: The study sample was derived from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD) cohort. The sample included 1607 NC individuals, 146 with aMCI (46 single-domain and 100 multi-domain), 92 with naMCI (41 single-domain and 51 multi-domain), and 79 with AD. Statistical analyses, adjusting for sex, age, and education, employed multivariate general linear models to probe differences among these groups. Results: Results showed that AD patients exhibited poorer performance in switching in both VF tasks and SVF clustering compared to NC. Similarly, the aMCI group performed worse than the NC in switching and clustering in both tasks, with aMCI performing similarly to AD, except for SVF switching. In contrast, the naMCI subgroup performed similarly to those with NC across most strategies, surpassing AD patients. Notably, the aMCI subgroup's poor performance in SVF switching was mainly due to the subpar performance of the multi-domain aMCI subgroup. This subgroup was outperformed in switching in both VF tasks by the single-domain naMCI, who also performed better than the multi-domain naMCI in SVF switching. No significant differences emerged in terms of perseverations and intrusions. Conclusions: Overall, these findings suggest a continuum of declining switching ability in the SVF task, with NC surpassing both aMCI and AD, and aMCI outperforming those with AD. The challenges in SVF switching suggest executive function impairment associated with multi-domain MCI, particularly driven by the multi-domain aMCI.

Objective : Cognitive screening instruments (CSIs) are essential for everyday practice. The Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Qmci) screen, a short instrument designed to identify mild cognitive impairment, was recently translated into Greek (Qmci-Gr). The present study compared its diagnostic value against the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) screen and examined its optimal cutoffs. Method : We recruited consecutive patients aged ≥55 years that presented with cognitive complaints from two outpatient clinics in Greece. The Q mci -Gr and MoCA were completed by all patients. Furthermore, they were assessed independently with a comprehensive flexible neuropsychological battery to establish a diagnostic classification. Results : In the current study, we assessed a total of 145 patients, with a median age of 70 years; 44 were classified as having Subjective Memory Complaints (SMC) but normal cognition, 32 with MCI and 69 with dementia. The Qmci-Gr had a higher accuracy compared to the MoCA in discriminating MCI from dementia, area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81 versus 0.75, respectively; however, this finding was marginally significant ( p = 0.08). Its accuracy was marginally higher for distinguishing SMC from dementia, AUC of 0.94 versus 0.89 ( p = 0.03). However, Qmci-Gr presented a lower accuracy than MoCa in differentiating SMC from MCI, AUC of 0.76 versus 0.94 ( p = 0.006). Conclusions : The Qmci-Gr has comparable diagnostic accuracy to the MoCA regarding MCI and dementia groups. Further research, with larger and more diverse samples, may be necessary to ensure generalizability.

Drug induced acute kidney injury (AKI) has been implicated in 8% to 60% of all cases of in-hospital AKI and as such is a recognized source of significant morbidity and mortality. Evaluation of incidence, risk factors, onset time, and outcome of  antibiotics' associated acute kidney injury. During one-year period, all patients who developed acute kidney injury during their hospital stay in the infectious diseases ward of Imam Khomeini hospital were included in the study prospectively. Patients' demographic data, baseline diseases, cause of current hospital admission, history of past and current medications and hemodynamic parameters were collected and monitored closely. Drug induced acute kidney injury was defined based on acute kidney injury network criteria. From 424 admitted patients, 76 (17.9%) developed acute kidney injury. Aminoglycosides (gentamicin and amikacin), amphotericin B, vancomycin, beta-lactam antibiotics (cefazolin and ceftriaxone) in monotherapy and combination therapy were the causes of acute kidney injury in most of the patients. From the co-morbid diseases in patients with acute kidney injury, diabetes mellitus (26.3%) and hypertension (5.5%), were the most frequent ones. Presence of diabetes mellitus as comorbidity (OR=2.6; CI=1.3-5.7, P=0.01), dehydration of patients upon admission (OR=3.4; CI=1.9-6.4, P<0.001), and administration of nephrotoxic combinations (OR=2.1; CI=1.2-4.1, P=0.04) were independent risk factors for antibiotic induced nephrotoxicity in our study. About 18% of the patients developed acute kidney injury during their hospitalization period in the infectious diseases ward. Aminoglycosides, amphotericin B, vancomycin and beta-lactam antibiotics were responsible agents for acute kidney injury in this study.

Background and Purpose: Malnutrition is a common problem in patients who are hospitalized in surgical and medical wards. Surgical patients, geriatric populations and individuals with severe illness are more vulnerable to malnutrition during their hospitalization course.The purpose of this study was evaluation of parenteral nutrition services in a referral teaching hospital, Tehran, Iran., Method: Medical records of 72 patients who received parenteral nutrition during one year period in different surgical and medical wards of Imam Khomeini hospital were reviewed retrospectively by clinical pharmacists. Criteria for initiation of parenteral nutrition, selection of appropriate formulation and monitoring parameters were assessed based on the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition recommendations., Results: Based on the patients' anthropometric parameters and serum albumin levels, 4.2%, 75% and 20.8% of the patients were well-nourished, moderately malnourished and severely malnourished respectively at the hospital admission and before nutritional support. Adequate calorie, protein, carbohydrate and lipid supports were achieved in 21.1%, 32.4%, 23.7% and 10.5% of the patients respectively. About 91% of the patients experienced at least one complication of the nutritional support., Conclusion: In this evaluation, several errors in assessment, establishing goals, and monitoring of parenteral nutrition regimens have been detected. Approximately all of the patients did not receive to the trace elements supports goals.