Virtual teaching kitchen classes and cardiovascular disease prevention counselling among medical trainees.

Background: Hands-on culinary medicine education for medical trainees has emerged as a promising tool for cardiovascular health promotion. Purpose: To determine whether virtual culinary medicine programming associates with Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) adherence and lifestyle medicine competencies among medical trainees across the USA. Method: A total of 1433 medical trainees across 19 sites over a 12-month period were included. The Cooking for Health Optimisation with Patients-Medical Trainees survey composed of 61 questions regarding demographics, nutritional attitudes, dietary habits including MedDiet score and lifestyle medicine counselling competencies. Multivariable logistic regression assessed the association of virtual culinary medicine education with MedDiet intake and nutritional attitudes. Results: There were 519 medical trainees who participated in virtual culinary medicine education and 914 medical trainees who participated in their standard nutrition curricula. More than one-half of participants were women (n=759) and the mean age was 27 years old. Compared with students enrolled in traditional nutrition curricula, participants in virtual culinary medicine education were 37% more likely to adhere to MedDiet guidelines for fruit intake (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.83, p=0.03). Virtual culinary medicine education was associated with higher proficiency in lifestyle medicine counselling categories, notably recommendations involving fibre (OR 4.03; 95% CI 3.05 to 5.34), type 2 diabetes prevention (OR 4.69; 95% CI 3.51 to 6.27) and omega fatty acids (OR 5.21; 95% CI 3.87 to 7.02). Virtual culinary medicine education had a similar, although higher magnitude association with MedDiet counselling competency (OR 5.73, 95% CI 4.26 to 7.70) when compared with historical data previously reported using hands-on, in-person culinary medicine courseware (OR 4.97, 95% CI 3.89 to 6.36). Conclusions: Compared with traditional nutritional educational curricula, virtual culinary medicine education is associated with higher MedDiet adherence and lifestyle medicine counselling competencies among medical trainees. Both virtual and hands-on culinary medicine education may be useful for cardiovascular health promotion.

Achieving Dietary Sodium Recommendations and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Prevention through Culinary Medicine Education.

Sodium-reduction initiatives have been a cornerstone of preventing hypertension and broader atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) since the early 1970s. For nearly 50 years, public health and clinical guidelines have concentrated on consumer education, behavioral change, and, to a lesser extent, food policy to help reduce sodium intake among Americans. While these efforts undoubtedly helped improve awareness, average sodium consumption remains at approximately 4200 mg/day in men and 3000 mg/day in women, well above the United States Dietary Guidelines of 2300 mg/day. Culinary medicine is an emerging discipline in clinical and public-health education that provides healthcare professionals and community members with food-based knowledge and skills. With the hands-on teaching of kitchen education to individuals, culinary medicine provides eaters with tangible strategies for reducing sodium through home cooking. Here, we review opportunities for culinary medicine to help improve both individual- and population-level sodium-reduction outcomes through five main areas: increasing adherence to a plant-forward dietary pattern, food literacy, the enhancement of complementary flavors, disease-specific teaching-kitchen modules, and the delivery of culturally specific nutrition education. Through this process, we hope to further underline the value of formal, hands-on teaching-kitchen education among healthcare professionals and community members for ASCVD prevention.

Influenza B-induced refractory cardiogenic shock: a case report.

BACKGROUND: An association between influenza A viruses and myocarditis was noted during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Since then, the link between the influenza B virus and fulminant myocarditis or cardiogenic shock has been rarely reported. CASE PRESENTATION: In February 2013, a 50 year-old-woman without known heart disease presented in profound cardiogenic shock with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 10%. Her presentation was preceded by six days of fever, chills, myalgia and fatigue. She had a junctional tachycardia, a troponin I of 12.6 ng/ml and her coronary angiography demonstrated normal coronary arteries. Percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was required. An endotracheal aspirate at admission was positive for influenza B. All other respiratory, blood and urine cultures were negative. On day 7, a repeat echocardiography demonstrated significant recovery of left ventricular function with an ejection fraction of 50%. She was later discharged home in good condition. CONCLUSIONS: Influenza B infection can be complicated by fulminant cardiomyopathy leading to cardiogenic shock in adults without preexisting cardiac disease.

Epidemiology and outcome of multiple-species candidemia at a tertiary care center between 2004 and 2007.

The incidence of multiple-species candidemia (MSC) among cases of candidemia ranges between 2.8% and 8.0%. We sought to study the epidemiology and outcome of MSC at a tertiary care center. A retrospective analysis of MSC episodes occurring between 2004 and 2007 was performed. MSC was defined as > or =2 different Candida spp. growing concomitantly within the same blood culture bottle or within 72 h of each other. Information on demographics, comorbidities, antifungal use, and survival was collected. Forty MSC patients with 81 Candida isolates were identified. Non-albicans Candida spp. (54 of 81 isolates, 66.7%) were more frequently identified. The most common combinations observed were Candida albicans/Candida glabrata (15 of 40 patients, 37.5%), C. albicans/Candida parapsilosis (8, 20.0%), and C. glabrata/Candida krusei (5, 12.5%). The overall crude 4- and 12- week mortality, excluding patients lost to follow-up, was 41.9% and 66.7%, respectively. In this contemporary sampling of patients with MSC, the combination of C. albicans/C. glabrata was most frequently observed and mortality was high.