Clinical Characterization and Outcomes of Patients with Hypercreatinemia Affected by COVID-19.

The present study evaluated the clinical presentation and outcome of COVID-19 patients with underlying hypercreatinemia at the time of hospitalization. A retrospective observational study was conducted from the 23rd of March 2020 to the 15th of April 2021 in 1668 patients confirmed positive for COVID-19 in the Chest Disease Hospital in Srinagar, India. The results of the present study revealed that out of 1668 patients, 339 with hypercreatinemia had significantly higher rates of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), severe manifestations of the disease, need for mechanical ventilation, and all-cause mortality. Multivariable analysis revealed that age, elevated creatinine concentrations, IL-1, D-Dimer, and Hs-Crp were independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality. After adjusted analysis, the association of creatinine levels remained strongly predictive of all-cause, in-hospital mortality (HR-5.34; CI-4.89-8.17; p ≤ 0.001). The amelioration of kidney function may be an effective method for achieving creatinemic targets and, henceforth, might be beneficial for improving outcomes in patients with COVID-19.

Histomorphological studies of broiler chicken fed diets supplemented with either raw or enzyme treated dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds.

AIM: Herbal plants and their derived products are extensively used particularly in many Asian, African, and other countries of the world as they are considered as ideal feed additives because of their non-residual effect and ability to influence the ecosystem of gastrointestinal microbiota in a positive way. Further, the enzymatic treatment of these herbs helps in their efficient utilization by the host. Dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds have been reported to have positive effect in terms of improving the performance of broiler chicken, but not much literature is available regarding their effect on gut histomorphology; therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the effect of these herbs either alone or in combination with or without enzyme treatment on histomorphology of liver and small intestine of broiler chicken. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To achieve the envisaged objective, 273-day-old commercial broiler chicks were procured from a reputed source and reared together until 7 days of age. On the 7(th) day, the chicks were individually weighed, distributed randomly into 7 groups of 3 replicates with 13 chicks each. Birds in the control group were fed diets without additives (T1). The other six treatment groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.5% dandelion leaves (T2), 1% fenugreek seeds (T3), combination of 0.5% dandelion leaves and 1% fenugreek seeds (T4), enzyme treated dandelion leaves 0.5% (T5), enzyme treated fenugreek seeds 1% (T6), and combination of enzyme treated dandelion leaves (0.5%) and (1%) fenugreek seeds (T7). The histomorphological study of liver and small intestines was conducted among different treatment groups. RESULTS: The results revealed the hepato-protective nature of both dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds either alone or in combination with or without enzyme treatment when compared with the control group. Moreover, the histomorphological findings of jejunum revealed the beneficial effect of dandelion leaves, fenugreek seeds and enzymes on the intestinal mucosa in terms of cellular infiltration, architecture of villi, villus height/crypt depth ratio, thereby improving the intestinal health. CONCLUSION: The dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds have hepato-protective nature and beneficial effect on the intestinal morphology particularly when included along with enzymes in the diet of broiler chicken.

Effect of dietary supplementation of organic acids on performance, intestinal histomorphology, and serum biochemistry of broiler chicken.

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of organic acids on the performance, intestinal histomorphology, and blood biochemistry of broiler chicken. The birds in the control (T(1)) group were fed the basal diet whereas in other treatment groups basal diet was supplemented with 2% butyric acid (T(2)), 3% butyric acid (T(4)), 2% fumaric acid (T(4)), 3% fumaric acid (T(5)), 2% lactic acid (T(6)), and 3% lactic acid (T(7)). Broiler chicken fed diets supplemented with organic acids had significantly (P < .05) improved body weight gains and feed conversion ratio. No effect (P < .05) on cumulative feed consumption was observed. The addition of organic increased villus height in the small intestines but the differences were not significant (P < .05) in case of the ileum. Serum calcium and phosphorus concentrations were increased (P < .05) but no effect (P < .05) on the concentration of serum glucose and cholesterol, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), and serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) was observed. The results indicated that the organic acid supplementation, irrespective of type and level of acid used, had a beneficial effect on the performance of broiler chicken.