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Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
 24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Appellate courts in California and New Jersey have reached conflicting conclusions in the first legal tests of whether artificial feeding is a "medical treatment," and whether it is ever legally permissible to allow a patient to die from dehydration or starvation. In a criminal prosecution of physicians Robert Nejdl and Neil Barber, the California court ruled that there was no significant difference between a respirator and intravenous feeding, and that the two doctors had no legal duty to continue "futile" treatment of their irreversibly comatose patient. The New Jersey court rejected as purposeful killing a request to remove the nasogastric tube from elderly nursing home patient Claire Conroy, who was incompetent but not comatose. Annas considers the issue of pain or suffering to be central to decision making in such cases.
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PMID:Nonfeeding: lawful killing in CA, homicide in NJ. 1164 94

The Superior Court of New Jersey found that appointment of a guardian to consent to a proposed enterostomy was warranted for a 45-year-old patient with partial paralysis and organic brain damage who was likely to die of starvation and dehydration unless the procedure was performed. The court also found that an enterostomy was in the best interests of the patient. The patient was judged incompetent even though he was not in a coma or vegetative state because it was determined that he could not reasonably understand the nature and attendant risks of the proposed surgery.
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PMID:In re Clark. 1164 72

The Superior Court of New Jersey ordered the appointment of a guardian to consent to implantation of a feeding tube for a 90-year-old patient who had suffered a severely disabling stroke, though her son had not agreed to the proposed procedure. The court reasoned that a patient who becomes incompetent does not lose the right to accept or refuse medical treatment; instead, a substitute or surrogate decision maker exercises the patient's right of consent. Without the surgical implantation of a feeding tube in the patient's stomach, she would have suffered death from dehydration and starvation.
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PMID:In re Visbeck. 1164 51

Despite the increasing importance of the Canadian elk industry, the veterinary literature concerning diseases of elk is sparse, in particular for the neonatal period. This study summarizes necropsy findings in 111 farmed elk calves, up to 30 days of age, submitted to the diagnostic laboratory of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine over a 9-year period (990 to 1998). Causes of mortality fit into 3 categories: infectious disease, noninfectious disease, and undetermined. Organisms causing disease included Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Cryptosporidium sp. Starvation, including dehydration, was also a significant cause of mortality. Necropsy records are a useful source of information, but their scope is limited. There is a need for research that determines the prevalence of neonatal elk diseases and identifies risk factors for morbidity and mortality.
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PMID:A retrospective study of neonatal mortality in farmed elk. 1176 17

This review outlines the main features of ciliate resting-cyst formation or encystment. It represents a strategy against several environmental stresses (such as starvation), which involves a highly gene-regulated cell differentiation process and originates a more resistant, differentiated form or resting cyst. This process is mainly characterized by drastic cytoplasmic dehydration that induces a general metabolic rate decrease, intense autophagic activity, the formation of a permeable cyst wall protecting the cell against the adverse environmental conditions, and a gene-silencing mechanism after opening the specific encystment genes.
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PMID:Ciliate cryptobiosis: a microbial strategy against environmental starvation. 1182 Apr 33

HAP-1 is a huntingtin-associated protein that is enriched in the brain. To gain insight into the normal physiological role of HAP-1, mice were generated with homozygous disruption at the Hap1 locus. Loss of HAP-1 expression did not alter the gross brain expression levels of its interacting partners, huntingtin and p150glued. Newborn Hap1(-/-) animals are observed at the expected Mendelian frequency suggesting a non-essential role of HAP-1 during embryogenesis. Postnatally, Hap1(-/-) pups show decreased feeding behavior that ultimately leads to malnutrition, dehydration and premature death. Seventy percent of Hap1(-/-) pups fail to survive past the second postnatal day (P2) and 100% of Hap1(-/-) pups fail to survive past P9. From P2 until death, Hap1(-/-) pups show markedly decreased amounts of ingested milk. Hap1(-/-) pups that survive to P8 show signs of starvation including greatly decreased serum leptin levels, decreased brain weight and atrophy of the brain cortical mantel. HAP-1 is particularly enriched in the hypothalamus, which is well documented to regulate feeding behavior. Our results demonstrate that HAP-1 plays an essential role in regulating postnatal feeding.
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PMID:Targeted disruption of Huntingtin-associated protein-1 (Hap1) results in postnatal death due to depressed feeding behavior. 1197 76

Nutrient insults in early pregnancy, such as nutrient deprivation during famines, are often associated with an unfavourable outcome. Suboptimal nutrition in the early stage of gestation has been linked to a number of adverse effects on fetal growth and development. Historically, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) was an important contributor to pregnancy-related mortality; indeed, Charlotte Bronte died from starvation and dehydration after suffering very severe NVP 4 months into her first pregnancy (Gaskell, 1858). Although NVP seldom now progresses to be life-threatening, it affects the majority of pregnant women, and potentially presents a challenge to nutrient intake in the most vulnerable period of development. Symptoms range from mild (nausea only) to severe (a level of vomiting that restricts nutrient intake and ultimately threatens metabolic and electrolyte balance). Although NVP has been documented for thousands of years, its cause has not yet been satisfactorily elucidated, but seems to be related to endocrinological changes. Pregnant women also frequently report dietary cravings and aversions during pregnancy which can be linked to both the incidence and severity of NVP. Paradoxically, NVP appears to be positively associated with a favourable outcome of pregnancy, including increased birth weight and gestational age. The mechanisms by which NVP favours the outcome of pregnancy are not known. They may be related to women increasing their nutrient intake to alleviate symptoms, improving the quality of their diet or reducing energy expenditure. Alternatively, adaptation to a reduced nutrient intake might stimulate the expression of growth factors and affect placentation or metabolism, thus favouring fetal growth when NVP resolves.
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PMID:Nutrient insult in early pregnancy. 1200 95

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals allowed the guardian of an incompetent ward to consent to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) because a state statute which required the patient's consent prior to treatment in effect denied the right to treatment to a patient who is incapable of consent. Ruth E.J. suffered from severe depression and was in danger of starvation and dehydration. Her doctor had decided that she would likely die without ECT, yet she was so ill that she could not make a decision concerning treatment. The court concluded that the state statute requiring "express and informed consent" for ECT and other drastic treatment violated equal protection under the federal and state constitutions because it applied to all patients, including those unable to express consent.
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PMID:In re Guardianship of Ruth E.J. 1204 Nov 76

Birds have evolved alternate physiologic strategies to contend with dehydration, starvation, malnutrition, and reproduction. Basic anatomic and functional differences between birds and mammals impact clinical chemistry values and their evaluation. Interpretation of the results of standard biochemical analyses, including BUN, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, gamma glutamyltransferase, bilirubin, ammonia, alkaline phosphatase, cholesterol, bile acids, glucose, albumin, globulins, calcium, phosphorus, prealbumin (transthyretin), fibrinogen, iron, and ferritin, is reviewed and discussed in relation to these physiological differences. The use and interpretation of alternative analytes appropriate for avian species, such as uric acid, biliverdin, glutamate dehydrogenase, and galactose clearance, also are reviewed. Normal avian urine and appropriate use of urinalysis, an integral part of laboratory diagnosis in mammalian species that frequently is omitted from avian diagnostic protocols, is discussed.
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PMID:Clinical chemistry of companion avian species: a review. 1218 2

It has been suggested that saber-tooth species such as Smilodon fatalis were social because partially healed skeletal injuries were found at Rancho La Brea, California. This conclusion assumes injured animals would die without help. This paper will rebut assertions of sociality. First, cats use metabolic reserves to heal quickly without feeding. Second, dehydration is a more profound limitation than starvation as prey carcasses only provide a quarter of necessary water. Injured animals must be mobile enough to find water or die of dehydration. Their presence in a tar pit also strongly suggests locomotion. Finally, the relatively small brain found in Smilodon is not consistent with sociality. Another argument for sociality has been the large ratio of Smilodon to other species in the La Brea tar pits. However, the remains of a non-social species, the Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetus), are about as common as Smilodon. Contrariwise, the highly social grey wolf (Canis lupus) and coyote (Canis latrans) are extremely rare. Available evidence does not support sociality in Smilodon.
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PMID:Assessing behavior in extinct animals: was Smilodon social? 1269 57


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