Articles

Delayed diagnosis of coeliac disease increases cancer risk

The association between coeliac disease (CD) and neoplasms has been long established, but few data are available about the risk factors. The aim of this paper is to estimate the risk of developing a neoplasm a...

Authors: Marco Silano, Umberto Volta, Anna Maria Mecchia, Mariarita Dessì, Rita Di Benedetto and Massimo De Vincenzi

Oxidised- and total non-protein bound glutathione and related thiols in gallbladder bile of patients with various gastrointestinal disorders

Glutathione is a tripeptide composed of glutamate, cysteine and glycine, accomplishing a broad range of vital functions. Synthesis of glutathione and cysteine is performed mainly in the liver, whereas most oth...

Authors: Wilbert HM Peters, Annie van Schaik, Joost H Peters and Harry van Goor

Gabexate in the prophylaxis of post-ERCP pancreatitis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Acute pancreatitis is a common complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and the benefit of its pharmacological treatment is unclear. Although prophylactic use of gabexate for the reductio...

Authors: Minghua Zheng, Yongping Chen, Xinjun Yang, Ji Li, Youcai Zhang and Qiqiang Zeng

Prevalence and associated factors of viral hepatitis and transferrin elevations in 5036 patients admitted to the emergency room of a Swiss university hospital: cross-sectional study

The epidemiology of liver disease in patients admitted to emergency rooms is largely unknown. The current study aimed to measure the prevalence of viral hepatitis B and C infection and pathological laboratory ...

Authors: Stefan Russmann, Emmilia A Dowlatshahi, Gert Printzen, Susanne Habicht, Jürg Reichen and Heinz Zimmermann

Metastases from renal cell carcinoma presenting as gastrointestinal bleeding: two case reports and a review of the literature

Bleeding from small bowel neoplasms account for 1–4% of cases of upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Renal cell carcinoma constitutes 3% of all adult malignancies and often presents insidiously. Consequently 2...

Authors: Gareth J Sadler, Mark R Anderson, Mark S Moss and Paul G Wilson

Gastroparesis secondary to a demyelinating disease: a case series

Gastroparesis has a number of etiologies. The main ones are secondary to a complication from diabetes mellitus, related to post vagotomy or post gastric surgical resections, or idiopathic when the etiology is ...

Authors: Savio C Reddymasu, John Bonino and Richard W McCallum

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with decompensated cirrhosis: case series

Opportunistic invasive fungal infections are increasingly frequent in intensive care patients. Their clinical spectrum goes beyond the patients with malignancies, and for example invasive pulmonary aspergillos...

Authors: Hélène Prodanovic, Christophe Cracco, Julien Massard, Camille Barrault, Dominique Thabut, Alexandre Duguet, Annick Datry, Jean-Philippe Derenne, Thierry Poynard and Thomas Similowski

Effects of urodilatin on natriuresis in cirrhosis patients with sodium retention

Sodium retention and ascites are serious clinical problems in cirrhosis. Urodilatin (URO) is a peptide with paracrine effects in decreasing sodium reabsorption in the distal nephron. Our aim was to investigate...

Authors: Jan Carstens, Henning Grønbæk, Helle K Larsen, Erling B Pedersen and Hendrik Vilstrup

Therapeutic approach to "downhill" esophageal varices bleeding due to superior vena cava syndrome in Behcet's disease: a case report

One of the rare presentations of superior vena cava syndrome is bleeding of "downhill" esophageal varices (DEV) and different approaches have been used to control it. This is a case report whose DEV was eradic...

Authors: Hamid Tavakkoli, Mehrnaz Asadi, Mahshid Haghighi and Abbas Esmaeili

Lack of significant association of an insertion/deletion polymorphism in the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene with tropical calcific pancreatitis

The genetic basis of tropical calcific pancreatitis (TCP) is different and is explained by mutations in the pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (SPINK1) gene. However, mutated SPINK1 does not account for the d...

Authors: Seema Bhaskar, DN Reddy, Swapna Mahurkar, GV Rao, Lalji Singh and Giriraj R Chandak

Time trends in socioeconomic differences in incidence rates of cancers of gastro-intestinal tract in Finland

The magnitude of socioeconomic differences in health varies between societies, and over time within a given society. We studied the association between social class and incidence of cancers of the gastro-intes...

Authors: Elisabete Weiderpass and Eero Pukkala

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator supports liver repair independent of its cellular receptor

The urokinase-type (uPA) and tissue-type (tPA) plasminogen activators regulate liver matrix remodelling through the conversion of plasminogen (Plg) to the active protease plasmin. Based on the efficient activa...

Authors: Kumar Shanmukhappa, Gregg E Sabla, Jay L Degen and Jorge A Bezerra

The changes in renal function after a single dose of intravenous furosemide in patients with compensated liver cirrhosis

Patients with compensated Child-A cirrhosis have sub clinical hypovolemia and diuretic treatment could result in renal impairment.

Authors: Nimer Assy, Mohib kayal, Yoram Mejirisky, Miguel Gorenberg, Osamah Hussein and Sorina Schlesinger

Post traumatic intra thoracic spleen presenting with upper GI bleed! – a case report

Isolated splenic vein thrombosis with left sided portal hypertension is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleed. Diagnosis is difficult and requires a high index of suspicion, especially in patients prese...

Authors: Deepak Hariharan, Rishi Singhal, Sonali Kinra and Andrew Chilton

Acceptability and outcomes of the Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement- patients' and care givers' perspectives

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube has now become a preferred option for the long-term nutritional support device for patients with dysphagia. There is a considerable debate about the health issues relat...

Authors: Muhammad K Anis, Shahab Abid, Wasim Jafri, Zaigham Abbas, Hasnain A Shah, Saeed Hamid and Rozina Wasaya

Predictors of gallstone composition in 1025 symptomatic gallstones from Northern Germany

Gallstones represent a prevalent and costly health problem. The changing epidemiology and the emerging non-surgical interventions for gallstone disease necessitate the definition of target populations for futu...

Authors: Clemens Schafmayer, Jürgen Hartleb, Jürgen Tepel, Stefan Albers, Sandra Freitag, Henry Völzke, Stephan Buch, Markus Seeger, Birgit Timm, Bernd Kremer, Ulrich R Fölsch, Fred Fändrich, Michael Krawczak, Stefan Schreiber and Jochen Hampe

Effect of resveratrol on alcohol-induced mortality and liver lesions in mice

Resveratrol is a polyphenol with important antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties. We investigated the effect of resveratrol on alcohol-induced mortality and liver lesions in mice.

Authors: Luis Bujanda, María García-Barcina, Virginia Gutiérrez-de Juan, Joseba Bidaurrazaga, Marian Fernández de Luco, Marian Gutiérrez-Stampa, Mikel Larzabal, Elisabeth Hijona, Cristina Sarasqueta, Miguel Echenique-Elizondo and Juan I Arenas

Diagnostic value of biochemical markers (NashTest) for the prediction of non alcoholo steato hepatitis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Liver biopsy is considered the gold standard for assessing histologic lesions of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim was to develop and validate a new biomarker of non alcoholic steato hepatitis...

Authors: Thierry Poynard, Vlad Ratziu, Frederic Charlotte, Djamila Messous, Mona Munteanu, Françoise Imbert-Bismut, Julien Massard, Luninita Bonyhay, Mohamed Tahiri, Dominique Thabut, Jean François Cadranel, Brigitte Le Bail and Victor de Ledinghen

The Fatty Liver Index: a simple and accurate predictor of hepatic steatosis in the general population

Fatty liver (FL) is the most frequent liver disease in Western countries. We used data from the Dionysos Nutrition & Liver Study to develop a simple algorithm for the prediction of FL in the general population.

Authors: Giorgio Bedogni, Stefano Bellentani, Lucia Miglioli, Flora Masutti, Marilena Passalacqua, Anna Castiglione and Claudio Tiribelli

Ruptured appendiceal cystadenoma presenting as right inguinal hernia in a patient with left colon cancer: A case report and review of literature

Mucoceles resulting from cystadenomas of the appendix are uncommon. Although rare, rupture of the mucoceles can occur with or without causing any abdominal complaint. There are several reports associating colo...

Authors: Yueh-Tsung Lee, Hurng-Sheng Wu, Min-Chang Hung, Shang-Tao Lin, Yome-Shine Hwang and Min-Ho Huang

Bifidobacterium infantisstrains with and without a combination of Oligofructose and Inulin (OFI) attenuate inflammation in DSS-induced colitis in rats

Pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease is thought to be through different factors and there is a relationship between the gut flora and the risk of its development. Probiotics can manipulate the microflora...

Authors: Nadia Osman, Diya Adawi, Göran Molin, Siv Ahrne, Anna Berggren and Bengt Jeppsson

Characterisation of a transgenic mouse expressing R122H human cationic trypsinogen

The R122H mutation of the cationic trypsinogen was found in patients with hereditary pancreatitis. A transgenic animal carrying this mutation could be useful as a genetic model system of pancreatitis.

Authors: Lena Selig, Ulrich Sack, Sebastian Gaiser, Günter Klöppel, Vuk Savkovic, Joachim Mössner, Volker Keim and Hans Bödeker

Surgical treatment and prognostic analysis for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) of the small intestine: before the era of imatinib mesylate

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), the most common type of mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, demonstrate positive kit staining. We report our surgical experience with 100 small intes...

Authors: Ting-Jung Wu, Li-Yu Lee, Chun-Nan Yeh, Pei-Yu Wu, Tzu-Chieh Chao, Tsann-Long Hwang, Yi-Yin Jan and Miin-Fu Chen

A case report on a patient suffering from recurrent vomiting episodes, whose condition improved markedly during pregnancy and breast feeding

The normal physiology of the gastrointestinal tract has been only cursorily examined. Consequently, the pathophysiology of disturbances of the gastrointestinal functions is poorly known. Recurrent vomiting is ...

Authors: Bodil Ohlsson

Helicobacter pylorigenotypes identified in gastric biopsy specimens from Jordanian patients

The genetic diversity of Helicobacter pylori can be analyzed at two different levels: the genomic variation between strains originating from different individuals, and the variation in bacterial populations withi...

Authors: Laila F Nimri, Ismail Matalka, Kamal E Bani-Hani and Marwa Ibrahim

Migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression among people with IBS: a prevalence study

Case descriptions suggest IBS patients are more likely to have other disorders, including migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression. We sought to examine the prevalence of these conditions in cohorts of people wi...

Authors: J Alexander Cole, Kenneth J Rothman, Howard J Cabral, Yuqing Zhang and Francis A Farraye

Reactive Lymphoid Hyperplasia of the liver in a patient with colon cancer: report of two cases

Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (RLH) of the liver is very rarely reported, and we encountered two cases of RLH of the liver in a patient with colon cancer.

Authors: Hiroki Takahashi, Hirozumi Sawai, Yoichi Matsuo, Hitoshi Funahashi, Mikinori Satoh, Yuji Okada, Hiroshi Inagaki, Hiromitsu Takeyama and Tadao Manabe

Rhinosinusitis derived Staphylococcal enterotoxin B plays a possible role in pathogenesis of food allergy

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a potent immunomodulator and implicated with pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases mediated by Th1 or Th2 dominant immune responses. The objective of this study is to dete...

Authors: Tao Liu, Bin-Quan Wang, Peng-Yuan Zheng, Shao-Heng He and Ping-Chang Yang

Erratum to: a murine model of ulcerative colitis: induced with sinusitis-derived superantigen and food allergen. BMC Gastroenterol. 2005, 5:6

Authors: Ping-Chang Yang, Chang-Sheng Wang and Zi-Yuan An

Integrative roles of transforming growth factor-α in the cytoprotection mechanisms of gastric mucosal injury

Transforming growth factor α (TGFα) protects against gastric mucosal injury and facilitates wound healing. However, its overexpression is known to induce hypertrophic gastropathy resembling Menetrier's disease...

Authors: Takashi Kosone, Hitoshi Takagi, Satoru Kakizaki, Naondo Sohara, Norio Horiguchi, Ken Sato, Masashi Yoneda, Toshiyuki Takeuchi and Masatomo Mori

Factors associated with disease evolution in Greek patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The majority of Crohn's disease patients with B1 phenotype at diagnosis (i.e. non-stricturing non-penetrating disease) will develop over time a stricturing or a penetrating pattern. Conflicting data exist on t...

Authors: Constantinos Chatzicostas, Maria Roussomoustakaki, Spiros Potamianos, Gregorios Paspatis, Ioannis Mouzas, John Romanos, Helen Mavrogeni and Elias Kouroumalis

Genetic variability in the precore and core promoter regions of hepatitis B virus strains in Karachi

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes have distinct geographic distribution. Moreover, much genetic variability has been described in the precore (PC) and basal core promoter (BCP) regions of the HBV genome. The l...

Authors: Zaigham Abbas, Rana Muzaffar, Arif Siddiqui, Syed Ali Anwar Naqvi and Syed Adibul Hassan Rizvi

Gastrointestinal failure in intensive care: a retrospective clinical study in three different intensive care units in Germany and Estonia

While gastrointestinal problems are common in ICU patients with multiple organ failure, gastrointestinal failure has not been given the consideration other organ systems receive. The aim of this study was to e...

Authors: Annika Reintam, Pille Parm, Uwe Redlich, Liina-Mai Tooding, Joel Starkopf, Friedrich Köhler, Claudia Spies and Hartmut Kern

Colorectal cancer screening awareness among physicians in Greece

Data comparison between SEER and EUROCARE database provided evidence that colorectal cancer survival in USA is higher than in European countries. Since adjustment for stage at diagnosis markedly reduces the su...

Authors: Apostolos Xilomenos, Davide Mauri, Konstantinos Kamposioras, Athanasia Gkinosati, Georgios Zacharias, Varvara Sidiropoulou, Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Georgios Chatzimichalis, Vassilis Golfinopoulos and Christina Peponi

Fecopneumothorax and colopleural fistula – uncommon complications of Crohn's disease

Colopleural fistula and fecopneumothorax are very rare complications of Crohn's disease. Fistula formation is frequent in Crohn's disease and occurs in approximately 33% of patients. On the other hand, fistulo...

Authors: G Barišiæ, Z Krivokapiæ, T Adžiæ, A Pavloviæ, M Popoviæ and M Gojniæ

Caerulein-induced acute pancreatitis in mice that constitutively overexpress Reg/PAPgenes

The cystic fibrosis (CF) mouse pancreas has constitutively elevated expression of the Reg/PAP cell stress genes (60-fold greater Reg3α, and 10-fold greater PAP/Reg3β and Reg3γ). These genes are suggested to be in...

Authors: Oxana Norkina, Rolf Graf, Philippe Appenzeller and Robert C De Lisle

Hepatopulmonary syndrome in patients with chronic liver disease: role of pulse oximetry

Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare complication of liver diseases of different etiologies and may indicate a poor prognosis. Therefore, a simple non-invasive screening method to detect HPS would be highl...

Authors: Peter Deibert, Hans-Peter Allgaier, Stefanie Loesch, Claudia Müller, Manfred Olschewski, Hinrich Hamm, Klaus-Peter Maier and Hubert Erich Blum

Loss of interleukin-12 modifies the pro-inflammatory response but does not prevent duct obstruction in experimental biliary atresia

Livers of infants with biliary atresia and of neonatal mice infected with rotavirus (RRV) have increased expression of interferon-gamma (IFNγ) and interleukin (IL)-12. While the expression of IFNγ regulates th...

Authors: Sujit Kumar Mohanty, Pranavkumar Shivakumar, Gregg Sabla and Jorge A Bezerra

Long-term culture of cholangiocytes from liver fibro-granulomatous lesions

Extensive bile duct proliferation is a key feature of the tissue reaction to clinical and experimental forms of liver injury. Experimental infection of mice by Schistosoma mansoni is a well-studied model of liver...

Authors: Luciana B Chiarini, Christina M Takiya, Radovan Borojevic and Alvaro NA Monteiro

Gender effect on clinical features of achalasia: a prospective study

Achalasia is a well-characterized esophageal motor disorder but the rarity of the disease limits performing large studies on its demographic and clinical features.

Authors: Javad Mikaeli, Farnoosh Farrokhi, Faraz Bishehsari, Mahboobeh Mahdavinia and Reza Malekzadeh

The oxytocin/vasopressin receptor antagonist atosiban delays the gastric emptying of a semisolid meal compared to saline in human

Oxytocin is released in response to a meal. Further, mRNA for oxytocin and its receptor have been found throughout the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The aim of this study was therefore to examine whether oxytoc...

Authors: Bodil Ohlsson, Ola Björgell, Olle Ekberg and Gassan Darwiche

Acute partial Budd-Chiari syndrome and portal vein thrombosis in cytomegalovirus primary infection: a case report

Splanchnic vein thrombosis may complicate inherited thrombotic disorders. Acute cytomegalovirus infection is a rare cause of acquired venous thrombosis in the portal or mesenteric territory, but has never been...

Authors: Laurent Spahr, Andreas Cerny, Isabelle Morard, Laura Rubbia-Brandt and Jacques Schrenzel

Epidemic infectious gastrointestinal illness aboard U.S. Navy ships deployed to the Middle East during peacetime operations – 2000–2001

Infectious gastrointestinal illness (IGI) outbreaks have been reported in U.S. Navy ships and could potentially have an adverse mission impact. Studies to date have been anecdotal.

Authors: Mark S Riddle, Bonnie L Smoak, Scott A Thornton, Joseph S Bresee, Dennis J Faix and Shannon D Putnam

Increased cholinergic contractions of jejunal smooth muscle caused by a high cholesterol diet are prevented by the 5-HT₄agonist – tegaserod

Excess cholesterol in bile and in blood is a major risk factor for the respective development of gallbladder disease and atherosclerosis. This lipid in excess negatively impacts the functioning of other smooth...

Authors: Ronald Mathison and Eldon Shaffer

CagA-positive Helicobacter pylori infection is not associated with decreased risk of Barrett's esophagus in a population with high H. pylori infection rate

The role that H. pylori infection plays in the development of and Barrett's esophagus (BE) is uncertain. We tested the hypothesis that infection with cagA+ Helicobacter pylori strains protects against the deve...

Authors: Angel Ferrández, Rafael Benito, Juan Arenas, María Asunción García-González, Federico Sopeña, Javier Alcedo, Javier Ortego, Ricardo Sainz and Angel Lanas

Diagnostic value of biochemical markers (FibroTest-FibroSURE) for the prediction of liver fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Liver biopsy is considered as the gold standard for assessing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) histologic lesions. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic utility of non-invasive markers...

Authors: Vlad Ratziu, Julien Massard, Frederic Charlotte, Djamila Messous, Françoise Imbert-Bismut, Luninita Bonyhay, Mohamed Tahiri, Mona Munteanu, Dominique Thabut, Jean François Cadranel, Brigitte Le Bail, Victor de Ledinghen and Thierry Poynard

Lifestyle as a predictor for colonic neoplasia in asymptomatic individuals

Lifestyle is a well-established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) and is also found to be associated with occurrence of adenomas. In the present study we evaluated risk factors for both low-risk adenomas...

Authors: Inger K Larsen, Tom Grotmol, Kari Almendingen and Geir Hoff

Humoral immune response to MUC5AC in patients with colorectal polyps and colorectal carcinoma

MUC5AC is a secreted mucin aberrantly expressed by colorectal polyps and carcinoma. It has been hypothesized that aberrant expression of MUC5AC in colorectal carcinoma tissues increased the overall survival of...

Authors: Belma Kocer, John McKolanis and Atilla Soran

Management and outcome of bleeding pseudoaneurysm associated with chronic pancreatitis

A bleeding pseudoaneurysm in patients with chronic pancreatitis is a rare and potentially lethal complication. Optimal treatment of bleeding peripancreatic pseudoaneurysm remains controversial. This study repo...

Authors: Jun-Te Hsu, Chun-Nan Yeh, Chien-Fu Hung, Han-Ming Chen, Tsann-Long Hwang, Yi-Yin Jan and Miin-Fu Chen

A comparison of oral omeprazole and intravenous cimetidine in reducing complications of duodenal peptic ulcer

Gastrointestinal bleeding is a common problem and its most common etiology is peptic ulcer disease. Ulcer rebleeding is considered a perilous complication for patients. To reduce the rate of rebleeding and to ...

Authors: Manouchehr Khoshbaten, Ebrahim Fattahi, Nosratollah Naderi, Farzaneh Khaleghian and Mohammadreza Rezailashkajani