Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a bile duct cancer, is one of the major cancers in Northeast Thailand. This cancer is difficult to diagnose and has high metastatic and mortality rates. Overexpression of Met, a hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor, has frequently been found in CCA and is correlated with progression of this type of cancer…
It is generally recommended that a temporary stoma be closed within 9-12 wk after its construction. However, because some patients poorly tolerate the temporary stoma owing to extracellular dehydration, difficult pouch fitting, parenteral nutrition requirement in cases when the stoma is very proximal, and psychological or social impact, it might be advisable to opt for early closure…
Gastric varices (GV) are an important complication of portal hypertension. As an almost atraumatic method, computed tomography (CT) angiography has been used widely to show the portal vein system. However, the collateral circulation of GV in different locations has been reported only rarely…
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the most effective agents for treating acid related gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. The utilization of intravenous (IV) formulations of PPIs has dramatically increased in health care institutions for inappropriate indications, route of administration and length of treatment…
Nifedipine, a calcium-channel blocker, was shown to decrease lower esophageal sphincter pressure and increase esophageal acid exposure time, while atenolol, a b1 blocker, was shown to inhibit relaxation of the smooth muscle of the esophagus…
New breakthrough treatments for the most common cancers could soon come from cutting-edge research into some of the world’s rarest tumors…
Children with serious intestinal problems have to be fed intravenously. Systems exist that enable intravenous feeding to be carried out at home. Mr Inaki Irastorza, paediatrician at the Cruces hospital in Bilbao, spent some 15 years analysing how serious intestinal problems in children were treated at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London…
The gene for a newly recognized disease has been identified thanks to the determination of an Amish father and the clinical skills and persistence of Indiana University and Riley Hospital for Children physicians in collaboration with physicians and researchers at the Clinic for Special Children in Lancaster County, Penn., which specializes in disorders of the Amish…
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are at no greater risk of having polyps, colon cancer or inflammatory bowel diseases than healthy people undergoing colonoscopies, according to new research published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. “Patients and doctors get nervous about the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),” says William D. Chey, M.D…
Changes in patients’ self-rated quality of life after treatment for esophago-gastric cancer can predict the chances for long-term survival. This is the result researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet made, in a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The patient’s self-rated quality of life, provide indications of whether he or she will survive…
Scientists in the US who undertook a large study to investigate what biological mechanisms might be behind the already established link between colorectal cancer and consumption of red and processed meat, confirmed that such a link exists and suggested the main players are three compounds: heme iron, nitrate/nitrite, and heterocyclic amines…
Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:2264), the second-largest dairy company in Japan, today announced it has received a no objection letter from FDA in response to its GRAS notification for the proprietary probiotic strain Bifidobacterium longum BB536. The official FDA affirmation that the ingredient is GRAS paves the way for the highly researched probiotic to be included in functional foods…
Coeliac UK, the national charity for people with coeliac disease, announces it has granted funding for three medical projects totaling £300,000 over three years. 1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease, an autoimmune disease caused by intolerence to gluten but only 1 in 8 or 12.5% of those have been diagnosed…
Digestive CARE™, a medical group of more than 50 gastroenterologists in Broward and Palm Beach County, announced that it is receiving hundreds of online votes in its “Bottom Line Song Title Contest” to bring awareness to National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month (March 2010). Digestive CARE™ is urging people to go to the Web site http://www.DigestiveCareOnline…
NICE has published a draft clinical guideline on the use of ablative therapies for the treatment of Barrett’s oesophagus. Ablative therapies destroy the abnormal cells within the oesophagus caused by the condition, without removing an entire section of oesophagus…
Propofol is safe for advanced endoscopic procedures with a low rate of sedation-related adverse events when administered by a trained professional, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute…
An international team of scientists that catalogued the genes of microbes that live in our gut has established that at 3.3 million, they vastly outnumber the 23,000 or so genes in the human genome, and say they hope the catalogue will help us better understand how to keep a healthy balance in our gut flora as well as improve diagnosis and treatment of disease…
A new procedure for treating pancreatic and liver cancers using electrical fields to poke holes in tumors was used for the first time anywhere to fight pancreatic cancer at Stony Brook University Medical Center by Kevin Watkins, M.D., Chief of the Upper Gastrointestinal and General Oncologic Surgery Group…
The thousands of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in our gut are essential contributors to our good health. They break down toxins, manufacture some vitamins and essential amino acids, and form a barrier against invaders. A study published in Nature shows that, at 3.3 million, microbial genes in our gut outnumber previous estimates for the whole of the human body…
Increased appetite and insulin resistance can be transferred from one mouse to another via intestinal bacteria, according to research being published online this week by Science magazine…
Efforts to vaccinate “infants against rotavirus could save the lives of millions of children in developing nations who would otherwise die from the diarrhea-causing disease, two new studies show,” HealthDay/BusinsessWeek reports. The studies track diarrhea deaths among children vaccinated against rotavirus in Africa and Mexico and appear in the Jan…
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published the first study demonstrating that Rotarix™, GlaxoSmithKline’s rotavirus vaccine, significantly prevented severe rotavirus gastroenteritis during the first year of life in African babies. In the study Rotarix prevented the disease in 61.2% of these infants. The study also showed that Rotarix…
Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced that the European Commission has approved Herceptin (trastuzumab) in combination with chemotherapy for use in patients with HER2-positive metastatic stomach (gastric) cancer…
Janet Bunch of Chicago had just experienced another “excruciating” bout of diverticulitis, an inflammation of the pockets in the lining of the colon. “It was the second time in 19 months and the pain was worse than you could imagine,” said Bunch, 64, a resident of Chicago. Mild cases of diverticulitis can be treated with changes in diet, rest and antibiotics…
Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered how the virulent food-borne bacteria Listeria monocytogenes induces infected immune cells to sabotage their own defensive response. The studies offer insight into host-pathogen interactions and suggest potential therapeutic targets for food poisoning, tuberculosis and autoimmune diseases. In the Feb…
