Feature Channels: Digestive Disorders

• share
• favorite_border

Many clinicians rely on self-reports from their high-risk patients about their need and proper interval for repeat surveillance colonoscopy. Researchers analyzed data over four years to explore the knowledge of these high-risk patients. Twenty-eight percent were unaware of either the need for a repeat colonoscopy or the proper surveillance interval. Of these, 16.6 percent were unaware of the proper three-year interval to obtain a follow-up surveillance colonoscopy. Also, 12 percent were not even aware that they required a follow-up surveillance colonoscopy.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Over 1,000 children from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, known as ‘COVID Warriors’ have had their antibodies measured in the UK-wide trial called ‘Seroprevalence of SARS-Cov-2 infection in healthy children’.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine report that the lasting nature of inflammatory bowel disease may be due to a type of long-lived immune cell that can provoke persistent, damaging inflammation in the intestinal tract.

• share
• favorite_border

Each person’s gut virus composition is as unique as a fingerprint, according to the first study to assemble a comprehensive database of viral populations in the human digestive system.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that fructose only adversely affects the liver after it reaches the intestines, where the sugar disrupts the epithelial barrier protecting internal organs from bacterial toxins in the gut.

• share
• favorite_border

Computed tomography (CT) is used at a higher rate than ultrasound in children with developmental and cognitive impairments to diagnose appendicitis, even though CT scans increase radiation risk in smaller bodies.

• share
• favorite_border

Mountainside Medical Group announced today that Sameet Shah, D.O., has joined the practice to serve the community’s growing need in the field of gastroenterology.

• share
• favorite_border

B cells are white blood cells that develop to produce antibodies.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have uncovered a novel drug target, a protein called PPP1R1B, that stops the deadly spread of pancreatic cancer, called metastasis, when inhibited in mice. Published in Gastroenterology, the findings are a first step toward a potential treatment for one of the deadliest cancers known today.

• share
• favorite_border

We may not think about it often, but our gut is home to a complex ecosystem of microorganisms that play a critical role in how we function.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

"Because it affects them in their childbearing years, women need to know when it is safe to get pregnant," says Dr. Jacqueline Wolf, a national expert on IBD and pregnancy and a physician in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, shares her expertise on Crohn's disease and pregnancy.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of developmental biologists at the Morgridge Institute for Research has discovered a means by which schistosomes, parasitic worms that infect more than 200 million people in tropical climates, are able to outfox the host’s immune system.

• share
• favorite_border

Although rates of surgery for Crohn’s disease have decreased over the years, many patients still require surgical treatment – due to inadequate responses to medical therapy, severe attacks of acute colitis, and many other situations. Reflecting the latest research evidence and clinical practice, an updated set of recommendations for surgery in patients with Crohn’s disease have been published in Diseases of the Colon & Rectum (DC&R), the official journal of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS). The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Cedars-Sinai announced a $25 million gift from Martha L. Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh, and the Karsh Family Foundation, to support the treatment of digestive and liver diseases and the advancement of innovative research. The current division of Digestive and Liver Diseases will be renamed the Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

• share
• favorite_border

UC Davis researchers have found that combining a Western-style high-fat diet with antibiotic use significantly increases the risk of developing pre- inflammatory bowel disease. This combination shuts down the mitochondria in cells of the colon lining, leading to gut inflammation. Mesalazine can help restart the mitochondria and treat pre-IBD condition.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that mice infected with Chikungunya virus get less sick and are less likely to transmit the virus to mosquitoes if they have healthy gut microbiomes.

• share
• favorite_border

Findings from an online survey of more than 53,000 American adults suggest that using heartburn medications known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) once or twice daily significantly increases the odds of a positive test for COVID-19 compared to those who do not take PPIs. This research appeared online July 7, 2020 in pre-print format in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

• share
• favorite_border

Milestone for therapeutic development of peptides against gastrointestinal disordersThe fascinating family of trefoil factor peptides brings hope to both research and industry to improve the treatment of chronic disorders such as Crohn’s disease. For the first time, a team led by ERC awardee Markus Muttenthaler from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna succeeded in the synthesis and folding of the peptide TFF1, a key player in mucosal protection and repair.