‘Tis the season for heart attacks shoveling snow – but don’t forget about hernias. A Penn State Health doctor discusses the ailment and when you should seek help.
The January issue of AJG features two ACG Clinical Guidelines: Diagnosis and Management of Celiac Disease (2013 update) and Diagnosis and Management of Gastrointestinal Subepithelial Lesions (new).
Researchers from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s leading cancer program and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, together with RWJBarnabas Health, in collaboration with investigators from MD Anderson Cancer Center, discovered a novel triple immunotherapy combination, targeting checkpoints on both T cells and myeloid suppressor cells, that dramatically improved anti-tumor responses by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment in preclinical models of PDAC.
UT Southwestern immunologists have uncovered a key pathogenic event prompted by obesity that can trigger severe forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and potential liver failure.
High levels of ammonia in tumors leads to fewer T cells and immunotherapy resistance in mouse models of colorectal cancer, new findings from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center revealed. Researchers found that ammonia inhibits the growth and function of T cells, which are vital for anti-tumor immunity. The findings appear in Cell Metabolism.
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an allergic condition of the esophagus that is on the rise throughout the United States. Patients with the condition typically have inflammation throughout their esophagus and trouble swallowing food – known as dysphagia.Without proper treatment, the lining of the esophagus becomes fibrous, and the passage becomes so narrowed, or strictured, that food can lodge in the esophagus, requiring medical attention.
NIBIB-funded researchers are developing a new method to treat pancreatic cancer. In their study, they combined an injectable radioactive gel with systemic chemotherapy in multiple mouse models of the disease. The treatment resulted in tumor regression in all evaluated models, an unprecedented result for this genetically diverse and aggressive type of cancer.
The use of synthetic food dyes such as Allura Red has increased significantly over the last several decades, but there has been little earlier study of these dyes’ effects on gut health. Khan and his team published their findings in Nature Communications. “What we have found is striking and alarming, as this common synthetic food dye is a possible dietary trigger for IBDs. This research is a significant advance in alerting the public on the potential harms of food dyes that we consume daily,” he said.
Investigators at Cedars-Sinai conduct more than 2,500 research projects annually, and many of these studies have resulted in new treatments or have opened the door to future innovations.
AnX Robotica Corporation (www.anxrobotics.com), the developer and manufacturer of the NaviCam® Magnetically Controlled Capsule Endoscopy System (MCCE), is pleased to announce a partnership with GastroGPO, a Specialty Networks Company.
Researchers describe how a noninvasive microphone sensor could identify bowel diseases without collecting any identifiable information. They tested the technique on audio data from online sources, transforming each audio sample of an excretion event into a spectrogram, which essentially captures the sound in an image. The images were fed to a machine learning algorithm that learned to classify each event based on its features. The algorithm's performance was tested against data with and without background noises.
The December issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology features multi-society collaborations on diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as the role of the GI profession in climate change issues. Interestingly, this issue includes a thought-provoking line of inquiry from Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, FACG, who hypothesizes that gravity may play a role in IBS.
Engineers developed a battery-free, pill-shaped ingestible biosensing system that gives scientists the ability to monitor gut metabolites in real time, which wasn’t possible before. The work could lead to a new understanding of intestinal metabolite composition, which significantly impacts human health.
Researchers discover that dual knockout of genes in organoids grown from human tissue generates a model of and potential therapeutic target for gastroesophageal junction cancer
Patients undergoing abdominal surgery for ostomy placement have high rates of hospital readmissions and emergency department visits – often involving ostomy-related complications, reports a study in the November/December issue of the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, the official journal of the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses (WOCN®) Society.
Nearly 1 in 7 Americans experience bloating on a weekly basis, and most aren’t seeking professional care for it, according to a new study led by Cedars-Sinai investigators. The findings are published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Newsweek magazine ranked nine UChicago Medicine specialties as among the best in the world in its latest 2023 list of top global specialized hospitals. The publication also listed the University of Chicago Medical Center, based in Hyde Park, among the world's top smart hospitals.
Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) who required treatment and were enrolled in a financial assistance program were less likely to need surgery after starting medication than those not enrolled in a program, a study by UT Southwestern researchers found.
This holiday season, millions of people will be celebrating with family and friends. Preparing and sharing food is often the centerpiece of getting together. However, while good cheer may fill the air, danger could be lurking just beyond the door to the kitchen or dining room.
A dietary change could be a key to enhancing colon cancer treatment, a new study from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center finds. Researchers found in cells and in mice that a low-protein diet blocked the nutrient signaling pathway that fires up a master regulator of cancer growth.
More than 20 UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists are among the 2022 Highly Cited Researchers listed in the top 1% of researchers from across the globe
Millions of antibiotics are prescribed every year. Although they can be incredibly effective at treating infections, antibiotics usually do not solely target the bacteria that is causing infection.
A new study by Cedars-Sinai investigators describes risk factors that could make it more likely for people who have chronic pancreatitis, an ongoing inflammation of the pancreas, to develop diabetes. The findings are published in Diabetes Care.
Alan P. Venook, MD, a renowned expert in colorectal and liver cancers, has been announced as one of the winners of the 2022 Luminary Awards in Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers. Venook is being recognized for his achievements in the clinical practice and research of gastrointestinal cancers.
Hosted by Chulalongkorn University the APRU APEC University Leaders' Forum 2022 is the first post-pandemic in-person APEC meeting held to foster high-level dialogue between CEOs, policy leaders, university presidents, and top researchers. This event begins Nov 15 at 9 PM EST.
One of every 10 patients with appendiceal cancer carries a germline genetic variant associated with cancer predisposition, according to a study in JAMA Oncology that is the first to show inherited risk factors for this rare cancer.
Despite centuries of research, treating and curing cancer remains an urgent health research priority. With generous support from anonymous donors, the GastroIntestinal Research Foundation (GIRF) has launched a bold initiative, CA CURE, to identify and fund research to improve diagnostics and develop therapeutics focused on immunotherapies and personalized vaccines.
New research presented this week at ACR Convergence 2022, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, found no clear association between immunosuppressive or anti-fibrotic medications and worsening gastrointestinal symptoms in early systemic scleroderma.
The November issue of AJG features articles that include expert recommendations on recognizing and defining occasional constipation in clinical practice, as well as quality indicators for the use of capsule endoscopy and deep enteroscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of suspected small bowel disease.
A randomized controlled trial of 150 persons with Parkinson disease has found that (oral squalamine phosphate) ENT-01 is safe for up to 25 days of treatment and significantly improves constipation and possibly neurological symptoms. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a major cause of gastric cancer, and researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have several projects underway to better understand the association and develop much-needed prevention and treatment.
A new study, led by experts at the University of Nottingham found that the risk of stomach bleeding caused by using aspirin long-term, can be reduced with a short course of antibiotics, potentially improving the safety of aspirin when used to prevent heart attacks, strokes and possibly some cancers.
Bowel cancer patients could in future benefit from a new 3D bioprinting technology which would use their own cells to replicate the complex cellular environment of solid tumours in 3D models. The University of Bristol-led advance, published in Biofabrication, would allow clinicians to treat the models, known as spheroids, with chemotherapy drugs and radiation to help them understand an individual patient’s resistance to therapies.
Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health describe the first preclinical model of appendiceal cancer that contains all elements of the tumor, allowing previously stymied investigations to proceed.
New study is the first of its kind to focus on Hispanic children, who often have more severe disease. A novel clinical trial at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is investigating whether butyrate—a short-chain fatty acid typically produced by gut bacteria—can be a potential therapy for children with ulcerative colitis.
A study of 50 adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) has found that challenged urine bicarbonate excretion may offer a new, simple, and safe quantification of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) function and the extent of its pharmacologic improvement. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.