Increase in substance P precursor mRNA in noninflamed small-bowel sections in patients with Crohn's disease.

Background: Neuropeptides, such as substance P (SP), are mediators of neurogenic inflammation and play an important role in inflammatory disorders. To further investigate the role of the SP pathway in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), we analyzed the following in normal intestinal tissue specimens and in tissue specimens from patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC): neurokinin receptor-1 (NK-1R); its isoforms (NK-1R-L and NK-1R-S); its ligand SP, encoded by preprotachykinin-A (PPT-A); and the SP-degradation enzyme, neutral endopeptidase (NEP).

Methods: Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to simultaneously determine the expression of NK-1R-L, NK-1R-S, and PPT-A.

Contrast-enhanced computed tomography in acute pancreatitis: does contrast medium worsen its course due to impaired microcirculation?

Background: An early and accurate diagnosis of severe acute (necrotizing) pancreatitis is important to allow timely institution of therapy to limit the extra-pancreatic sequelae of this necrotizing process and to minimize the incidence of super-infection of the necrosis (i.e., progression to infected necrosis).

Detection of circulating tumor cells by cytokeratin 20 and prostate stem cell antigen RT-PCR in blood of patients with gastrointestinal cancers.

Background: Detection of circulating tumor cells in blood may be an important diagnostic and prognostic factor in the management of tumor patients. The present study aimed to examine whether cytokeratin 20 (CK-20) and prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) are useful markers for the detection of disseminated cancer cells in the blood of tumor patients.

Materials And Methods: A nested RT-PCR assay was used to detect CK-20 and PSCA mRNA in blood samples from 18 healthy donors, 15 patients with non-malignant disease, 9 patients with benign tumors and 47 patients with malignant tumors (11 pancreatic carcinoma, 8 gastric cancer, 15 colorectal carcinoma and 13 miscellaneous tumors).

Influence of contrast-enhanced computed tomography on course and outcome in patients with acute pancreatitis.

Introduction: Many of the complications in severe acute pancreatitis result from the amplifying effects of microcirculatory disruption. Contrast medium may cause significant additional reductions of capillary flow, which has been shown to aggravate acute pancreatitis in experimental studies.

Aim: To investigate the role of serial contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) in patients with acute pancreatitis.