Abdominal ultrasonography with color Doppler analysis in the assessment of ileal Crohn's disease: comparison with magnetic resonance enterography.

Background/aims: Consistently defining disease activity remains a critical challenge in the follow-up of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). We investigated the potential applicability of abdominal ultrasonography with color Doppler (USCD) analysis for the detection of morphological alterations and inflammatory activity in CD.

Methods: Forty-three patients with CD ileitis/ileocolitis were evaluated using USCD analysis with measurements obtained on the terminal ileum and right colon.

Ecological study of gastric cancer in Brazil: geographic and time trend analysis.

Aim: To investigate the geographic distributions and time trends of gastric cancer (GC) incidence and mortality in Brazil.

Methods: An ecological study of the DATASUS registry was conducted by identifying hospitalizations for GC between January 2005 and December 2010. The data included information on the gender, age, and town of residence at the time of hospital admission and death.

Therapeutic and prophylactic thalidomide in TNBS-induced colitis: synergistic effects on TNF-alpha, IL-12 and VEGF production.

Aim: To evaluated the therapeutic and prophylactic effect of thalidomide on 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis. Thalidomide has been reported to downregulate the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-12, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hallmarks of intestinal inflammation in Crohnos disease (CD).

Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided in five groups of ten animals each.