GastroPanel® Biomarker Assay: The Most Comprehensive Test for Infection and Its Clinical Sequelae. A Critical Review.

Background/aim: Several clinical conditions seriously hamper the diagnostic accuracy of the commonly used tests for Helicobacter pylori (Hp), C-urea breath test (UBT) and stool antigen test (SAT). The present communication is a critical review of the potential limitations of UBT and SAT, and describes the approach on how these can be avoided. Drawbacks of the Hp tests: False-negative results are most often due to low bacterial load in the stomach due to: i) use of proton pump inhibitor medication; ii) use of antibiotics; iii) presence of atrophic gastritis and hypoacid stomach; iv); bleeding peptic ulcer; v) gastric cancer (GC) and vi) mucosal-associated lymphatic tissue lymphoma.

Serological biomarker testing helps avoiding unnecessary endoscopies in obese patients before bariatric surgery.

Background: To assess the value of serological biomarker testing as a substitute for esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGDS) in pre-operative assessment of patients referred for bariatric surgery.

Methods: Sixty-five obese patients with a mean age of 43 years (range: 21-65) and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 44 (range: 36-59) were studied. The patients were tested with a four-biomarker panel: pepsinogen I and II, gastrin-17 (basal and stimulated), and (HP) antibodies (GastroPanel®, Biohit Oyj, Finland).

Plasma levels of gastric biomarkers in patients after bariatric surgery: biomarkers after bariatric surgery.

Background/aims: To investigate the profile of stomach specific biomarkers in blood plasma after bariatric surgery.

Methodology: The study included 20 laparoscopic gastric bypass (LGBP) and 20 laparoscopic gastric sleeve (LGS) patients operated on average 22 months earlier. The biomarkers were fasting plasma level of pepsinogen I (PGI), pepsinogen II (PGII), PGI/PGII ratio, fasting and stimulated levels of amidated gastrin-17 (G17), and Helicobacter pylori antibodies (IgG).

Deficiency of the complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain but improved adenylate control over succinate-dependent respiration are human gastric cancer-specific phenomena.

The purpose of study was to comparatively characterize the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and function of respiratory chain in mitochondria in human gastric corpus mucosa undergoing transition from normal to cancer states and in human gastric cancer cell lines, MKN28 and MKN45. The tissue samples taken by endobiopsy and the cells were permeabilized by saponin treatment to assess mitochondrial function in situ by high-resolution oxygraphy. Compared to the control group of endobiopsy samples, the maximal capacity of OXPHOS in the cancer group was almost twice lower.

Giant peptic ulcer hemorrhages: epidemiology, treatment, and outcome in the teaching hospital of Tartu.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to analyze the management and outcome in the case of giant peptic ulcer hemorrhage (GPUH).

Material And Methods: We analyzed the data of all 372 cases of 348 patients treated for acute peptic ulcer hemorrhage during 2005-2007. The source and intensity of hemorrhage was assessed endoscopically according to the Forrest classification: class I+II, persistent hemorrhage or signs of recent hemorrhage; and class III, ulcer without signs of recent hemorrhage.

β2-microglobulin, a novel biomarker of peripheral arterial disease, independently predicts aortic stiffness in these patients.

Arterial stiffness is a prominent feature of vascular ageing and strongly predicts cardiovascular and total mortality. The β2-microglobulin, (β2M) a newly identified biomarker of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), is related to renal insufficiency, inflammatory and neoplastic diseases, but may also play a role in vascular dysfunction. However, the relationship between arterial stiffness and β2M has not been previously studied in patients with atherosclerosis.

Mitochondria and energetic depression in cell pathophysiology.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of almost all diseases. Acquired or inherited mutations of the mitochondrial genome DNA may give rise to mitochondrial diseases. Another class of disorders, in which mitochondrial impairments are initiated by extramitochondrial factors, includes neurodegenerative diseases and syndromes resulting from typical pathological processes, such as hypoxia/ischemia, inflammation, intoxications, and carcinogenesis.

Atrophic gastritis: deficient complex I of the respiratory chain in the mitochondria of corpus mucosal cells.

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the most characteristic properties of the cancer cell. However, it is not known whether oxidative energy metabolism has already become altered in conditions of atrophic gastritis, a precancerous state of gastric disease. The purpose of our study was to comparatively characterize oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in the atrophic and nonatrophic gastric corpus mucosa.

Successful rescue therapy with mycophenolate mofetil in kidney transplantation improves the long-term graft survival.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the graft survival after kidney transplantation in patients treated with azathioprine (AZA) or mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and analyze the significance of different risk factors for graft survival.

Material And Methods: A total of 137 patients, transplanted between January 1996 and June 2001, were retrospectively divided into two groups: patients who received AZA together with cyclosporine A and methylprednisolone (AZA group, n=72) and patients who received MMF either immediately or were switched from AZA to MMF during 3 months (MMF group, n=65).

Results: According to Kaplan-Meier analysis, a 1-year graft survival was 79% in the AZA group and 85% in the MMF group; a 6-year graft survival was 51% and 67%, respectively (P=0.

Persistence of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with peptic ulcer perforation.

Objective: In patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) the convergence between the high eradication rate of Helicobacter pylori infection and low rates of ulcer relapse after treatment has been associated with reinfection by non-virulent strains. The objective of this study was to evaluate the persistence of infection by virulent H. pylori strains and ulcer recurrence in 33 patients with PPU one year after surgery and antimicrobial treatment.

Oxidative phosphorylation and its coupling to mitochondrial creatine and adenylate kinases in human gastric mucosa.

Energy metabolism in gastrobiopsy specimens of the antral and corpus mucosa, treated with saponin to permeabilize the cells, was studied in patients with gastric diseases. The results show twice lower oxidative capacity in the antral mucosa than in the corpus mucosa and the relative deficiency of antral mitochondria in complex I. The mucosal cells expressed mitochondrial and cytosolic isoforms of creatine kinase and adenylate kinase (AK).

Changes in the histology and function of gastric mucosa and in Helicobacter pylori colonization during a long-term follow-up period after vagotomy in duodenal ulcer patients.

Background/aims: To investigate changes in the histology and the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) prevalence and density of the gastric mucosa, as well as in fasting serum gastrin and serum pepsinogen I, depending on completeness of vagotomy, and in cases of recurrent ulcer, during 14 years after operation in duodenal ulcer patients.

Methodology: 122 vagotomized duodenal ulcer patients were studied twice on average 9 and 14 years after operation.

Regional differences in semen qualities in the Baltic region.

Recent prospective studies of male reproductive health have shown differences between several European countries. Our objective was to evaluate the current situation in the two Baltic States Estonia and Lithuania. In 1997-99 we investigated semen parameters, levels of reproductive hormones and general health factors of 196 men from the general population in Lithuania; from Estonia, 79 men from the general population and 118 soldiers were investigated.

Association of cagA and vacA genotypes of Helicobacter pylori with gastric diseases in Estonia.

Gastric biopsy specimens from 156 adult patients from southern Estonia suffering from chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and perforated peptic ulcer were analyzed by PCR. The cagA gene was evenly distributed throughout 87% of the specimens from the patients with the different gastric diseases. The presence of the cagA gene correlated with that of vacA signal sequence type s1a (99%).