Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of the Icelandic population.

Here we describe the insights gained from sequencing the whole genomes of 2,636 Icelanders to a median depth of 20×. We found 20 million SNPs and 1.5 million insertions-deletions (indels).

CRP is associated with lung function decline in men but not women: a prospective study.

Systemic inflammation is associated with impaired lung function. Studies, most cross-sectional, report a stronger association between systemic inflammation and lung function impairment in men than women. The aim was to evaluate gender differences in the longitudinal association between systemic inflammation and lung function.

Irritable bowel syndrome: physicians' awareness and patients' experience.

Aim: To study if and how physicians use the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) diagnostic criteria and to assess treatment strategies in IBS patients.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 191 physicians regarding IBS criteria, diagnostic methods and treatment. Furthermore, 94 patients who were diagnosed with IBS underwent telephone interview.

Natural history of irritable bowel syndrome in women and dysmenorrhea: a 10-year follow-up study.

Background. Studies have shown that women are more likely to have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and more women seek healthcare because of IBS than men. Aim.

Natural history of functional gastrointestinal disorders: comparison of two longitudinal population-based studies.

Background: Functional gastrointestinal disorders are common but information on their natural history is limited.

Aims: To document the natural history of functional gastrointestinal disorders in a population based study and to compare with the Olmsted County study.

Method: A questionnaire was mailed to the same age- and gender-stratified random sample of the Icelandic population aged 18-75 in 1996 and 2006.

Natural history of heartburn: a 10-year population-based study.

Aim: To study the natural history and prevalence of heartburn at a 10-year interval, and to study the effect of heartburn on various symptoms and activities.

Methods: A population-based postal study was carried out. Questionnaires were mailed to the same age- and gender-stratified random sample of the Icelandic population (aged 18-75 years) in 1996 and again in 2006.

Persistent Chlamydia Pneumoniae serology is related to decline in lung function in women but not in men. Effect of persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae infection on lung function.

Background: Chlamydia pneumoniae (C pn) infection causes an acute inflammation in the respiratory system that may become persistent, but little is known about the long-term respiratory effects of C pn infections.

Aim: To estimate the long term respiratory effects of C pn with change in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) as a main outcome variable.

Methods: The study comprised of 1109 subjects (500 men and 609 women, mean age 28 ± 6 years) that participated in the Reykjavik Heart Study of the Young.

Colonic adenomas found via colonoscopy: yield and risk factors for high-grade dysplasia.

Background And Aims: The adenoma-carcinoma sequence is the model for colorectal carcinoma (CRC) developing through high-grade dysplasia (HGD) to CRC. The aim was to assess prevalence and location of adenomas found during colonoscopy and risk factors for HGD.

Material And Methods: A population-based study using all colonoscopies and polyp specimens registered between 2000 and 2004 in Iceland.

Natural history of functional dyspepsia: a 10-year population-based study.

Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common disorder, but information on its natural history is limited.

Aim: To study the natural history of FD as assessed by 2 criteria over a 10-year period.

Method: A population-based study conducted by mailing a questionnaire to the same age- and gender-stratified random sample of the Icelandic population aged 18-75 in 1996 and again in 2006.

Liver cirrhosis in Iceland and Sweden: incidence, aetiology and outcomes.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to investigate the incidence, aetiology and mortality of liver cirrhosis in Iceland and in Gothenburg in Sweden. Further objectives were prognosis in relation to different aetiologies and to evaluate the relationship between alcohol consumption in these countries and the incidence of alcoholic cirrhosis in recent decades. The incidence and mortality of liver cirrhosis in Iceland has been reported to be the lowest in the Western world.

Gender differences in the association between C-reactive protein, lung function impairment, and COPD.

Individuals with COPD have systemic inflammation that can be assessed by measuring C-reactive protein (CRP). In this paper we evaluated whether CRP is related to COPD, lung function and rate of lung function decline. We included 1237 randomly selected subjects (mean age 42, range 28-56 years) from three centers in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey: Reykjavik, Uppsala and Tartu.

Infections and obesity: A multinational epidemiological study.

Viral infections have been associated with the aetiology of obesity in animal models. This study investigates the association between 7 serological markers of infections and body mass index (BMI) in a population based sample. Individuals (n=985, mean age 42+/-97 (28-55) y, mean BMI 25.

A common genetic background for inflammatory bowel disease and ankylosing spondylitis: a genealogic study in Iceland.

Objective: Patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and approximately 50% of their first-degree relatives may have a genetic abnormality that results in subclinical intestinal inflammation. This study was undertaken to examine the familial occurrence and cosegregation of AS and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in order to determine whether there is a shared genetic risk factor in families.

Methods: The Icelandic genealogy database and population-wide data on all living Icelanders diagnosed as having AS (n = 205) and/or IBD (n = 1,352) were used to estimate the risk ratios of AS for relatives of patients with AS, the risk ratios of IBD for relatives of patients with IBD, and the cross-risk ratios of AS for relatives of patients with IBD or of IBD for relatives of patients with AS.

Seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori and cagA antibodies in Iceland, Estonia and Sweden.

The public health implications from H. pylori infection are considerable but the transmission routes are largely unknown. In this study, the prevalence, patient characteristics and risk factors for Helicobacter pylori infection were comparatively investigated in Iceland, Sweden and Estonia.

Long-term effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2 selective agents on the small bowel: a cross-sectional capsule enteroscopy study.

Background & Aims: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) gastropathy is sufficiently important as to warrant co-administration of misoprostol or proton pump inhibitors or a switch to selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors. However, the serious ulcer outcome studies suggested that 40% of the clinically significant gastrointestinal bleeding originated more distally, presumably from NSAID enteropathy. We used capsule enteroscopy to study small-bowel damage in patients on long-term NSAIDs and COX-2-selective agents.

The effect of infectious burden on the prevalence of atopy and respiratory allergies in Iceland, Estonia, and Sweden.

Background: Epidemiologic reports on the effect of microbe exposure on the development of atopy and allergic asthma are inconsistent.

Objectives: The study investigates the association between serologic markers of infections and occurrence of atopy, allergic asthma, and rhinitis among adults in Iceland, Sweden, and Estonia.

Methods: Individuals (n = 1249; mean age, 42 years) from Iceland, Sweden, and Estonia underwent a structured interview and blood sampling.

Granulomatous ileitis in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis.

Background: A 21-year-old white male with a 3-year history of back pain presented with a 6-month history of weight loss (without significant gastrointestinal symptoms), lethargy and left hip pain, and diarrhea that had lasted 4 days.

Investigations: Barium follow-through, upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy and biopsies, capsule enteroscopy, CT of the chest and abdomen, measurement of the concentration of fecal calprotectin, intestinal absorption permeability test and wireless capsule endoscopy.

Diagnosis: Ankylosing spondylitis associated with ileitis of spondylarthropathy.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Sweden, Estonia and Iceland.

Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the intracellular protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii which infects up to one-third of the world human population. Toxoplasmosis in neonates and immunocompromised patients can lead to severe disease and death. We investigated the prevalence and risk factors for T.

Prevalence and mechanism of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced clinical relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background & Aims: It has been variably suggested that nonselective NSAIDs and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 selective inhibitors aggravate or ameliorate clinical disease activity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. We assessed the effect of these drugs in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (n = 209) and the possible mechanisms.

Methods: First, patients with quiescent Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis received the non-NSAID analgesic acetaminophen (n = 26) and the conventional NSAIDs naproxen (n = 32), diclofenac (n = 29), and indomethacin (n = 22) for 4 weeks.

[Epidemiological study of functional bowel disorders in Iceland].

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of functional bowel disorders (FBD) in a population-based sample and to assess FBD-related health care seeking and medication in Iceland.

Material And Methods: A self-report questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 2000 inhabitants, 18-75 years of age. The questionnaire addressed 46 gastrointestinal symptoms and 42 other health related, sociodemographic and psychosomatic symptom items.

A quantitative analysis of NSAID-induced small bowel pathology by capsule enteroscopy.

Background & Aims: Conventional acidic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs frequently cause small bowel inflammation. Diagnosis is largely based on assay of surrogate markers of inflammation in stool, such as fecal calprotectin. However, stool markers are not widely available and the precise nature of this inflammation is uncertain.

Effects of 5 years of treatment with rabeprazole or omeprazole on the gastric mucosa.

Background: Prolonged gastric acid suppression leads to hypergastrinaemia, which promotes hyperplasia of the enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells of the oxyntic mucosa. The objective was to determine the effects of 5 years of treatment with rabeprazole or omeprazole on the gastric mucosa.

Methods: Two hundred and forty-three patients received rabeprazole (20 mg or 10 mg) or omeprazole (20 mg) once daily for up to 5 years, for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and 51% completed the whole 5 year period.

Subclinical intestinal inflammation and sacroiliac changes in relatives of patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Background & Aims: It has been suggested that subclinical intestinal inflammation plays a pathogenic role in the spondylarthropathy of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We assessed the possible presence and inheritance pattern of subclinical intestinal inflammation in first-degree relatives of patients with AS. The relationship between this inflammation and the subjects' HLA-B27 genotype as well as computerized tomographic sacroiliac abnormalities was also assessed.