An Integrated Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Program Experienced by Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain.

To examine how an integrated, multidisciplinary rehabilitation program was experienced by patients with chronic low back pain and to gain insight into how these patients integrated knowledge, skills, and behaviors obtained by the program into their everyday lives. A phenomenological hermeneutic design using Ricoeur's interpretation theory was used in the analysis. Data were generated through nine semi-structured interviews in patients with chronic low back pain.

Influence of gastric colonization with Candida albicans on ulcer healing in rats: effect of ranitidine, aspirin and probiotic therapy.

Objective: Candida albicans frequently inhabits the gastrointestinal tract of humans leading to gastrointestinal candidiasis, especially following suppression of gastric acidity, but studies on the relation between this fungal infection and gastric pathology are limited due to lack of convenient animal models resembling Candida infection in humans. MATERIAL AND METHODS. We compared the effects of C.

[Investigation of immunologic dysfunction in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis].

Alcohol abuse is an important social and medical problem in Poland and leads to many different medical complications. The aim of the study was examination of immunological disturbances in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Tests were conducted on 70 patients with diagnosed alcoholic liver cirrhosis.

Gastric myoelectrical activity and intracranial hypertension.

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate altered patterns of gastric myoelectrical activity in patients with high intracranial pressure due to severe craniocerebral injury producing intracranial hematomas, or to neoplastic processes in the central nervous system.

Material/methods: The study population consisted of 50 patients admitted to the Department of Neurotraumatology, Jagiellonian University College of Medicine. The controls were 16 healthy volunteers matched for gender and age.

[The diagnosis of subclinical hepatic encephalopathy].

Subclinical hepatic encephalopathy, has been recognized in patients with cirrhosis, irrespectively of its etiology. Patients exhibit different cognitive deficits (in visual-spatial perception, attention, concentration, constructional ability, etc.), which are not detectable during standard neurological examination, but adversely affect daily functioning.

[Myoelectric activity of the stomach and esophageal pH changes in reflux disease].

Unlabelled: The oesophageal inflammation during gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD) has been considered to be an acid and pepsine related disorder. The oesophagus remains under the prolonged exposure of gastric acid, which damages the mucosa and causes an esophagitis. Amongst the most important pathogenetic factors of GERD, the delayed gastric emptying and transient episodes of low esophageal sphincter (LES) relaxation have been described.

Fungal colonization of gastric mucosa and its clinical relevance.

Background: The aim of our study was to evaluate the incidence of fungi in the stomach in patients with gastric ulcer and chronic gastritis in comparison to healthy humans, and to identify the fungus species isolated from these patients and their susceptibility to antifungal agents. We also assessed the coincidence of the presence of antifungal antibodies and fungal mannan antigen in serum with the concentration of fungi in the stomach.

Material And Methods: We investigated 293 patients, aged 20-80, who visited the Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic at the Jagellonian University's Collegium Medicum in Cracow, complaining of dyspeptic symptoms or clinical manifestations of ulcer disease.

Effect of fungal colonization of gastric mucosa on the course of gastric ulcers healing.

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of fungal colonization on the course of gastric ulcer disease with particular regard to regression of clinical symptoms and reduction in ulcer niche size.

Material And Methods: The study was performed on the group of 293 patients, aged 20-80, with clinical symptoms of peptic ulcer disease, who attended Gastroenterology Outpatient Department of Collegium Medicum of Kraków Jagiellonian University. Endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract was performed before and following a-4-week period of a standard anti-ulcerous treatment.

Metabolic activity of neutrophils in patients suffering from chronic viral hepatitis.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the functional state of peripheral blood neutrophils in patients with chronic active viral hepatitis. Twenty-six patients with HBV, HCV or CMV in different clinical status were included in the analysis. In the study, the number of leukocytes and neutrophils was determined.

Genetic polymorphism of alcohol dehydrogenase in europeans: the ADH2*2 allele decreases the risk for alcoholism and is associated with ADH3*1.

Polymorphism at the ADH2 and ADH3 loci of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) has been shown to have an effect on the predisposition to alcoholism in Asian individuals. However, the results are not conclusive for white individuals. We have analyzed the ADH genotype of 876 white individuals from Spain (n = 251), France (n = 160), Germany (n = 184), Sweden (n = 88), and Poland (n = 193).

Fungal colonization of the stomach and its clinical relevance.

The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of fungal colonization of the stomach of patients suffering from gastric ulcer (GU) and chronic gastritis (CG) and the influence of fungal colonization of the stomach on the process of ulcer healing. We investigated 293 patients aged 20-80 years. Before and after 4 weeks of sucralfate treatment they underwent endoscopy of the stomach, histological examination of biopsies taken from the ulcer margin or inflamed gastric mucosa and mycological examinations of the gastric juice, surface brushing and biopsies.

[Primary sclerosing cholangitis--tests with ubiquitin treatment. Case report].

Treatment of chronic liver disease, including primary sclerosing cholangitis (CSP) is a difficult and still not fully solved problem. Both monotherapy and combined pharmacological therapy have shown little effect in inhibiting the disease process and preventing complications. The objectives of ubiquitin biotherapy were restitution of the immune system and inhibition of the disease process along with the stimulation of regenerative processes of the liver.

Multiple fundic gland polyps in duodenal mucosa not associated with colonic polyposis.

One of extracolonic manifestations of Gardner's syndrome and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) are fundic gland polyps (FGP) located typically in the gastric body. Rarely FGP develop in the absence of intestinal polyposis. A case of FGP in the duodenal bulb without associated pathological changes in the large bowel has been reported.

Endoscopic and histological appearance of pancreatic metaplasia in the human gastric mucosa: a preliminary report on a recently recognized new type of gastric mucosal metaplasia.

Recently a new type of gastric mucosal metaplasia referred to as pancreatic metaplasia (pancreatic acinar metaplasia) has been recognized. The difference is characterized by the presence of epithelial cells with the cytoplasm strongly basophilic in the basal compartment, whereas in the middle and apical portions it is acidophilic and finely granular. In contrast to intramuscular heterotopic pancreas, foci of pancreatic metaplasia are located in the lamina propria of the gastric mucosa.

Pancreatic metaplasia of the human gastric mucosa is associated with high expression of transforming growth factor alpha but not of epidermal growth factor.

Pancreatic acinar metaplasia of the gastric mucosa is a newly recognized entity. Its physiological relevance and association with other pathological conditions in the stomach remain to be elucidated. We studied by immunohistochemistry the expression of growth markers in the gastric mucosa in biopsies from 15 patients with recognized pancreatic metaplasia.

Dispersed and acinar forms of pancreatic metaplasia in human gastric mucosa.

Pancreatic acinar cell metaplasia of the gastric mucosa is a newly recognized entity. Its physiological relevance and association with other gastric pathological conditions remains to be elucidated. We studied morphology of pancreatic metaplasia of the gastric mucosa in 15 cases.

Low-dose antacids versus ranitidine in the short-term treatment of patients with duodenal ulcer. Endoscopic and histologic placebo-controlled study.

In this double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial we compared the efficiency of two Polish antacids (Alugastrin, dihydroxyaluminium sodium carbonate and Alumag, aluminium hydroxide with magnesium hydroxide; buffering capacity 189 and 224 mmol) with ranitidine in the healing of duodenal ulcer. We also examined the effect of drugs on the frequency and severity of gastritis and selected morphometric parameters of the fundic mucosa. The study showed that low-dose antacids effectively promote the healing of duodenal ulcer during four week therapy, similarly to ranitidine (72%, 76% and 80%, respectively) and significantly better than placebo (46%).

[Secondary prevention of colon cancer].

Each year more than 6000 patients in Poland die from cancer of the colon. Morbidity due to colonic cancer increases rapidly in our country. From 1973 to 1982 there was a three-fold increase in the morbidity due to colonic cancer as compared to the years 1952-1955.

[Effect of Polish antacids on prostaglandin E2 values in gastric mucosa].

An effect of the locally produced antacids on PGE2 in the gastric mucosa has been studied both clinically and experimentally. It was found, that such preparations as Alugastrin, Gastrin, and Vikalin administered chronically to the rats accelerate healing rate of peptic ulcer, decreasing in the same time the PGE2 level in the gastric mucosa. Alugastrin in a single oral dose significantly increased pH of the stomach and did not affect endogenous PGE2 level.

Close contacts between mast cells and nerve fibres in the human oxyntic mucosa.

The study of mast cells and nerve fibres in routine biopsies of human oxyntic mucosa was performed with the use of microscopic and ultrastructural methods. Simultaneous visualization of mast cells with Alcian blue and nerves with anti S-100 antibody allowed to study contacts between these two elements of lamina propria. Approximately 17% of mast cells appose nerves in gastric mucosa, which is less than the number of such contacts in the gut reported by other authors.

Distribution and release of epidermal growth factor in man.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is localised in man to salivary and Brunner's glands. It is present in large concentrations in saliva and duodenal contents but the mechanisms of its release have been little studied. This study carried out on four groups of healthy subjects was designed to determine the distribution and the release of immunoreactive EGF (IR-EGF) in salivary, gastric, duodenal, and pancreatic secretions.

Importance of an acid milieu in the sucralfate-induced gastroprotection against ethanol damage.

Sucralfate is known for its gastroprotective properties in humans and rats, but the importance of intragastric pH in this protection is a subject of controversy. This study, performed on healthy young volunteers and rats, was designed to compare the gastroprotective effects of sucralfate with those of sucralfate combined with ranitidine or of sucralfate adjusted to pHs varying from 1 to 7. In humans the mucosal damage induced by 40% ethanol spray after 4 days of pretreatment with placebo, sucralfate (1 g four times daily), ranitidine (150 mg three times daily), or the combination of sucralfate plus ranitidine was evaluated by means of endoscopy with mucosal biopsy and histologic examination.

CCK receptor antagonism by loxiglumide and gall bladder contractions in response to cholecystokinin, sham feeding and ordinary feeding in man.

The postprandial contractions of the gall bladder result from the interaction of neurohormonal factors but their relative contribution is unknown. This study was designed to determine the role of cholecystokinin (CCK) in gall bladder contractions using a highly selective and potent CCK-receptor antagonist, CR-1505 (loxiglumide) in healthy men either infused with exogenous CCK in graded doses (1.56-50 pmol/kg/h) or subjected to modified sham feeding (MSF) and ordinary feeding tests.

Comparison of sucralfate and ranitidine in gastroprotection against alcohol in humans.

This endoscopic study was designed to assess histologic and functional features of human gastric mucosal injury by 40 percent ethanol, and to compare the gastroprotective effects of sucralfate with those of ranitidine or sucralfate combined with ranitidine against ethanol damage. A group of 16 young subjects with normal gastric mucosa were divided into two groups (A and B). Group A was pretreated for four days with either sucralfate alone (1 g four times per day) or placebo (one tablet four times per day).

[A case of high intestinal obstruction caused by mycotic bezoar of the duodenum].

A case of the mycotic bezoar in the female patient with gastric hypersecretion is reported. The symptoms of the high intestinal obstruction accompanied underlying disease. Bezoar formed of Geotrichum candidum was fragmentated with biopsical forceps of "alligator" type.