Telomere length is a prognostic factor for overall survival in colorectal cancer.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether telomere length is an independent prognostic factor for the prevention and survival of colorectal cancer.

Method: Terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length was determined by Southern blot in tumours and paired normal tissue samples from 147 patients with sporadic colorectal cancer who had undergone surgery. The TRF length ratio (TRFLR) was determined as the ratio between the length of the patient's tumour and normal tissue.

Repetitive mucosal trauma promotes colon cancer in experimental rat model.

Objective: To investigate the effect of repetitive mucosal trauma, anastomosis and intestinal content on experimental colonic carcinogenesis as there is the possibility than non-specific colon lesions can promote cancer.

Material And Method: We performed to sixty female Sprague-Dawley rats a 4 cm colon loop defunctionalization with double colostomy (traumatic site). Intestinal continuity was restored with an end-to-end colo-colic silk anastomosis.

[Acute pancreatitis associated with hepatotoxicity induced by amoxicillin-clavulanic acid].

A 25-year old man suffered from acute pancreatitis and cholestatic acute hepatitis simultaneously after 4 weeks of an antibiotic treatment withdrawal (amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid) which was given for pharyngitis. Other potential etiological causes of both acute pancreatitis and liver disease, were excluded. The causal relationship between amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid and cholestatic hepatitis is well know, but no data has been reported regarding acute pancreatitis.

[Cirrhosis caused by amiodarone].

A woman who had been taking amiodarone--400 mg/day--for over nine years, developed cirrhosis. Electron microscopy showed phospholipid-laden lysosomal lamellar bodies containing myelin figures. A review is made about the reported cases of amiodarone-induced cirrhosis, including detailed histological findings.

Comparative study of two high doses of lymphoblastoid interferon in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C: influence on the levels of ALT, viraemia and histologic activity.

Ninety consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C were included in a randomized, uncontrolled trial to compare the efficacy of two treatment regimens, 10 MU (group A) vs 5 MU (group B), of lymphoblastoid interferon, in a step-down schedule for 24 weeks. All of the patients had antibodies against the hepatitis C virus, and all but one were HCV RNA positive in serum. The origin of the infection was attributed to blood transfusion in 30 patients and classified as sporadic in 60 patients.