Interaction between a novel intronic IVS3+172 variant and N29I mutation in PRSS1 gene is associated with pancreatitis in a Malaysian Chinese family.

Background/aims: Hereditary pancreatitis (HP) is a very rare form of early-onset chronic pancreatitis, which usually begins in childhood with a variable spectrum of severity of disease. HP is commonly caused by variants/mutations in the PRSS1 gene as reported in many studies. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the possible association of PRSS1 gene variants/mutations in a Malaysian Chinese family with HP.

Non-cardiac chest pain: prevalence of reflux disease and response to acid suppression in an Asian population.

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is thought to be the commonest cause of 'non-cardiac chest pain'. The use of proton-pump inhibitors resulting in improvement in the chest pain symptom would support this causal association.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in non-cardiac chest pain and the response of chest pain to proton-pump inhibitor therapy.

Transnasal endoscopic placement of nasoenteric feeding tubes: outcomes and limitations in non-critically ill patients.

Transnasal endoscopic placement of nasoenteric tubes (NETs) has been demonstrated to be useful in the critical care setting, with limited data on its role in non-critically ill patients. The authors collected data on consecutive patients from a non-critical care setting undergoing transnasal endoscopic NET placement. All NETs were endoscopically placed using a standard over-the-guidewire technique, and positions were confirmed with fluoroscopy.

The role of proton-pump inhibitor therapy in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease and difficult-to-control asthma.

Difficult-to-control asthma is a frustratingly difficult condition to treat. Many factors contribute to this condition, including gastroesophageal reflux disease. Response to potent acid suppressive therapy with proton-pump inhibitors is less than universal or complete, and underlines the multifactorial nature of the disease.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: An Emerging Disease in Asia.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been reported to be uncommon among Asians. Although prevalence rates of reflux esophagitis and symptoms of GERD in Asian patients vary, most of the recently published studies have shown an increasing trend, likely due to better awareness and diagnosis as well as to a true increase in the prevalence of the disease. The exact reasons for this increase in prevalence are unclear but must be linked in some way to the dramatic socioeconomic development taking place in the region.