Laxative treatment elevates plasma homocysteine: a study on a population-based Swedish sample of old people.

Objectives: Elevated plasma homocysteine might indicate an increased risk of cancer, and cardiovascular and neurological diseases. The homocysteine level depends on the supply of folate and cobalamine, and constipation and/or laxative treatment might compromise this supply. The present study examined the impact of constipation and laxative treatment on the blood levels of homocysteine, folate and cobalamine in a population-based sample of aged people, including consideration of frailty and impaired renal function, both of which may also influence the homocysteine level.

Involvement of cardiac, respiratory and gastrointestinal functions in neural responses to stressful events.

In the stress concept, fight and flight situations as well as other CNS-controlled reaction patterns for alertness to danger have to be followed by or integrated with a restorative "build-up" process in order to maintain homeostasis. The "build-up" process can be studied physiologically for example after regular exercise or training. Under these conditions there is a decrease in resting sympathetic adrenergic activity and an increase in the parasympathetic vagal activity.

The intragastric milieu during gastric ulcer treatment with pirenzepine 50 mg b.i.d. or cimetidine 400 mg b.i.d.

In a double-blind randomised four-center trial 43 patients with gastric ulcer (20 men, 23 women; mean age 52.2 years) were treated with either pirenzepine (P) 50 mg b.i.

GSRS--a clinical rating scale for gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and peptic ulcer disease.

An interview-based rating scale consisting of 15 items for assessment of gastrointestinal symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome and peptic ulcer disease has been developed. The interrater reliability was estimated by means of independent and simultaneous duplicate ratings by two raters in 20 cases and ranged from 0.86 to 1.

The effect of gastric secretion on orocoecal transit time measured with the hydrogen (H2) breath test.

Orocoecal transit time was studied by means of a hydrogen (H2) breath test after a standard meal in patients with peptic disease before and during treatment with ranitidine, in patients with gastric achlorhydria, and in healthy acid-secreting volunteers. Treatment with ranitidine prolonged the orocoecal transit time in patients with peptic disease from 201.9 +/- 18.

Failure of beta-adrenergic stimulation to affect cholecystokinin-stimulated sigmoid motility in man.

Sigmoid motility, stimulated by the octapeptide of cholecystokinin (OP-CCK) and the effects of beta-adrenoceptor agonists, was studied in 12 healthy subjects in a randomized, double-blind fashion. Sigmoid pressure was recorded 18-20 cm from the anus, and contractile activity quantified as the area under pressure waves for three 25-min periods. OP-CCK (sincalide), 80 ng X kg-1 X h-1, was continuously infused throughout each session, resulting in a high sigmoid motility index.

Rectosigmoid motility response to beta-adrenoceptor stimulation in patients with the irritable bowel syndrome.

Patients with the irritable bowel syndrome were studied with regard to the effects of beta-adrenoceptor agonists on rectosigmoid motility. Pressure was recorded with a continuously inflated balloon in the upper rectum and recorded from a pressure catheter in the sigmoid colon. On different days the beta-2 agonist terbutaline, the beta-1 agonist prenalterol, and placebo, respectively, were administered intravenously after a control period.

Effect of selective and non-selective antimuscarinics on rectosigmoid motility and gastrointestinal transit.

In 12 healthy volunteers, a rectosigmoid motility index (RSMI) was measured when either placebo, 0.5 mg atropine, or 5 mg pirenzepine was given intravenously as a single dose, double-blind, in random order after a control period of 30 min. Compared with the control period, atropine gave a significant decrease of the RSMI during the entire recorded period of 90 min, whereas pirenzepine inhibited RSMI only during the first two 15-min periods.

The hydrogen (H2) breath test. Sampling methods and the influence of dietary fibre on fasting level.

Three end-expiratory breath hydrogen (H2) sampling methods were compared in a patient group (n = 12) and a laboratory staff group (n = 12) on two separate occasions. H2 samples obtained with each method showed significantly different concentrations (p less than 0.001) but no significant differences in coefficient of variation when individual triplicate samples were evaluated.

Upper gastrointestinal and mental symptoms in the irritable bowel syndrome.

Gastrointestinal and mental symptoms were assessed in 101 outpatients with the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). A normal female population was used for comparison of mental symptoms. By definition all patients had abdominal pains and/or change of bowel habits (constipation or diarrhoea, or both) but no demonstrable organic disease.

Effects of beta-adrenoceptor stimulation on rectosigmoid motility in man.

Effects of selective beta-adrenoceptor agonists on rectosigmoid motility during prolonged rectal distension were studied in 12 healthy volunteers in a double-blind, randomized fashion. Continuous distension was performed with a balloon in the proximal part of the rectum. Pressure was recorded by this balloon and by a catheter in the sigmoid.

Symptom profiles in chronic peptic ulcer disease. A detailed study of abdominal and mental symptoms.

Abdominal and mental symptoms were assessed in 103 outpatients with chronic peptic ulcer disease. Patients with present symptoms and a history of duodenal or prepyloric ulcer were included if they had no other disorder requiring treatment. A normal female population was used for comparison of mental symptoms.

Pirenzepine versus cimetidine in duodenal ulcer treatment. A clinical and microbiological study.

The therapeutic efficacy of pirenzepine (PIR) and cimetidine (CIM) in duodenal ulcer and their effects on the intragastric milieu have been studied in a double-blind multicentre trial. Seventy-nine patients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulcer were randomly allocated to 4 weeks' treatment with either 50 mg PIR twice daily or 400 mg CIM twice daily. In addition to clinical and endoscopic evaluation and registration of side effects and laboratory test results, endoscopically obtained gastric juice was cultured and its nitrite concentration was measured before and at the end of the treatment.

Stress management in the long-term treatment of peptic ulcer disease.

The definition of stress varies from author to author. Whether or not it is experienced depends on the perception of the potentially stress-producing event. Stress can be induced experimentally in animals or human beings in various ways and can arise from a person's occupation, leading to adverse effects such as hypertension, cardiac alterations, increase in gastric acid secretion and the occurrence of peptic ulceration.

Plasma enteroglucagon related to malabsorption in coeliac disease.

Plasma enteroglucagon was measured before and during three hours after a standard meal in 21 untreated adult patients with suspected coeliac disease who all had villous atrophy of the small intestinal mucosa and malabsorption, and in nine control subjects. In 11 of these patients the diagnosis of coeliac disease was confirmed and 10 were again investigated on a gluten free diet. The coeliac patients had higher basal (37 +/- 9 pmol/l, mean +/- SE, p less than 0.

Conventional malabsorption tests: do they detect the adult patient with villous atrophy?

A total number of 134 patients with subtotal or partial villous atrophy, of whom 49 had dermatitis herpetiformis, were investigated with blood folate assay and xylose and lactose absorption tests. Faecal fat excretion was determined in 71 patients without dermatitis herpetiformis (coeliac group). A comparison was made between three patient groups, the patients with dermatitis herpetiformis and the coeliac patients studied in 1970-74 and 1975-79, respectively.

Intragastric bacteria and nitrite after short-term treatment with different doses of antimuscarinic drugs.

In 11 volunteers gastric acid secretion was measured under basal conditions and after modified sham-feeding after 4 1/2 days' treatment with placebo tablets twice daily (placebo), pirenzepine, 50 mg twice daily (pirenzepine), benzilonium bromide, 17.5 mg twice daily (benzilonium 35), or benzilonium bromide, 35 mg twice daily (benzilonium 70), respectively. The first basal portion of gastric fluid was cultured aerobically and anaerobically, and its nitrite concentrations were measured by a colorimetric technique.