Clinical features of liver involvement in adult patients with listeriosis. Review of the literature.

Clinical features of liver involvement due to Listeria monocytogenes infection in adults are rarely reported in literature. This is surprising, regarding the current opinion that the portal system is extensively involved in the first stages of pathogenesis in invasive L. monocytogenes disease.

Heterozygous alpha-I antitrypsin deficiency as a co-factor in the development of chronic liver disease: a review.

Alpha-I antitrypsin (AIAT) is an acute-phase protein that is produced in liver cells. AIAT deficiency is a hereditary disease which is defined by the hepatic production of an abnormal protein that can not be released into the plasma. This leads to deficiency of plasma AIAT and subsequently to an impaired protection against proteases, resulting in pulmonary disease.

Biochemical and biophysical assessment of MTX-induced liver fibrosis in psoriasis patients: Fibrotest predicts the presence and Fibroscan predicts the absence of significant liver fibrosis.

Background: Methotrexate (MTX) use is associated with hepatic fibrosis in psoriasis patients. To monitor this serial liver biopsies were performed. The Fibroscan and the Fibrotest are two novel, non-invasive methods that might be able to assess MTX-induced hepatic fibrosis.

Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma detected by fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in familial adenomatous polyposis: report of a case.

We present a 53-year-old female suffering from familial adenomatous polyposis, who was found to have a positive nodus, lateral to the hilus of the left lung, on routine FDG-PET scan. This lesion was found to be a sclerosing hemangioma. We found an aberrant beta-catenin expression on immunohistochemical staining, suggesting that sclerosing hemangioma and familial adenomatous polyposis share the same pathophysiology.

Gastroparesis in patients with inactive Crohn's disease: a case series.

Background: Few studies have described patients with foregut dysmotility in inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this case series was to evaluate clinical characteristics of 5 patients with inflammatory bowel disease and symptoms and signs of upper gut dysmotility.

Case Presentations: We describe a series of four patients with Crohn's disease and one with indeterminate colitis who presented with severe symptoms and signs of gastroparesis.

UGT1A7 polymorphisms in chronic pancreatitis: an example of genotyping pitfalls.

UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) catalyze the glucuronidation of various compounds and thus inactivate toxic substrates. Genetic variations reducing the activity of UGT1A7 have been associated with various gastrointestinal cancers. Most recently, the UGT1A7*3 allele has been reported as a significant risk factor for pancreatic disorders, but we could not confirm these data.

Recurrent idiopathic pancreatitis in familial adenomatous polyposis: report of a case-series and review of the literature.

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is characterized by the development of multiple adenomatous polyps predominantly in the colon but also in the duodenum. Scattered case reports indicate that there is a risk for pancreatitis in FAP. The most likely cause of pancreatitis in FAP is obstructing ampullary adenomas.

[(18)F]FDG accumulation in an experimental model of multistage progression of cholangiocarcinoma.

Aim: The diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is difficult, and due to the insidious course of the disease, most cases present at a relatively late stage. Positron emission tomography (PET), using [(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose ([(18)F]FDG) as a tracer is one the most powerful molecular imaging techniques available. We hypothesized that [(18)F]FDG accumulates at sites of early CCA development and that FDG-PET may be of value for the early diagnosis of CCA.

[Serious complications following removal of an ingested partial denture].

Complications occurred in a 41-year-old woman following an attempt to remove a partial denture by oesophagoscopy. These were: laceration of the oesophagus with subsequent mediastinitis, pneumothorax, and pneumopericardium. At a second oesophagoscopy the denture was removed from the oesophagus using a flexible hood.

Defective apoptosis of peripheral-blood lymphocytes in hyper-IgD and periodic fever syndrome.

Hereditary periodic fever syndromes are characterized by incapacitating attacks of fever and generalized inflammation. While the mutated genes for the major syndromes in this group are known, the pathogenesis remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate apoptosis in patients with periodic fever as a possible pathogenic factor.

Effect of a specific cyclooxygenase-gene polymorphism (A-842G/C50T) on the occurrence of peptic ulcer hemorrhage.

Cyclooxygenases (COX) catalyze the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins (PGs). COX-inhibiting drugs, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), increase the risk for peptic ulcer disease. As a corollary, COX gene polymorphisms could be important in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease because these affect prostaglandin formation and impair its protective effect at the level of the gastric mucosa.

Assessment of oxidative stress in chronic pancreatitis patients.

Aim: To assess the levels of antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage in blood of chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients in comparison with those in healthy control subjects, by using several different analytical techniques.

Methods: Thirty-five CP patients and 35 healthy control subjects were investigated prospectively with respect to plasma levels of thiols, ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP, i.e.

[Thalidomide for the treatment of recurrent gastrointestinal blood loss due to intestinal angiodysplasias].

Two female patients, 86 and 80 years of age, had been treated with blood transfusions for several years and several months, respectively, due to iron-deficiency anaemia caused by gastrointestinal blood loss. Angiodysplasias were detected and subsequently coagulated in the course of repeated gastroscopies and colonoscopies. Due to the failure of this treatment, treatment with thalidomide was started.

Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide positivity in non-rheumatoid arthritis disease samples: citrulline-dependent or not?

Background: Antibodies directed against citrullinated proteins (eg anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP)) have excellent diagnostic and good prognostic potential for rheumatoid arthritis. Type 1 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH-1) is a chronic liver disease characterised by a variety of serum autoantibodies. Recently, in a large group of patients with AIH-1 without clear rheumatoid arthritis overlap, a relatively high percentage (9%) of anti-CCP2 positivity was scored.

CARD15 in inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease phenotypes: an association study and pooled analysis.

Background: Three major polymorphisms of the Caspase-Activation Recruitment Domain containing protein 15 gene have been described to be associated with Crohn's disease. Genotype-phenotype studies reported in literature provide conflicting data on disease localisation and behaviour. We investigated the relation of Caspase-Activation Recruitment Domain containing protein 15 with inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease phenotypic characteristics in a large Dutch cohort and performed a pooled analysis on inflammatory bowel disease patients and Crohn's disease phenotypic characteristics reported in association studies.

Liver injury in long-term methotrexate treatment in psoriasis is relatively infrequent.

Background: Methotrexate-induced liver damage in psoriasis has led to dermatologic guidelines that stipulate monitoring of liver injury by means of serial liver biopsies. Recent literature data suggest that methotrexate may be considerably less hepatotoxic than previously assumed.

Aim: To evaluate prevalence and development of liver injury in methotrexate treated psoriasis.

Extensive mutational analysis of PRKCSH and SEC63 broadens the spectrum of polycystic liver disease.

Autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease (PCLD) is characterized by progressive development of multiple (> 20) liver cysts. Two separate genes, PRKCSH and SEC63, have been identified to cause familial PCLD. We designed this study with two goals: to assess the relative contribution of PRKCSH and SEC63 mutations in a cohort of unrelated patients with a variable number of liver cysts, and to assess the effect of these mutations on the severity of the PCLD phenotype.