Pirfenidone and Nintedanib in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Real-life experience in an Italian referral centre.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has a median survival time after diagnosis of 2-5 years. The main goal of treating IPF is to stabilize or reduce the rate of disease progression. Nintedanib and Pirfenidone have been a breakthrough in the management of IPF.

Gastric emptying and orocecal transit time in pregnancy.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of pregnancy on gastrointestinal function, we determined gastric emptying time, orocecal transit time, and fasting gastrointestinal hormone levels (cholecystokinin, gastrin, pancreatic polypeptide, neurotensin) in 11 women with mild dyspeptic symptoms during the first and third trimesters of their pregnancies, and again 4-6 months after delivery.

Methods: After the women ingested a disaccharide solution, orocecal transit time was determined by monitoring breath hydrogen concentrations at 10-min intervals, and values were compared with the postpartum value. Ultrasound examinations of gastric emptying were performed during the same intervals.

Incidence and risk factors of duodenal ulcer. A retrospective cohort study.

We evaluated the incidence and risk factors of duodenal ulcer (DU) in a cohort of patients who had undergone esophagogastroduodenoscopy in our institution from 1978 to 1982, without then finding a gastric or duodenal ulcer. Six hundred and twenty-one subjects entered the study, and 526 (84.7%) were traced in 1992.

Duodenogastric reflux, histology and cell proliferation of the gastric mucosa before and six months after cholecystectomy.

In order to evaluate the effects that an increase in duodenogastric reflux (DGR) has on the mucosal cell proliferation of the non-operated stomach, we made a prospective study on 13 patients (9 female and 4 male, mean age 52 years) both before and 6 months after cholecystectomy, an operation which determines a significant increase in DGR with an intact pyloric sphincter. DGR was evaluated by measuring total intragastric bile acids (dosed by an enzymatic method), and single intragastric bile acids (dosed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography) and it was expressed as Fasting Bile Reflux (FBR) in mumol/h. Gastric cell proliferation was evaluated by measuring (by High Performance Liquid Chromatography) polyamine (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) levels in biopsy specimens taken from the antrum and gastric body.

A prospective study on duodenogastric reflux and on histological changes in gastric mucosa after cholecystectomy.

The authors carried out a prospective study to evaluate variations with time in postcholecystectomy duodenogastric reflux (expressed as "fasting bile reflux" in mumol/h) and in gastric mucosal damage. Ten patients underwent (before cholecystectomy, 6 months after surgery and after a median period of 4 years from surgery) a gastric drainage to assess total (enzymatic method) and single (high performance liquid chromatography) intragastric bile acids, and a gastroscopy with biopsies of the antrum and gastric body to assess histological damage to the mucosa. The results showed that there was a progressive increase in the fasting bile reflux of total bile acids with time (precholecystectomy median value 0.