Long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of breast cancer: a cohort study.

Background: Exposure to road traffic noise was associated with increased risk of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (ER-) breast cancer in a previous cohort study, but not with overall or ER-positive (ER+) breast cancer, or breast cancer prognosis. We examined the association between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of breast cancer, overall and by ER and progesterone receptor (PR) status.

Methods: We used the data from a nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort on 22,466 female nurses (age > 44 years) who at recruitment in 1993 or 1999 reported information on breast cancer risk factors.

Health literacy among Danish university students enrolled in health-related study programmes.

Aims: It is important to address people's health literacy when providing health care. Health professionals should be aware of, and have insight into, people's health literacy when they provide health services. Health professionals need to be health literate themselves.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of tegaserod in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: Tegaserod has been shown to be an effective therapy for the multiple symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in Western and Asia-Pacific populations. This study evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of tegaserod versus placebo in patients with IBS.

Methods: Patients with IBS (excluding those whose primary bowel symptom was diarrhoea) were randomized to receive either tegaserod 6 mg b.

Is an increased intestinal permeability a valid predictor of relapse in Crohn disease?

Background: An increased intestinal permeability (IP) may be a pathogenetic factor in Crohn disease (CD). Increases in IP could be an indicator of subclinical disease and precede clinical relapses. We examined whether an increased IP is a valid predictor of relapse in CD.

Characterization of a culturable "Gastrospirillum hominis" (Helicobacter heilmannii) strain isolated from human gastric mucosa.

Spiral organisms were isolated from an antral gastric mucosal biopsy specimen from a dyspeptic patient with gastritis. Only corkscrew-shaped organisms resembling "Gastrospirillum hominis" ("Helicobacter heilmannii") but no Helicobacter pylori-like organisms were seen in histological sections. H.

The diagnostic value of oesophageal radionuclide transit in patients admitted for but without acute myocardial infarction.

The use of radionuclide transit (RT) as a screening test for chest pain of oesophageal origin has been debated. The aim of this study was to determine the value of RT as a screening test for oesophageal disorders in comparison with oesophageal manometry in patients admitted with acute chest pain but without acute myocardial infarction (non-AMI patients), and to assess the frequency of oesophageal disease present in these patients. A total of 222 non-AMI patients entered the study.

The histopathology of human gastric mucosa inhabited by Helicobacter heilmannii-like (Gastrospirillum hominis) organisms, including the first culturable case.

The aim was to determine the prevalence of Helicobacter heilmannii-like organisms in human gastric biopsies and the associated histology compared with that of Helicobacter pylori-bearing gastric biopsies. Furthermore, the feasibility of culturing H. heilmannii was examined.

[The long-term prognosis of patients with acute chest pain of various origins].

A total of 204 patients with acute chest pain, but without myocardial infarction (non-AMI) were included. In 56 a definite diagnosis was obtained within 24-48 hours of admission. The remaining 148 patients underwent a comprehensive examination program.

Specific neutrophil hyporesponsiveness in chronic Helicobacter pylori infection.

The release from mucosal neutrophils of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is believed to be an important part of the pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis and duodenal ulcer. In this study, bacterial sonicates prepared from 1 reference and 29 patient strains were used to stimulate ROS release from peripheral blood neutrophils. In 29 H.

The diagnoses of patients admitted with acute chest pain but without myocardial infarction.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the frequencies of various diagnoses in patients admitted with acute chest pain, but without acute myocardial infarction, and to evaluate a non-invasive screening programme for these patients.

Patients: A total of 204 consecutive non-acute myocardial infarction patients were included. Fifty-six had a definite diagnosis within 48 h, whereas 148 patients underwent an examination programme including pulmonary scintigraphy, echocardiography, exercise electrocardiography, myocardial scintigraphy, Holter monitoring, hyperventilation test, oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy, 3 h monitoring of oesophageal pH, oesophageal manometry, Bernstein test, physical examination of the chest wall and thoracic spine, bronchial histamine provocation test and ultrasonic examination of the abdomen.

[Measurement of intestinal permeability].

The intestinal epithelium has the dual functions of being an absorptive organ and acting as a barrier to the permeation of potentially harmful compounds and organisms. The theory behind measurement of intestinal permeability in human studies as well as selected studies of intestinal permeability are presented. Intestinal permeability studies as diagnostic, prognostic, sequential and screening parameters are illuminated- and the importance of changed intestinal permeability in the pathogenesis and maintenance of disease is discussed.

Long-term risk of death, cardiac events and recurrent chest pain in patients with acute chest pain of different origin.

The purpose of the study was to describe the prognosis of patients with acute chest pain of different origin, but without myocardial infarction (non-AMI). A total of 204 patients were included. In 56, a definite diagnosis was obtained within 24-48 H of admission.

Localized tuberculosis of the oesophagus: a rare condition.

This report describes the case of a male patient with progressive dysphagia, epigastric pain, odynophagia, generalized weakness and a mid-oesophagus ulceration in which biopsies showed acid-fast bacilli and histological evidence of tuberculosis. Culture of the biopsies and the sputum revealed mycobacterium tuberculosis. There were no respiratory symptoms, and radiographs did not reveal evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Development of a PCR-based technique for detection of Helicobacter pylori.

A primer-set was designed for specific detection of genes that encode for 16S rRNA of Helicobacter pylori, using direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The primers were selected in the hypervariable regions, derived from a complete small subunit 16S rRNA sequence of the reference strain H. pylori CCUG 17874.

Effect of intravenous infusion of omeprazole and ranitidine on twenty-four-hour intragastric pH in patients with a history of duodenal ulcer.

The effect on intragastric pH of two different dose regimens of continuous intravenous infusion of omeprazole (4 or 8 mg/h after a bolus of 80 mg), and ranitidine (0.25 mg/kg/h after a bolus of 50 mg) was studied in 10 patients with duodenal ulcer disease in symptomatic remission. The pH was monitored over 24-hour periods during fasting in a cross-over, randomised design including a baseline period.

Treatment of severe obesity with a highly selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor as a supplement to a low calorie diet.

Inhibitors of serotonin (5HT) re-uptake have generally been successful in inducing modest but statistically significant weight reductions in clinical trials. Citalopram is a new, highly selective inhibitor of 5HT re-uptake. It is effective and safe in relieving major depression at doses up to 60 mg daily.

[Do pregnant women need supplementation of folic acid?].

Neutral tube defects (NTDs) occur at an incidence of about 0.01 per cent, and in Denmark 40-50 new cases are recorded annually. Although the metabolism of folic acid increases during pregnancy, the dietary supply is marginal.

Prevalence of antibodies against heat-stable antigens from Helicobacter pylori in patients with dyspeptic symptoms and normal persons.

Heat-stable antigens from Helicobacter pylori were investigated for the detection of serum IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies against H. pylori by an ELISA technique. Antibody titers against H.

[Acute recurrent chest pain originating in the esophagus. A review].

In half of the patients admitted for observation for acute myocardial infarction, this diagnosis is disproved. Gastro-oesophageal reflux and/or disturbances of oesophageal motility are the cause of the thoracic pain resulting in hospitalization in 16-34% of these patients. In 13-59% of the patients with chronic recurrent thoracic pain without demonstrable ischaemic cardiac disease (IHD), oesophageal disease is, similarly, considered to be the cause of the pain.

[Differential diagnosis in acute chest pain and suspected myocardial infarction. A pilot study].

In half of the patients admitted with chest pain on suspicion of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), this diagnosis is not confirmed (non-AMI). Both AMI and non-AMI patients have a mortality which exceeds the mortality of the background population in the years following discharge based on a high incidence of cardiac death. As a pilot investigation, a comprehensive investigation programme was tested in 32 consecutive non-AMI patients.

Effect of cisapride on relapse of reflux oesophagitis, healed with an antisecretory drug.

Maintenance treatment with cisapride was evaluated in 298 patients in whom reflux oesophagitis had been healed with antisecretory drugs. Initially, 34% of the patients had grade-I oesophagitis, 33% had grade II, and 33% had grade III. The patients were treated with 20 mg cisapride twice daily or placebo for 6 months or until endoscopic relapse was shown if this occurred earlier.

Sucralfate versus cimetidine in the treatment of reflux esophagitis, with special reference to the esophageal motor function.

Sixty patients entered a double-blind clinical trial comparing the effect of 1 g of sucralfate granulate given four times daily and cimetidine, 400 mg twice daily. Twenty-six patients treated with sucralfate and 26 treated with cimetidine were examined with short-term pH monitoring before and after 12 weeks of treatment. Thirty patients, 19 treated with cimetidine and 11 treated with sucralfate, had esophageal motility studied by a radionuclide test before and after 12 weeks of treatment.

The Helicobacter (Campylobacter) pylori-colonized duodenal mucosa and gastric metaplasia.

Biopsies were obtained from non-ulcerated sites of the duodenum from 100 dyspeptic patients. Helicobacter (Campylobacter) pylori was cultivated from 19 of these biopsies. Active chronic duodenitis (ACD) was found in 17 biopsies and more than 5% gastric metaplasia in 20 biopsies.