Diarrhoea of unknown cause: medical treatment in a stepwise manner.

The basic principle for the treatment of idiopathic diarrhoea (functional diarrhoea K59.1) is to delay transit through the gut in order to promote the absorption of electrolytes and water. Under mild conditions, bulking agents may suffice.

Loose ends in the differential diagnosis of IBS-like symptoms.

Two thirds of the patients we believed to have IBS in the 1970's have since been possible to diagnose with treatable conditions like bile acid diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, microscopic colitis, celiac disease, disaccharide malabsorption, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, or rare genetic variants. Despite advances in diagnostic techniques a substantial proportion of patients continue suffering from IBS-like symptoms that cannot be explained by current knowledge. Although it is likely that further research will reveal small but important subgroups of patients with treatable mechanisms for IBS-like symptoms, we propose that only two large groups remain for being addressed in the clinic: those with connective tissue disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorders and those with autism spectrum disorders.

[Pharmacological treatment of idiopathic diarrhea].

The basic principle for treatment of idiopathic diarrhea is to delay transit through the gut in order to promote absorption of electrolytes and water. Under mild conditions bulking agents may suffice. With increasing severity, antidiarrheal pharmaceuticals may be added in a stepwise manner.

Randomised clinical trial and meta-analysis: mesalazine treatment in irritable bowel syndrome-effects on gastrointestinal symptoms and rectal biomarkers of immune activity.

Background: Low-grade immune activation in the gut is a potential treatment target in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Aims: To determine improvement in IBS symptoms after mesalazine treatment, and the utility of measures of immune activity in the rectal mucosa METHODS: This was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm, multicentre trial in subjects with IBS (Rome III criteria), with an eight-week treatment period of mesalazine 2400 mg or plcebo once-daily. The primary endpoint was the global assessment of satisfactory relief of IBS symptoms in ≥50% of weeks during intervention.

High prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome cannot be attributed to pancreatic exocrine insufficiency.

Introduction: Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) results in maldigestion of fat, leading to steatorrhea, malabsorption and weight loss. Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune rheumatic disease with unknown etiology. The exocrine pancreas and the salivary glands are functionally and histologically comparable, and pancreatic dysfunction in SS has been hypothesized.

[Significant over- and misuse of PPIs].

PPIs (Proton-pump inhibitors) offers the best treatment for acid related diseases. The predominant indications for PPI prescription are: GERD eradication of H. pylori-infection in combination with antibiotics H.

Quantification of mucosal EEC in jejunum. A comparative study of IBS patients and healthy controls.

Enteroendocrine cells (EEC) have been suggested to have a role in the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Although many studies have analysed possible numeric changes of EEC in IBS, the results differ between different studies. One reason might be due to difficulties in standardising the morphometric method.

Pseudo-obstruction, enteric dysmotility and irritable bowel syndrome.

New diagnostic techniques have advanced our knowledge about the irritable bowel syndrome. The majority of patients that we believed to have a psychosomatic disorder have received other diagnoses explaining their symptoms. Endoscopy makes it possible to diagnose celiac disease before it leads to malnutrition and allows the detection of microscopic colitis as a cause of watery diarrhea.

Efficacy of Gastric Electrical Stimulation for Gastroparesis: US/European Comparison.

Background: Gastric electrical stimulation (GES) is used in both the US and Europe, but little research has investigated the demographics of gastroparesis patients receiving GES by geographic location.

Methods: We compared data from 380 patients, 296 female and 84 males, mean age 42 years, 246 idiopathic (ID), 107 diabetic (DM), and 27 post-surgical (PS). The statistical significance was calculated by Chi-square test and a P-value obtained for ID, DM, and PS.

Female-Specific Association Between Variants on Chromosome 9 and Self-Reported Diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Background & Aims: Genetic factors are believed to affect risk for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but there have been no sufficiently powered and adequately sized studies. To identify DNA variants associated with IBS risk, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the large UK Biobank population-based cohort, which includes genotype and health data from 500,000 participants.

Methods: We studied 7,287,191 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms in individuals who self-reported a doctor's diagnosis of IBS (cases; n = 9576) compared to the remainder of the cohort (controls; n = 336,499) (mean age of study subjects, 40-69 years).

Increased Prevalence of Rare Sucrase-isomaltase Pathogenic Variants in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients.

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often associate their symptoms to certain foods. In congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (CSID), recessive mutations in the SI gene (coding for the disaccharidase digesting sucrose and 60% of dietary starch) cause clinical features of IBS through colonic accumulation of undigested carbohydrates, triggering bowel symptoms. Hence, in a previous study, we hypothesized that CSID variants reducing SI enzymatic activity may contribute to development of IBS symptoms.

miR-16 and miR-103 impact 5-HT receptor signalling and correlate with symptom profile in irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gut-brain disorder involving alterations in intestinal sensitivity and motility. Serotonin 5-HT receptors are promising candidates in IBS pathophysiology since they regulate gut motor function and stool consistency, and targeted 5-HTR selective drug intervention has been proven beneficial in subgroups of patients. We identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (rs201253747) c.

Increased Expression of Toll-Like Receptors 4, 5, and 9 in Small Bowel Mucosa from Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The aim of our study was to compare patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy controls regarding the expression of toll-like receptors 2, 4, 5, and 9 (TLR2, TLR4, TLR5, and TLR9), the primary mucosal receptors of bacterial components, in small and large bowel mucosa. We analysed biopsies from jejunum and sigmoid colon of 22 patients (17 females) with IBS aged 18-66 (median: 39) years and 14 healthy volunteers (12 females) aged 22-61 (median: 42) years. Eight patients had constipation-predominant IBS (C-IBS), 7 had diarrhoea-predominant IBS (D-IBS), and 7 had IBS without predominance of constipation or diarrhoea.

Functional variants in the sucrase-isomaltase gene associate with increased risk of irritable bowel syndrome.

Objective: IBS is a common gut disorder of uncertain pathogenesis. Among other factors, genetics and certain foods are proposed to contribute. Congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (CSID) is a rare genetic form of disaccharide malabsorption characterised by diarrhoea, abdominal pain and bloating, which are features common to IBS.

Fundamentals of Neurogastroenterology: Physiology/Motility - Sensation.

The fundamental gastrointestinal functions include motility, sensation, absorption, secretion, digestion and intestinal barrier function. Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients normally occurs without conscious perception. Symptoms of functional gastrointestinal disorders are often triggered by meal intake suggesting abnormalities in the physiological processes are involved in the generation of symptoms.

[Motility-recording capsule simplifies gastrointestinal examination. Safe diagnostics in motility disorders].

The wireless motility-recording capsule, "SmartPill", is an ingested one-time use electronic capsule that measures gastrointestinal luminal pressure, pH and temperature along the whole gastrointestinal tract. The pH profile and the pressure patterns define the time at which the capsule moves from the stomach to the duodenum and from the ileum to the caecum, whereas changes in temperature define the times of ingestion and expulsion. The recordings from the wireless motility capsule are sent from a radio transmitter in the capsule to a receiver carried around the waist.

Mutations in histone modulators are associated with prolonged survival during azacitidine therapy.

Early therapeutic decision-making is crucial in patients with higher-risk MDS. We evaluated the impact of clinical parameters and mutational profiles in 134 consecutive patients treated with azacitidine using a combined cohort from Karolinska University Hospital (n=89) and from King's College Hospital, London (n=45). While neither clinical parameters nor mutations had a significant impact on response rate, both karyotype and mutational profile were strongly associated with survival from the start of treatment.

No difference in small bowel microbiota between patients with irritable bowel syndrome and healthy controls.

Several studies have indicated that colonic microbiota may exhibit important differences between patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy controls. Less is known about the microbiota of the small bowel. We used massive parallel sequencing to explore the composition of small bowel mucosa-associated microbiota in patients with IBS and healthy controls.

Mutations in RAD21 disrupt regulation of APOB in patients with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.

Background & Aims: Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is characterized by severe intestinal dysmotility that mimics a mechanical subocclusion with no evidence of gut obstruction. We searched for genetic variants associated with CIPO to increase our understanding of its pathogenesis and to identify potential biomarkers.

Methods: We performed whole-exome sequencing of genomic DNA from patients with familial CIPO syndrome.

Low-dose budesonide for maintenance of clinical remission in collagenous colitis: a randomised, placebo-controlled, 12-month trial.

Objective: This 1-year study aimed to assess low-dose budesonide therapy for maintenance of clinical remission in patients with collagenous colitis.

Design: A prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled study beginning with an 8-week open-label induction phase in which patients with histologically confirmed active collagenous colitis received budesonide (Budenofalk, 9 mg/day initially, tapered to 4.5 mg/day), after which 92 patients in clinical remission were randomised to budesonide (mean dose 4.