Leukocytes and creatinine may predict severity and guide management of ischemic colitis.

Background: Ischemic colitis (IC) is caused by a transient hypo-perfusion of the colon leading to mucosal ulcerations, inflammation, and hemorrhage. The primary aim was to identify predictive factors of endoscopic severity of IC. Secondary endpoints were to show epidemiology, clinical presentation, endoscopic findings, and outcomes of IC.

[Early Clinical Diagnosis of Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis: Case Series and Literature Review].

Autoimmune encephalitis refers to a group of pathologies described in the last two decades, characterized by neuropsychiatric symptoms of subacute presentation, mediated by antibodies directed against neuronal membrane proteins. Within this group, encephalitis mediated by antibodies against the NMDA receptor of glutamate is a particular clinical entity, given that its expression is dominated by psychiatric symptoms that usually occur at the onset of the disease. In this paper we describe five cases of NMDA encephalitis in adult patients followed up in the last four years in a public hospital in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Coronary atherosclerotic burden in patients with infection by CagA-positive strains of Helicobacter pylori.

Objectives: Cytotoxic associated gene-A (CagA)-positive strains of Helicobacter pylori emerged as a possible atherosclerotic stimulus. Nevertheless, whether CagA-positivity is associated with more extensive or severe atherosclerotic coronary burden has never been studied.

Methods: Forty consecutive patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and twenty consecutive patients with normal coronary arteries undergoing coronary angiography were enrolled.

[Helicobacter pylori and atherosclerosis. A review of the literature].

Several studies have investigated potential role of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Postulated mechanisms are various, even though results are still controversial. Here we propose an overview of actual knowledge about this topic, comparing studies in favour with those against the relationship between Hp and atherosclerosis.