Gallstones: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment.

Gallstones are common and affect up to 20% of the general adult population and >20% of them will develop symptoms or complications of cholelithiasis. The high risk of gallbladder stone formation can be reduced by ursodeoxycholic acid in the case of significant weight reduction resulting from diet or bariatric surgery. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is indicated for symptomatic gallstones, as the risk of recurrence or complications increases over the course of the disease.

Anastomotic leak in colorectal surgery: are 75 % preventable?

Introduction: Anastomotic leak (AL) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality associated with complications of colorectal surgery. Furthermore, AL results in prolonged hospital stays and significant increase in costs of medical resources.

Materials And Methods: In this study, we investigated the impact of anastomosis technique on the rate of anastomotic leak.

A randomised, double-blind trial comparing budesonide formulations and dosages for short-term treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of two different budesonide formulations (effervescent tablet for orodispersible use (BET) and viscous suspension (BVS)) with different daily dosages for short-term treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE).

Design: Adults with active EoE (n=76) randomly received 14 days' treatment with either BET 2×1 mg/day (BET1, n=19) or BET 2×2 mg/day (BET2, n=19), or BVS 2×5 mL (0.4 mg/mL)/day (BVS, n=19) or placebo (n=19) in a double-blind, double-dummy fashion, with a 2-week follow-up.

Genetic susceptibility to hepatoxicity due to bosentan treatment in pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Hepatotoxicity is a major side effect of treatment with bosentan in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Bosentan is metabolized by the cytochrome CYP2C9 and inhibits the bile salt export pump, which is encoded by ABCB11. This suggests that genetic variants of CYP2C9 and/or ABCB11 may predispose patients to bosentan-induced liver injury.

Serum adiponectin and progranulin levels are associated with gallstone disease.

Background/aim: Aberrant adipokine serum concentrations are associated with a variety of obesity-related diseases. This study was designed to investigate the putative role of the adipokines adiponectin, chemerin, progranulin, vaspin, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (AFABP) in gallstone disease.

Methods: Serum levels of adiponectin, chemerin, progranulin, vaspin, FGF21 and AFABP of 189 gallstone patients and 833 healthy controls were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.