Altered Esophageal Mucosal Structure in Patients with Celiac Disease.

Background/Aim. Reflux symptoms (RS) are common in patients with celiac disease (CD), a chronic enteropathy that affects primarily the small intestine. We evaluated mucosal integrity and motility of the lower esophagus as mechanisms contributing to RS generation in patients with CD.

[Functional dyspepsia and the satiety test: its usefulness in clinical practice].

Introduction: According to the Rome III Criteria, functional dyspepsia (FD) is classified as postprandial distress syndrome (PDS) and epigastric pain syndrome (EPS). On the other hand, the satiety test (ST) has been used to evaluate gastric accommodation and emptying, distinguishing healthy individuals from those with dyspepsia.

Aims: To determine whether the ST can distinguish dyspeptic individuals from healthy ones and to evaluate its usefulness in differentiating the two FD subtypes.

[The Latin-American Consensus on Chronic Constipation].

The Latin-American Consensus on Chronic Constipation aimed to establish guidelines to improve the identification, diagnosis and treatment of this disorder in the region. Two coordinators and an honorary coordinator established the process and the topics to be discussed, based on a systematic review of the literature published in the previous 10 years, since 1995. Seventeen members participated with the support of their local gastroenterology societies.

[Diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm in functional dyspepsia].

Introduction: Dyspepsia is a word that means bad digestion. In the conviction of which it is a question of an entity that it includes different disciplines, we realize a meeting consensus to discuss and to resolve a diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm of national order.

Objective: To agree on a national algorithm applicable to the functional dyspepsia.

[Breath hydrogen levels do not predict fiber intolerance in irritable bowel syndrome with constipation].

Background: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is characterized by the worsening of symptoms with a high fiber diet. This intolerance could be related to an increase in colonic bacterial fermentation. The hydrogen breath test (HBT) is a marker of the intestinal micro flora fermentative capacity.

Audit of constipation in a gastroenterology referral center.

This study was designed to assess the various subtypes of functional constipation in a referral gastrointestinal center of a Latino-American country. All patients referred for evaluation of constipation during a 10-year period were audited, and those with functional constipation according to Rome I criteria classified by physiologic tests of colonic transit, as well as tests of anorectal and pelvic floor function. More than 70% of patients with functional constipation had evidence of pelvic floor dysfunction, whereas those with slow transit and constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome subtypes were less frequently represented.

Bio-feedback treatment of fecal incontinence: where are we, and where are we going?

Fecal incontinence is a disabling disease, often observed in young subjects, that may have devastating psycho-social consequences. In the last years, numerous evidences have been reported on the efficacy of bio-feedback techniques for the treatment of this disorder. Overall, the literature data claim a success rate in more than 70% of cases in the short term.

Interaction of human chagasic IgG with human colon muscarinic acetylcholine receptor: molecular and functional evidence.

Background And Aims: Gastrointestinal disorders is one of the clinical manifestations of chronic Chagas' disease. The pathogenesis seems to be associated with autonomic dysfunction. Here, we consider the muscarinic cholinoceptor mediated alteration in distal colon function in chagasic megacolon.

Functional implications of circulating muscarinic cholinergic receptor autoantibodies in chagasic patients with achalasia.

Background & Aims: Autoantibodies against M(2)-muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (M(2) mAChR) have been reported in patients with chronic Chagas' disease who have cardiac dysautonomia. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of such antibodies in chronic chagasic and non-chagasic patients with esophageal achalasia and their ability to activate M(2) mAChR in the isolated esophagus.

Methods: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect serum immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibodies against a synthetic 24-mer peptide corresponding to the second extracellular loop of human M(2) mAChR.

Colonic motility in man: features in normal subjects and in patients with chronic idiopathic constipation.

The human colon is still a relatively unknown viscus, especially concerning its motor activity. However, in recent years, techniques have been perfected that allow a better understanding of colonic motility, especially through prolonged recording periods. In this way, it has been demonstrated that the viscus contracts according to a circadian trend, is responsive to physiological stimuli (meals, sleep), and features high amplitude, propulsive contractions that are part of the complex dynamic of the defecatory process.

[Biofeedback: a simple and efficient method in the treatment of fecal incontinence].

Aim: To search in retrospectively and prospectively from the efficacy of biofeedback training in patients with fecal incontinence and to investigate the determinant factors of improvement of the patients.

Methods: The incontinent patients were evaluated in phases: I: In 37 subjects, 14 men and 23 women, aged between 13 and 82 years, biofeedback training was done, and the efficacy was determined retrospective form. II: In 14 patients, 2 men and 12 women, aged between 19 and 79 years, biofeedback training was done, and rectal balloon sensitivity, force of contraction and motor/sensitivity index were evaluated in prospective form before and after biofeedback training.

Acute effect of the gastrokinetics cisapride and metoclopramide on the gastric emptying function in patients with the early satiety syndrome.

Ten patients with postprandial upper abdominal discomfort, 4 of them having delayed gastric emptying, were included in a single-blind y camera study aimed at comparing the effects of cisapride and metoclopramide on gastric emptying. The two drugs were given sequentially, at a one-week interval, at a single oral dose of 10 mg, 15 minutes before intake of a labelled ordinary test meal. Applying a power exponential mathematical model to the y-camera data, T1/2 and the shape of the emptying curve were determined.