[Transgastric-, transhepatic endosonography-guided biliary drainage (EUCD) in a patient with locally advanced cholangiocarcinoma].

We report on a 63-year-old female patient with locally advanced cholangiocarcinoma of the extrahepatic biliary tract. She was admitted with progressive obstructive jaundice, initiating cholangitis and distinctive itching. The biliodigestive anastomosis was secondarily barred by tumour infiltration and not accessible via an endoscopic route.

The -174G>C IL-6 gene promoter polymorphism and diabetic microvascular complications.

This study examined a possible association of the G>C polymorphism at nucleotide -174 in the promoter region of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene (rs1800795) with the prevalence of diabetic complications in 235 patients with type 1 and 498 patients with type 2 diabetes. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent cleavage by Nla III restriction endonuclease. Analyzing all diabetic patients together demonstrated that 301 patients (41.

Revolutionary advances in organic foods.

'Organic' is a labelling term that denotes products produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act. Before a product can be labelled 'organic', a government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.

A M55V polymorphism in the SUMO4 gene is associated with a reduced prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in patients with Type 1 diabetes.

Aims: We studied the association between a functionally relevant M55V polymorphism in the SUMO4 gene with microvascular diabetic complications in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Methods: 223 patients with type 1 diabetes were studied using polymerase chain reaction and subsequent cleavage by restriction endonucleases for the M55V SUMO4 gene variant.

Results: No effect of the polymorphism on diabetic neuropathy or diabetic nephropathy was found, but heterozygous or homozygous patients for the M55V polymorphism in the SUMO4 gene had a markedly reduced prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (odds ratio 0.

Improved vascular function upon pioglitazone treatment in type 2 diabetes is not associated with changes in mononuclear NF-kappaB binding activity.

Thiazolidinediones such as pioglitazone have been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects independent of their insulin sensitizing effects by reducing activation of the proinflammatory transcription factor NF-kappaB in animal models of experimental diabetes. Furthermore, short-term pioglitazone treatment ameliorates endothelial dysfunction in conduit arteries of patients with type 2 diabetes. Since inflammation is supposed to impair flow-mediated vasodilatation, we studied the effects of an 8-week pioglitazone intervention on endothelial function and mononuclear NF-kappaB activation in patients with type 2 diabetes.