Effectiveness of first and second-line empirical treatment in Italy: Results of the European registry on Helicobacter pylori management.

Background And Aims: The optimal management of naïve and not naïve Helicobacter pylori patients remains unclear. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate whether the actual clinical practice mirrors the indications suggested by the guidelines. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and the safety of the empirical first- and second-line treatments prescribed to patients enroled at Italian centres participating in the European Registry on H.

Antimicrobial Efficacy of Five Probiotic Strains Against Helicobacter pylori.

Unlabelled: Treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a challenge for clinicians. The large increase in drug-resistant strains makes the formulation of new therapeutic strategies fundamental.

Power of screening tests for colorectal cancer enhanced by high levels of M2-PK in addition to FOBT.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multistep process that involves adenoma-carcinoma sequence. CRC can be prevented by routine screening, which can detect precancerous lesions. The aim of this study is to clarify whether faecal occult blood test (i-FOBT), tumor M2 pyruvate kinase (t-M2-PK), and endocannabinoid system molecules (cannabinoid receptors type 1-CB1, type 2-CB2, and fatty acid amide hydrolase-FAAH) might represent better diagnostic tools, alone or in combination, for an early diagnosis of CRC.

Neighborhood-level social processes and substantiated cases of child maltreatment.

Child maltreatment is a preventable public health problem. Research has demonstrated that neighborhood structural factors (e.g.

Actual concept of "probiotics": is it more functional to science or business?

It is our contention that the concept of a probiotic as a living bacterium providing unspecified health benefits is inhibiting the development and establishment of an evidence base for the growing field of pharmacobiotics. We believe this is due in part to the current regulatory framework, lack of a clear definition of a probiotic, the ease with which currently defined probiotics can be positioned in the market place, and the enormous profits earned for minimum investment in research. To avoid this, we believe the following two actions are mandatory: international guidelines by a forum of stakeholders made available to scientists and clinicians, patient organizations, and governments; public research funds made available to the scientific community for performing independent rigorous studies both at the preclinical and clinical levels.

The Effects of Two Novel Copper-Based Formulations on Helicobacter pylori.

We investigated the effects of two novel copper-based inorganic formulations for their activity against 60 isolates of Helicobacter pylori (Hp). The two copper-based formulations were tested against three NCTC Helicobacter pylori isolates and 57 clinical strains isolated from the UK and Italy in time-kill assays. Both copper-based formulations were bio-cidal against all Helicobacter pylori strains tested reducing the viable count by 4-5 log within 2 h.

High prevalence of primary antibiotic resistance in Helicobacter pylori isolates in Italy.

Background And Aims: H. pylori eradication with standard therapies is decreasing worldwide, mainly because of increased primary antibiotic resistance rates. We aimed to assess primary resistance in H.

Structural bacterial molecules as potential candidates for an evolution of the classical concept of probiotics.

A large number of experimental and clinical studies published in recent years have demonstrated the beneficial role of probiotic bacteria in the health of the host. However, because the different receptors of the innate immune system can recognize only specific bacterial molecular patterns, knowledge of the role played by individual probiotic molecular patterns is essential to move from the current confused era of live probiotic bacteria to the era of the pharmacobiotic strategies. This article reviews the current knowledge on the probiotic activities of bacterial structural molecules (nucleic acids and surface molecules), which represent the fundamental basis to set up experimental and clinical studies in this emerging field with very promising and potentially invaluable future prospects.

Clinical presentation and risk factors of inflammatory bowel disease in Sri Lanka.

Background And Aims: There have been very few studies on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Sri Lanka. This study was undertaken to determine the clinical presentation and whether a western style diet or infection with geo-helminths were associated with the condition.

Methods: Three questionnaires were given to the patients: one relating to diet, one relating to clinical presentation and one relating to quality of life.

Morphology of segmented filamentous bacteria and their patterns of contact with the follicle-associated epithelium of the mouse terminal ileum: implications for the relationship with the immune system.

Recent evidence indicates that segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB), "Candidatus Arthromitus", play a unique role in different aspects of the maturation of the immune system, including T cell responses. Thus, it seems particularly relevant in this moment to shortly review the information on these bacteria and their relationship with the immune system, and to actively investigate their morphological aspects. We distinguished a developmental form from a vegetative form of these organisms.

Long-term treatment of NZB mice with anti-CD4 results in wasting disease, lymphoid atrophy and chronic diarrhea.

In this paper, we have shown that long-term treatment of NZB mice with anti-CD4 antibody results in four major pathological effects: firstly the development of a severe wasting disease; secondly lymphoid atrophy of the thymus, spleen, mesenteric lymph node and Peyers patches (PP); thirdly, severe chronic ulcerative colitis and fourthly a neutrophilia with neutrophil infiltration in the spleen, liver and mesenteric lymph nodes. At the same time, mice subjected to anti-CD4 treatment showed a reduction in the microbial diversity in ileal walls and contents, as well as in colonic contents, together with overgrowth of E. coli in the intestinal lumen and wall.

Colonization by Helicobacter pylori of leprosy patients in Spain: immunomodulation to low molecular weight antigens of H. pylori.

We studied the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in patients with leprosy and the effects of co-infection on the immune response to Helicobacter antigens in the polar groups of leprosy (lepromatous and tuberculoid). We showed that there is no difference in the prevalence of H. pylori in patients with leprosy as compared to a non-leprosy population.

Cholera-like enterotoxins and Regulatory T cells.

Cholera toxin (CT) and the heat-labile enterotoxin of E. coli (LT), as well as their non toxic mutants, are potent mucosal adjuvants of immunization eliciting mucosal and systemic responses against unrelated co-administered antigens in experimental models and in humans (non toxic mutants). These enterotoxins are composed of two subunits, the A subunit, responsible for an ADP-ribosyl transferase activity and the B subunit, responsible for cell binding.

A comparison amongst three rapid urease tests to diagnose Helicobacter pylori infection in 375 consecutive dyspeptic.

Rapid diagnostic tools for Helicobacter pylori are important in endoscopy. To assess the accuracy of a new 5-min rapid urease test (UFT300, ABS Cernusco, sul Naviglio, Italy) compared with the 1-h Pyloritek (Serim Laboratories, Elkhart, IN) and the 24-h CLO test (Kimberly-Clark Ballard Medical Products, Roswell, GA), consecutive dyspeptic patients referred to our unit for endoscopy were prospectively studied. All patients underwent a 13C-urea-breath test, histology and the UFT300 (ABS; Cernusco, sul Naviglio, Italy).

A human domain antibody and Lewis b glycoconjugate that inhibit binding of Helicobacter pylori to Lewis b receptor and adhesion to human gastric epithelium.

Increasing antibiotic resistance has prompted development of alternative approaches to antimicrobial therapy, including blocking microbial adhesion to host receptors. The BabA adhesin of Helicobacter pylori binds to fucosylated blood group antigens, such as the Lewis(b) antigens in human primate gastric mucosa. We have isolated a human domain antibody specific for BabA that inhibits binding of BabA to Lewis(b) and prevents adhesion of H.