A comparison of different symptomatic reflux esophagitis treatments: A real-world study.

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are currently the reference drugs for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but symptoms often recur after their withdrawal. Moreover, whether prokinetics or barrier drugs used alongside PPIs are more effective remains under debate.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of different therapeutic approaches to GERD treatment.

PPIs and gastric cancer: any causal relationship?

Hydrochloric acid is crucial in gastric physiology. In 1978 cimetidine, the first H2 antagonist of histamine receptors on the gastric parietal cell was introduced into therapy, inducing acid. Lasting the years, several studies focused on the potential relationship between inducing hypo-achlorhydria and risk of developing gastric cancer.

Burning mouth syndrome and Reflux Disease: relationship and clinical implications.

Background And Aim: An association between reflux and burning mouth syndrome (BMS) has been proposed. Aims of this study were: 1) to investigate the frequency of BMS in a sample of GERD patients; 2) to measure G17, in a sample of BMS patients; 3) to assess the efficacy of different therapeutical schedules for GERD in BMS patients.

Methods: We divided the study in 3 main steps.

A non-invasive combined strategy to improve the appropriateness of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Background and aim Increasing the appropriateness of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE) improves the quality of care while containing costs. The aim of this study was to improve the appropriateness of UGIE through a process involving evaluation of prescriptions and the use of a non-invasive alternative. Materials and methods A senior endoscopist evaluated the appropriateness of all outpatient referrals for UGIE and established the proper timing.

Recovery of gastric function in patients affected by chronic atrophic gastritis using l-cysteine (Acetium®): one year survey in comparison with a control group.

Background And Aim: Chronic Atrophic Gastritis (CAG) is a precancerous condition for gastric cancer (GC) as single risk factor, being a consequence of a previous Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection or based on autoimmune mechanisms. Achlorhydria plays an important role towards the formation of a class I carcinogen, acetaldehyde, after food intake. L-cysteine has been claimed to be able to bind in a covalent way acetaldehyde when administered at means.

Barrett's esophagus: results from an Italian cohort with tight endoscopic surveillance.

Background And Aim: Barrett's Esophagus represents a condition that predisposes to the development of esophageal adenocarcinoma. The aim of the present study was to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with BE, to establish the presence of risk factors for this condition, and to determine the frequency of dysplastic lesions as well as the evolution towards adenocarcinoma under tight endoscopic control.

Methods: In this study, we retrospectively collected and analyzed data from a cohort of patients with Barrett's Esophagus identified through endoscopic records of ULSS7 in Northern Italy, who underwent upper esophagogastroduodenoscopy over a 10-year period from July 2008 to December 2020.

Pepsinogen II in gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection.

Background And Aim: In the gastric mucosa, pepsinogen II (PgII) is produced/secreted by glands in the mucus-secreting antral and cardia compartments, but also by the chief cells and the oxyntic glands. Increasing PgII serum levels are associated with the whole spectrum of gastric inflammatory diseases, including gastritis induced by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).

Abnormal Levels of Pepsinogen I and Gastrin 17 in a case of Ménétrier Disease.

Background And Aim: We describe a case of Ménétrier disease, occurred in female patient.

Methods: We decide to assess by non-invasive way (serum pepsinogens and gastrin 17) the secretory status of gastric mucosa, to confirm previous data of the literature, claiming high levels of both acid secretion and hypergastrinemia in this rare pathological condition.

Results And Conclusion: We find in the subject the highest values of pepsinogen 1 - a marker of acid secretion - never described in the literature to our knowledge: 1940 mcg/L, being normal values ranging from 30-160 mcg/L.

Low Levels of Gastrin 17 are Related with Endoscopic Findings of Esophagitis and Typical Symptoms of GERD.

Background And Aims: In clinical practice, most patients with symptoms suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) undergo esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (EGD), despite its low sensitivity in detecting reflux stigmata. Gastrin 17 (G-17) has been proposed to be related with GERD, due to the negative feedback between acid secretion and this hormone. We assessed the clinical usefulness of fasting G-17 serum determination for a non-invasive diagnosis of GERD in patients with typical symptoms.

Functional Dyspesia.

Dyspepsia is a functional GI disorder consisting in a wide range of symptoms. The main diagnostic challenge has been whether to perform an EGD or an abdominal US in order not to miss organic lesions, but to avoid unnecessary and sometimes invasive tests. Pepsinogen serology has been proposed as an useful non-invasive test to explore the status of the gastric mucosa, suggesting this strategy as an adequate approach in management of dyspepsia.

Modulating Ligand Dissociation through Methyl Isomerism in Accessory Sites: Binding of Retinol to Cellular Carriers.

Due to the poor aqueous solubility of retinoids, evolution has tuned their binding to cellular proteins to address specialized physiological roles by modulating uptake, storage, and delivery to specific targets. With the aim to disentangle the structure-function relationships in these proteins and disclose clues for engineering selective carriers, the binding mechanism of the two most abundant retinol-binding isoforms was explored by using enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulations and surface plasmon resonance. The distinctive dynamics of the entry portal site in the species was crucial to modulate retinol dissociation.

Non-invasive method for the assessment of gastric acid secretion.

Methods for the measure of gastric acid secretion include invasive and non-invasive tests. The gold-standard to measure the acid output is the collection of gastric after in basal condition (Basal Acid Output, B.A.

Relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and GERD.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is due to the chronic exposure of the esophageal mucosa to acid secretion from the stomach. Helicobacter pylori (H.p.

¹H, ¹⁵N, and ¹³C resonance assignment of cerato-populin, a fungal PAMP from Ceratocystis populicola.

Plant pathogenic fungi secrete several non-catalytic proteins involved in various aspects of the pathogenesis process. Amongst these, cerato-populin (Pop1) produced by Ceratocystis populicola; a protein orthologous of cerato-platanin (CP), the core member of the CP family. These two proteins interact with host and non-host plants.

New insights on the protein-ligand interaction differences between the two primary cellular retinol carriers.

The main retinol carriers in the cytosol are the cellular retinol-binding proteins types I and II (CRBP-I and CRBP-II), which exhibit distinct tissue distributions. They play different roles in the maintenance of vitamin A homeostasis and feature a 100-fold difference in retinol affinity whose origin has not been described in detail. NMR-based hydrogen/deuterium exchange measurements show that, while retinol binding endows both proteins with a more rigid structure, many amide protons exchange much faster in CRBP-II than in CRBP-I in both apo and holo form, despite the conserved three-dimensional fold.

Unfolding studies of tissue transglutaminase.

Activation of tissue transglutaminase by calcium involves a conformational change which allows exposition of the active site to the substrate via movements of domains 3 and 4 that lead to an increase of the inter-domain distance. The inhibitor GTP counteracts these changes. Here we investigate the possible existence of non-native conformational states still compatible with the enzyme activity produced by chemical and thermal perturbations.

Retinol modulates site-specific mobility of apo-cellular retinol-binding protein to promote ligand binding.

A fundamental question in protein science is how the inherent dynamics of a protein influence its function. If this function involves interactions with a ligand, the protein-ligand encounter has the potential to modulate the protein dynamics. This study reveals how site-specific mobility can be modulated by the ligand to facilitate high affinity binding.

Stereospecific assignments of protein NMR resonances based on the tertiary structure and 2D/3D NOE data.

In many cases of protein structure determination by NMR a high-quality structure is required. An important contribution to structural precision is stereospecific assignment of magnetically nonequivalent prochiral methylene and methyl groups, eliminating the need for introducing pseudoatoms and pseudoatom corrections in distance restraint lists. Here, we introduce the stereospecific assignment program that uses the resonance assignment, a preliminary 3D structure and 2D and/or 3D nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy peak lists for stereospecific assignment.

Probing the pH-dependent structural features of alpha-KTx12.1, a potassium channel blocker from the scorpion Tityus serrulatus.

Potassium channels are widespread in living cells and are involved in many diseases. The scorpion toxin alpha-KTx(12.1) interacts with various K(+) channels, suggesting its capacity to match diverse channel pores.

Introduction of a chemical constraint in a short peptide derived from human acidic fibroblast growth factor elicits mitogenic structural determinants.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are regulatory proteins associated with a number of physiological and pathological states. On the basis of data suggesting a functional role for specific regions of human acidic FGF (aFGF), a linear peptide encompassing residues 99-108 (peptide1) and its cyclic analogue (peptide 2) were synthesized and their functional and structural features were investigated. While peptide 1 is inactive on Balb/c 3T3 fibroblasts, peptide 2 is mitogenic with ED(50) of approximately 50 microM.

Conformational features of a synthetic model of the first extracellular loop of the angiotensin II AT1A receptor.

The angiotensin II AT1A receptor belongs to the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Like other membrane proteins, GPCRs are not easily amenable to direct structure determination by the currently available methods. The peptide encompassing the putative first extracellular loop of AT1A (residues Thr88-Leu100, el1) has been synthesized along with a cyclic model where the linear peptide has been covalently linked to a template designed to keep the distance between the peptide termini as expected in the receptor.

Solution structure of crotamine, a Na+ channel affecting toxin from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom.

Crotamine is a component of the venom of the snake Crotalus durissus terrificus and it belongs to the myotoxin protein family. It is a 42 amino acid toxin cross-linked by three disulfide bridges and characterized by a mild toxicity (LD50 = 820 micro g per 25 g body weight, i.p.