Evaluation of Escherichia coli pathotypes associated with irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects 10%-20% of people. Increased numbers of Escherichia coli (E. coli) correlate with symptoms, and patients respond to antimicrobials targeting E.

Chemotactic chemokines are important in the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most frequently diagnosed disorders, affecting about 20% of the general population in Western countries. This syndrome poses an enormous socio-economic burden, impairs the quality of life substantially, and increases healthcare costs. IBS can be classified as either idiopathic (ID-IBS) with unknown etiology or post-infectious (PI-IBS), which develops after a bout of acute diarrhea or gastroenteritis.

Motility abnormalities in irritable bowel syndrome.

Background/aims: The intestinal pathophysiology in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is largely unknown. The lactulose breath test has been used to identify small bowel bacterial overgrowth in these patients.

Methods: We studied intestinal transit in patients with IBS using of the SmartPill® (SP) wireless pH/pressure recording capsule and performed lactulose breath tests to look for physiologic abnormalities.

Evaluation of the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index and enhanced liver fibrosis tests to detect significant fibrosis due to chronic hepatitis C.

Background: The assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C patients is important for prognosis and making decisions regarding antiviral treatment. Although liver biopsy is considered the reference standard for assessing hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C, it is invasive and associated with sampling and interobserver variability. Serum fibrosis markers have been utilized as surrogates for a liver biopsy.

Biomarker discovery for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis C-infected patients.

Chronic hepatic disease damages the liver, and the resulting wound-healing process leads to liver fibrosis and the subsequent development of cirrhosis. The leading cause of hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis is infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and of the patients with HCV-induced cirrhosis, 2% to 5% develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with a survival rate of 7%. HCC is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide, and the poor survival rate is largely due to late-stage diagnosis, which makes successful intervention difficult, if not impossible.

Perforating granulomatous dermatitis reaction to exogenous tattoo pigment: a case report and review of the literature.

: The majority of cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions to exogenous tattoo pigments can be histologically classified as lichenoid or granulomatous. The etiology is still uncertain but is generally accepted to be a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to either the pigment itself or its carrier solution. In this report, we review the literature concerning adverse reactions to tattoos.

Time course of collagen peak in bile duct-ligated rats.

Background: One of the most useful experimental fibrogenesis models is the "bile duct-ligated rats". Our aim was to investigate the quantitative hepatic collagen content by two different methods during the different stages of hepatic fibrosis in bile duct-ligated rats on a weekly basis. We questioned whether the 1-wk or 4-wk bile duct-ligated model is suitable in animal fibrogenesis trials.

Role of simple biomarkers in predicting fibrosis progression in HCV infection.

Aim: To examine the accuracy of the aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) and FIB-4, in predicting longitudinal changes in liver histology in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients.

Methods: Patients that underwent repeat liver biopsies at least 1 year apart from 1999 to 2007 were identified. Liver fibrosis was staged on needle core biopsies evaluated by a single expert liver pathologist.

Non-invasive index of liver fibrosis induced by alcohol, thioacetamide and Schistosomal infection in mice.

Background: Non invasive approaches will likely be increasing utilized to assess liver fibrosis. This work provides a new non invasive index to predict liver fibrosis induced in mice.

Methods: Fibrosis was generated by thioacetamide (TAA), chronic intake of ethanol, or infection with S.

Visualizing hepatitis C virus infections in human liver by two-photon microscopy.

Background & Aims: Although hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a common cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer, efforts to understand the pathogenesis of HCV infection have been limited by the low abundance of viral proteins expressed within the liver, which hinders the detection of infected cells in situ. This study evaluated the ability of advanced optical imaging techniques to determine the extent and distribution of HCV-infected cells within the liver.

Methods: We combined 2-photon microscopy with virus-specific, fluorescent, semiconductor quantum dot probes to determine the proportion of hepatocytes that were infected with virus in frozen sections of liver tissue obtained from patients with chronic HCV infection.

Hepatocellular carcinoma prevalence and mortality in a male state prison population.

Objectives: The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the United States has increased dramatically over the last two decades, largely because of an increase in the number of people with advanced hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. U.S.

Chronic hepatitis C is a common associated with hepatic granulomas.

Aim: To determine the most frequent etiologies of hepatic epithelioid granulomas, and whether there was an association with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Methods: Both a retrospective review of the pathology database of liver biopsies at our institution from 1996 through 2006 as well as data from a prospective study of hepatic fibrosis markers and liver biopsies from 2003 to 2006 were reviewed to identify cases of hepatic epithelioid granulomas. Appropriate charts, liver biopsy slides, and laboratory data were reviewed to determine all possible associations.

Non-invasive markers of hepatic fibrosis in patients co-infected with HCV and HIV: comparison of the APRI and FIB-4 index.

Introduction: The APRI and FIB-4 index are markers that have been proposed for the evaluation of hepatic fibrosis in patients co-infected with HIV and HCV.

Methods: We retrospectively compared these 2 indices in 81 co-infected patients staged by liver biopsy.

Results: The FIB-4 index was superior to the APRI for the differentiation of mild from significant fibrosis in both predictive values and area under the receiver operator curve (AUROC).

Prevalence of Barrett's esophagus in patients with or without GERD symptoms: role of race, age, and gender.

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is associated with a significantly increased risk of Barrett's esophagus (BE) and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. Racial differences in the prevalence of BE are controversial. Our purpose was to study the prevalence of Barrett's esophagus in patients with and without gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms, and the differences between these two groups in terms of race, age, and sex.

The APRI may be enhanced by the use of the FIBROSpect II in the estimation of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C.

Background: Multiple serum markers to estimate hepatic fibrosis in chronic liver disease have been proposed. The AST/Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) is a simple biochemical index that has been shown to be useful and accurate in about 50% of patients with chronic hepatitis C. We determined if the combination of the APRI and the FIBROSpect II, a commercially available hepatic fibrosis marker that measures 3 components of the extracellular hepatic matrix, would further help distinguish mild from significant fibrosis in a group of patients with chronic hepatitis C.

APRI: an easy and validated predictor of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C.

Goals: To evaluate the aspartate aminotransferase/platelet ratio index (APRI) as a predictor of the presence or absence of significant fibrosis on liver biopsy of patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV).

Background: The decision to treat HCV is often made on the basis of the presence or absence of significant fibrosis on the liver biopsy. Because liver biopsy is expensive and invasive a noninvasive marker to evaluate hepatic fibrosis would be useful.

Delayed type IV muscle flap in a feline model.

The concept of delaying a skin flap is well established and has been implemented into plastic surgery practice for years. Some investigators have delayed musculocutaneous flaps to improve the perforator inflow. To our knowledge, the concept of delaying a muscle flap had previously never been tested in a model with segmental pedicles.

The incidence of tuberous breast deformity in asymmetric and symmetric mammaplasty patients.

Background: Breast asymmetry is commonly accompanied by tuberous deformity. To date, no study has reported the incidence of this breast deformity in the presence of asymmetry. A retrospective analysis of standard preoperative photographs was performed on 375 consecutive female patients presenting for mammaplasty over a 10-year span.

Scrotal and penile reconstruction using the vacuum-assisted closure device.

Fournier's gangrene is a necrotizing, soft tissue infection that spreads along the deep external fascial planes of the perineum, scrotum (or vagina), penis, thighs and lower abdomen. Due to the rapid progression of the disease, patients are frequently left with a large integumentary deficit. Treatment of the skin defect has been described in a multitude of ways including split-thickness skin grafting, burying the testes in the thighs, thigh flaps and a variety of myocutaneous and fasciocutaneous flaps.

Experimental nonsurgical tattoo removal in a guinea pig model with topical imiquimod and tretinoin.

Background: Tattoo removal is a common request in dermatologic surgery practices. Conventional tattoo removal modalities consist of mechanical, chemical, and thermal methods, but these interventions may result in undesirable dermal damage, disfiguring scars, and pigmentary changes.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of topical imiquimod and tretinoin for the removal of tattoos in a guinea pig model.