Fecal luminal factors from patients with irritable bowel syndrome induce distinct gene expression of colonoids.

Background: Alteration of the host-microbiota cross talk at the intestinal barrier may participate in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Therefore, we aimed to determine effects of fecal luminal factors from IBS patients on the colonic epithelium using colonoids.

Methods: Colon-derived organoid monolayers, colonoids, generated from a healthy subject, underwent stimulation with fecal supernatants from healthy subjects and IBS patients with predominant diarrhea, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), or lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Evidence of altered mucosa-associated and fecal microbiota composition in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Altered bacterial composition and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) may be associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This study aimed to determine the fecal and mucosa-associated bacterial composition along the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and to assess SIBO in IBS. Bacterial composition of feces, and mucosa of the duodenum and sigmoid colon was determined by 16S rRNA-amplicon-sequencing.

Colonic mast cell numbers, symptom profile, and mucosal expression of elements of the epithelial barrier in irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: This study aimed to determine whether patients with IBS displayed altered mucosal mast cell (MC) numbers and proportions of MCs co-localizing with nerves compared with healthy subjects (HS) and whether these MC characteristics correlated with IBS symptoms, elements of the epithelial barrier, or visceral sensitivity.

Methods: Mucosal MC characteristics were determined using immunoassay. IBS symptoms, gene expression of elements of the epithelial barrier, fecal serine protease activity, and visceral sensitivity were assessed.

Early-Life Human Microbiota Associated With Childhood Allergy Promotes the T Helper 17 Axis in Mice.

The intestinal microbiota influences immune maturation during childhood, and is implicated in early-life allergy development. However, to directly study intestinal microbes and gut immune responses in infants is difficult. To investigate how different types of early-life gut microbiota affect immune development, we collected fecal samples from children with different allergic heredity (AH) and inoculated germ-free mice.

NLRC4 expression in intestinal epithelial cells mediates protection against an enteric pathogen.

The inflammasomes have an important role in connecting the detection of endogenous and microbial danger signals to caspase-1 activation and induction of protective immune responses. NLRC4 is a cytosolic NOD (nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain)-like receptor (NLR) that can trigger inflammasome formation in response to bacterial flagellin, an immunodominant antigen in the intestine. To characterize the role of NLRC4 in bacterially triggered intestinal inflammation, we used the murine pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, an extracellular, attaching/effacing bacterium similar to enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and enteropathogenic E.

Nuclear expression of mu-opioid receptors in a human mesothelial cell line.

1 Possibly acting via mu-opioid receptors (MORs), morphine inhibits the formation of experimentally induced postoperative abdominal adhesions in rats. Mesothelial cells may participate in adhesion formation by secreting mediators that interfere negatively with fibrinolysis. Morphine may prevent adhesions by inhibiting the release of pro-adhesion mediators from mesothelial cells.

Expression of the endogenous, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ligand, SLURP-1, in human colon cancer.

1. Secreted mammalian Ly-6/urokinase plasminogen activator receptor-related protein-1 (SLURP-1) is a recently discovered endogenous ligand at the alpha7 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Previous reports have shown that SLURP-1 is expressed in normal human keratinocytes seemingly with a pro-apoptotic function.

Post-thrombotic syndrome, recurrence, and death 10 years after the first episode of venous thromboembolism treated with warfarin for 6 weeks or 6 months.

Background: The influence of the duration of anticoagulant therapy after venous thromboembolism (VTE) on the long-term morbidity and mortality is unclear.

Aim: To investigate the long-term sequelae of VTE in patients randomized to different duration of secondary prophylaxis.

Methods: In a multicenter trial comparing secondary prophylaxis with vitamin K antagonists for 6 weeks or 6 months, we extended the originally planned 2 years follow-up to 10 years.

The duration of oral anticoagulant therapy after a second episode of venous thromboembolism. The Duration of Anticoagulation Trial Study Group.

Background: A consensus has not been reached about the optimal duration of oral anticoagulant therapy after a second episode of venous thromboembolism.

Methods: In a multicenter trial, we compared six months of oral anticoagulant therapy with anticoagulant therapy continued indefinitely in patients who had had a second episode of venous thromboembolism. Of 227 patients enrolled, 111 were randomly assigned to six months of anticoagulation and 116 were assigned to receive anticoagulant therapy indefinitely; for both groups, the target international normalized ratio was 2.

Bile reflux to the stomach and gastritis before and after cholecystectomy.

Thirty-four patients with gallstone disease were examined with cholescintigraphy and gastroscopy before and after cholecystectomy. Sixteen patients had a functioning and 23 a non-functioning gallbladder at cholescintigraphy. At scintigraphy 99Tcm-activity was found over the gastric fundus in 28% before and in 22% after cholecystectomy and there was no difference between the groups with and without a functioning gallbladder regarding bile reflux.

Clinical and biochemical effects of spironolactone administered once daily in primary hypertension. Multicenter Sweden study.

In a prospective, double-blind, intraindividual, cross-over, placebo-controlled multicenter study, clinical and biochemical effects of once daily postprandial dose regimens of 50, 100, and 200 mg spironolactone were investigated in 45 outpatients with primary hypertension, WHO (World Health Organization) Stage I-II. Each of the three active therapy periods, which were randomly allocated to patients, were of 2 months' duration, with intervening placebo periods, Clinical and biochemical parameters, including furosemide-stimulated plasma renin activity (PRA), were recorded at regular intervals. All three spironolactone doses resulted in statistically significant blood pressure (BP) reductions independent of initial pretreatment levels and yielded satisfactory BP control in more than half of the patients.

Scintigraphic studies of uterine and placental growth and placental migration during pregnancy.

Placental scintigraphy with 113mIn (Indium) combined with cervical marking with a shielded 57Co (Cobalt) radioactive source was used to study uterine and placental growth in human pregnancy and placental location and migration in a total of 176 patients. Uterine length measurements can be used for selecting growth retarded fetuses. There was an approximately constant ratio between placenta diameter and uterine length (0.

Studies on subclinical hypothyroidism with special reference to the serum lipid pattern.

Subclinical hypothyroidism is an example of the impact of technology on the concept of a disease. It denotes a condition in which laboratory findings, at least including a raised serum thyrotropin (s-TSH), indicate hypothyroidism in the absence of clinical signs or symptoms of this disease. One reason for attention to cases of subclinical hypothyroidism is the publication of reports, from the time before introduction of the s-TSH assay, that hypercholesterolaemia precedes other evidence of thyroid failure with attendant risks of ischaemic heart disease and other atherosclerotic manifestations.

Scintigraphic examination of aneurysms of abdominal aorta and iliac arteries.

The use of a radionuclide (99Tcm-pertechnetate) for the diagnosis of aortic and iliac aneurysms is described. The method is rapid, harmless for the patient and is performed without puncture of arteries. The extent of the aneurysm and the perfusion of the kidneys can be visualized.