Publications by authors named "Omar Feres"

Background: The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) disk is a simple and quick method to assess the level of disability experienced by patients with IBD. It has been already translated and validated in European countries, however it was not yet translated and validated to use in Brazil.

Objective: This study was performed to translate and validate a Brazilian version of the IBD-Disk.

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Tumor hypoxia may compromise the results of chemotherapy for treating colorectal cancer because it stimulates angiogenesis and the release of tumor growth factors. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) supplementation may potentiate the effects of chemotherapy in such cases. This study aimed to assess the effect of HBO therapy combined with chemotherapy on the treatment of colorectal cancer in mice.

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  • A study was conducted in Brazil to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab (UST) in treating ulcerative colitis (UC), a condition with limited real-world data in Latin America.
  • The research included 50 patients with moderate-to-severe UC, focusing on their clinical and endoscopic remission after one year of UST treatment; 50% achieved clinical remission, while 36% achieved endoscopic remission.
  • The safety profile revealed that 20% of patients were hospitalized and 18% discontinued the drug mainly due to lack of effectiveness, but the treatment persistence rate at 24 months was 73.7%.
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Purpose: To evaluate patient characteristics and factors associated with surgical resection in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

Methods: An analysis was performed on data from 295 patients with CD in follow-up from 2001 to 2018. Medical record data comprised age, gender, location, behavior and duration of the CD, smoking, and extraintestinal manifestation.

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Although perianal Crohn's disease (PCD) is highly associated with the exacerbated inflammation, the molecular basis and immunological signature that distinguish patients who present a history of perianal lesions are still unclear. This paper aims to define immunological characteristics related to PCD. In this cross-sectional observational study, we enrolled 20 healthy controls and 39 CD patients.

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  • The Brazilian Organization for Crohn's Disease and Colitis (GEDIIB) created a national registry to study factors linked to the severity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) among Brazilian patients.
  • The study included 1,179 patients, primarily diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's Disease (CD), and found that many had extensive disease, with a significant portion needing biologic treatments.
  • Factors like age, disease extent, and certain complications increased the severity of IBD, particularly for those with extensive colitis or specific disease behaviors.
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Background: Sex-determined differences are rarely addressed in the management of diseases, despite well-known contrasting outcomes between female and male patients. In COVID-19 there is a remarkable disparity, with higher rates of mortality and more severe acute disease in men compared to women, who are mostly affected by long COVID-19. Furthermore, whether androgens play a protective or detrimental role in COVID-19 is still a matter of debate.

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SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers distinct patterns of disease development characterized by significant alterations in host regulatory responses. Severe cases exhibit profound lung inflammation and systemic repercussions. Remarkably, critically ill patients display a "lipid storm", influencing the inflammatory process and tissue damage.

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Introduction: with the improvement and wide acceptance of laparoscopy in colorectal operations, there was a need for specific training of surgeons in training. There are few studies evaluating the postoperative results of laparoscopic colectomies performed by resident physicians and their impact on patient safety.

Purpose: to analyze the surgical and oncological results of laparoscopic colectomies performed by coloproctology residents and compare them with data in the literature.

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  • This study examines cases of leukocytoclastic vasculitis (LCV) linked to anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), highlighting it as a rare complication.
  • Out of 2442 assessed IBD patients, five (0.6%) were identified with LCV, mainly affecting women aged around 32 who were on anti-TNF medications like adalimumab.
  • The study emphasizes the importance of recognizing unexplained skin rashes as potential signs of LCV in IBD patients on anti-TNF therapy, as treatment with oral steroids led to complete remission in all cases.
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  • Brazilian patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) often rely on the National Unified Health Care System (SUS) for access to high-cost biological medications, but their experiences vary regarding availability and quality of provision.
  • A survey involving 205 patients revealed that a significant majority experienced issues such as medication shortages, with over 83% reporting at least one failed delivery in the past year.
  • Many patients faced considerable delays in receiving their medications, which they believed negatively impacted their treatment, highlighting systemic issues within the public health care framework in Brazil.
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  • COVID-19 triggers an abnormal immune response, leading to significant attention on glucocorticoids (GCs) for treatment due to their ability to inhibit inflammation.
  • A study with 200 COVID-19 patients revealed that the severity of the disease affects the production of endocannabinoids and platelet-activating factor (PAF), linking increased endocannabinoid levels to higher inflammatory markers.
  • GCs were found to modify lipid pathways by reducing PAF levels and increasing production of 2-AG, suggesting they may have additional protective effects by regulating these lipid mediators in COVID-19.
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  • Higher serum concentrations of Adalimumab (ADA), an anti-TNF-α agent, may contribute to sustained treatment efficacy in Crohn's disease (CD), while low levels might lead to loss of response.
  • A multicentric study involving 89 CD patients on ADA for over 24 weeks found no significant differences in serum ADA levels between those with active disease and those in remission, either clinically or endoscopically.
  • Mean serum ADA concentrations were slightly lower in patients with active disease (10.2 μg/mL clinically; 11.3 μg/mL endoscopically) compared to those in remission (14.3 μg/mL clinically; 14.5 μg/mL end
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COVID-19 has a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations associated with the host immune response heterogeneity. Despite the advances in COVID-19 research, it is still crucial to seek a panel of molecular markers that enable accurate stratification of COVID-19 patients. Here, we performed a study that combined analysis of blood transcriptome, demographic data, clinical aspects and laboratory findings from 66 participants classified into different degrees of COVID-19 severity and healthy subjects.

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Objective:  The purpose was to assess the rates of postoperative complications and the need of temporary stoma of laparoscopic surgical treatment for bowel endometriosis in a referral center.

Methods:  The surgical indication, type of operation, operative time, length of hospital stay, need for a temporary stoma, rate of conversion to open surgery, postoperative complications were evaluated.

Results:  One-hundred and fifty patients were included.

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Background: Data related to SARS-CoV-2 exposure rates in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are scarce. Objective - Our aim was to determine the prevalence of serological markers of SARS-Cov-2 and the predictive factors for positivity in patients with IBD.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, observational study carried out from May to September 2020.

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Lipid and cholinergic mediators are inflammatory regulators, but their role in the immunopathology of COVID-19 is still unclear. Here, we used human blood and tracheal aspirate (TA) to investigate whether acetylcholine (Ach), fatty acids (FAs), and their derived lipid mediators (LMs) are associated with COVID-19 severity. First, we analyzed the perturbation profile induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection in the transcriptional profile of genes related to the ACh and FA/LM pathways.

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Patients with COVID-19 predominantly have a respiratory tract infection and acute lung failure is the most severe complication. While the molecular basis of SARS-CoV-2 immunopathology is still unknown, it is well established that lung infection is associated with hyper-inflammation and tissue damage. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) contribute to tissue destruction in many pathological situations, and the activity of MMPs in the lung leads to the release of bioactive mediators with inflammatory properties.

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Background: This study aims to determine whether risk factors at the time of diagnosis that are found to be predictive of proximal dis- ease extension in ulcerative proctitis (UP) occur in a cohort of Brazilian patients.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of data from 97 patients (67% female) with UP (Montreal classification: E1) with at least 12 months of follow-up who were admitted to the Ribeirão Preto Medical School IBD referral center between January 2001 and December 2018. Proximal disease extension, which was defined as E1 progressing to E3 (pancolitis), was evaluated endoscopically during follow-up.

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Background: The effectiveness of ustekinumab (UST) in the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) has been demonstrated in the pivotal Phase 3 UNITI 1 and 2 and IM-UNITI studies in both anti-TNF-naïve and anti-TNF-exposed patients. Given the selective nature of pivotal trial designs, real-world effectiveness and safety studies are warranted. We report our experience with UST treatment in a large, real-world multicenter cohort of Brazilian patients with CD.

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Uncontrolled inflammatory responses play a critical role in coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In this context, because the triggering-receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1) is considered an intrinsic amplifier of inflammatory signals, this study investigated the role of soluble TREM-1 (sTREM-1) as a biomarker of the severity and mortality of COVID-19. Based on their clinical scores, we enrolled COVID-19 positive patients ( = 237) classified into mild, moderate, severe, and critical groups.

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Few patients with slow-transit constipation refractory to conservative treatment can benefit with a subtotal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis with the preservation of the superior rectal artery. In this letter to the editor some important issues were discussed. First, the study did not include a comparison group.

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Background: Recent studies have shown that endoscopy fellows can perform colonoscopy effectively and safely. However, little is known about the performance of surgical residents without prior knowledge of endoscopic techniques.

Objective: To assess whether quality indicators were met at an outpatient endoscopy center and whether surgical residents, without prior upper or lower endoscopy skills, could perform colonoscopy adequately.

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