ID15A at the ESRF - a beamline for high speed operando X-ray diffraction, diffraction tomography and total scattering.

ID15A is a newly refurbished beamline at the ESRF devoted to operando and time-resolved diffraction and imaging, total scattering and diffraction computed tomography. The beamline is optimized for rapid alternation between the different techniques during a single operando experiment in order to collect complementary data on working systems. The high available energy (up to 120 keV) means that even bulky and highly absorbing systems may be studied.

Oesophageal motor and sensitivity abnormalities in non-obstructive dysphagia.

Objectives: To evaluate oesophageal sensitivity to balloon distension in patients with non-obstructive dysphagia (NOD), and to determine its relationship with the motility pattern in response to food ingestion.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-one healthy volunteers and 19 consecutive patients complaining of NOD with normal standard manometry were included. An oesophageal sensitivity test was carried out before the manometry study with liquid and solid swallows.

Central processing of rectal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: an fMRI study.

Objectives: In healthy subjects, the neural correlates of visceral pain bear much similarity with the correlates of somatic pain. In patients with irritable bowel syndrome, the central nervous system is believed to play a strong modulatory or etiological role in the pathophysiology of the disease. We hypothesize that this role must be reflected in aberrations of central functional responses to noxious visceral stimulation in these patients.

Relationship between acid reflux episodes and gastroesophageal reflux symptoms is very inconstant.

In this prospective study 244 consecutive patients presenting with typical and chronic signs of gastroesophageal reflux were included. Conventional 24-hr esophageal pH monitoring was carried out to establish the symptom association probability, the concordance index, and the symptom sensitivity index. The symptom association probability could be calculated in 110 patients (45%).

A malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumour in a patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.

Loss of heterozygosity for polymorphic markers flanking the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) gene in parathyroid and pancreatic islet tumours from subjects with MEN-1 has been well documented and has led to the hypothesis that the MEN-1 gene functions as a recessive tumour suppressor gene. We report a case of MEN-1 with duodeno-pancreatic gastrinoma, parathyroid hyperplasia, pituitary adenoma, adrenal adenoma, and lipomas, whose rare association with a malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) represents an undescribed combination. MEN-1 mutation in this family was shown as a frameshift (1607delA) in exon 10.

Is argon plasma coagulation an efficient treatment for digestive system vascular malformation and radiation proctitis?

Background And Aims: Argon beam coagulation is an innovative no-touch electrocoagulation technique in which high-frequency monopolar alternating current is delivered to the tissue through ionized argon gas. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of argon plasma coagulation (APC) for the treatment of hemorrhagic digestive vascular malformations and hemorrhagic radiation proctosigmoiditis.

Methods And Patients: From March 1998 through April 1999, we used endoscopic APC (ERBE, Lyon, France, argon gas source ICC 300, high-frequency electrosurgical generator ICC 200, gas flow 1 L/min, power setting 50 W) to treat 39 consecutive patients (mean age 70.

Central processing of rectal pain: a functional MR imaging study.

Background And Purpose: Although the central processing of somatic pain has been dealt with in numerous brain imaging studies, the neural correlates of visceral pain have received much more limited attention. Our goal was to assess the feasibility of detecting brain activation patterns induced by rectal pain by means of functional MR imaging. We hypothesized that the cerebral processing of rectal pain would exhibit strong similarities with the central processing of somatic pain.

[Are self-expanding metallic esophageal prostheses an effective treatment for malignant stenosis of the esophagus? A prospective study of 32 cases].

Unlabelled: The treatment of esophageal carcinoma is frequently palliative. The aims of this prospective study were to evaluate the functional results of covered self expanding esophageal metal stents in patients with malignant obstruction of the esophagus and to compare two models of stent.

Patients And Methods: From April 1994 to August 1996, 32 patients were treated with 35 metal stents (Cook Z Stent Wilson Cook: n = 21; Ultraflex Boston Scientific: n = 14).