Exploration of Cytokines and Microbiome Among Males and Females with Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Background: Whether pathophysiological factors differ between males and females with irritable bowel syndrome-diarrhea (IBS-D) remains to be tested. To better understand potential sex differences, males with IBS-D were compared to naturally cycling females and to females with IBS-D taking hormonal contraception on plasma levels of cytokines and gut microbiome characteristics.

Methods: Males and females with Rome III IBS-D completed questionnaires and kept a daily symptom diary for 28 days.

Intestinal Epithelial Serotonin as a Novel Target for Treating Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction and Mood.

Background & Aims: Mood disorders and disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) are highly prevalent, commonly comorbid, and lack fully effective therapies. Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are first-line pharmacological treatments for these disorders, they may impart adverse effects, including anxiety, anhedonia, dysmotility, and, in children exposed in utero, an increased risk of cognitive, mood, and gastrointestinal disorders. SSRIs act systemically to block the serotonin reuptake transporter and enhance serotonergic signaling in the brain, intestinal epithelium, and enteric neurons.

Comparison of the Bristol Stool Scale and Modified Version for Children: Use by Providers vs Children.

Introduction: Accurate report of stool form is essential to diagnosis and assessment of treatment response. The modified Bristol Stool Form Scale for Children (mBSFS-C) classifies stool form into 5 types and is reliable and valid. However, a direct comparison of provider's and children's ratings using the mBSFS-C vs the traditional BSFS that uses 7 stool form types has not been done.

CT-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy for the Treatment of Technically Challenging Oligometastatic Disease: A Case Report.

There is a growing interest in the application of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for the treatment of oligometastatic cancers. This increasing appeal of SBRT has highlighted the need for more sophisticated radiotherapy techniques that allow high doses of radiation to be delivered to multiple sites while limiting the exposure of neighboring healthy tissue. A major obstacle to achieving this aim has been the occurrence of interfraction target variability: the tendency of both the tumor and the surrounding tissue to undergo day-to-day non-synchronous shifts in position.