Occult radiological sacroiliac abnormalities in patients with inflammatory bowel disease who do not present signs or symptoms of axial spondylitis.

Objectives: To investigate radiological sacroiliac abnormalities in IBD patients without musculoskeletal symptoms and to determine the clinical and familiar differences between IBD patients with and without radiologic sacroiliac joint (SIJ) abnormalities. Subsequently, the patients with x-ray alterations were followed for 3 years in order to assess the onset of chronic inflammatory back pain (IBP).

Methods: 81 patients (55 Crohn-CD- and 26 ulcerative rettocolitis-UC) with remittent and low active IBD, from a tertiary referral centre of Gastroenterology Unit, were studied using SIJ x-rays.

Adalimumab in active ulcerative colitis: a "real-life" observational study.

Background And Aims: The effectiveness of adalimumab in the treatment of ulcerative colitis is under debate. Although controlled trials have shown that adalimumab is significantly better than placebo, the absolute clinical benefit is modest. We report data on the effectiveness of adalimumab in a cohort of ulcerative colitis patients treated in 22 Italian centres.

Ultrasound discloses entheseal involvement in inactive and low active inflammatory bowel disease without clinical signs and symptoms of spondyloarthropathy.

Objective: To investigate the presence of lower limb entheseal abnormalities in IBD patients without clinical signs and symptoms of SpA and their correlation with IBD clinical variables.

Methods: A total of 81 IBD patients [55 Crohn's disease (CD) and 26 ulcerative colitis (UC), 43 females and 38 males, mean age 41.3 (12.

Adherence to a healthful life attenuates lipid parameters among a healthy Italian population.

Background And Aim: During the last 5 years, an increasing body of evidence on the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), calculated through specific diet scores, and health status have been accumulated, but limited data are available regarding the association between MD scores and biomarkers. Similarly, many studies have demonstrated a significant protection against chronic diseases from a global healthy lifestyle (HL) pattern which includes not only dietary habits but also physical activity and abstinence from smoking, whereas few data regarding the influence of a HL pattern on circulating biomarkers are available. Using the framework of an epidemiological study conducted in Florence, Italy between 2002 and 2004 we evaluated the association between two different scores (a score of adherence to the MD and a score of adherence to a healthful life which includes abstinence from smoking and a moderate-to-high physical activity level) and some circulating parameters linked to chronic diseases.

Prolonged n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation ameliorates hepatic steatosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a pilot study.

Background: Recent studies suggest a role of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha ligands in improving non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rodents. However, data in humans are still lacking.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of prolonged PUFA supplementation in patients with NAFLD.