VSL#3 induces and maintains short-term clinical response in patients with active microscopic colitis: a two-phase randomised clinical trial.

Background: The probiotic mixture VSL#3 has proven efficacious in inflammatory bowel diseases and irritable bowel syndrome; however, its efficacy in microscopic colitis (MC) is being investigated.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a multistrain probiotic, VSL#3, in inducing clinical remission and achieving clinical response, as compared with mesalamine, in patients with active MC.

Methods: A randomised, open labelled study comparing the efficacy of 900 billion colony-forming units/day of VSL#3 (group (Gp) A) or 1.

Induction with NCB-02 (curcumin) enema for mild-to-moderate distal ulcerative colitis - a randomized, placebo-controlled, pilot study.

Background And Aims: Curcumin, an active ingredient of turmeric with anti-inflammatory properties, has been demonstrated to be useful in experimental models of ulcerative colitis (UC). It's efficacy in humans needs to be investigated.

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, single-centre pilot trial was conducted in patients with distal UC (<25 cm involvement) and mild-to-moderate disease activity.

Facial diagnosis of mild and variant CdLS: Insights from a dysmorphologist survey.

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a dominant disorder with classic severe forms and milder atypical variants. Central to making the diagnosis is identification of diagnostic facial features. With the recognition that patients with SMC1A and SMC3 mutations have milder, atypical features, we surveyed 65 dysmorphologists using facial photographs from 32 CdLS patients with the goals of (1) Illustrating examples of milder patients with SMC1A mutations and (2) Obtaining objective data to determine which facial features were useful and misleading in making a diagnosis of CdLS.