Endoscopic Band Ligation of Bleeding Duodenal Varices.

Ectopic variceal bleeding is an uncommon cause of gastrointestinal bleeding and carries a high mortality. Management depends on provider comfort and resource availability as treatment guidelines are lacking due to the infrequent occurrence of bleeding ectopic varices. We present a case of a middle-aged woman who presented with melena and anemia requiring transfusion.

Effects of Euhaplorchis californiensis (Trematoda) infection on metallic ions in the host snail Cerithidea californica (Gastropoda).

Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and ion chromatography were used to study the metallic ions in the digestive gland-gonad complex (DGG) of Cerithidea californica snails infected with the daughter rediae and cercariae of Euhaplorchis californiensis and in uninfected DGGs. Seven metals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc) were found to be present in infected and uninfected DGGs at concentrations above the minimum levels required for detection. Of these, calcium was present in significantly higher amounts (Student's t-test, confidence level of 95%) in the infected versus uninfected DGGs; magnesium occurred in significantly lower amounts in the infected DGGs.