A Pilot Study of the Effect of Aloe barbadensis Mill. Extract (AVH200®) in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

Background And Aims: Few effective treatment options exist for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and many patients state the use of aloe vera products reduce their symptoms. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of Aloe barbadensis Mill. Extract (AVH200®) in adult patients with IBS in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study.

Are the definitions for chronic diarrhoea adequate? Evaluation of two different definitions in patients with chronic diarrhoea.

Background: The classical definition of chronic diarrhoea is ≥3 defecations/day, with a stool weight of more than 200 g and duration of ≥4 weeks. However, with this definition many patients with substantial symptoms and pathology will be excluded from further investigations. As a consequence other definitions have been proposed, mainly based on evaluation of the stool form.

Diet low in FODMAPs reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome as well as traditional dietary advice: a randomized controlled trial.

Background & Aims: A diet with reduced content of fermentable short-chain carbohydrates (fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides, and polyols [FODMAPs]) has been reported to be effective in the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, there is no evidence of its superiority to traditional dietary advice for these patients. We compared the effects of a diet low in FODMAPs with traditional dietary advice in a randomized controlled trial of patients with IBS.

The severity of inflammation at onset of ulcerative colitis is not associated with IBS-like symptoms during clinical remission.

Background And Aims: Symptoms compatible with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are common in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical remission. It has been suggested that these symptoms might arise due to post-inflammatory changes comparable with post-infectious IBS. The aim was to study factors at new onset of UC that predict development of IBS-like symptoms during clinical remission.

Nurse-Administered, Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy in IBS: Efficacy and Factors Predicting a Positive Response.

Hypnotherapy is an effective treatment in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It is often delivered by a psychotherapist and is costly and time consuming. Nurse-administered hypnotherapy could increase availability and reduce costs.

Deviations in human gut microbiota: a novel diagnostic test for determining dysbiosis in patients with IBS or IBD.

Background: Dysbiosis is associated with many diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), obesity and diabetes. Potential clinical impact of imbalance in the intestinal microbiota suggests need for new standardised diagnostic methods to facilitate microbiome profiling.

Aim: To develop and validate a novel diagnostic test using faecal samples to profile the intestinal microbiota and identify and characterise dysbiosis.

Gut microbiota as potential orchestrators of irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a multifactorial functional disorder with no clearly defined etiology or pathophysiology. Modern culture-independent techniques have improved the understanding of the gut microbiota's composition and demonstrated that an altered gut microbiota profile might be found in at least some subgroups of IBS patients. Research on IBS from a microbial perspective is gaining momentum and advancing.

More similarities than differences between men and women with irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: Differences regarding symptoms, coping abilities, and quality of life (QOL) between men and women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have been reported but data are sparse and sometimes conflicting. The aim of present study was to investigate gender differences in gastrointestinal, extra-intestinal, and psychological symptoms, and sense of coherence (SOC) and QOL in a large group of patients diagnosed with IBS.

Methods: We analyzed questionnaire data from 557 patients (152 men) diagnosed with IBS consecutively included in studies at an outpatient clinic for functional bowel disorders between 2002 and 2010.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of long-term treatment with prucalopride.

Background: Randomized trials have confirmed the efficacy of prucalopride for the treatment of chronic constipation up to 12 weeks. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of prucalopride over a 24-week period (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01424228).

Gastrointestinal motility and neurogastroenterology.

Nordic research on gastrointestinal motility has since 1965 made substantial contributions to our current understanding of gastrointestinal function. During the last decade, the term neurogastroenterology has widened the concept of motility research into the study of gastrointestinal sensory-motor function, including the complex central nervous system interaction. The discovery of a non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) innervation of the gut in the sixties was made by considerable contributions from the Nordic countries with the Martinson group in Sweden as central innovators.

Fifteen years' experience of intestinal and multivisceral transplantation in the Nordic countries.

Objective: Intestinal and multivisceral transplantation have gained acceptance as treatment modalities for patients with: intestinal failure and life-threatening complications of parenteral nutrition (PN), rare cases of vascular abdominal catastrophes and selected cases of low-grade neoplastic tumors such as neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors and desmoids involving the mesenteric root. The aim was to describe the survival and nutritional outcome in the transplanted Nordic patients and the complications attributed to this procedure.

Method: The authors included all Nordic patients transplanted between January 1998 and December 2013.

Crosstalk at the mucosal border: importance of the gut microenvironment in IBS.

The aetiology and pathology of IBS, a functional bowel disorder thought to lack an organic cause, is largely unknown. However, studies suggest that various features, such as altered composition of the gut microbiota, together with increased intestinal permeability, a changed balance in the enteroendocrine system and a dysregulated immune system in the gut, most likely have an important role in IBS. Exactly how these entities act together and give rise to symptoms is still unknown, but an altered gut microbiota composition could lead to dysregulation of the intestinal barrier as well as the enteroendocrine and the immune systems, which (through interactions with the nervous system) might generate symptoms.

Allergy-related diseases and recurrent abdominal pain during childhood - a birth cohort study.

Background: Allergy and immune dysregulation may have a role in the pathophysiology of recurrent abdominal pain of functional origin, but previous studies of allergy-related diseases and abdominal pain have contradictory results.

Aim: To examine the association between allergy-related diseases or sensitisation during childhood and abdominal pain at age 12 years.

Methods: In this birth cohort study of 4089 children, parents answered questionnaires regarding asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema and food hypersensitivity ('allergy-related diseases') at ages 0,1,2,4,8 and 12 years.

Exploring the genetics of irritable bowel syndrome: a GWA study in the general population and replication in multinational case-control cohorts.

Objective: IBS shows genetic predisposition, but adequately powered gene-hunting efforts have been scarce so far. We sought to identify true IBS genetic risk factors by means of genome-wide association (GWA) and independent replication studies.

Design: We conducted a GWA study (GWAS) of IBS in a general population sample of 11,326 Swedish twins.

The Short Health Scale: A Simple, Valid, Reliable, and Responsive Way of Measuring Subjective Health in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Goals: To evaluate validity, reliability, and responsiveness of the Short Health Scale (SHS) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients.

Background: Subjective health assessment is central when treating patients with IBS. The "Short Health Scale" is a quick 4-item questionnaire covering most aspects of subjective health that has been validated for inflammatory bowel disease.

Rectal sensitivity in diabetes patients with symptoms of gastroparesis.

In a clinical setting, diabetic autonomic complications (cardiac, gastrointestinal, urogenital, etc.) are often handled as separate entities. We investigated rectal sensitivity to heat, mechanical distension, and electrical stimulations in 20 patients with diabetes and symptoms of gastroparesis, to evaluate the extent of visceral neuronal damage.

Efficacy and safety of PPC-5650 on experimental rectal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

PPC-5650 is a new pharmacological agent that can modulate acid-sensing ion channel activity, leading to a reduction in the pain signal under up-regulated conditions. The non-clinical programme for PPC-5650 supported a role for this novel agent in the treatment of pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In patients with IBS, the aims of the study were: (1) to assess the efficacy of a single bolus of PPC-5650 locally applied in the rectum using multi-modal stimulations of the recto sigmoid and (2) to assess the safety profile of PPC-5650.

Factors affecting satisfaction with treatment in European women with chronic constipation: An internet survey.

Background: Data on factors affecting treatment satisfaction in European women with chronic constipation are limited.

Objective: To assess factors associated with treatment satisfaction among European women with chronic constipation.

Methods: A 2011-2012 internet survey was conducted in men and women from 12 European countries.

Symptom pattern following a meal challenge test in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and healthy controls.

Background: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often complain of worsening of symptoms after meal intake. Meal challenge tests have previously been used to study symptoms and pathophysiology in functional dyspepsia.

Objective: The objective of this article is to evaluate differences in gastrointestinal (GI) symptom response to a standardized meal test in IBS compared to healthy controls.

Hot topics in gut microbiota.

The study of gut microbiota is a rapidly moving field of research, and the impact of gut microbial communities on human health is widely perceived as one of the most exciting advancements in biomedicine in recent years. The gut microbiota plays a key role in digestion, metabolism and immune function, and has widespread impact beyond the gastrointestinal tract. Changes in the biodiversity of the gut microbiota are associated with far reaching consequences on host health and development.

Postprandial plasma glucose response and gastrointestinal symptom severity in patients with diabetic gastroparesis.

Gastroparesis is a well-known diabetic complication. The pathogenesis is not fully understood. However, it is important to early diagnose these patients.