Histological diversity of anti-PD1-induced colitis.

Aim: Histological data on anti-PD1-associated colitis are limited, while the colitis subtypes are still not clearly defined and different terms are being used. The aim of the study was to explore the histopathology of anti-PD1-induced colitis.

Methods And Results: Colonic biopsies from 9 patients under anti-PD1 agents presenting diarrhea were examined.

Assessment of first-line eradication treatment in Greece: data from the European Registry on management (Hp-EuReg).

Background: ( is the most common chronic bacterial infection. Its management has to rely on local effectiveness, given the geographical variability of bacterial antibiotic resistance. We evaluated treatment effectiveness in naïve patients in Greece, as part of the European Registry on the management of (Hp-EuReg).

Effect of golimumab on health-related quality of life, other patient-reported outcomes and healthcare resource utilization in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis: a real-world multicenter, noninterventional, observational study in Greece.

Background And Aims: This real-world study assessed the impact of golimumab on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and other patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with ulcerative colitis over 12 months in Greece.

Methods: GO-LIFE was a noninterventional, prospective, multicenter, 12-month study. Patients who had moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis were naïve to antitumor necrosis factor (anti-TNFα) therapy and had failed previous conventional therapy.

Significant reduction in the visits to the emergency room department during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary hospital in Greece: Indirect victims of the pandemic?

COVID-19 pandemic caused a major crisis, affecting and straining health care systems, including some very advanced ones. The pandemic may have also indirectly affected access to health care for patients with other conditions, not related to COVID-19, even in countries not overwhelmed by an outbreak.We analyzed and compared visits to the emergency room (ER) department during the same calendar period of 2019 and 2020 (from March 1 to March 31 of each year) in our hospital, a medium size, tertiary center, located in the center of Athens, which is not a referral center for COVID-19.

Comparison of the Uptake of Screening Colonoscopy between Physicians and the General Population in Greece.

Aim: To evaluate the uptake of screening colonoscopy among physicians as compared to the general population.

Methods: Asymptomatic physicians, aged 45-67 years, at average risk for colorectal cancer (CRC), working in the participating National Health System hospitals were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding the uptake of screening colonoscopy. The results were compared to those in a background healthy population, aged 50-75 years, inhabitants of a Greek county, who were offered a free access to a screening colonoscopy program for CRC.

Prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection among hospitalized inflammatory bowel disease patients in Greece.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an independent risk factor for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), which is associated significantly with disease severity. We aimed to determine the rates of CDI among hospitalized IBD patients in major tertiary referral hospitals in Greece.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective analysis was carried out of stool cultures from hospitalized patients investigated for diarrhea, during 2016, tested for CDI with glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and toxins A and B.

A new genetic variant of hereditary apolipoprotein A-I amyloidosis: a case-report followed by discussion of diagnostic challenges and therapeutic options.

Background: Hereditary amyloidosis refers to a wide spectrum of rare diseases with different causative mutations in the genes of various proteins including transthyretin, apolipoprotein AI and AII, gelsolin, lysozyme, cystatin C, fibrinogen Aα-chain, β2-microglobulin, apolipoprotein CII and CIII.

Case Presentation: Among hereditary amyloidosis subtypes, we describe here a specific case of Apolipoprotein AI amyloidosis (AApoAI), where the diagnosis began from an almost asymptomatic hepatomegaly followed by the development of primary hypogonadism. Baseline laboratory tests showed increased liver enzymes, while imaging tests revealed a suspected infiltrative liver disease.

Randomized clinical trial comparing ten day concomitant and sequential therapies for Helicobacter pylori eradication in a high clarithromycin resistance area.

Background: Currently only a few studies compare sequential and concomitant non-bismuth Helicobacter pylori therapies referring to high antibiotic resistance populations.

Materials And Methods: This multicenter prospective randomized clinical trial included 353 H. pylori positive, treatment naïve, patients.

Untreated newly diagnosed essential hypertension is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a population of a hypertensive center.

Purpose: Recent studies have demonstrated that hypertension (HTN) is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in treated hypertensive patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between newly diagnosed essential HTN and NAFLD in untreated hypertensive patients.

Patients And Methods: A consecutive series of 240 subjects (143 hypertensives and 97 normotensives), aged 30-80 years, without diabetes mellitus were enrolled in the study.

Synchronous cytomegalovirus and Clostridium difficile infection of the pouch: a trigger for chronic pouchitis?

Pouchitis occurs in up to one half of patients after restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Clostridium difficile are among the commonest secondary identifiable etiologies. A 17-year-old male with ulcerative colitis underwent IPAA due to refractory disease.

Inflammatory infiltration of metaplastic epithelium and correlation to previous diagnosis of esophagitis and Barrett's length.

Objective: The contact of the gastric refluxate with the lower esophagus results in an inflammatory-mediated tissue damage. The role of inflammation both in the development and in the advance of Barrett's esophagus (BE) has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to assess the inflammatory infiltration in metaplastic Barrett's epithelium and to explore the association of microscopic inflammation to healed esophagitis and Barrett's length.

Differential expression of the TL1A/DcR3 system of TNF/TNFR-like proteins in large vs. small intestinal Crohn's disease.

Background: TNF-like cytokine 1A provides co-stimulatory signals to activated lymphocytes through binding to death-domain receptor-3. Decoy receptor-3 inhibits death-domain receptor-3 signalling, rendering immunocytes resistant to apoptosis. These functions may be important for the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease.

High intestinal and systemic levels of decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) and its ligand TL1A in active ulcerative colitis.

Decoy receptor-3 (DcR3) is a member of the TNF receptor superfamily of proteins, which has been implicated in anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory pathways, via binding to TL1A, LIGHT and Fas-L. The role of the TL1A/DcR3 ligand/receptor pair in ulcerative colitis (UC) has not been studied. We investigated the systemic (peripheral blood) and local (large intestine) expression of DcR3 and TL1A in 64 patients with UC and 56 healthy controls.

CagA and VacA polymorphisms are associated with distinct pathological features in Helicobacter pylori-infected adults with peptic ulcer and non-peptic ulcer disease.

Polymorphic variability in Helicobacter pylori factors CagA and VacA contributes to bacterial virulence. The presence of one CagA EPIYA-C site is an independent risk factor for gastroduodenal ulceration (odds ratio [OR], 4.647; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.

Patients with duodenal ulcer have lower levels of serum cholesterol compared to other dyspeptic patients independently of Helicobacter pylori status.

Objective: The association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and serum lipid profile is still controversial. The aim of this study was to determine any possible relationship between H.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy as a tool to assist pneumatic dilation in a difficult case of sigmoid esophagus.

We describe a case of a long-standing, untreated achalasia with a huge sigmoid esophagus in a 58-year-old Caucasian man who declined surgery. All means of classical endoscopic approach for pneumatic dilation, including the use of an overtube, were impossible because any attempt to propel the balloon dilator made the guide wire pull back out of the stomach because of the large loops and the tortuosity of the esophagus. For this reason, we used, for the first time, a combined approach of percutaneous gastrostomy and endoscopy in order to fix the guide wire at two points, achieving a pneumatic dilation in this way.

Lactobacillus johnsonii La1 attenuates Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis and reduces levels of proinflammatory chemokines in C57BL/6 mice.

In clinical settings, Lactobacillus johnsonii La1 administration has been reported to have a favorable effect on Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis, although the mechanism remains unclear. We administered, continuously through the water supply, live La1 to H. pylori-infected C57BL/6 mice and followed colonization, the development of H.

Human duodenal enteroendocrine cells: source of both incretin peptides, GLP-1 and GIP.

Among the products of enteroendocrine cells are the incretins glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1, secreted by L cells) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP, secreted by K cells). These are key modulators of insulin secretion, glucose homeostasis, and gastric emptying. Because of the rapid early rise of GLP-1 in plasma after oral glucose, we wished to definitively establish the absence or presence of L cells, as well as the relative distribution of the incretin cell types in human duodenum.

Phase II multicenter randomized study of amifostine for prevention of acute radiation rectal toxicity: topical intrarectal versus subcutaneous application.

Purpose: To investigate the cytoprotective effect of subcutaneous vs. intrarectal administration of amifostine against acute radiation toxicity.

Methods And Materials: Patients were randomized to receive amifostine either intrarectally (Group A, n = 27) or a 500-mg flat dose subcutaneously (Group B, n = 26) before irradiation.