Frequency and predictive factors for overlap syndrome between autoimmune hepatitis and primary cholestatic liver disease.

Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of cholestatic pattern in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and to identify predictive factors associated with the development of the overlap syndrome.

Methods: Eighty-two consecutive patients diagnosed with AIH at the referral centre between January 1998 and June 2002 were included in the study. The new scoring system modified by the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group was used to classify patients as definite/probable.

Effects of interferon and ribavirin combination therapy on CD4+ proliferation, lymphocyte activation, and Th1 and Th2 cytokine profiles in chronic hepatitis C.

We studied the relationship between immunological markers such as CD4+ proliferation, cytokines profile and lymphocyte activation markers in patients with chronic hepatitis C, having different responses to interferon (IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) treatment. A prospective study of 20 patients was conducted, six had received IFN-alpha-2b alone and 14 IFN in combination with RBV. The proliferative immune responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to hepatitis C virus peptides and the lymphocyte activation markers (CD25+, CD38+ and CD69+) were assessed before treatment, at 1 week, and 1, 3 and 6 months of treatment.

Antro-duodenal tuberculosis causing gastric outlet obstruction--a rare presentation of a protean disease.

Gastroduodenal tuberculosis is a rare location of abdominal tuberculosis. It usually occurs secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. We report a case of a 63-year-old woman admitted to the referral center for symptoms of upper gastrointestinal obstruction caused by ulcerohypertrophic antroduodenal tuberculosis.

Chemoembolization in the treatment of metastatic ileocolic carcinoid.

Carcinoid tumours are enigmatic, slow growing malignancies, which occur most frequently (74%) in the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms of the carcinoid syndrome (flushing and diarrhoea) are infrequent, occurring in approximately 10% of the patients with small bowel carcinoid. A 45-year-old patient with multiple liver metastases, diagnosed in 1994 with nonHodgkin's lymphoma after undergoing surgery for a distal ileal tumour, was referred to us by the Department of Haematology.

Evidence for prostaglandin-producing supressor cells in HCV patients with normal ALT.

Our objective was to verify the presence of prostaglandin-producing suppressor cells in response to hepatitis C virus antigens in peripheral blood mononuclear cells proliferation. Standard proliferation tests were performed in 31 patients: 20 with chronic hepatitis C after antiviral treatment [7 long-term responders (LTR), 7 relapsers (RR), 6 nonresponders (NR)], 7 with HCV infection with persistently normal aminotransferase levels (PNAL), and 4 with hepatocellular carcinoma. Six antigens were used from the core and NS3 regions.

Topical mononitrate treatment in patients with anal fissure.

Aim: To assess the efficacy and patient compliance of topical mononitrate hydrogel for the treatment of anal fissure.

Materials And Methods: Nineteen patients with symptomatic chronic anal fissures were randomly allocated to receive either active (10 patients) or placebo (nine patients) gel treatment. Rectal administration of hydrogel containing 0.

Efficacy and tolerability of mesalazine foam enema (Salofalk foam) for distal ulcerative colitis: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Rectal formulations of mesalazine are the treatment of choice in mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis. A new foam formulation of mesalazine was developed to improve both drug delivery and patient acceptance.

Methods: In this multicentre, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study, 111 patients with mildly to moderately active proctitis, proctosigmoiditis, or left-sided ulcerative colitis received mesalazine foam enema or placebo enema (2 g mesalazine per day) for 6 weeks.

Long-term gallbladder stone recurrence and risk factors after successful lithotripsy.

Objective: The risk of recurrence has limited the acceptability of conservative therapies of gallbladder stones. The aim of the present study was to determine the rate of stone recurrence and its risk factors, after successful shock-wave lithotripsy.

Design: Prospective ultrasound follow-up at yearly intervals or whenever biliary pain was reported.

Ebrotidine versus ranitidine in the treatment of acute duodenal ulcer. A multicentre, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial.

A total of 478 patients with endoscopically confirmed duodenal ulcer entered this randomized, parallel, double-blind trial. Patients were randomly assigned to receive ebrotidine (N-[(E)-[[2-[[[2-[(diaminomethylene)amino]- 4-thiazolyl]methyl]thio]ethyl]amino]methylene]-4-bromo-benzenesulfona mid e, CAS 100981-43-9, FI-3542) 400 mg or ranitidine 300 mg tablets (4:1) respectively, administered in single evening doses. Endoscopy, clinical examination and symptom assessment were performed at baseline and at weeks 4 and 8.

Detection of immune complexes in tissues of persons infected with Entamoeba histolytica.

Immune complexes were detected by radioimmunoassay in colonic tissue from 71 to 122 patients (58%) excreting Entamoeba histolytica cysts and in liver tissue from 5 of 16 of these patients. Complexes were also found in colonic tissue from 9 of 56 other patients (16%) who were not excreting cysts.

Zymodeme alteration of Entamoeba histolytica isolates under varying conditions.

Cysts of Entamoeba histolytica obtained from 2 asymptomatic subjects were cloned in vitro and the isoenzyme patterns and virulence of the cultures derived from them were determined. Incubation in Diamond's TYI-S-33 medium with Crithidia sp. for 80 d resulted in a change from zymodeme III to zymodeme II, with consistent virulence.

High cell surface hydrophobicity of virulent Entamoeba histolytica isolates.

Thirty isolates of Entamoeba histolytica were examined for their cell surface hydrophobicity. It was observed that increased hydrophobicity of the trophozoites was associated with lesion-forming ability in hamster liver, a higher rate of erythrophagocytosis and greater resistance to complement. The relationship of cell surface hydrophobicity to other virulence markers in E.

Virulence of nonpathogenic zymodemes of Entamoeba histolytica isolates from asymptomatic subjects in Calcutta, India.

1. The zymodeme and virulence of 31 Entamoeba histolytica isolates obtained from asymptomatic human subjects in Calcutta, India are described. 2.

Diffuse thickening of the gallbladder wall detected by ultrasonography.

Gallbladder wall thickening was detected by ultrasonography in 3.5% of 3900 patients. Wall thickening was observed not only in cholecystitis but also in cases of diffuse liver diseases, in patients with syndrome of portal hypertension, as well as in chronic heart insufficiency and other pathologies.

Enhancement of virulence of Entamoeba histolytica by in vitro liver treatment.

Enhancement of the virulence of five strains of Entamoeba histolytica (three xenically maintained and two axenically maintained) was studied after in vitro incubation with normal hamster liver. Increased virulence was shown by the ability of a small number of liver-treated trophozoites to produce liver lesions in hamsters. Enhancement of virulence was positively correlated with increased resistance to normal hamster serum complement in vitro.

Study of Entamoeba histolytica isolates from Calcutta with special reference to their zymodeme, animal pathogenicity and erythrophagocytosis.

Entamoeba histolytica isolates, obtained mainly from asymptomatic human cyst passers, were tested for their in vitro erythrophagocytic activity and lesion-forming ability in hamster liver. Simultaneous zymodeme typing of the isolates showed that, along with the pathogenic zymodemes, a number of isolates having nonpathogenic zymodemes also produced liver lesions in hamsters and engulfed higher numbers of RBCs. The observed positive correlation between the rate of erythrophagocytosis of an E.

Gastric carcinoma in a child associated with nodular lymphoid hyperplasia of the colon.

We report a 12 year old boy of Nepalese origin with gastric adenocarcinoma and associated nodular lymphoid hyperplasia of the colon, with hemoglobin E trait and normal serum immunoglobulins. The boy underwent a curative resection and is free of recurrence or metastasis nine months after diagnosis.