Endoscopic surveillance in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis: who needs what and when?

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory diseases resulting from an inappropriate innate and adaptive immune response towards commensal microbiota. Patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis carry an increased risk of developing colon cancer and/or small bowel carcinoma, respectively. The colorectal cancer risks of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease with comparable surface area involvement and disease duration are very similar.

Endocytoscopy for the detection of microstructural features in adult patients with celiac sprue: a prospective, blinded endocytoscopy-conventional histology correlation study.

Background: Endocytoscopy (EC) is a novel technique that allows magnified live inspection of the intestinal mucosa.

Objective: To evaluate EC for the detection of key pathological findings in patients with celiac sprue.

Design: A total of 166 EC recordings were prospectively acquired.

Cytotoxic effector molecule gene expression in acute renal allograft rejection: correlation with clinical outcome; histopathology and function of the allograft.

Background: Cytotoxic effector molecule expression in human renal allograft biopsies has been closely associated with acute rejection. Here we studied whether intragraft expression of perforin, granzyme B, and Fas ligand correlates with long-term clinical outcome of acute rejection episodes. Furthermore, we examined the relation to histopathology and function of the allograft during rejection.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF)-acetylhydrolase and PAF-like compounds in the lung: effects of hyperoxia.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF)-acetylhydrolase is the enzyme modulating in tissues and biological fluids the concentration of the proinflammatory factors PAF and PAF-like oxidation products of phospholipids (PAF-like compounds). We investigated whether there is a relation between PAF-acetylhydrolase activity and the concentration of PAF-like compounds in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). We found that alveolar type II cells are an additional source of PAF-acetylhydrolase in BAL beside macrophages.