Body

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is manifestation of metabolic syndrome in the liver and is a pandemic over the globe especially in the developed countries, based on a high calorie diet and sedentary life style. As in the other types of chronic hepatitis, collagen fibers continuously accumulate in the liver through the course of NASH toward cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma development. Histological evaluation is a current gold standard for quantification of the fiber deposition.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the digestive tract. However, the duodenal location is less common. Nowadays, surgery is still the only curative approach for GIST. Numerous procedures can be performed to remove duodenal GIST. Some of these operations are extensive and require difficult reconstruction (like pancreaticoduodenectomy; PD). One of the options is a more limited intervention: segmental duodenectomy (SD). However, few studies have correlated the different surgical options with the oncological results.

Endoscopic resection of large sessile colorectal polyps is increasingly used as an alternative to surgery, but remains challenging because of its technical difficulty, the high risk of complications such as bleeding or perforation, and the possibility of coexisting malignancy.

Gastrointestinal (GI ) symptoms are proven to be more common in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis than in patients with chronic renal failure having hemodialysis. However, whether the onset of these GI symptoms is related to the chronic renal failure itself, its treatment, or alternatively, other factors, is still unknown.

University of Texas Medical Branch researchers have uncovered an association between free radical-mediated reactions and the severity and progression of system lupus erythematosus (SLE). Higher levels of oxidative and nitrosative stress markers were found in SLE patients with greater disease activity suggesting a causal relationship. Full findings of the study are available in the July issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

Colorectal cancer, cancer of the colon and rectum, is a common cause of mortality worldwide. Statistical data showed that the number of deaths caused by colorectal cancer is increasing in both men and women. Proteins are functional components of the cell that regulate the cell's activity. Understanding the differential expression of proteins in colorectal cancer and normal tissues will lead to a better understanding of the development of the disease, furthermore, these proteins may serve as biomarkers for treatment or detection of the disease.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Children who are being treated for hearing loss with cochlear implants can safely have ear tubes installed to help clear up infections, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Exposure to high levels of fungus may increase the risk of severe asthma attacks among people with certain chitinase gene variants, according to a study from Harvard Medical School, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The research was published online on the American Thoracic Society's journal Web site ahead of the print edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) should be used early and aggressively at the first sign of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The results of an 11-year trial, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, demonstrate that active treatment from the very beginning pays off, even in the long run.

Swingers - straight couples who regularly swap sexual partners at organised gatherings and clubs and indulge in group sex - have rates of sexually transmitted infections comparable with those of recognised high risk groups, reveals research published ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Those who are over the age of 45 are particularly vulnerable, indicates the research, yet swingers are largely ignored by healthcare services, representing a "missed target," say the authors.

A vaccine-derived strain of poliovirus that has spread in recent years is serious but it can be tackled with an existing vaccine, according to a new study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Vaccine-derived polioviruses can emerge on rare occasions in under-immunised populations, when the attenuated virus contained in a vaccine mutates and recombines with other viruses, to create a circulating vaccine-derived strain.

June 23, 2010 – Between 33 and 77 million people in Bangladesh have been exposed to arsenic in the drinking water—a catastrophe that the World Health Organization has called "the largest mass poisoning in history." A new study published in the current issue of the medical journal The Lancet provides the most complete and detailed picture to date of the high mortality rates associated with this exposure, which began with the widespread installation of tube wells throughout the country 30 years ago—a measure intended to control water-bourne diseases.

ST. PAUL, Minn. –A group of tests may help predict which people with Parkinson's disease are more likely to fall, according to a study published in the June 23, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.