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Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in neoplastic and non-neoplastic chronic inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Several reports have shown that blockade of angiogenesis in preclinical models of IBD is a promising new therapeutic approach. Visualize angiogenesis in vivo may represent the first step for such a therapeutic approach. Narrow-band imaging (NBI) is a new endoscopic technology that highlights mucosal surface structures and microcapillaries.

Dietary factors have long been known to play a major role in the development of obesity. The global increasing prevalence of obesity suggests that there should be some common changes in diet worldwide. In fact, a significant, yet, often neglected worldwide change in dietary factors in the past few decades is the food fortification-induced marked increase in the content of niacin. However, the effect of long-term exposure to excess niacin on human health remains to be unclear.

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER), defined as passage of gastric contents into the esophagus is a normal process that occurs in healthy infants, children and adults. When GER causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications it is referred to as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). During infancy, GER is common and can manifest with specific symptoms as vomiting and non-specific symptoms as irritability and cough. Association of non-specific symptoms with GER is a main problem in the diagnosis of GERD.

The creatinine clearance (Ccr) test has been used as a gold standard for evaluation of preoperative renal function in patients with gastric cancer. However, it is known that Ccr is not strictly equivalent to glomerular filtration rate (GFR). It has been accepted that estimated GFR (eGFR) is equal to measured GFR in chronic kidney disease. However, there have been no studies regarding the reliability of eGFR as a preoperative renal function test in gastric cancer patients.

Within the next ten years, there will be deficiencies in healthcare provision in parts of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. This is the conclusion reached by Ulrike Siewert of Greifswald University and her coauthors in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[18]: 328-34). They emphasize that similar trends can be expected in other German federal states.

Scientists are reporting that mercury levels in a popular species of game fish in Lake Erie are increasing after two decades of steady decline. The study, the most comprehensive to date on mercury levels in Great Lakes fish, is in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

New York, NY, May 20, 2010 –. Children with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), in which urine flows backwards into the kidneys from the bladder, have been treated in the past with surgery or antibiotic therapy. Although this condition can lead to renal damage, there have been few controlled studies to help determine the most effective treatment of young children. A study, part of the Swedish Reflux Trial, is scheduled for publication in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Urology.

Demented patients are often treated nonspecifically with psychoactive medications. Neuroleptic drugs are given even when they are not specifically indicated, as Tomislav Majic and his colleagues from the Charité Hospital, Berlin, show in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[18]: 320-7).

WASHINGTON, DC (20 May 2010)—As US policymakers consider scaling back on its historic initiative to fight AIDS around the world and downsizing goals to combat tuberculosis, next-generation treatment and prevention strategies to significantly reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are now imminent. New science can dramatically change the trajectory of both deadly epidemics, according to a special new issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis researchers have discovered that a blood component linked with inflammation can predict coronary artery disease in African-Americans.

Known as lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), the blood factor is also associated with but does not accurately predict heart-disease risk in Caucasians. The findings are published in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Pistachio nuts, eaten as part of a healthy diet, can increase the levels of antioxidants in the blood of adults with high cholesterol, according to an international team of nutritional scientists.

"Our previous study showed the benefits of pistachios in lowering lipids and lipoproteins, which are a risk factor for heart disease," said Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition, Penn State. "This new study shows an additional effect of pistachios so now there are multiple health benefits of eating pistachios."

In the United States over 80,000 people are on the kidney transplant waiting list, and thousands die each year waiting for transplants. For most dialysis patients, kidney transplantation increases their chances of survival.

Drugs to treat anxiety and sleep disorders are still being prescribed for extended periods to British Columbian patients – and increasingly so for baby boomers – despite warnings against long-term use, according to a University of British Columbia study.

The nutritional benefits of organic food have been called into question by new research which shows wild garden birds prefer conventional seed to that which has been organically- grown.

A three-year study by Newcastle University has found that wild birds are not swayed by the organic label, but instead prefer the more protein-rich, conventional food that will help them to survive the winter.