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Acute pancreatitis remains a disease with an unpredictable clinical course, and significant associated morbidity and mortality. Recently, the elevated intraabdominal pressure (IAP) after onset of acute pancreatitis has gained growing attention, because it is increasingly recognized as an important risk factor for mortality in the early phase of the disease. However, It is still not clear whether early intra-abdominal pressure measurement should be a routine for all acute pancreatitis patients and which patients would benefit most from the IAP monitoring.

The incidence of low-dose aspirin-induced peptic ulcer seems to be increasing in Japan in conjunction with the increasing proportion of elderly individuals, in whom metabolic syndrome frequently develops. However, a therapeutic and prevention strategy for such peptic ulcers has not yet been established.

A research team led by Dr. Satoshi Mochida from Japan addressed this question. Their study will be published on February 14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Recent reports have indicated that recurrent chest pain is often a result of esophageal motility disorders or gastroesophageal reflux diseases (GERD), which is known as esophageal chest pain. However, very few studies have been performed about esophageal manometric studies, 24-h intra-esophageal pH monitoring and a Holter electrocardiography for the differential diagnosis of chest pain caused by esophageal dysfunctional and/or myocardial ischemia.

Roughly 100,000 Swedes are under treatment with the blood-thinning drug Waran. Patients evince varying sensitivity to Waran, which makes the initiation of treatment a risky balancing act between hemorrhaging and clotting. Now researchers at Uppsala University have developed a model for calculating the appropriate dose before treatment starts. The study appears in the scientific publication New England Journal of Medicine.

Whether you are defined as leading an active or inactive lifestyle can depend on which country you are in and which guideline your GP picks off the shelf, say researchers at the University of Bath.

Whilst many countries have guidelines recommending the minimum amount of physical activity a person should take to stay healthy, much of this advice is conflicting, making it difficult for healthcare professionals to assess whether a person is getting enough exercise.

Blacksburg, Va. -- A special issue of BMC Microbiology highlights some of the recent achievements of scientists developing a universal language to describe the genes involved in the complex interplay between microbes and the hosts that they colonize. Eight papers from members of the international Plant-Associated Microbe Gene Ontology (PAMGO) consortium chronicle efforts to expand The Gene Ontology to include a language that gives researchers a shared vocabulary to describe disease-related and beneficial interactions between a microbe and its host.

Patients with reduced kidney function require lower doses of the anticoagulant drug warfarin, and may need closer monitoring to avoid serious bleeding complications, suggests a study in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

DURHAM, N.C. – Two years ago, a major study found that many patients who receive delayed treatment for a heart attack do just as well with drugs alone as they do with drugs plus stents to prop open their blocked arteries. Now, further analysis shows that the drug option is cheaper and that there is no meaningful long-term difference in quality of life between the two options.

In a large-scale study and an upcoming clinical trial, scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health address one of the trickiest issues in prescribing medicine—how to quickly optimize each patient's dosage of the common blood-thinning drug warfarin.

DURHAM, N.C. – Top-tier U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies are moving theirclinical trials overseas at warp speed, raising questions about ethics, quality control, and even the scientific value of their findings for people back in the U.S.

Many of the trials are taking place in developing countries in Eastern Europe and Asia where study participants are often poorer and less educated than are study participants in the U.S., according to researchers at Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).

For patients with type two diabetes, a combination of two blood-pressure-lowering drugs reduces the risk of kidney disease by about 20 percent—even in patients who don't have high blood pressure, reports a study in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

STANFORD, Calif. —Your DNA affects your hair color, your blood type and even how you react to some medications. Now scientists have taken a big step toward folding your personal genetic profile into many of the prescriptions you carry away from the pharmacy. Most immediately, the advance will likely lead to the safer, more effective use of a common anticoagulant called warfarin that, when taken in the wrong amount, can be very dangerous. In the future, it could affect how doctors prescribe dozens of common medications.

A clinical trial is to be launched by researchers at Newcastle and Liverpool Universities to test if genetics could provide personalised medicine by optimising each patient's dose of the common blood-thinning drug, warfarin.

One of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, warfarin is used to prevent dangerous blood clots that can lead to heart attacks, strokes or even death.

One per cent of people in the UK are prescribed warfarin but doctors find the ideal dose for each person varies widely and is hard to predict, yet is crucial for the patient's safety.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Doctors can use a patient's genetic information to more accurately prescribe doses of a commonly used blood-thinning drug whose potency and side effects vary greatly from one person to the next, reports an international team of medical scientists including researchers from the University of Florida.

St. Louis, Feb. 18, 2009 — Each year in the United States, doctors start about 2 million patients on warfarin (Coumadin™), an anticoagulant drug that's notoriously hard to administer. Now a study from the International Warfarin Pharmacogenetics Consortium (IWPC), which includes researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, confirms that using a patient's genetic information can make it easier to get the warfarin dose right.