<i>Background and aims</i> - Patients that have failed therapy for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection are incompletely characterized. The aim of this study was to characterize a H. pylori treatment resistant cohort compared to the cohorts of newly diagnosed, earlier eradicated and non-infected.<p> <p><i>Material and methods</i> - Patients were selected from routine referrals to the Endoscopy ...

Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) biological therapy has generally been accepted as a standard therapeutic option in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patient who are refractory to steroids or immunomodulators. However, the primary and secondary nonresponse rates to anti-TNF bioagents in patients with IBD are high. To improve the response rate, anti-TNF bioagents must be offered to the appropriate ...

<i>Background</i> - There are no accurate markers that can predict clinical outcome in ulcerative colitis at time of diagnosis. The aim of this study was to explore a comprehensive data set to identify and validate predictors of clinical outcome in the first year following diagnosis.<p> <p><i>Methods</i> - Treatment naive-patients with ulcerative colitis were included at time of initial diagnosis ...

<i>Background</i> - Severity in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is associated to impaired quality of life and fatigue. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) induces significant relief in gastro-intestinal related complaints. The objective was to evaluate the effect of FMT on the secondary endpoints: IBS-related quality of life and fatigue in patients with non-constipated IBS.<p><p> <i>Method</i> ...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of the lower gastrointestinal tract. The pathophysiology is far from settled, but a gut microbial dysbiosis is hypothesized to be a contributing factor. We earlier published a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial on fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for IBS – the REFIT trial. The present data set describes the engraftment ...

<i>OBJECTIVES</i>: A healed intestinal mucosa is the aim of therapy in acute ulcerative colitis (UC). Disruption of mucosal wound healing may lead to severe complications including intestinal fibrosis. This study examined mucosal gene expression in the healing process of acute UC with a special focus on known mediators of fibrosis.<p> <p><i>METHODS</i>: Endoscopic biopsies from patients with ...

<i>Background</i> - Fecal calprotectin is widely used to monitor disease activity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Multiple commercial kits exist, however, since the analyses are not standardized, these kits cannot be used interchangeably. We aimed to perform a technical evaluation of two kits (Calpro from Calprolab, Norway and Calprest from Eurospital, Italy) and perform a tuning for ...

Background <p>Increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance especially to clarithromycin and metronidazole has been observed in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). <p>Aim <p>To characterize the antimicrobial resistance pattern of H. pylori before and after treatment in a cohort of patients accumulated over a period of 15 years after an unsuccessful eradication treatment had been given comparing ...

Epithelial alarmins are gaining interest as therapeutic targets for chronic infammation. The nuclear alarmin interleukin-33 (IL-33) is upregulated in the colonic mucosa of acute ulcerative colitis (UC) and may represent an early instigator of the infammatory cascade. However, it is not clear what signals drive the expression of IL-33 in the colonic mucosa, nor is the exact role of IL-33 elucidated. We ...