Working with gut stem cells from humans and mice, scientists from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and the University of Pittsburgh have successfully grown healthy intestine atop a 3-D scaffold made of a substance used in surgical sutures.
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine found that people with anorexia nervosa have very different microbial communities inside their guts compared to healthy individuals and that this bacterial imbalance is associated with some of the psychological symptoms related to the eating disorder.
Colorectal cancer will claim the lives of close to 50,000 Americans this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Screening is the most effective way to reduce the risk of dying from the disease, yet as a Penn Medicine physician argues in an editorial this week in the journal Gastroenterology, current recommendations to screen older people with a family history of colorectal cancer, specifically with colonoscopy every five years, is not justified for most patients. Chyke A. Doubeni, MD, MPH, chair of the department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is the co-author of the editorial.
A study by scientists at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has shown that tissue-engineered colon derived from human cells is able to develop the many specialized nerves required for function, mimicking the neuronal population found in native colon.
Investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have found that a common therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may actually protect against intestinal inflammation by inhibiting pathogenic T-cells.
The gut bacteria of infants who developed tolerance to cow’s milk after treatment with probiotic formula showed significant differences from those who remained allergic, according to a new study published September 22, 2015, in The ISME Journal by scientists from the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
Approximately 20 million Americans will experience some type of gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, in their lives. In some cases, patients suffer resulting heart burn or acid regurgitation so severe that they require surgery to repair damage to their esophagus. A clinical trial at UC San Diego Health is using a new, FDA-approved device that reconstructs the esophagus through the mouth and requires no incisions.
A novel, one-step method to treat ulcerative colitis with an oral drug consisting of microparticles and natural herbal molecules that target the colon shows promise as an effective therapy, according to researchers from the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University and Southwest University in China.
Researchers analyzing the complicated genetic influences in inflammatory bowel disease have discovered new gene variants associated with an often-severe type of the disease that affects children under age five. The genes play key roles in immune function.
In the August issue of the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Mayo Clinic researchers provided a detailed comparison of patient outcomes associated with synchronous and sequential colorectal and liver resections in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer, identifying some benchmarks for surgical practice.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with colleagues at Emory University and Cedars-Sinai, have published in the journal Gastroenterology the first major, in-depth analysis of genetic risk factors of inflammatory bowel disease in African-Americans.
A protein found in dairy is discovered to be a prebiotic that holds promise for treating gastrointestinal conditions and obesity. This study is published ahead-of-print in the American Journal of Physiology—Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.
Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center found that a rare type of stem cell is immune to radiation damage thanks to high levels of a gene called Sox9.
A group of researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada has reached deep into the human gut, plucked out a couple enzymes produced by bacteria residing there and determined their biological activities and molecular structures -- details that should shed new light on how we digest many of the foods we eat.
The research explains the complex mechanisms of interaction and dynamics between the gut microbiota and its host. Data show that relatively minor changes in microbiota profiles or its metabolic activity induced by neonatal stress can have profound effects on host behaviour in adulthood.
Researchers at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Massachusetts General Hospital have created a polymer gel that could allow for the development of long-acting devices that reside in the stomach, including orally delivered capsules that can release drugs over a number of days, weeks, or potentially months following a single administration.
UCLA scientists have discovered a groundbreaking experimental therapy that has the ability to suppress the development of ulcerative colitis (UC), a disease which causes inflammation in the digestive tract and colon cancer. The treatment utilizes a chemical inhibitor able to block an RNA molecule (microRNA-214) involved in the transmission of genetic information.
Patients over 50 with ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic disease of the colon, who undergo surgery to treat their condition live longer than those who are treated with medications, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results are published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who are doing well on specific biological medications should not be switched to recently approved "biosimilar" products, concludes an expert consensus statement of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN). The statement appears in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, the official journal of the European Society of Paediatric Gatroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, published by Wolters Kluwer.
A technology whose roots date to the 1800s has the potential to offer an extraordinary new advantage to modern-day medicine. In findings published this month in Nature Communications, Case Western Reserve scientists detail how stereomicroscopy can provide physicians an invaluable diagnostic tool in assessing issues within the gastrointestinal tract.
The McMaster team recruited 75 patients with a flare up of their ulcerative colitis and randomized them to fecal transplant therapy given as an enema derived from stool donated by an anonymous healthy donor, and placebo.
Topics include: A bioengineered patch to improve stem cell therapy for heart patients, Antacid meds raise risk of C. Diff. bacteria infection in kids, nutrition, new treatments for aggressive breast cancer, lab tests, genetic risks.
Investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are providing new hope for babies with short bowel syndrome (SBS) by developing a novel model of SBS in zebrafish, described in a paper published online on June 18 by the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.
Infants and children who are given prescription acid-reducing medications face a substantially higher risk of developing Clostridium difficile infection, a potentially severe colonic disorder.
Adults who use proton pump inhibitors are between 16 and 21 percent more likely to experience a heart attack than people who don't use the commonly prescribed antacid drugs, according to a massive new study by Houston Methodist and Stanford University scientists.
Christine Hachem, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University, reports that patients seem to be embracing probiotics, even as antibiotic use is increasing and over-utilized.
U.S. and Chinese researchers have begun a controlled clinical trial in Crohn's disease using surface electrodes daily to stimulate an acupuncture point on the stomach meridian that was shown to reduce vagal imbalance in preclinical studies. Restoring vagal balance is known to reduce intestinal inflammation.
An upset in the body’s natural balance of gut bacteria that may lead to life-threatening bloodstream infections can be reversed by enhancing a specific immune defense response, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
Biomarker advances in gastroenterology are highlighted in a special June issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology, which also provides new data on how these advances can help the clinician in a wide variety of gastrointestinal (GI) and liver diseases.
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The microbiome of a toddler’s gut may influence their behavior, a new study suggests. Scientists found correlations between temperament and the presence of specific types of intestinal bacteria in both girls and boys. The researchers aren’t looking for a way to help parents modify the ‘terrible twos,’ but for clues about how - and where - chronic illnesses like obesity, asthma, allergies and bowel diseases start.
AIDP, today released a “Science White Paper” based on the peer-reviewed and published science, including a 2014 randomized, controlled trial from the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA), behind the mechanism of action, safety and efficacy of a new prebiotic ingredient, PreticX
New proof-of-concept research suggests the potential for engineering replacement intestine tissue in the lab, a treatment that could be applied to infants born with a short bowel and adults having large pieces of gut removed due to cancer or inflammatory bowel disease.
Stool DNA (sDNA) testing, a new non-invasive technology for colon cancer screening, is a promising alternative to colonoscopy for African Americans, according to a new study presented at Digestive Disease Week.
More than half of popular probiotics contain traces of gluten, according to an analysis performed by investigators at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Tests on 22 top-selling probiotics revealed that 12 of them (or 55%) had detectable gluten.
Millions of people afflicted by irritable bowel syndrome can now be diagnosed quickly and accurately with two simple blood tests developed by a Cedars-Sinai gastroenterologist.
A newly discovered link between bacteria and immune cells sheds light on inflammatory bowel disease, an autoimmune condition that affects 1.6 million people in the United States, report researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota has found a three-way link among antibiotic use in infants, changes in the gut bacteria, and disease later in life.
In the face of many myths, the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) releases “Nine Truths About Eating Disorders” in order to clarify public understanding. Produced in collaboration with Dr. Cynthia Bulik, PhD, FAED, who serves as distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Nine Truths” is based on Dr. Bulik’s 2014 “9 Eating Disorders Myths Busted” talk at the National Institute of Mental Health. Leading associations in the field of eating disorders also contributed their valuable input.
Scientists at The University of Manchester have made an important discovery about an immune cell which is already being used in immunotherapy to treat diseases such as type I diabetes.
Post-surgical leaks that develop after a segment of the colon has been removed and stitched back together often are caused not by negligence or technical error but by bacteria in the bowel that elude antibiotics, according to new evidence about this devastating complication of gastrointestinal surgery.
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The immune-boosting properties of breast milk have long been known. Now a team of scientists led by Johns Hopkins pediatric surgeon-in-chief David Hackam, M.D., Ph.D., says experiments in mice reveal how breast milk works to ward off the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a devastating intestinal disorder.
Esophageal cancer is one of the fastest-growing and deadliest cancers in the U.S.
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer will be diagnosed in 2015. Incidence of adenocarcinoma, a type of esophageal cancer linked to GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) has risen six-fold in recent decades.