by Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences Alpinia hainanensis. Credit: Ji Kailong Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a nonspecific, chronic and recurrent inflammatory bowel disease. Alpinia plants (Zingiberaceae family) are the ideal materials for finding therapeutic agents against UC. Alpinia hainanensis is an important food spice and ethnic medicine in Southwest China. However, there have been...
by Tohoku University Serum samples of patients with inflammatory bowel disease stored at Tohoku University Hospital. Credit: Yoichi Kakuta et al An international research collaboration has discovered a potential new diagnostic marker for ulcerative colitis in a trans-ethnic analysis of Japanese and white patients. The finding could lead to the development of non-invasive, diagnostic blood...
(HealthDay)—Six inflammatory proteins are upregulated in plasma several years before diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, according to a report published in the November issue of Gastroenterology. Daniel Bergemalm, M.D., Ph.D., from the Örebro University Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues characterized preclinical systemic inflammation in ulcerative colitis in plasma samples biobanked from 72 individuals who developed ulcerative colitis later in...
STANFORD MEDICINE There may be good news for the nearly 1 million people battling ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel condition with no real cure: Statins, a commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drug, seem to be an effective, if unexpected, treatment for the condition, according to a new Stanford Medicine study. Currently, the only lines of defense against...
(HealthDay)—A new ulcerative colitis intestinal ultrasound (UC-IUS) index shows strong correlation with endoscopy for detection of disease activity, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis. Steven Bots, M.D., from the Amsterdam University Medical Center, and colleagues developed an ultrasonographic activity index using endoscopy as the reference standard (evaluation of 207 colonic...
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes inflammation in the colon which can lead to symptoms such as diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and abdominal pain. There are a number of drugs that a person with UC should avoid as they may make their symptoms worse. Ulcerative colitis causes a person’s immune...
Acute severe ulcerative colitis, or ASUC, can be extremely debilitating. Symptoms for the condition range from frequent bloody bowel movements to anemia, weight loss, and even fevers and chills. And nearly 30% of individuals who develop an episode of ASUC require a colectomy, which is a surgery that involves removing parts, or all, of your...
by University of North Carolina Health Care Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new study published in Nature Communications demonstrates that a consortium of bacteria designed to complement missing or underrepresented functions in the imbalanced microbiome of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, prevented and treated chronic immune-mediated colitis in humanized mouse models. The study’s senior author, Balfour...
About 1 million people in the United States have ulcerative colitis, a serious disease of the colon that has no cure and whose cause is obscure. Now, a study by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators has tied the condition to a missing microbe. The microbe makes metabolites that help keep the gut healthy. “This...
PHILADELPHIA — The probiotic VSL#3 and fecal microbiota transplantation could help induce remission in patients with ulcerative colitis, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. There is “abundant evidence” that the intestinal microbiome plays an integral role in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis, said Mina Fransawy Alkomos, MD, from New York...
