Tag: Colitis

The diet-microbiome connection in inflammatory bowel disease

Much remains mysterious about the factors influencing human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but one aspect that has emerged as a key contributor is the gut microbiome, the collection of microorganisms dwelling in the intestines. Diet is known to profoundly affect this microbial community, and special diets have been used as therapies for intestinal disorders including

Bowel preparation for colon surgery unnecessary, study suggests

In recent decades, patients in Europe coming in for colectomies, or surgical procedures targeted at the colon, have not been routinely subjected to what is known as bowel preparation, where the bowel is emptied before the operation. In the United States , on the other hand, cleansing the bowel is relatively common. Several extensive retrospective

Single-cell atlas reveals underlying building blocks of ulcerative colitis

Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic, painful disorders of the intestine that afflict roughly 1.5 million people in the United States. Yet the underlying mechanisms of these diseases, which include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, are not well understood. Even patients with the same diagnosis can have drastically different responses to treatment, and their symptom flare-ups

Take two E. coli and call me in the morning: Synthetic bacterial memory circuits enable microbial diagnostics for sensing biomolecules in the gut

Millions of people take capsules of probiotics with the goal of improving their digestion, but what if those bacteria were also able to detect diseases in the gut and indicate when something is awry? New research from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has created an effective, non-invasive way to

Potential treatment for NEC in preemies: Scientists discover how to prevent disease in an animal model, offer a new direction toward treatment strategy

Cutting-edge discovery in the lab of Catherine Hunter, MD, from Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago offers a new direction toward treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) — a devastating intestinal emergency that occurs in up to 10 percent of premature infants. NEC is a leading cause

Uncovering uncultivated microbes in the human gut: Human gut microbiome serves as model to demonstrate efficacy of computational tools

A tree’s growth is dependent on nutrients from the soil and water, as well as the microbes in, on, and around the roots. Similarly, a human’s health is shaped both by environmental factors and the body’s interactions with the microbiome, particularly in the gut. Genome sequences are critical for characterizing individual microbes and understanding their

Study offers promise for preventing necrotizing enterocolitis in preemies: Preventing inflammatory white blood cell infiltration in the intestine decreases development of necrotizing enterocolitis in animal model

Researchers at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and colleagues, discovered a promising direction toward understanding the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a devastating intestinal disease commonly affecting premature infants, in order to treat it. Studying the early cellular events leading to NEC in a mouse

Inflammatory bowel disease linked to prostate cancer: Men with inflamed guts are four to five times at risk for prostate cancer

Men with inflammatory bowel disease have four to five times higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, reports a 20-year study from Northwestern Medicine. This is the first report to show men with inflammatory bowel disease have higher than average PSA (prostate-specific antigen) values, and this group also has a significantly higher risk of

Guidance for preventing C. difficile in neonatal intensive care: Infectious diseases experts synthesize research, best practices to protect vulnerable newborns

Newborns require special diagnosis and treatment considerations for an infectious diarrhea known as Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection, according to a new evidence-based white paper published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The publication is in conjunction with the release of a companion review

How ugly marital spats might open the door to disease: Study links couples’ hostility and gut bacteria, inflammation in bloodstream

Married people who fight nastily are more likely to suffer from leaky guts — a problem that unleashes bacteria into the blood and can drive up disease-causing inflammation, new research suggests. It’s the first study to illuminate this particular pathway between bad marriages and poor health, said lead author Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Institute

A study points to new therapeutic targets for tumors associated with chronic inflammation: A new study demonstrates that myeloid cells use p38 protein signalling to support inflammation-associated colon cancer

Scientists headed by ICREA researcher Angel R. Nebreda at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) report a new mechanism that contributes to the development of inflammation-associated colon cancer and points to new therapeutic targets. The study has been published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. More than a million people worldwide are diagnosed

‘Second brain’ neurons keep colon moving: Brain in the gut coordinates activity of millions of neurons to propel waste through digestive system

Millions of neurons in the gastrointestinal tract coordinate their activity to generate the muscle contractions that propel waste through the last leg of the digestive system, according to a study of isolated mouse colons published in JNeurosci. The newly identified neuronal firing pattern may represent an early feature preserved through the evolution of nervous systems.

Human MAIT cells sense the metabolic state of enteric bacteria

A little-explored group of immune cells plays an important role in the regulation of intestinal bacteria. Changing metabolic states of the microbes have an effect on defense cells at different stages of alert or rest, as researchers from the Department of Biomedicine at the University and University Hospital of Basel report in the journal Mucosal

Genetic link to IBS identified in women

New research coordinated by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden links certain DNA variants to increased risk of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in women. The findings, published in the scientific journal Gastroenterology, might help explain why IBS is more common in women than in men. Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common gastrointestinal disorder. More than 10