This month in Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology

In the present issue of the journal Sipponen and Härkönen [1] reviewed the possible relation between diseaseand drug-induced impaired dissolution of calcium salts and risk of calcium malabsorption, which may increase the risk of osteoporosis. In addition to dietary calcium malabsorption even supplementary calcium may not correct the calcium levels due to impaired dissolution. The prevalence and incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) among children are unknown. In a register study Ruigomez et al. [2] identified 1700 children, who had GERD within a 5 years period. Results showed the incidence to be age-dependent and highest among very young children and in children with neurological disorders. Andersson et al. [3] validated a new questionnaire (PRSQ) for identification of individuals with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). The 228 included individuals were classified by the reflux symptom index (RSI) and divided in patients (n=102) and healthy controls (n=126). The questionnaire showed good validity in discriminating between patients with LPR and controls. Helicobacter species may be detected in hepatobiliary diseases. Casswall et al. [4] report that the species were detected in liver tissue of 3/23 children diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis and UC and in 1/2 livers from children with autoimmune hepatitis. The authors suggest that these results should stimulate multicenter studies. Adolescence lactase persistence may be related to genetic polymorphisms and Xu et al. [5] studied six different populations in Northern China to identify possible variations in single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s). A single allele varied significantly among the populations and seems to reflect a relation to lactase persistence. The actions of probiotic yeast on intestinal epithelial cells are not known in detail. Buts and de Keyser [6] showed that Saccharomyces boulardii generates in vivo mitogen and metabolic signals that are transduced into rat intestinal mucosal cells by using various substrates. Results from a study by Culafic et al. [7] on 20 patients with splenic echinococcosis suggest that spleen-preserving surgery should be recommended, while splenectomy should only be an option in patients with large cysts located where partial splenectomy is impossible. Obstructive jaundice may result in increased intestinal permeability. Wang et al. [8] performed biopsy studies of patients with jaundice and patients without and showed that tight junctions in the intestinal epithelium was disrupted and that changes in expression of various proteins were detected among jaundice patients. In a study of 422 patients with primary colorectal cancer (stage I-III) Nielsen et al. [9] showed that the combination of preoperative serum CEA and plasma TIMP-1 levels independently identified patients at risk of postoperative recurrence. In a single blind, multicenter, randomized study of 65 patients with inoperable esophageal or cardia cancer Blomberg et al. [10] was not able to show any difference between palliations by stenting with antireflux or conventional stents. By immunohistochemical staining with five different antibodies Kim et al. [11] showed that matrix metalloproteinases-1 expression in tissue from the primary tumour were related to synchronous liver metastases. The relation between protein expression and subsequent risk of metachronous liver metastases could not be shown. Membranous Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) is rare among Caucasians. The diagnosis might be difficult to establish, but in a study of 23 patients with BCS Ciesek et al. [12] detected 3 patients with a membranous component by ultrasound Doppler imaging. Therefore the authors suggest that Doppler imaging should be used in future detection of membranous BCS. The adipokines chemerin and vaspin may play a role in development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Kukla et al. [13] determined the serum levels of the two proteins in samples from patients with NAFLD and from healthy volunteers.