News
Study links stress to Crohn’s disease flare-ups
Researchers using mouse models found that stress hormones suppressed the innate immune system that normally protects the gut from invasive Enterobacteriaceae, a group of bacteria including E. coli which has been linked to Crohn’s disease. Key to innate immunity is the protective barrier of epithelial cells in the gut, which rely on molecular signals from immune cells to […]
News
Personalised treatments for ulcerative colitis remission
Although defining what constitutes a normal or healthy microbiota remains a current challenge in the field, scientists have suggested that the human-gut microbiota relationship is in a stable state of homeostasis that when perturbed moves towards another pre-disease or disease stable state that is more susceptible to the development of chronic diseases. Such observations resemble the behavior of […]
News
A new tool for studying COVID’s impact on gut health
By Lindsay Brownell Most of us are familiar with COVID-19’s hallmark symptoms of a loss of taste or smell and difficulty breathing, but a full 60% of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 also report gastrointestinal symptoms (GI) such as nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. Infection of the gut, which expresses high levels of the ACE2 receptor […]
News
Faecal calprotectin testing finally on the MBS
By Mardi Chapman Faecal calprotectin testing to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease will be added to the MBS from 1 November 2021. The long-awaited additions to the MBS are new items 66522 and 66523. “A service under these items will be available to patients who are less than 50 years of age presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms […]
Research
Glial cells crucial to maintaining healthy gut immunity
These cells have been found to coordinate the immune responses of the gut following pathogen invasion and could be key targets when exploring new treatments for inflammatory bowel conditions. Maintaining a healthy intestine and repairing tissue after infection or other types of injury is a complex process, and if this goes wrong, it can lead […]
Research
Study shows diet has ‘underappreciated role’ in treating ulcerative colitis
By Monica Stonehill “We evaluated whether integration of novel diets for donors and patients in addition to fecal transplantation (FT) could increase FT remission rate in refractory UC,” Chen Sarbagili Shabat, of the pediatric gastroenterology unit at Wolfson Medical Center’s PIBD Research Center in Holon, Israel, and colleagues wrote. “UCED alone appeared to achieve higher clinical remission and mucosal healing than […]
News
New treatment for inflammatory bowel disease: opioids may cure that “bad gut feeling”
Opioid receptors play key roles in regulating our senses and emotions. Recently, their discovery outside the nervous system raised several questions about the effects of opioids on the immune system. Now, researchers from Japan have shown that KNT-127—a drug that targets delta opioid receptors—can reduce pro-inflammatory signals in the colon. Their research highlights the immunomodulatory […]
News
Fecal transplants: a new treatment for IBD
By Stacey Colino Linda Ann Sasser has had ulcerative colitis since she was 20, but it wasn’t until May 2019, about 30 years later, that her condition hit a low point: not only did she have a major flare-up of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but on top of it, she had Clostridioides difficile (or C. diff), a highly […]
News
Mater Hospital providing support to pregnant women with IBD
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a debilitating condition due to symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhoea and malnutrition due to poor absorption of nutrients. Mater Hospital has an integrated care model focused on optimising pregnancy outcomes of patients with IBD with an Australia’s first multidisciplinary IBD Fertility and Maternity Service (FMS). The service brings […]
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