English Version

With James Marshall’s high-profile Accutane trial, the world has gained a rare view into what it is like to live with the side effects of this drug including Accutaneinflammatory bowel diseaseslike Accutane ulcerative colitisand Accutane Crohn’s disease. But what’s the difference between the two Accutane IBDs? It turns out the difference is mostly a matter of location. Accutane ulcerative colitis typically affects …

Researchers in Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine are working toward a cure for Crohn’s disease, of which the causes are still unknown. The work comes after a breakthrough in 2009 when Prof. Eric Denkers, immunology, and a research associate, Charlotte Egan, discovered that mice infected with the parasite Taxoplasma gondii presented symptoms similar to those found in human patients with …

The other day I wrote about a new Congressional Crohn’s and Colitis Caucus that was formed to focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This news struck me in several ways. On one hand, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would oppose legislative efforts that stand to benefit people with chronic illnesses. On the other, I can understand the difficulties a politician …

DIBRUGARH, India—Today’s fruit of the day is the strawberry. In an Indian study, 500 mg/kg of a strawberry extract significantly ameliorated experimentally induced inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), possibly attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (Indian J Pharmacol. 2011;43(1):18-21). Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are chronic recurrent IBD of unknown origin. Oxidative stress is believed to be a key factor …

Note from Grupo De Apoyo EII: The safety of common acne treatments in people with IBD has not been clearly established.  Additional studies are needed to determine if long-term antibiotics usage increases the risk of developing IBD. By Rachael Myers Lowe NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Acne is a difficult enough burden for a young person to bear. Now there’s evidence …

Note from Grupo De Apoyo EII: Not all children with Crohn’s disease will need surgery. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Starting immunomodulator therapy as soon as children are diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (CD) doesn’t change the chances that they’ll need bowel surgery within 5 years, analysis of registry data suggests. However, older age at diagnosis, greater CD severity, and strictures or …

By Will Boggs, MD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Pregnant women and children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should receive biological therapy to induce and maintain remission, according to the new London Position Statement of the World Congress of Gastroenterology. “In both populations, the risk of the untreated disease is greater than the risk of most medications, which is the …

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children diagnosed with ulcerative colitis have a good chance of attaining remission after 1 year of treatment with azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine, according to the results of an observational cohort study. Writing in the American Journal of Gastroenterology online January 11, Dr. Jeffrey S. Hyams, with Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, and colleagues note that …

By Robert Saunders NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – When couples want to conceive, it’s unnecessary for men with inflammatory bowel disease to stop taking thiopurine medications, a Spanish group has shown. This practice has been routine due to concerns that by interfering with purine metabolism, thiopurines can cause DNA mutations. “The general perception is that thiopurines can be safely administered …

Stress can change the balance of bacteria that naturally live in the gut, according to research published this month in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. “These bacteria affect immune function, and may help explain why stress dysregulates the immune response,” said lead researcher Michael Bailey. Exposure to stress led to changes in composition, diversity and number of gut microorganisms, …