A polymerase arrest assay was designed to determine sites of adduction in the human p53 gene induced by incubation with fecal water. Significant formation of adducts was observed on p53 DNA after a 2-h incubation in fecal water from 10 of 17 samples studied. Large sample-to-sample variation was observed. The major sites of polymerase termination occurred at nucleotides 3' to guanine residues. A...

Four patients with ulcerative colitis apparently limited to the rectum and distal sigmoid colon were treated by excision of the distal large bowel only, during the years 1964-1975 at St Mark's Hospital. Two patients have remained well since with no further treatment and the other two have had symptoms of colonic disease and have responded to medical measures.

The optimum management of ingested button batteries was ascertained by postal questionnaire sent to 608 members of the endoscopic and paediatric sections of the British Society of Gastroenterology. Some 312 returns were suitable for analysis: 36.2% of the respondents were not concerned about ingested button batteries and gave no treatment, 6.4% used medical treatment, 48.4% removed them under c...

Recent advances in mechanobiology have accumulated strong evidence showing close correlations between the physiological conditions and mechanical properties of cells. In this paper, a novel optomechanical technique to characterize the stiffness of single adherent cells attached on a substrate is reported. The oscillation in a cell's height on a vertically vibrating reflective substrate is measu...

PURPOSE The aim of the study was to assess the use colonoscopy over time in the assessment of large bowel obstruction in a tertiary university hospital. METHODS Retrospective analysis of surgical and colonoscopy records for the years 1990-2009 in a university hospital. All patients diagnosed with non-conservatively managed bowel obstruction were included. RESULTS We recorded 644 patients di...

A case of spontaneous partial rupture of the normal large bowel causing a haemoperitoneum is described. No similar case appears to have been reported previously.

During necropsy of a specimen of Lagothrix cana (É. Geoffroy, 1812) (Primates: Atelidae) from the Brazilian Amazon, pinworms were found in the large intestine. The intensity of infection was 64 parasites (17 males and 47 females) and there were no gross pathological changes related to parasitism. After morphological analysis the parasites were identified as Trypanoxyuris (Paraoxyuronema) lagoth...

Total anaerobic bacteria and Methanobrevibacter smithii populations were enumerated in fecal specimens from two individuals over 10- and 13-month periods. The ratio of M. smithii to total anaerobic count varied between the individuals, but it was a relatively constant proportion of the large-bowel microbial flora within each individual. Neither a barium enema examination of one subject nor a ra...

The large intestine is a home for trillions of microbiota, which confer many benefits on the host, including production of vitamins, absorption of nutrients, pathogen displacement, and development of the immune system. For several decades, germ-free animals have been used to study the interaction between the host and its microbiota. This minireview describes the technical aspects for establishi...