These data should help the users to choose the kit the most appropriate to their goals.

SUMMARYAim: To compare the efficacy of different regimens in patients in whom previous Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy has failed. Methods: In this study named StratHegy patients (n ¼ 287) were randomized to receive one of three empirical triple therapy regimens or a strategy based on antibiotic susceptibility. The empirical regimens were omeprazole, 20 mg b.d., plus amoxicillin, 1000 mg b.d., and clarithromycin, 500 mg b.d., for 7 days (OAC 7 ), clarithromycin, 500 mg b.d., for 14 days (OAC 14 ) or metronidazole, 500 mg b.d., for 14 days (OAM 14 ). In the susceptibility-based strategy, patients with clarithromycin-susceptible strains received OAC 14 , whilst the others received OAM 14 . The 13 C-urea breath test was performed before randomization and 4-5 weeks after eradication therapy.Results: In the intention-to-treat analysis, the eradication rates for empirical therapies were as follows: OAC 7 , 47.4% (27/57); OAC 14 , 34.5% (20/58); OAM 14 , 63.2% (36/57); it was 74.3% (84/113) for the susceptibilitybased treatment (P < 0.01 when compared with OAC 7 and OAC 14 ). In patients receiving clarithromycin, the eradication rates were 80% for clarithromycin-susceptible strains and 16% for clarithromycin-resistant strains; in patients receiving OAM 14 , the eradication rates were 81% for metronidazole-susceptible strains and 59% for metronidazole-resistant strains. Conclusions: Eradication rates of approximately 75% can be achieved with second-line triple therapy based on antibiotic susceptibility testing. If susceptibility testing is not available, OAM 14 is an appropriate alternative.

Age >50 years, the presence of nocturnal stools, weight loss, the introduction of a new drug, and the presence of a known autoimmune disease increase the probability of MC and thus the indication for colonoscopy with biopsies.

Backgroundelicobacter pylori infection is associated with several gastro-duodenal inflammatory diseases of various levels of severity. To determine whether certain combinations of genetic markers can be used to predict the clinical source of the infection, we analyzed well documented and geographically homogenous clinical isolates using a comparative genomics approach.ResultsA set of 254 H. pylori genes was used to perform array-based comparative genomic hybridization among 120 French H. pylori strains associated with chronic gastritis (n = 33), duodenal ulcers (n = 27), intestinal metaplasia (n = 17) or gastric extra-nodal marginal zone B-cell MALT lymphoma (n = 43). Hierarchical cluster analyses of the DNA hybridization values allowed us to identify a homogeneous subpopulation of strains that clustered exclusively with cagPAI minus MALT lymphoma isolates. The genome sequence of B38, a representative of this MALT lymphoma strain-cluster, was completed, fully annotated, and compared with the six previously released H. pylori genomes (i.e. J99, 26695, HPAG1, P12, G27 and Shi470). B38 has the smallest H. pylori genome described thus far (1,576,758 base pairs containing 1,528 CDSs); it contains the vacAs2m2 allele and lacks the genes encoding the major virulence factors (absence of cagPAI, babB, babC, sabB, and homB). Comparative genomics led to the identification of very few sequences that are unique to the B38 strain (9 intact CDSs and 7 pseudogenes). Pair-wise genomic synteny comparisons between B38 and the 6 H. pylori sequenced genomes revealed an almost complete co-linearity, never seen before between the genomes of strain Shi470 (a Peruvian isolate) and B38.ConclusionThese isolates are deprived of the main H. pylori virulence factors characterized previously, but are nonetheless associated with gastric neoplasia.

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In a general hospital-based population in France, peptic ulcer disease appears idiopathic in a fifth of cases.

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Functional and specific histamine H2 receptors were characterized in human peripheral monocytes and in U-937 cells, before and after retinoic acid--induced differentiation into monocyte/macrophage-like cells. The relative potencies of histamine and the H1, H2 receptor agonists and antagonists studied are remarkably similar in U-937 cells and U-937 monocytes. There is no change in histamine concentration and activity of the enzymes forming and degrading histamine during monocytic-like differentiation. The results raise the possibility that histamine H2 receptors might be involved in pathophysiological regulations (proliferation/differentiation and biological function) of normal and leukemic monocytes.