Liver allograft recipients have a greater risk of cardiovascular deaths and ischemic events than an age- and sex-matched population. The prevalence of raised cholesterol concentrations in patients after OLT is similar to those in previous reports. Moderate hypertension and hyperlipidemia may be more detrimental in patients after OLT compared to non-transplant patients without these risk factors.

SummaryBackgroundOesophageal adenocarcinoma is the sixth most common cause of cancer death worldwide and Barrett's oesophagus is the biggest risk factor. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of high-dose esomeprazole proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) and aspirin for improving outcomes in patients with Barrett's oesophagus.MethodsThe Aspirin and Esomeprazole Chemoprevention in Barrett's metaplasia Trial had a 2 × 2 factorial design and was done at 84 centres in the UK and one in Canada. Patients with Barrett's oesophagus of 1 cm or more were randomised 1:1:1:1 using a computer-generated schedule held in a central trials unit to receive high-dose (40 mg twice-daily) or low-dose (20 mg once-daily) PPI, with or without aspirin (300 mg per day in the UK, 325 mg per day in Canada) for at least 8 years, in an unblinded manner. Reporting pathologists were masked to treatment allocation. The primary composite endpoint was time to all-cause mortality, oesophageal adenocarcinoma, or high-grade dysplasia, which was analysed with accelerated failure time modelling adjusted for minimisation factors (age, Barrett's oesophagus length, intestinal metaplasia) in all patients in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with EudraCT, number 2004-003836-77.FindingsBetween March 10, 2005, and March 1, 2009, 2557 patients were recruited. 705 patients were assigned to low-dose PPI and no aspirin, 704 to high-dose PPI and no aspirin, 571 to low-dose PPI and aspirin, and 577 to high-dose PPI and aspirin. Median follow-up and treatment duration was 8·9 years (IQR 8·2–9·8), and we collected 20 095 follow-up years and 99·9% of planned data. 313 primary events occurred. High-dose PPI (139 events in 1270 patients) was superior to low-dose PPI (174 events in 1265 patients; time ratio [TR] 1·27, 95% CI 1·01–1·58, p=0·038). Aspirin (127 events in 1138 patients) was not significantly better than no aspirin (154 events in 1142 patients; TR 1·24, 0·98–1·57, p=0·068). If patients using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were censored at the time of first use, aspirin was significantly better than no aspirin (TR 1·29, 1·01–1·66, p=0·043; n=2236). Combining high-dose PPI with aspirin had the strongest effect compared with low-dose PPI without aspirin (TR 1·59, 1·14–2·23, p=0·0068). The numbers needed to treat were 34 for PPI and 43 for aspirin. Only 28 (1%) participants reported study-treatment-related serious adverse events.InterpretationHigh-dose PPI and aspirin chemoprevention therapy, especially in combination, significantly and safely improved outcomes in patients with Barrett's oesophagus.FundingCancer Research UK, AstraZeneca, Wellcome Trust, and Health Technology Assessment.

Quality of life in screen-detected coeliac patients did not differ significantly compared to controls. Two of eight QoL parameters improved significantly in typical coeliac patients compared to baseline data. Dietary gluten exclusion in typical coeliac patients led to a significant improvement in health at 1 year follow-up, in contrast to screen-detected coeliac patients.

A strong HLA association is seen in coeliac disease [specifically to the DQ(alpha1*0501,beta1*0201 heterodimer], but this cannot entirely account for the increased risk seen in relatives of affected cases. One or more genes at HLA-unlinked loci also predispose to coeliac disease and are probably stronger determinants of disease susceptibility than HLA. A recent study has proposed a number of candidate regions on chromosomes 6p23 (distinct from HLA), 6p12, 3q27, 5q33.3, 7q31.3, 11p11, 15q26, 19p13.3, 19q13.1, 19q13.4 and 22cen for the location of a non-HLA linked susceptibility gene. We have examined these regions in 28 coeliac disease families by linkage analysis. There was excess sharing of chromosome 6p markers, but no support for a predisposition locus telomeric to HLA. No significant evidence in favour of linkage to coeliac disease was obtained for chromosomes 3q27, 5q33.3, 7q31.3, 11p11, 19p13.3, 19q13.1, 19q13.4 or 22cen. There was, however, excess sharing close to D15S642. The maximum non-parametric linkage score was 1.99 (P = 0.03). Although the evidence for linkage of coeliac disease to chromosome 15q26 is not strong, the well established association between coeliac disease and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, together with the mapping of an IDDM susceptibility locus (IDDM3) to chromosome 15q26, provide indirect support for this as a candidate locus conferring susceptibility to coeliac disease in some families.