The prevalence of GERD in the Japanese was 17.9% and the prevalence rates of NERD and erosive esophagitis were 10.9% and 8.6%, respectively. The majority of symptomatic patients did not have endoscopically proven esophagitis. Hiatal hernia is the only important predictor of the presence of GERD symptoms.

The therapeutic ef®cacy of drugs that suppress gastric acid secretion in the healing of peptic ulcers and gastrooesophageal re¯ux disease (GERD) depends on the potency of acid suppression.1, 2 The proton pump inhibitors, which cause potent and long-lasting inhibition of the terminal step in gastric acid secretion, are considered to be the most effective medical treatment for the management of patients with acid-related diseases.3, 4 However, interindividual variations in the suppressive effect of proton pump inhibitors on gastric acid secretion have been reported. 5±7 Helicobacter pylori infection is reported to affect the acid suppressing effect of proton pump inhibitors and is regarded as one of the factors that cause interindividual variations in their effect. 8±12Recently, it has also been found that CYP2C19, which is one of the isoenzymes of cytochrome P450 (CYP) in the liver and has important roles in the catabolism of proton pump inhibitors, has two genetically determined phenotypes: extensive metabolizers (EMs) and poor metabolizers (PMs).13±17 Variation in phenotype affects the acid suppressing effects of omeprazole by changing its rate of catabolism.18 These two phenotypes of CYP2C19 can be determined by measuring urinary 4¢-hydroxymephenytoin excretion or urinary S/R enantiomeric ratio after a single dose of racemic SUMMARY Background: CYP2C19 has an important role in the catabolism of several proton pump inhibitors. However, the relative contribution of CYP2C19-mediated metabolism varies among the different proton pump inhibitors. Aim: To determine the effect of CYP2C19 genotype status on intragastric pH during dosing with lansoprazole or rabeprazole. Subjects and methods: The subjects were 20 male volunteers without Helicobacter pylori infection. Their CYP2C19 genotype status was determined by a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Twenty-four-hour monitoring of intragastric acidity was performed three times: once

Helicobacter pylori infection does not influence the prevalence of the dysmotility-like and ulcer-like dyspeptic symptoms.

SUMMARYBackground: An effective therapeutic strategy for functional dyspepsia (FD) has not been well-established. Aim: We investigated and compared the therapeutic effects of famotidine, mosapride and tandospirone for the control of dyspeptic symptoms. Methods: Fully examined FD patients of outpatient clinics at seven different medical centres were enrolled in the study. They were randomly assigned to three groups based on the type of drug administered: famotidine, mosapride and tandospirone. The effects of

The degree of arterial stiffness in H. pylori-positive young subjects is higher than that in H. pylori-negative young subjects. However, no difference between the arterial stiffness values of H. pylori-seropositive and -seronegative elderly individuals was observed.

Long-term infection with H. pylori may have an important role in decreasing the serum HDLC concentration.

This study clearly showed that urine-based tests were useful for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. However, the use of frozen urine samples was not appropriate for the detection of anti-H. pyloriantibody.

Infection with HBV or HCV does not influence the severity of arteriosclerosis in healthy subjects.