“…Of each well oriented, not crushed duodenal biopsy, the alcian blue/periodic acid Schiff (alcian blue/PAS) staining was carried out for DGM identification ( Figure 1B). For the purpose of the present study, DGM is defined by the presence of adjacent surface epithelial cells (in the apical portion or in the lateral side of the duodenal villous), without brush border and containing PAS-positive neutral mucin [13][14][15]. The DGM is classified as complete, incomplete, and intermediate, according to our criteria.…”