Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In this review I have described the pathophysiology of allergic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Situations where the intestine cannot be a complete barrier to foreign allergens and antigens were discussed and etiological factors of gastrointestinal allergy were detailed. Clinical features of gastrointestinal allergy include diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain and colic, intestinal hemorrhage and malabsorption as well as symptoms and signs outside the gastrointestinal tract such as chronic rhinitis and asthma in the respiratory system, urticaria, angioedema and eczema as dermatological signs, headache, insomnia, hyperkinesis as central nervous system manifestations, failure to thrive and anaphylaxis as constitutional reactions. Milk allergy was discussed as an example of food allergy. Immunology of the gastrointestinal tract was presented, with examples of four types of hypersensitivity reactions, and gastrointestinal disturbances of immunodeficiency disorders and syndromes were named. Lastly, the autoimmune mechanism and the gut were described, with particular discussion of ulcerative colitis as an example of an autoimmune disease.
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PMID:The intestine in allergic diseases. 78 84

A 58 year old Chinese male, one week after arriving in Canada from Hong Kong, presented with acute abdominal pain and diarrhoea which was rapidly followed by Escherichia coli infection causing septicaemia and meningitis. His past history revealed bronchial asthma for 15 years treated with steroids. At laparotomy, 7 days after the onset of symptoms, he was found to have extensive haemorrhagic infarction of the small bowel and right colon. Examination of the fibrosed mesenteric vessels revealed numerous filariform larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis, within the walls, and in all layers of bowel wall. The role of the parasite in the production of obliterative arteritis in this fatal case of haemorrhagic enteropathy is discussed. Clinical strongyloidiasis, in uncomplicated cases, varies from mild to severe with gastroenteritis, nausea, colicky abdominal pain, electrolyte imbalance and symptoms of malabsorption syndrome (MARCIAL-ROJAS, 1971). In malnourished individuals and patients with debilitating infections, either newly acquired or asymptomatic latent infection with S. stercoralis can assume severe dimensions (BROWN and PERNA, 1958; HUGHTON and HORN, 1959). Similarly, in patients on steroid (CRUZ et al., 1966; WILLIS and MWOKOLO, 1966; NEEFE et al., 1973) and immunosuppressive therapy for lymphomatous diseases or deficient in immune response (ROGERS and NELSON, 1966; RIVERA et al., 1970), systemic strongyloidiasis is often fatal. The increased frequency of auto-infection in such patients with a breached immune barrier is, however, unclear. Further complications of this infection due to severe enterocolitis result in sepsis, bacteraemia and meningitis (BROWN and PERNA, 1958; HUGHTON and HORN, 1959). This paper presents a fatal case of S. stercoralis infection which illustrates an uncommon if not unique, mechanism in its production of haemorrhagic enteropathy leading to sepsis and death.
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PMID:Fatal bowel infarction and sepsis: an unusual complication of systemic strongyloidiasis. 122 84

From 1980-1986 intestinal mucosal lymphangiectasia was diagnosed histologically in eight patients (6 weeks to 16 years; four males/four females; seven white). The presenting features were diarrhea (six/eight), vomiting (four/eight), and growth deficit (seven/eight). Additional conditions in these patients included asthma, urinary tract infection, esophageal atresia, hydrops fetalis, inflammatory bowel disease, malabsorption syndrome, and thymic hypoplasia. Hypoalbuminemia and edema (four/eight) were more prominent in those patients under 5 years of age. Two had systemic lymphangiectasia and lymphopenia. The patients responded variably to hyperalimentation and dietary supplements, depending on the extent of their lymphangiectasia and the age at onset of symptoms. Dilated lymphatics were seen in the small intestinal mucosa under the surface epithelium. Lesions were often focal, requiring several biopsies or serial sections for detection. Other common findings were mild to moderate lymphoplasmacytic inflammation and mild to moderate villous injury with blunting and edema. Mild inflammation without lymphangiectasia was also present in esophageal, gastric, or colonic biopsies. Diagnosis should be made on the basis of endoscopic findings or in small-intestinal inflammatory conditions even in the absence of a classic clinical picture. Histologic confirmation may require more than one serially sectioned biopsy. This study confirms the diversity of disorders that may be associated with intestinal lymphangiectasia and shows that the disease in infants is more severe and generalized.
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PMID:Intestinal lymphangiectasia in children: a study of upper gastrointestinal endoscopic biopsies. 274 90

The relationship between growth and pulmonary disease has been studied mainly in asthma and cystic fibrosis. In asthma, the most frequent chronic pulmonary disease in childhood, results were conflicting, until the degree of severity of the disease and growth phases were taken into account. Research on 683 children has shown that the percentage of underweight was higher in chronic than intermittent asthma. Moreover, the distribution of underweight patients by ages is different in the two types of asthma: uniform in intermittent asthma; two peaks below the age of 2 and above the age of 12 respectively in chronic asthma. Further data of 65 children treated with slow-releasing theophylline for approximately two years corroborates that puberty is a particularly vulnerable period. Indeed, in the most severe asthmatic males, theophylline is able to completely normalize the growth pattern in childhood but not in puberty. In cystic fibrosis malabsorption makes the study of the relationship between growth and pulmonary disease more complex. The pattern of growth in patients with cystic fibrosis is moving away from the normal pattern with ageing, hence the worsening of pulmonary disease is responsible for the worsening in the growth pattern. The growth pattern today is far better than that of 20 years ago. However, puberty, especially in female patients, is a critical period. Often the puberal spurt is delayed for a few years or is even completely absent. In a group of patients with chronic pulmonary disease due to different causes, weight is more implicated than height and the same pattern was observed in cystic fibrosis. Moreover, as in asthma, weight and height are more implicated in females than males. The entity of alteration observed is midway between the minimal in asthma and the maximal in cystic fibrosis.
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PMID:[Growth and chronic bronchopneumopathies]. 391 44

Vitamins are a group of organic compounds occurring naturally in food and are necessary for good health. Lack of a vitamin may lead to a specific deficiency syndrome, which may be primary (due to inadequate diet) or secondary (due to malabsorption or to increased metabolic need), and it is rational to use high-dose vitamin supplementation in situations where these clinical conditions exist. However, pharmacological doses of vitamins are claimed to be of value in a wide variety of conditions which have no, or only a superficial, resemblance to the classic vitamin deficiency syndromes. The enormous literature on which these claims are based consists mainly of uncontrolled clinical trials or anecdotal reports. Only a few studies have made use of the techniques of randomisation and double-blinding. Evidence from such studies reveals a beneficial therapeutic effect of vitamin E in intermittent claudication and fibrocystic breast disease and of vitamin C in pressure sores, but the use of vitamin A in acne vulgaris, vitamin E in angina pectoris, hyperlipidaemia and enhancement of athletic capacity, of vitamin C in advanced cancer, and niacin in schizophrenia has been rejected. Evidence is conflicting or inconclusive as to the use of vitamin C in the common cold, asthma and enhancement of athletic capacity, of pantothenic acid in osteoarthritis, and folic acid (folacin) in neural tube defects. Most of the vitamins have been reported to cause adverse effects when ingested in excessive doses. It is therefore worthwhile to consider the risk-benefit ratio before embarking upon the use of high-dose vitamin supplementation for disorders were proof of efficacy is lacking.
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PMID:Vitamin therapy in the absence of obvious deficiency. What is the evidence? 623 Feb 19

The zinc, an important enzymatic cofactor, is involved in many metabolic processes. Its deficiency might be due either to malabsorption or to excessive utilization. In the medical literature of the latest 10 years, zinc was considered to play a part in the immune processes. The authors of the present paper intend to study the zinc and immunoglobulin levels in various diseases, i.e., chronic progressive hepatitis, liver cirrhosis (LC), dermatitis, bronchial asthma. This preliminary investigation was carried out in 30 patients with LC in whom serum zinc values were assayed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the immunoglobulin levels were determined using the Mancini type simple radial immunodiffusion technique. All these patients presented considerable decrease of serum zinc concentration, the values ranging between 3.06 and 7.65 mumol/l as compared with 19.8 +/- 1.5 mumol/l in the controls, alongside with the increase of immunoglobulins G and M. In the patients treated with Zincum metallicum CH5 it was observed after about 30 days of treatment that the clinical state was considerably improved and IgG and IgM as well as serum zinc had resumed their normal values. This treatment should not be interrupted since in LC, without permanent additional supply, the serum zinc returns rapidly to the initial deficit or even lower.
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PMID:Treatment with zincum metallicum CH5 in patients with liver cirrhosis. Preliminary study. 786 38

Congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD) was once thought to be a distinct clinical entity, but genetic similarities in men with cystic fibrosis (CF) and CBAVD are described increasingly. We evaluated the clinical status, growth and nutritional state, and respiratory function of 18 men with CBAVD to determine whether these men with different CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR) genotypes may have clinical evidence of mild CF. Following a thorough history and examination, pulmonary function tests, sweat test, and renal ultrasound were performed. Genetic evaluation for 50 known CF mutations, screening for private mutations (single-strand conformational polymorphism and direct sequencing), and assay of the length of the polypyrimidine tract in the splice site acceptor of intron 8 was performed. A history of pulmonary disease was present in three, and an additional man had some features suggestive of malabsorption. Results of general physical examination and anthropomorphic measurements were unremarkable in all patients, with a mean (SD) body mass index of 26 (3). Pulmonary function tests of large and small airway function as well as lung volumes were normal in all except one whose results were consistent with moderate asthma. Five men were compound heterozygotes for CFTR mutations, four of whom had positive sweat tests (sweat chloride > 60 mEq/L). Twelve men were heterozygotes for CFTR mutations while no mutations were identified in one man. Although putative etiologic factors may suggest that men with CBAVD and CFTR mutations could be considered within the spectrum of clinical CF, the authors suggest that in men with CBAVD without any other clinical features of CF, the diagnosis of CF may not be made.
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PMID:Pulmonary function and clinical observations in men with congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens. 869 49

We present a case report and review of the literature that illustrates many key features of patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). These patients frequently present with repeated infections with a variety of different microorganisms. Recurrent sinopulmonary infections can lead to serious chronic complications such as bronchiectasis, and gastrointestinal infections can result in malabsorption. In addition to serious infection, CVID is associated with a number of comorbid disorders including a variety of autoimmune diseases and neoplasms. Here, we provide an illustrative case report and discuss the primary features and therapy for patients with CVID.
Allergy Asthma Proc
PMID:Common variable immunodeficiency. 1189 36

Hypocalcification of the enamel is the most common developmental disorder observed in teeth. The prevalence of this kind of hypomineralisation is about 10-19%. These molars are often referred to as cheese molars, because the lesions clinically resemble cheese in color and consistency. Other descriptions are: idiopathic enamel hypomineralisation in the permanent first molars, idiopathic enamel opacities in the permanent first molars, non fluoride enamel hypomineralisation in the permanent first molars, non-endemic mottling of enamel in the permanent first molars. Molar-Incisor Hypomineralisation is today the proposed expression for this disease. Occlusal surfaces of the first permanent molar are most commonly affected. The lesions are more frequent in the upper jaw than in the lower jaw. The incisors are affected to a lesser degree than the molars. Several aetiological factors can cause these defects. Some studies show a relation between intake of dioxins via mother's milk after prolonged breast feeding and developmental defects of the child's teeth. Because the ameloblasts are very sensitive to oxygen supply, complications involving oxygen shortages during birth or respiratory diseases such as asthma or bronchitis and pneumonia are discussed as further aetiological factors. Renal insufficiency, hypoparothyroidism, diarrhoea, malabsorption and malnutrition and high-fever diseases can be other reasons for the occurrence of these defects. Defective enamel can be a locus of lowered resistance for caries. Histologically there are areas of porosity of varying degrees. The affected teeth can be very sensitive to air, cold, warm and mechanical stimuli. Toothbrushing may create toothache in these teeth. We therefore suggest that these patients receive intensified prevention with fluoride varnish, a fissure sealing, GIZ, composits, stainless steel crowns or implants. In some cases an interdisciplinary approach with an orthodontist can result in the extraction of the molars in the age of 8 to 10 years.
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PMID:["Molar-incisor hypomineralization"]. 1510 1

Milk and colostrum is a rich source of proteins/peptides which have crucial roles in both neonates and adults. Milk bioactive proteins and peptides are potential health-enhancing nutraceuticals for food. Many bioactive peptides/proteins may be used as nutraceuticals, for example, in the treatment of cancer, asthma, diarrhea, hypertension, thrombosis, dental diseases, as well as mineral malabsorption, and immunodeficiency. The following components of milk are of particular interest in the recent years: 1) Lactoferrin [Lf] has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasite and antitumor activities and accelerates immunomodulatory properties. Lf is a potent inhibitor for several enveloped and naked viruses, such as rotavirus, enterovirus and adenovirus. Lf is resistant to tryptic digestion and breast-fed infants excrete high levels of faecal Lf, so that its effect on viruses replicating in the gastrointestinal tract is of great interest. 2) Casein has been protective in experimental bacteremia by eliciting myelopoiesis. Casein hydrolyzates were also protective in diabetic animals, reduced the tumor growth and diminished colicky symptoms in infants. 3) A Proline rich polypeptide [PRP] revealed variety of immunotropic functions, including promotion of T-cell activation and inhibition of autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. 4) alpha-Lactalbumin [LA] demonstrates antiviral, antitumor and anti-stress properties. 5) Lactoperoxidase shows antibacterial properties. 6) Lysozyme is effective in treatment of periodentitis and prevention of tooth decay. Taken together, milk-derived proteins and peptides are bio-available and safe for the prevention and treatment of various disorders in humans and may play a complementary [natural agents] rather than a substitutional role to the toxic synthetic pharmacological drugs.
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PMID:Molecular and biotechnological advances in milk proteins in relation to human health. 1968 55


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