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An Efficient Approach To Monitoring Gastrointestinal Microflora Changes
Pi-deficiency in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most common digestive diseases and usually the equilibrium of gastrointestinal microflora are broken, which plays many important roles in the growth, development and performance of the host. Therefore, more clinical interests are arising in monitoring changes of intestinal microflora in intestinal disease and the consequent treatment, especially in TCM therapies. It has been found that some Chinese materia medica have curative effects on regulating the equilibrium of intestinal microflora and therefore promote the recovery of "Pi". However, ways of monitoring the intestinal flora are quite limited, not only because of the complexity of its constitution, but also the difficulty of culturing for most gastrointestinal bacteria in vitro.
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An embolism - from the Greek çİmbolos meaning "stopper" or "plug" - is the term that describes a condition where an object called an embolus is created in one part of the body, circulates throughout the body, and then blocks blood flowing through a vessel in another part of the body. Emboli (plural of embolus) are not to be confused with thrombi (plural of thrombus), which are clots that are formed and remain in one area of the body without being carried throughout the bloodstream.
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An endoscopy involves examining the inside of a person"s body using an endoscope. An endoscope is a medical device consisting of a long, thin, flexible (or rigid) tube which has a light and a video camera. Images of the inside of the patient"s body can be seen on a screen. The whole endoscopy is recorded so that doctors can check it again. Endoscopy is a minimally invasive diagnostic medical procedure. It is used to examine the interior surfaces of an organ or tissue.
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Obese And Overweight Young Adults At Greater Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

UA scientists looking at the link between BMI over a lifetime and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer found that overweight and obese young adults are more likely to develop the disease, and also that older adults with pancreatic cancer who are obese have a lower overall survival rate. The study was the work of first author Dr Donghui Li, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues and is published in the 24 June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA. Cancer of the pancreas is the fourth leading cause of death from cancer for American men and women, and since obesity began to rise steeply in the US in the last 20 years, there is increasing evidence that carrying too much weight is a risk factor for this disease. But despite this trend, as the authors pointed out in their background information, we don"t know very much about the link between excess body weight and risk of pancreatic cancer over a lifetime, nor do we know much about at which stages in that lifetime the key changes in weight occur that could affect the link. So Li and colleagues investigated this further by looking at two groups of people: one group was 841 patients with pancreatic cancer and the other was a group of 754 healthy people matched to the first group by age, race and sex. For these groups, height, body weight and other medical histories had already been collected in personal interviews that started at ages 14 to 19 years and then at 10-year intervals thereafter until 12 months before enrolling on the study. Li and colleagues then explored the links between body mass index (BMI) over a lifetime and three things: the risk of pancreatic cancer, the age the cancer started, and overall patient survival. A Body Mass Index (the ratio of a person"s weight in kilos to the square of their height in metres) of 25 to 29.9 is classed as overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is classed as obese. Their results showed that: *Participants who were overweight from age 14 to 39 or obese from age 20 to 49 were at higher risk of pancreatic cancer regardless of whether they developed diabetes or not. *The link between average BMI (for every increase of 5 units) and risk of pancreatic cancer was stronger in men that in women. *The link was statistically significant for each age group from age 14 to 69 in men but only from 14 to 39 in women. *Ever smokers had a slightly stronger link between average BMI (for every 5 unit increase) and pancreatic cancer risk than never smokers. *Among never smokers the chances of pancreatic cancer being linked to being overweight or obese at an early age before diagnosis was estimated at 10.3 per cent. *Among ever smokers this figure rose to 21.3 per cent. *Pancreatic cancer was diagnosed some 2 to 6 years earlier in participants who were overweight or obese from 20 to 49 years of age. *The median (midpoint of the range) age when cancer was diagnosed was 64 for normal weight participants, 61 for for those who were overweight and 59 for those who were obese. *Participants who were overweight or obese from age 30 to 79 or up to a year before being enrolled in the study had an overall reduced survival rate for pancreatic cancer, regardless of the stage of the disease and whether the tumor had been operated on. The authors concluded that: "Overweight or obesity during early adulthood was associated with a greater risk of pancreatic cancer and a younger age of disease onset. Obesity at an older age was associated with a lower overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer." "While our observations require confirmation, they provide support for a role of excess body weight in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer," they added. "Body Mass Index and Risk, Age of Onset, and Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer." Donghui Li; Jeffrey S. Morris; Jun Liu; Manal M. Hassan; R. Sue Day; Melissa L. Bondy; James L. Abbruzzese. JAMA. 2009;301(24):2553- 2562. Vol. 301 No. 24, June 24, 2009 Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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