Patients and methods: Full-thickness surgical specimens of 19 patients undergoing surgery for medically refractory disease (9 from the ileum of patients

with Crohn’s disease, 10 from the colon of patients with ulcerative colitis) were assessed for the presence of enteric neurons and enteroglial cells and for their apoptosis by two immunohistochemical methods, one also able to distinguish apoptosis from necrosis. The results AP24534 were compared with those obtained in control specimens.

Results: Concerning Crohn’s disease, the ileal segments displayed a significant increase of apoptotic enteric neurons and enteroglial. cells in both the submucous and the myenteric plexus compared to controls. In patients with ulcerative colitis, compared to controls, apoptotic phenomena were significantly

reduced in enteric neurons, whereas they were increased in the enteroglial cell population (submucous and myenteric plexus).

Conclusions: In patients with inflammatory bowel disease apoptotic phenomena involve both enteric neurons and enteroglial cells, and may play a rote in the abnormalities of the enteric nervous system. The importance of these findings in the pathophysiology of these conditions remains to be determined. (C) 2009 European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Objective: To conduct an updated systematic review on the outcome of Bell’s palsy (BP) in children following steroid treatment.

Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and BIOSIS

Previews electronic databases were searched obtaining articles RG-7112 cost published between 2000 and 2010 without any language restriction.

Review methods: Articles describing children aged 0-18 years with BP treated solely with corticosteroids were included. In studies including various etiologies for facial palsy; cases of BP treated with steroids were selected and when available, untreated patients as well for comparison. The outcome measure was facial movements following steroidal treatment based on different clinical scales. Controlled clinical trials, prospective and historical cohort studies, cross sectional studies and case series were included.

Results: A total of 2293 papers were initially identified. 4EGI-1 mouse Following review by two authors, 68 papers were analyzed in a hard-copy format. Finally, 6 studies were eligible to be included in the systematic review. Four of the studies included children with BP exclusively while the remaining studies described various etiologies of facial palsy. Type of steroid and duration of treatment were inconsistently specified. Outcome measures used include the House-Brackmann scale, Yanagihara grading system and clinical evaluation. Studies analyzed were retrospective cohorts or case-series and were categorized as level 4 of evidence.

Conclusion: There were no controlled trials and level 4 publications predominate.