INTRODUCTION The aetiology of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) remains unknown. An association between RAS and coeliac diseases (CD) has previously been suggested, but the supporting evidence remains equivocal. The aim of the present study was to determine the likely frequency of CD in a large cohort of patients with well-defined RAS, by detailed haematological and serological analysis, incl...

BACKGROUND While few hypothyroid patients require more than the expected weight-related dose of levothyroxine, the underlying causes of larger-than-expected dosing requirements have not been studied in a single cohort. Our aim was to determine and quantify the multiple factors contributing to high-dose levothyroxine requirements in a cohort of patients with hypothyroidism. METHODS The Grampia...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Celiac disease is an abnormal T cell-mediated immune response against dietary gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. The aim of our prospective study was to evaluate the frequency of Celiac disease in patients with lymphoma and to determine the usefulness of the anti-gliadin and anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) for diagnosis of Celiac disease in this patient group. MET...

Sir, Serum IgA class anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) are markers of coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) and are useful in monitoring compliance to diet. Their overall sensitivity for the diagnosis of DH is about 80% and their specificity around 96% (1). As anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) have already been reported in pemphigus (2, 3), the presence of AGA in another patient with pem...

The aging-associated cellular and molecular changes in esophagus have not been established, yet. Thus we evaluated histological structure, interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)-positive cells, and contractility in the esophagus of Fischer 344 rat at different ages (6-, 31-, 74-weeks, and 2-years). The lamina propria thickness and endomysial area were calculat...

Background JDM is the most common idiopathic inflammatory myopathy in children. The Wedderburn scoring system is used to assess JDM muscle biopsies and categorizes muscle involvement into 4 domains: inflammatory, vascular, muscle fiber and connective tissue fibrosis (maximum scores: 12, 3, 10, and 2, respectively) and a 10-cm VAS measuring overall abnormality. A 10 cm VAS for chronicity (endomy...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to determine the prevalence of celiac disease in type I diabetic patients and to compare the symptoms and complications of celiac in patients with diabetes and celiac with patients with diabetes only. METHODS A total of 241 type I diabetic patients age ≥ 18 who needed insulin intake were recruited from diabetic patients attending the Diabetic Research Center in Ker...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Coeliac disease (CD) is characterised by the presence of autoantibodies against tissue transglutaminase (tTG), the endomysial autoantigen. This study was performed to determine the effect of purified autoantibodies on the enzymatic activity of tTG. METHODS Total IgA and IgG class antibodies and purified anti-tTG autoantibodies were isolated from sera of untreated patients ...

AIMS To assess changes in indicators of nutrition and iron deficiency as possible non-invasive markers of mucosal recovery in patients with coeliac disease on a gluten free diet. METHODS Concentrations of transthyretin, retinol binding protein, soluble transferrin receptor, IgA anti-gliadin, and IgA anti-transglutaminase, and titres of IgA anti-endomysial antibody were measured in 36 newly di...