Figure. Asscoiation with psychosocial factors. There is a significant difference in the mean value for global scale index between rectal hyposensitivity and normosensitive group. GSI, global scale index; PSDI, positive symptom distress index; PST, positive symptom total. TO THE EDITOR: We read with interest the review article by Burgell and Scott regarding rectal hyposensitivity (RH). RH is cli...

Oxygen (O2) desaturation may occur in patients affected by respiratory diseases during daily activities, although most of these activities, e.g. walking, washing and cooking, can be avoided or eventually performed with an external aid. In this prospective study, the respiratory changes induced by the mandatory effort of defecation were assessed in patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency...

BACKGROUND We analyzed data from the baseline assessment of a large intervention project to describe typical handwashing practices in rural Bangladesh, and compare measures of hand cleanliness with household characteristics. METHODS We randomly selected 100 villages from 36 districts in rural Bangladesh. Field workers identified 17 eligible households per village using systematic sampling. Fi...

Acupuncture is a commonly used therapy for treating functional diarrhea (FD), although there is limited knowledge on the mechanism. The objectives of this study were to investigate the differences in brain activities elicited by acupuncture between FD patients and healthy controls (HC) so as to explore the possible mechanism. Eighteen FD patients and eighteen HC received 10 sessions of acupunct...

Background This study aimed to determine effects of synbiotics on treatment of functional constipation in children aged 2-10 years old. Materials and Methods This randomized single blind clinical trial study carried out on children who had functional constipation based on the Rome III criteria. The  polyethylene glycol + synbiotic group (P+S group, n=38)received the synbiotic with polyethylene ...

INTRODUCTION The immediate and complete restoration of perfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) leads to the survival of myocardial cells in the initially ischaemic risk area and makes the recovery of left ventricular contractile function possible. AIM The goal of the study was to assess the utility of contrast echocardiography (CE) in the prediction of left ventricular fun...

INTRODUCTION Abdominal pain, bloating, and defecation disturbances are common complaints in gastrointestinal functional disorders. This study explores whether bowel symptoms are correlated to colon transit time (CTT), faecal loading (coprostasis), and colon length; and whether prokinetic intervention can reduce CTT, faecal retention, and symptoms. METHODS This observational and interventional...

INTRODUCTION Constipation is a common problem in intensive care units. We assessed the efficacy and safety of laxative therapy aiming to promote daily defecation in reducing organ dysfunction in mechanically ventilated patients. METHODS We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled, nonblinded phase II clinical trial at two general intensive care units. Patients expected to remain ventil...

BACKGROUND: Constipation is one of the common problems in childhood and consists of 3% of referrals to pediatricians and 25% of pediatric gastroenterologists. Aperients are common alternatives for treating chronic constipation. The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of three laxatives [polyethylene glycol (PEG), magnesium hydroxide, and lactulose]. METHODS: In this randomized clinical ...

Encopresis is often the result of chronic constipation in the majority of paediatric patients. In clinical practice, however, encopresis is also seen without constipation and it is unknown whether these two clinical variants are based on similar or different pathophysiological mechanisms, requiring different therapeutic approaches. We analysed clinical symptoms, colonic transit time (CTT), oroc...