Atrophic gastritis is inversely associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease in a twin register based study.

BACKGROUND: The association between atrophic gastritis (AG) and symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) needs to be better assessed. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to study this association in a twin setting, controlling for genetic and familial factors, in addition to a range of known covariates. METHODS: We performed a co-twin control study based on the Swedish Twin Registry, including confirmed monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. AG was determined by the measurement of serum pepsinogen I (PGI) and pepsinogen II (PGII), with different cut-off values. GERD was defined using a structured questionnaire, by questions on symptoms of heartburn, acid regurgitation, pain behind the breastbone, and drug history. Patients were grouped into total GERD, less frequent (<1/week), and frequent GERD (≥1/week). RESULTS: A total of 12,533 twins were included in the study, among whom 37.7% showed less frequent GERD, and 18.7% had frequent GERD. There was an inverse association between AG and GERD, especially for frequent GERD. When PGI<30 was used as cut-off value for AG, the odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was 0.52 (0.44, 0.62). When PGI<70 and PGI/PGII<3 was used as cut-off value for AG, the OR (95% CI) was 0.53 (0.46, 0.63). A risk reduction for GERD was also observed in AG patients when the analysis was restricted in MZ or DZ twins. CONCLUSION: In this co-twin control study from the Swedish Twin Register, AG is persistently associated with a reduced risk for GERD, after controlling for genetic and shared familial factors.

Efficacy of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for H. pylori Detection as Point-of-Care Testing by Noninvasive Sampling.

For targeted eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) to reduce gastric cancer burden, a convenient approach is definitely needed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the LAMP assay for H. pylori detection using samples collected by noninvasive and self-sampling methods. The available LAMP assay for H. pylori detection was appraised and verified using reference and clinically isolated H. pylori strains. In addition, a clinical study was conducted to assess the LAMP assay on 51 patients, from whom saliva, oral brushing samples, feces, corpus, and antrum specimens were available. Clarithromycin resistance was also analysed through detection of A2143G mutation using the LAMP-RFLP method. The validation and verification analysis demonstrated that the LAMP assay had an acceptable result in terms of specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility, and accuracy for clinical settings. The LAMP assay showed a detection limit for H. pylori down to 0.25 fg/µL of genomic DNA. An acceptable consensus was observed using saliva samples (sensitivity 58.1%, specificity 84.2%, PPV 85.7%, NPV 55.2%, accuracy 68%) in comparison to biopsy sampling as the gold standard. The performance testing of different combinations of noninvasive sampling methods demonstrated that a combination of saliva and oral brushing could achieve a sensitivity of 74.2% and a specificity of 57.9%. A2143G mutation detection by LAMP-RFLP showed perfect consensus with Sanger sequencing results. It appears that the LAMP assay in combination with noninvasive and self-sampling as a point-of-care testing (POCT) approach has potential usefulness to detect H. pylori infection in clinic settings and screening programs.

Human polyomavirus DNA detection in keratoacanthoma and Spitz naevus: no evidence for a causal role.

Keratoacanthomas (KA) and Spitz naevus (SN) are both lesions with unknown aetiology; therefore, the possibility of a viral involvement, more specifically the involvement of human polyomaviruses (HPyV), was investigated. In total, 22 cases of KA and 25 cases of SN were tested for the presence of HPyVs. DNA was extracted and amplified by multiplex PCR and thereafter tested with a multiplex bead-based assay for HPyVs (BKPyV, JCPyV, KIPyV, WUPyV, MCPyV, TSPyV, HPyV6, 7 and 9) and two primate viruses (SV40 and LPyV). HPyV DNA was found in 20 of the 47 lesions. There was no significant difference in HPyV DNA detection frequency between patients diagnosed with KA and patients diagnosed with SN, nor any over-representation of a specific HPyV type in any of the two patient categories. In conclusion, evidence for a specific aetiological role of any of the above tested HPyVs in either KA or SN was not disclosed.

Oral human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence in youth and cervical HPV prevalence in women attending a youth clinic in Sweden, a follow up-study 2013-2014 after gradual introduction of public HPV vaccination.

During 2009-2011, we reported that the oral and cervical prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) was high by international standards at 9.3% and 74%, respectively, in youth aged 15-23 years attending a youth clinic in Stockholm. After gradual introduction of public HPV vaccination during 2007-2012, between 2013 and 2014, when 73% of the women were HPV-vaccinated, but not necessarily before their sexual debut, oral HPV prevalence had dropped to 1.4% as compared with 9.3% in 2009-2011 (p < 0.00001). Cervical HPV prevalence was high and common cervical high-risk types were HPV51, 56, 59, 73, 16, 39, 52, and 53. However, it was shown that HPV16, 31, and 70 were significantly less common among HPV-vaccinated women than among those who had not received the vaccine.