Article Text
Statistics from Altmetric.com
GENETIC INFLUENCES ON REFLUX
Reflux is a disease which doctors tend to blame on their patient’s lifestyle. However this month we publish a study which may force a reappraisal of this approach. 4480 pairs of twins from the St Thomas’ Adult UK Twin Registry were sent a questionnaire concerning reflux symptoms. Subjects were considered to be refluxers if they had symptoms at least weekly. Most of the twins are female so their conclusions are strictly only valid for females. By comparing the case wise concordance in monozygotic (46%) and dizygotic twins (26%), the authors were able to estimate the heritability of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). After adjusting for body mass index (BMI), the heritability of GORD was estimated to be 43%. The hunt is now on for the genes, which are likely to be multiple.See page 1085
NITRITES AND GASTRIC CARDIA CANCER
The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia is increasing in developing countries but the pathogenesis of cancer at this site is unknown. Suzuki et al hypothesise that it is caused by high levels of carcinogenic nitroso-compounds (derived from …
Linked Articles
- Oesophagus
- Stomach
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Liver
- Liver