TY - JOUR T1 - Hightlights from this issue JF - Gut JO - Gut SP - i LP - ii DO - 10.1136/gutjnl-2013-305704 VL - 62 IS - 9 AU - Emad El-Omar AU - William Grady AU - Alexander Gerbes AU - Thomas Rösch Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://gut.bmj.com/content/62/9/i.abstract N2 - Overall burden of Helicobacter pylori on mortality H pylori colonisation has been associated with increased risk of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer, and reduced risk of asthma and allergy, while the association with cardiovascular disease and lung cancer is inconsistent. In this issue of Gut, Chen et al report their interesting data on the influence of H pylori on total and category-specific mortality. They conducted prospective cohort analyses in a nationally representative sample of 9895 participants enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III) to assess the association of H pylori status with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The authors found that H pylori status was not related to overall all-cause mortality. H pylori colonisation was associated with reduced risk of death due to stroke and increased risk of death due to gastric cancer. The data also suggest an inverse association with lung cancer. The authors conclude that H pylori colonisation may have new possibly protective effects (see page 1262). A little chilli for oropharyngeal dysphagia Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is a major complaint among the elderly and sadly has no pharmacological treatment. Afferent areas that trigger a swallowing response are sensitive to mechanical stimuli, to changes in temperature and to chemical stimuli, and express the polymodal … ER -