gastroenterology
SMA Syndrome: Doctors Diagnose a Rare Digestive Disorder and Help a Mother of Triplets Feel Normal Again
For three years since she gave birth to triplets, Trish Dilg had suffered from gastrointestinal issues. Any time she ate or drank even a small amount she felt nauseated and bloated. She had trouble keeping food down and had less energy, which made it hard to keep up with her three little girls. “When I […]
An Update on Fecal Transplants, and How The Procedure Helped One Sick Little Boy
Fecal microbiota transplants have been in the news again this week, thanks to a new study published by the New England Journal of Medicine. The procedure is used to help people suffering from severe gastrointestinal problems, usually caused by a Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, infection. Doctors take stools from a person with a healthy gut […]
Fecal “Transplant” Helps One-year-old Beat Relentless Infection
The key moments may not have been quite as gripping as a heart or liver transplant, but this summer Grant Fisher of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, rapidly, almost miraculously, regained his health thanks to a profoundly personal and entirely biological donation from his mother. On August 3, 2012, Fisher became the first child in the […]
LabBook August 10, 2012
Welcome to LabBook, our weekly roundup of University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences research news from around campus and the world wide web. Each Friday, LabBook will recap the week on the blog, link to news stories about our faculty and studies, and briefly summarize a handful of recent publications by our researchers. This […]
LabBook July 20, 2012
Welcome to LabBook, our weekly roundup of University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences research news from around campus and the world wide web. Each Friday, LabBook will recap the week on the blog, link to news stories about our faculty and studies, and briefly summarize a handful of recent publications by our researchers. THE […]
LabBook June 18, 2012
Welcome to LabBook, our new weekly roundup of University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences research news from around campus and the world wide web. Each Friday (or, occasionally, Monday -ed), LabBook will recap the week on the blog, link to news stories about our faculty and studies, and briefly summarize a handful of recent […]
The Western Diet’s Immune Impact
Inflammatory bowel disease is an ailment on the rise. A European study found that the incidence of IBD roughly doubled from 1990 to 2001, and even larger surges in IBD cases have been observed in areas of the United States and Europe studied since 1965. But intriguingly, this epidemic of IBD appears to be localized […]
A Warning for Childhood Cancer Survivors
As the hundreds of people at last weekend’s Cancer Survivors Day event could attest, overcoming cancer is a hard-earned victory. Unfortunately, double jeopardy laws don’t apply to cancer, and a patient who has beaten the disease once must remain vigilant about its potential return. A new study of people who survived cancer during their childhood […]
A Top-Down Approach to Treating Crohn’s Disease
By Matt Wood Crohn’s disease is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that can cause painful abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever, fatigue, loss of appetite and weight loss. These symptoms can lead to poor quality of life and cause significant stress, as people with Crohn’s limit their activities for fear of flare-ups and having an accident […]
Food Allergies vs. Food Intolerance
By Matt Wood Adverse reactions to foods, including eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, shellfish and soy, are on the rise, especially among children. The CDC reports (PDF) that between 1997 and 2007, food allergies increased 18 percent in children under the age of 18. While we generally categorize all adverse reactions as “allergies,” they […]
