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Chronic HCV infection is a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. In 2011, treatment options for patients infected with HCV genotype 1 changed dramatically with the approval of two nonstructural protein 3 protease inhibitors—boceprevir and telaprevir—by the FDA and the European Medicines Agency.
Interest in the gut microbiota has escalated with growing appreciation of the role of indigenous microbes in the health of the host and in the pathogenesis of several intestinal and extraintestinal disorders. The microbiota has become a plausible target for drug and dietary therapy and a repository from which bioactive agents or new drugs can be mined.
The gut microbiota is now widely recognized to have a central role in human health and disease, and can be manipulated to improve an individual's health. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), as outlined in this Review, is one such approach to resolve dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and has therapeutic potential in a range of gastrointestinal diseases. The authors provide a broad overview of FMT and a timely update on the latest advances.
Pelvic floor dysfunction encompasses a range of symptoms that are presented to specialists across multiple disciplines. In this Perspectives Hans Peter Dietz provides an interdisciplinary overview of imaging pelvic floor dysfunction. Modern pelvic floor imaging techniques, including MRI, defecation proctography and ultrasound are discussed as well as their potential application to improving management of pelvic floor disorders.
Treating pancreatic cancer can be challenging, as patients often have a poor prognosis and chemoresistance is common. As pancreatic cancer is fundamentally a genetic disease, the authors of this Review emphasize the complex mutational heterogeneity of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and the importance of moving towards a model of tailoring therapies to the specific genetic characteristics of individual tumors.
Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is becoming increasingly recognized as a unique form of chronic pancreatitis. Its diagnosis, based on clinical and pathological parameters, is challenging. AIP is currently divided clinicopathologically into type 1 and type 2. Histological diagnostic criteria for type 1 and type 2 AIP have now been proposed by an international consensus study.
Neurogastroenterology encompasses intrinsic and extrinsic neural processes that regulate gut functions, sensation and related behaviors such as ingestion. In 2011, key advances were made in understanding gut–brain interactions, visceral sensation, serotonin signaling, neurogenesis and neuromuscular transmission.