Volume 16 Issue 12, December 2019

Whether to administer purgative cleansing and oral antibiotics before colon surgery as a method to prevent postoperative infections, once standard of care, is now being considered unnecessary with today’s advancements of care. A new study questions the efficacy of this bowel preparation approach with a prospective randomized trial.

Screening and early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer are at the focal point of attention from researchers, physicians and patients. A new systematic review and recommendation statement by the USPSTF attempt to summarize the current state of affairs.

A new study is the first to investigate the relationship between liver-enriched antimicrobial peptide-2 (LEAP2) and different metabolic states, and highlights the reciprocal relationship between LEAP2 and ghrelin (known as the ‘hunger hormone’ for its role in stimulating appetite). These findings could have important implications given the worldwide increase in obesity since 1975.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. This Review provides a comprehensive summary of colorectal cancer epidemiology, with emphasis on modifiable lifestyle and nutritional factors, chemoprevention and screening.

There is an emerging understanding of the roles of intestinal gases, generated via chemical interactions or the microbial metabolism of dietary substrates, in gut homeostasis and pathophysiology. In this Review, the authors discuss these emerging data, highlighting links with dietary intake and new gas profiling methods.

Primary liver cancers are frequently accompanied by rearrangements of metabolic pathways. This Review discusses the role of metabolic liver disruptions and the implications of these processes, emphasizing their clinical relevance and value in early diagnosis and prognosis and as putative therapeutic targets.