Bach: la rama española

Where does the surname Bach come from in Spain, and how old is it? Is it possible that a member of Johann Sebastian’s family, probably a musician, had settled somewhere in the Iberian Peninsula a long time ago? The presence of a Spanish organist named José Bach, active in Madrid in the XVIIIth century, in addition to the current high concentration of this patronymic in the Catalan area, have inspired me to run this genealogical research, which goes way back to the age of the last Templar Knights.¿De dónde viene y a cuándo se remonta el apellido Bach en España? ¿Puede que algún miembro de la familia del gran Johann Sebastian, posiblemente músico, se hubiera afincado de alguna manera en la península ibérica antaño? La presencia de un organista español con este patronímico inequívocamente alemán en la Capilla Musical del convento madrileño de las Descalzas Reales en el siglo XVIII, más el hecho de que en Cataluña, y en particular en la provincia de Gerona, sobrevivan hoy en día muchos Bach, han sido alicientes suficientes para llevar a cabo esta investigación genealógica, que llega nada menos que a la época de los últimos Templarios

Occurrence of gastric cancer and carcinoids in atrophic gastritis during prospective long-term follow up

Objective. Atrophic gastritis (AG) is a risk condition for gastric cancer and type I gastric carcinoids. Recent studies assessing the overall risk of gastric cancer and carcinoids in AG at long-term follow up are lacking. This study aimed to investigate in a prospective cohort of AG patients the occurrence of gastric cancer and carcinoids at long-term follow up. Methods. A total of 200 AG patients from a prospective cohort (67% female, median age 55 years) with a follow up of 7.5 (range: 4-23.4) years were included. Inclusion criteria were presence of AG and at least one follow-up gastroscopy with biopsies at ≥4 years after AG diagnosis. Follow-up gastroscopies at 4-year intervals were performed. Results. Overall, 22 gastric neoplastic lesions were detected (crude incidence 11%). Gastric cancer was diagnosed in four patients at a median follow up of 7.2 years (crude incidence 2%). Eleven type I gastric carcinoids were detected at a median follow up of 5.1 years (crude incidence of 5.5%). In seven patients, six low-grade and one high-grade dysplasia were found. The annual incidence rate person-year were 0.25% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.067-0.63%), 0.43% (95% CI: 0.17-0.89%), and 0.68% (95% CI: 0.34-1.21%) for gastric cancer, dysplasia, and type I-gastric carcinoids, respectively. The incidence rates of gastric cancer and carcinoids were not different (p = 0.07). Conclusion. This study shows an annual incidence rate of 1.36% person-year for gastric neoplastic lesions in AG patients at long-term follow up. AG patients are similarly exposed to gastric cancer and type I gastric carcinoids

Time trend occurrence of duodenal intraepithelial lymphocytosis and celiac disease in an open access endoscopic population

Background: Duodenal intraepithelial lymphocytosis (DIL) is a histological finding characterized by the increase of intraepithelial CD3T-lymphocytes over the normal value without villous atrophy, mostly associated to coeliac disease (CD), Helicobacter pylori (Hp) gastritis and autoimmune diseases. Objective: To assess the occurrence of DIL, CD and Hp gastritis in an endoscopic population over a 13 year period. Methods: From 2003 to 2015 we included adult patients who consecutively underwent oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (OGD) with duodenal biopsies assessing the overall and annual occurrence of DIL and CD and the prevalence of Hp gastritis. Results: 160 (2.3%) patients with DIL and 275 (3.9%) with CD were detected among 7001 patients. CD occurrence was higher from 2003 to 2011, while since 2012 DIL occurrence gradually increased significantly compared to CD (p = 0.03). DIL patients were more frequently female (p = 0.0006) and underwent OGD more frequently for dyspepsia (p = 0.002) and for indications not related to gastrointestinal symptoms than CD patients (p = 0.0003). Hp gastritis occurred similarly in CD and DIL patients but the latter had higher frequency of atrophic body gastritis (p = 0.005). Conclusions: DIL is a condition increasing in the general endoscopic population mainly diagnosed by chance. Concomitant gastric histological evaluation is able in one third of DIL patients to identify associated possible causes of DIL, such as Hp and atrophic gastritis

The mutual interplay of gut microbiota, diet and human disease

The intestinal milieu harbours the gut microbiota, consisting of a complex community of bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, and protozoans that bring to the host organism an endowment of cells and genes more numerous than its own. In the last ten years, mounting evidence has highlighted the prominent influence of the gut mutualistic bacterial communities on human health. Microbial colonization occurs alongside with immune system development and plays a role in intestinal physiology. The community of the gut microbiota does not undergo significant fluctuations throughout adult life. However, bacterial infections, antibiotic treatment, lifestyle, surgery, and diet might profoundly affect it. Gut microbiota dysbiosis, defined as marked alterations in the amount and function of the intestinal microorganisms, is correlated with the aetiology of chronic non-communicable diseases, ranging from cardiovascular, neurologic, respiratory, and metabolic illnesses to cancer. In this review, we focus on the interplay among gut microbiota, diet, and host to provide a perspective on the role of microbiota and their unique metabolites in the pathogenesis and/or progression of various human disorders. We discuss interventions based on microbiome studies, i.e. faecal microbiota transplantation, probiotics, and prebiotics, to introduce the concept that correcting gut dysbiosis can ameliorate disease symptoms, thus offering a new approach toward disease treatment

Differences in microbial metabolites in urine headspace of subjects with Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) detected by volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis and metabolomics

ITP is an organ-specific autoimmune disorder characterised by a low platelet count whose cause is uncertain. A possible factor is food intolerance, although much of the information linking this with ITP is anecdotal. The role of food intolerance in ITP was studied by replacing a normal diet with an elemental diet (E028), but this did not increase platelet counts. Clear differences, however, were apparent between the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the urine headspace of patients with ITP and those present in healthy volunteers, which leads to speculation that abnormal metabolic activity of the intestinal microbiome may be a factor causing ITP. However, further work is needed to confirm this. There were also differences between the VOCs of patients on a normal diet and those on the elemental diet, and in this case, the VOCs involved are very likely to be of bacterial origin, as their production is affected by dietary manipulation. Many of these VOCs are known to be toxic

Multi-Objective Optimal Allocation of Resources for Preventive Interventions on Bridges

In order to reduce the risk of disruption by an earthquake, preventive interventions on existing facilities are necessary, but often hindered by the limitation of the available economic resources: therefore, the optimal allocation of resources is a key point for the effectiveness of any risk-reduction programme. A procedure has thus been developed for the optimal allocation of limited resources in preventive interventions aimed at increasing the seismic reliability of highway networks with respect to several alternative objectives (connectivity of the network, traffic capacity, etc.). The procedure has been extended in order to take account of several possible objectives in a multi-objective optimization procedure. In this paper, an example of optimal allocation in a specific network is developed in detail to explain and illustrate the procedures. The vulnerable elements of the network are identified with reinforced concrete bridges. The fragilities (i.e. the probabilities of failure vs. the earthquake intensity) of the bridges, either in the original or the upgraded conditions, are assumed to be known. The results of the optimizations are compared and discussed in a multi-objective optimization framework

Metformin plus proton pump inhibitors therapy: The cobalamin deficiency challenge

OBJECTIVE: It is known in literature that metformin and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are associated to cobalamin levels reduction independently but still very little is known about the combination of the two drugs in cobalamin levels decrease. Currently there are no published data concerning the management of patients with cobalamin deficiency related to the concomitant use of the aforementioned drugs. CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 65 year-old white man with an history of renal cell carcinoma, melanoma and hepatic nodular sclerosis Hodgkin's lymphoma, who was under treatment with metformin because of diabetes and with pantoprazole because of Barrett's esophagus. He came to our attention because of a progressive reduction of cobalamin levels without related anemia. We decided to continue metformin and pantoprazole therapy and we treated the patient with intramuscular injection of cobalamin to avoid the vitamin deficiency consequences. DISCUSSION: Up to now no published data are available concerning the management of patients with cobalamin deficiency related to the concomitant use of metformin and PPIs. Our case report faces this clinical problem in terms of therapeutic management