Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) remains one of the primary causes of morbidity and mortality in neonates and alternative strategies are needed. Stem cells have become a therapeutic option for other intestinal diseases, which share some features with NEC.

Along with colleagues, Simon Eaton and Paolo De Coppi, both from University College London Institute of Child Health, have tested the hypothesis that amniotic fluid stem (AFS) cells exerted a beneficial effect in a neonatal rat model of NEC.

Mairi McLean discusses their findings with them.

Read the full paper:

Amniotic fluid stem cells improve survival and enhance repair of damaged intestine in necrotising enterocolitis via a COX-2 dependent mechanism http://goo.gl/EFUuN0

Gut's education editor Mairi McLean discusses highlights from the guidelines on the diagnosis and management of Barrett's oesophagus with authors Rebecca Fitzgerald and Massimiliano di Pietro, both from the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge.

Read the full paper here: http://bit.ly/1kkPkVW

Mairi McLean talks to Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Medical University Vienna, about his study looking at carvedilol for primary prophylaxis of variceal bleeding in cirrhotic patients with haemodynamic non-response to propranolol.

Read the full paper here: bit.ly/1991biw

Mairi McLean talks to Anna Paterson and Rebecca Fitzgerald, both MRC Cancer Cell Unit, Hutchison-MRC Research Centre, Cambridge, about their study investigating whether a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) array could be used to select the most effective therapeutic strategies in molecularly heterogeneous oesophago-gastric adenocarcinomas.

Read the full paper here: bit.ly/1acACwz

Fibrosis associated with chronic pancreatitis is an irreversible lesion that can disrupt pancreatic exocrine and endocrine function. Currently, there are no approved treatments for this disease.

In this podcast Mairi McLean, Gut education editor, talks to Professor Yoshiro Niitsu from Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine about his manuscript about the potential for therapeutic use of siRNA in the treatment of pancreatic fibrosis.

Read the full research online:

http://gut.bmj.com/content/62/9/1328

Mairi McLean talks to Patrick Tan, associate professor, Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, and Heike Grabsch, Pathology and Tumour Biology, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, about their genomic meta-analysis to identify predictors of survival in patients with gastric cancer.

See also:

Comprehensive genomic meta-analysis identifies intra-tumoural stroma as a predictor of survival in patients with gastric cancer http://goo.gl/Rw8lx6

Mairi McLean talks to Emeran Mayer, Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress, Division of Digestive Diseases, UCLA, about his paper: An update on the use and investigation of probiotics in health and disease.

Read the full paper here: http://bit.ly/11ghKss

In this podcast, Mairi McLean interviews Julián Panés and Azucena Salas, both from the Department of Gastroenterology, IDIBAPS, Hospital Clínic, CIBER-EHD in Barcelona, Spain. They disuse their recent article, looking at transcription in the intestinal mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis.

read the full article online: http://tinyurl.com/n3uy6d4

Mairi McLean talks to Philip Rosenstiel, Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, and Stefan Schreiber, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, about their paper: mTNF reverse signalling induced by TNFα antagonists involves a GDF-1 dependent pathway: implications for Crohn’s disease http://bit.ly/11FU0Qw.

Mairi McLean, Gut’s education editor, talks to Xavier Hébuterne, Department of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Archet Hospital, Nice, and Jean-Frédéric Colombel, Universite Lille Nord de France, about their paper: Endoscopic improvement of mucosal lesions in patients with moderate to severe ileocolonic Crohn’s disease following treatment with certolizumab pegol http://bit.ly/10dtab8.