The sixth documented case of heterotopic gastric mucosa in the large bowel proximal to the rectum is described in a two year old girl with a neural tube defect and recurrent rectal bleeding. Unusual in itself, this case is unique in that the rectal bleeding has been controlled with an H2 receptor antagonist.

A case involving a gastric carcinoid in association with parathyroid adenoma is reported and the question of a possible link between these two ailments is discussed.

Whether or not the incidence of ulcer relapse varies according to the drug used to produce initial healing is a controversial matter. We tackled this problem using data from 15 eligible trials from 25 published controlled trials in patients followed up for six to 12 months. Pooled estimates of differences in ulcer relapse incidence between patients initially healed with H2-antagonists and patients initially healed with non-H2-antagonist drugs were calculated. The overall incidence of relapse in patients healed with comparator drugs is 11 percentage units lower at six and 12 months, than that observed in H2-antagonist-healed patients. The confidence intervals are +/- 8% at six months and +/- 7% at 12 months. These data suggest the existence of a different effect on relapse incidence for the entire class of comparator drugs taken as a whole, compared with H2-antagonists. On considering the non-H2-antagonists singly, this conclusion holds good only in the case of tripotassium dicitrato bismuthate.

We report the cases of one patient with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome as a result of human immunodeficiency virus type 1/lymphadenopathy associated virus type 1/human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type III (HIV-1/LAV-1/HTLV-III) infection and of another patient with AIDS related complex caused by human immunodeficiency virus type 2/lymphadenopathy associated virus type 2 (HIV-2/LAV-2) infection, who were suffering from cholangitis. The manifestations and possible mechanisms for cholangitis in these patients and in 10 previously reported similar cases are reviewed.

Familial giant hypertrophic gastritis involving three generations is reported. A review of the literature, where approximately 200 cases are described, showed only few cases of familial occurrence of this disease, and only in siblings. Our findings suggest dominant heredity, but considering the sparsity of familial occurrence reported earlier, heredity seems to be of only minor pathogenetic significance.

This paper reviews recent psychological studies of patients with the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or 'functional abdominal pain'. Many studies have used unreliable or invalid methods of assessment and some have confused personality with treatable psychiatric illness. Reliable and valid measures have indicated that 40-50% of patients with recently diagnosed functional abdominal pain have demonstrable psychiatric illness; these patients have a worse prognosis than those who are psychologically normal. When psychiatric disorder is diagnosed in a patient with IBS there are three possibilities: (1) The patient may have developed abdominal and psychiatric symptoms simultaneously in which case treatment of the latter may relieve the bowel symptoms. (2) Psychiatric disorder may precipitate increased concern about bowel symptoms, and consequent attendance at the gastroenterology clinic, of those with chronic mild symptoms. In this case it is illness behaviour, rather than abdominal symptoms, that is caused by the anxiety/depression. (3) Those with chronic neurotic symptoms as part of their personality must be screened for organic disease if they have a fresh onset of bowel symptoms; but they are at high risk of becoming persistent clinic attenders. Further research is needed to clarify when psychological abnormalities play a role in the aetiology of IBS and when they are coincidental, but lead to illness behaviour. The role of psychological factors in the aetiology of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is far from clear, but a review of the literature suggests that some consistent patterns are emerging in spite of methodological problems. There have been three major defects with studies that have linked IBS with neurotic symptomatology. First, the measurement of psychological factors has generally been imprecise. Second, most studies have considered IBS patients as a single group, without making allowance for differing symptom patterns. Third, conclusions have been drawn about hospital samples and extrapolated to all IBS subjects, without taking account of factors which affect consulting behaviour. Most studies have been concerned with psychological factors so these will be considered in most detail.