United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom 10 per 100,000 people newly develop the condition a year while the number of people affected is 243 per 100,000. Approximately 146,000 people in the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with UC. History
The first description of ulcerative colitis occurred around the 1850s. Research
Helminthic therapy using the whipworm Trichuris suis has been shown in a randomized control trial from Iowa to show benefit in people with ulcerative colitis. The therapy tests the hygiene hypothesis which argues that the absence of helminths in the colons of people in the developed world may lead to inflammation. Both helminthic therapy and fecal microbiota transplant induce a characteristic Th2 white cell response in the diseased areas, which was unexpected given that ulcerative colitis was thought to involve Th2 overproduction.Alicaforsen is a first generation antisense oligodeoxynucleotide designed to bind specifically to the human ICAM-1 messenger RNA through Watson-Crick base pair interactions in order to subdue expression of ICAM-1. ICAM-1 propagates an inflammatory response promoting the extravasation and activation of leukocytes (white blood cells) into inflamed tissue. Increased expression of ICAM-1 has been observed within the inflamed intestinal mucosa of ulcerative colitis patients, where ICAM-1 over production correlated with disease activity.
Neurosyphilis refers to infection of the central nervous system in a patient with syphilis. In the era of modern antibiotics the majority of neurosyphilis cases have been reported in HIV-infected patients. Meningitis is the most common neurological presentation in early syphilis. Tertiary syphilis symptoms are exclusively neurosyphilis, though neurosyphilis may occur at any stage of infection. To diagnose neurosyphilis, patients undergo a lumbar puncture to obtain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for analysis. The CSF is tested for antibodies for specific Treponema pallidum antigens. The preferred test is the VDRL test, which is sometimes supplemented by fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTA-ABS).Historically, the disease was studied under the Tuskegee study, a notable example of unethical human experimentation. The study was done on approximately 400 African-American men with untreated syphilis who were followed from 1932 to 1972 and compared to approximately 200 men without syphilis. The study began without informed consent of the subjects and was continued by the United States Public Health Service until 1972. The researchers failed to notify and withheld treatment for patients despite knowing penicillin was found as an effective cure for neurosyphilis. After four years of follow up, neurosyphilis was identified in 26.1% of patients vs. 2.5% of controls. After 20 years of followup, 14% showed signs of neurosyphilis and 40% had died from other causes. Signs and symptoms
The signs and symptoms of neurosyphilis vary with the disease stage of syphilis. The stages of syphilis are categorized as primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary.