Digestive Diseases News
Fall 2007
Additional Resources
Easy-to-read Booklets
 The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC) has published two new easy-to-read booklets. What I need to know about Crohn’s Disease explains what the disease is, who is at risk, the symptoms, and how the condition is diagnosed and treated. Crohn’s disease causes parts of the digestive tract to become inflamed. Although the disease can affect any area of the gastrointestinal tract, it most often affects a part of the small intestine called the ileum. Crohn’s disease is most common in men and women between the ages of 20 and 30.
Diverticular disease is made up of two conditions: diverticulosis and diverticulitis. Diverticulosis
occurs when bulging pouches called diverticula form in the colon. Diverticulitis occurs if the pouches become inflamed. What I need to know about Diverticular Disease provides people with the information they need to understand and manage the disease.
To view or order a copy of the booklets, visit www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/a-z.asp.
Updated Fact Sheets
 The NDDIC has updated the following fact sheets:
The fact sheets are available at www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/a-z.asp.
Digestive Diseases Research
 The April 2, 2007, issue of Gastroenterology features an article by Stephen P. James, M.D., director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ (NIDDK) Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, about the outlook for digestive diseases
research at the Institute. According to the article, the NIDDK has taken a number of steps to offset the effects of budget limitations, such as delaying or diminishing commitments to new, Institute-solicited research projects other than those of highest priority such as essential clinical trials or critical core resources. The NIDDK also has taken steps to ensure new investigators receive special consideration for their application funding. The NIDDK accounted for about 30 percent of reported expenditures by the National Institutes of Health for digestive diseases research in fiscal year 2005. “Opportunities
and Challenges at NIDDK in Digestive Diseases Research” can be found in Gastroenterology
2007;132:1219–1220.
Liver Disease
 Action Plan for Liver Disease Research: Progress Review for 2006 is a report on progress made toward reaching goals laid out in the Action Plan for Liver Disease Research 2 years after the action plan’s adoption. The annual review is intended to help implement the 2004 Action Plan through an ongoing assessment of progress and the need for further efforts to promote liver and biliary disease research. The report is available at www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/ResearchAndPlanning/
Liver_Disease/ActionPlanforLiverDiseaseResearchProgressReview.htm.
Workshop Proceedings
Summaries of two digestive diseases workshops have been published in professional journals:
“New Therapies and Preventive Approaches for Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Report of a Research Planning Workshop,” was published in the July 24, 2007, issue of Pediatric Research. The workshop, coordinated by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ (NIDDK) Digestive Diseases Interagency Coordinating Committee and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, addressed basic and translational mechanisms of approaching necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and recommendations for clinical studies to reduce the incidence of NEC, a gastrointestinal disease that primarily affects premature infants. “Screening and outcomes in biliary atresia: Summary of a National Institutes of Health Workshop,” was published in the August 2007 issue of Hepatology. The NIDDK workshop addressed issues related to outcomes, screening, and pathogenesis of biliary atresia, the most common cause of end-stage liver disease in infants and the leading pediatric indication for liver transplantation in the United States.
New Interactive Tools
New to the Interactive Health Education Tools section of the National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) website are:
- July 13 podcast entitled “Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign Marks First Anniversary”
- April 24 video entitled “Demystifying Medicine—Hepatitis C: Comes of Age Globally and
in Culture”
The interactive tools section consolidates all the tools and resources about digestive diseases from
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Library of Medicine. To access these
resources, visit www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/resources/HealthTools.
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NIH Publication No. 08–4552
November 2007
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