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Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the stomach lining and is found in more than half of the global population. Most people with an H. pylori infection have no symptoms, but it can result in gastric ulcers and even stomach cancer. A study has found that seropositivity for the bacteria—meaning a blood test has confirmed the presence of antibodies against a previous H. pylori infection—may decrease the response to immunotherapy in people with metastatic melanoma, an advanced skin cancer. Dr. Marion Tonneau led the study as part of a team under Dr. Bertrand Routy. They found that patients who...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju donated medicine from their “family” stash to help stem a new intestinal disease outbreak in the southern city of Haeju, according to state media. The outbreak is occurring in South Hwanghae Province, the country’s “rice bowl” and a region authorities have highlighted in recent weeks for fighting a drought that could threaten national food production this year. The report in Thursday’s Rodong Sinmun marks the second time Kim has been said to donate his personal medicines to those in need in recent months, as state propagandists have played...

Çatalhöyük is one of the largest and best preserved Neolithic sites in the world. It is located southeast of the modern Turkish city of Konya, about 90 miles (145 km) from Mount Hasan. The population of Çatalhöyük were early farmers, growing crops such as wheat and barley, and herding sheep and goats. It is thought the people living at Çatalhöyük either went to the rubbish tip (midden) to open their bowels, or carried their feces from their houses to the midden in a vessel or basket to dispose of them. To look for the eggs of intestinal parasites, Dr. Ledger...

ST. LOUIS - The microorganisms that live in your gut could explain one of the sources of obesity, says a new study from researchers at Washington University. Bacteria live throughout the body, but some intestinal bacteria appear to be better than others at helping their hosts turn food into energy, say researchers Buck S. Samuel and Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon. They believe changing the mix of bacteria in the intestine could influence how much people weigh. Bacteria and archaea, another kind of single-celled organism, are common in the human intestine. Researchers are discovering that together, they help their human hosts...

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey is among the states seeing an increase in deaths from an intestinal bacterial infection that most often strikes older hospital patients who have taken antibiotics. National occurrences are up as well because, officials say, an overuse of antibiotics for other ailments is killing off the "good" bacteria that used to control the growth of Clostridium difficile bacterium. In the Garden State, the number of deaths attributed to the infection has doubled since 1997. State hospital discharge data reviewed by The Record of Bergen County found the infection has sickened 10,000 New Jerseyans a year, killing...

Democrat Kucinich Has Intestinal Ailment WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, suffering from an intestinal ailment, took a few days off from his campaign to undergo tests at an Ohio hospital, spokesman Doug Gordon said Monday. A media advisory from the campaign said the Ohio congressman was trying to rest and recover from an intestinal ailment. The illness was "not serious," Gordon said. He declined to identify the hospital where Kucinich was seeking treatment or whether it was in Cleveland, the candidate's home town. The long-shot candidate will participate by telephone in several campaign events scheduled for Monday and...