Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel habits. Various dietary factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis and management of IBS symptoms. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effects of polyphenols, minerals, fibers, and fruits on the symptoms and overall well-being of individuals with IBS. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in several electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Studies published up until July 2023 were included. Results: The selected studies varied in terms of study design, participant characteristics, intervention duration, and outcome measures. Overall, the findings suggest that dietary interventions involving polyphenols, minerals, fibers, and fruits can have a positive impact on IBS symptoms. Dietary fiber supplementation, particularly soluble fiber, has been associated with reduced bloating and enhanced stool consistency. Conclusions: This systematic review provides evidence supporting the beneficial effects of polyphenols, minerals, fibers, and fruits in IBS patients. These dietary components hold promise as complementary approaches for managing IBS symptoms. However, due to the heterogeneity of the included studies and the limited number of high-quality randomized controlled trials, further well-designed trials are warranted to establish the optimal dosages, duration, and long-term effects of these interventions. Understanding the role of specific dietary components in IBS management may pave the way for personalized dietary recommendations and improve the quality of life for individuals suffering from this complex disorder.

Background and Objective: Gastritis represents one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal diseases and has a multifactorial etiology, many forms of manifestation, and various symptoms. Diagnosis of gastritis is made based on clinical, endoscopic, and histological criteria, and although it is a thorough process, many cases are misdiagnosed or overlooked. This systematic review aims to provide an extensive overview of current artificial intelligence (AI) applications in gastritis diagnosis and evaluate the precision of these systems. This evaluation could highlight the role of AI as a helpful and useful tool in facilitating timely and accurate diagnoses, which in turn could improve patient outcomes. Methods: We have conducted an extensive and comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, including studies published until July 2024. Results: Despite variations in study design, participant numbers and characteristics, and outcome measures, our observations suggest that implementing an AI automatic diagnostic tool into clinical practice is currently feasible, with the current systems achieving high levels of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Our findings indicate that AI outperformed human experts in most studies, with multiple studies exhibiting an accuracy of over 90% for AI compared to human experts. These results highlight the significant potential of AI to enhance diagnostic accuracy and efficiency in gastroenterology. Conclusions: AI-based technologies can now automatically diagnose using images provided by gastroscopy, digital pathology, and radiology imaging. Deep learning models exhibited high levels of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity while assessing the diagnosis, staging, and risk of neoplasia for different types of gastritis, results that are superior to those of human experts in most studies.

Background: Constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) is a common gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. Conventional treatments for IBS-C often provide limited efficiency, leading to an increasing interest in exploring herbal remedies. This systematic review aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of herbal remedies in the management of IBS-C. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library was conducted to identify relevant studies published up to July 2023 and data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers. Results: Overall, the included studies demonstrated some evidence of the beneficial effects of herbal remedies on IBS-C symptoms, including improvements in bowel frequency, stool consistency, abdominal pain, and quality of life. However, the heterogeneity of the interventions and outcome measures limited the ability to perform a meta-analysis. Conclusion: This systematic review suggests that herbal remedies may have potential benefits in the management of IBS-C. However, the quality of evidence is limited, and further well-designed, large-scale RCTs are needed to establish the efficacy and safety of specific herbal remedies for IBS-C. Clinicians should exercise caution when recommending herbal remedies and consider individual patient characteristics and preferences.

Background and Objectives: Procalcitonin (PCT) is widely used to support the diagnosis of bacterial infection and sepsis, yet clinically relevant elevations also occur in multiple non-infectious conditions. This systematic review aimed to synthesize human evidence on non-infectious causes of elevated PCT and to summarize proposed pathophysiological mechanisms, with the goal of supporting context-based interpretation in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: A systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus was performed from inception to 31 July 2025. Human studies published in English reporting quantitative PCT values in non-infectious contexts were eligible (observational studies, clinical trials, and case series with ≥5 patients). Results: Seventy-six unique studies were included. Evidence was organized across systemic inflammatory responses, cardiovascular pathology, nephrological disorders and renal replacement therapy, pulmonary diseases, gastrointestinal and hepatopancreatic diseases, autoimmune and rheumatologic conditions, neurologic and ophthalmologic conditions, onco-hematologic disorders, surgery, traumatology and transplanted patients. Across conditions, non-infectious PCT elevations were variable and frequently overlapped with ranges reported in bacterial infection, particularly in settings characterized by severe sterile inflammation and tissue injury (e.g., major surgery, trauma, shock, pancreatitis, and burns), as well as in selected malignancies with tumor-associated PCT production. Conclusions: Elevated PCT is not synonymous with bacterial infection. Interpretation should emphasize clinical context, timing, and serial trends rather than isolated thresholds, especially in high-acuity settings with strong non-infectious inflammatory stimuli. Standardized reporting of assays and sampling time points and condition-specific kinetic data are needed to refine diagnostic and stewardship algorithms.

Background: Small bowel disorders present a diagnostic challenge due to the limited accessibility of the small intestine. Accurate diagnosis is made with the aid of specific procedures, like capsule endoscopy or double-ballon enteroscopy, but they are not usually solicited and not widely accessible. This study aims to assess and compare the diagnostic effectiveness of enteroscopy and video capsule endoscopy (VCE) when combined with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for the automatic detection of small bowel diseases. Materials and methods: We performed an extensive literature search for relevant studies about AI applications capable of identifying small bowel disorders using enteroscopy and VCE, published between 2012 and 2023, employing PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Embase, Scopus, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases. Results: Our investigation discovered a total of 27 publications, out of which 21 studies assessed the application of VCE, while the remaining 6 articles analyzed the enteroscopy procedure. The included studies portrayed that both investigations, enhanced by AI, exhibited a high level of diagnostic accuracy. Enteroscopy demonstrated superior diagnostic capability, providing precise identification of small bowel pathologies with the added advantage of enabling immediate therapeutic intervention. The choice between these modalities should be guided by clinical context, patient preference, and resource availability. Studies with larger sample sizes and prospective designs are warranted to validate these results and optimize the integration of AI in small bowel diagnostics. Conclusions: The current analysis demonstrates that both enteroscopy and VCE with AI augmentation exhibit comparable diagnostic performance for the automatic detection of small bowel disorders.

Background: Obesity represents a global epidemic associated with significant health risks, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. Management strategies have evolved from focusing solely on weight reduction to emphasizing overall health improvements and mitigating associated risks. Methods: This narrative review analyzed the existing peer-reviewed literature across databases such as PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar to examine the outcomes of bariatric surgery and its interplay with weight stigma. The review incorporated data from clinical studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, focusing on bariatric surgery and its psychological impact, as well as approaches to mitigate stigma in bariatric care. Results: Bariatric surgery has emerged as the most effective intervention for sustained weight loss and the resolution of obesity-related comorbidities. However, individuals undergoing surgery frequently encounter weight stigma, both pre- and postoperatively, which manifests through discriminatory healthcare interactions, societal biases, and internalized self-criticism. These factors contribute to anxiety, depression, diminished healthcare engagement, and weight regain, ultimately affecting the long-term surgical outcomes. Conclusions: Addressing weight stigma in bariatric care is critical to optimizing outcomes. Interventions such as preoperative counseling, postoperative psychological support, and multidisciplinary care can mitigate the psychological and societal burdens of stigma. This review explores the intricate relationships between obesity, bariatric surgery outcomes, weight stigma, and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL).