The development and improvement of new technologies have made pancreatic disease more accessible to diagnosis in the last decade. The cooperation and coordination of experts in the fields of gastro enterology, radiology, biochemistry, immunology, and pathology are necessary if the methods are to be made available and the progress made to be fully exploited. Each of the new methods requires special training, and extensive experience is needed to guarantee high standards in the diagnosis of pancreatic disease. New methods have to be tested carefully against established diagnostic procedures,...

Helieobaeter pylori has recently been recognized as a new genus according to specific taxonomic criteria; the "popular" name Campylobaeter pylori has been corrected by scientific progress. Following the discovery of the spiral microorgan ism in gastric mucosa by Marshall and Warren in 1982, it took only a few years for H. pylori to become established as a factor in the pathogenesis of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. Interest in different aspects of H. pylori has grown continuously and has attracted scientists from various medical and biological disciplines such as gastroenterology,...

In the rapidly evolving field of Helicobacter infection new data on pathogenetic and pathophysiological mechanism have appeared. New methods which will be more sensitive and specific in the diagnosis of the infection are being developed and in this proceedings the first attempt using PCR technology is published. From the clinical point of view, a challenging aspect that needs clarification, is the observation which suggests an appearance of a correlation between the presence of the bacteria and abdominal pain and other symptoms in children whereas in old age no such correlation is evident....