Background: The efficacy of omeprazole and amoxycillin dual therapy to treat Helicobacter pylori infection has been inconsistent, suggesting the presence of host or bacterial factors influencing treatment success. The aim of this study was to assess the role of pre‐treatment amoxycillin resistance in the efficacy of omeprazole and amoxycillin dual therapy. Methods: We studied 43 consecutive dyspeptic patients with H. pylori infection. Pre‐treatment H. pylori infection was established by the combination of positive rapid urease test, culture and histology. Amoxycillin susceptibility testing was performed by an Epsilometer test (E‐test) method and amoxycillin resistance was defined as minimum inhibitory concentration greater than 8 μg/mL. Patients received 20 mg omeprazole twice daily for 28 days and amoxycillin 1000 mg twice daily for 2 weeks. Adverse effects were documented using a questionnaire. H. pylori status was reassessed 6–8 weeks after the end of treatment by rapid urease testing and histological examination of gastric biopsies. Results: Forty‐two dyspeptic patients completed the study, and one patient dropped out. H. pylori infection was cured in 23 of 42 patients (55%). The cure rate was higher in patients harbouring amoxycillin‐sensitive organisms than in those with resistant strains: 66% (19/29) vs. 31% (4/13), respectively (P = 0.049). No significant differences in cure rates were evident in relation to age, sex, smoking habits or compliance. Conclusions: The effectiveness of amoxycillin–omeprazole dual therapy was greatly reduced in the presence of pre‐treatment amoxycillin‐resistant H. pylori. The success rate in patients with amoxycillin‐sensitive H. pylori was only 66%, suggesting the presence of additional factors affecting the efficacy of this therapy.

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In order to quantify the amounts of digitoxigenin and gitoxigenin in wild Sardinian Digitalis purpurea L. an easy extraction method and an high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analytical technique have been set up. The analyzed samples, stemming from six different locations, showed a great variability in glycoside content. The HPLC analyses carried out on 2-year-old plants of D. purpurea showed that the amounts of digitoxigenin and gitoxigenin ranged between 11.34 and 240.59 mg kg(-1) and 4.05 and 178.07 mg kg(-1), respectively, calculated on fresh material. Chemometric analyses, carried out considering different morphological characters, showed that correlations between morphological variations and glycoside content are poor.

After classification and identification of the plant, the alcoholic extract of Cachrys libanotis L. was analysed in order to identify the phototoxic agents. The substances responsible for photodermatitis were found to be 4 furocoumarins, of which 3 have been clearly identified, namely 5-methoxy-, 8-methoxy- and 5,8-dimethoxypsoralen. The structure of a 4th compound was not completely defined.