Upper gastrointestinal series (or study), whereas the barium enema is called a lower gastrointestinal series (or study). In upper gastrointestinal series examinations, the barium sulfate is mixed with water and swallowed orally, whereas in the lower gastrointestinal series (barium enema), the barium contrast agent is administered as an enema through a small tube inserted into the rectum. Barium X-ray examinations are useful tools for the study of appearance and function of the parts of the gastrointestinal tract. They are used to diagnose and monitor esophageal reflux, dysphagia, hiatus hernia, strictures, diverticula, pyloric stenosis, gastritis, enteritis, volvulus, varices, ulcers, tumors, and gastrointestinal dysmotility, as
Colon (punctuation) this with other considerations. In British English, it was once common for a colon to be followed by a hyphen or dash to indicate a restful pause, in a typographical construction known as the "dog's bollocks", though this usage is now discouraged. A special triangular colon symbol is used in IPA to indicate that the preceding sound is long. Its form is that of two triangles, each a little larger than a point (dot) of a standard colon, pointing toward each other. It is available in Unicode as "modifier letter triangular colon", Unicode U+02D0 (). A regular colon is often