Endoscopic radial incision and cutting for benign stenosis of the lower gastrointestinal tract: An investigation of novel endoscopic treatment in multicenter trial.

Background And Aim: The standard therapies for benign gastrointestinal stenosis are endoscopic balloon dilation or surgery; each have their advantages and disadvantages. In contrast, radial incision and cutting (RIC) is a novel approach for such stenosis. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of RIC.

[Survey on the Efficacy of Two Types of Medication Administration-assisting Food for Hospitalized Children].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of two types of medication administration-assisting food. The subjects were 30 caregivers of children from one to eight years old hospitalized in the pediatrics unit of a university hospital, and 30 nurses caring for them. The caregivers gave medications to their children using two types of administration-assisting food, "chocolate" and "jelly".

Long-term course of inflammatory bowel disease after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Background And Aim: This study analyzed inflammatory bowel disease activity for 2 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Methods: We compared the relapse rates of patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease 1 and 2 years after the earthquake with rates immediately after the earthquake. To evaluate continuous disease courses, we also performed multivariate time-to-event analyses from the time of the earthquake to the onset of additional treatments.

Management of aorto-esophageal fistula secondary after thoracic endovascular aortic repair: a review of literature.

Aorto-esophageal fistula (AEF) is a rare and lethal entity, and the difficulty of making diagnosis of AEF is well-known. As promising results in the short-term effectiveness of thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) promote its usage, the occurrence of AEF after TEVAR (post-TEVAR AEF) increases as one of the major complications. Therefore, we provide a review concerning the management strategy of post-TEVAR AEF.

MicroRNA-320 family is downregulated in colorectal adenoma and affects tumor proliferation by targeting CDK6.

Aim: To investigate the microRNA (miRNA) expression during histological progression from colorectal normal mucosa through adenoma to carcinoma within a lesion.

Methods: Using microarray, the sequential changes in miRNA expression profiles were compared in colonic lesions from matched samples; histologically, non-neoplastic mucosa, adenoma, and submucosal invasive carcinoma were microdissected from a tissue sample. Cell proliferation assay was performed to observe the effect of miRNA, and its target genes were predicted using bioinformatics approaches and the expression profile of SW480 transfected with the miRNA mimics.

Refractory sclerosing mesenteritis involving the small intestinal mesentery: a case report and literature review.

A 28-year-old Japanese man presented with upper abdominal pain. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a soft tissue mass in the small bowel mesentery. We diagnosed the patient with sclerosing mesenteritis according to the histological findings of small bowel mesentery.

Modulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced autophagy by C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) and inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) in human colon cancer cells.

To explore the relationship between UPR and autophagy in intestinal epithelial cells, we investigated whether autophagy was induced by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in colon cancer cell lines. We demonstrated that autophagy was induced by ER stress in HT29, SW480, and Caco-2 cells. In these cells, inositol-requiring enzyme1α (IRE1α) and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) were involved in the ER stress-autophagy pathway, and CHOP was a regulator of IRE1α protein expression.

Endoscopic submucosal dissection for colorectal neoplasia during the clinical learning curve.

Background: The efficacy of colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been reported mainly from Japanese referral centers. However, ESD is technically difficult and associated with a higher risk of adverse events than endoscopic mucosal resection, especially for novices performing colorectal ESD with little experience in gastric ESD. The current study evaluated the results of colorectal ESD during the clinical learning curve by retrospectively examining the results of colorectal ESD performed by four endoscopists who had experience with fewer than five cases of gastric ESD.

Rapid movement of water and cryoprotectants in pig expanded blastocysts via channel processes: its relevance to their higher tolerance to cryopreservation.

Pig oocytes and embryos are highly sensitive to cryopreservation; however, tolerance to cryopreservation increases in embryos at the expanded blastocyst stage. This increased tolerance may be attributed to a decrease in cytoplasmic lipid droplets at this stage. We previously showed that an increase in the permeability of the plasma membrane in mouse oocytes to water and cryoprotectants, caused by the artificial expression of aquaporin 3, an aquaglyceroporin, enhanced tolerance to cryopreservation.

Life-event stress induced by the Great East Japan Earthquake was associated with relapse in ulcerative colitis but not Crohn's disease: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Stress is thought to be one of the triggers of relapses in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We examined the rate of relapse in IBD patients before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

FCGR3A-158 polymorphism influences the biological response to infliximab in Crohn's disease through affecting the ADCC activity.

An association between FCGR3A-158 V/F polymorphism and biological responses to infliximab has been reported in Crohn's disease (CD) in Western countries. However, little is known about the mechanism by which gene polymorphism affects the responses to infliximab. The aims of this study were to confirm the association in Japanese CD patients and to reveal the effect of gene polymorphism on biological responses to infliximab.

Short and long-term outcomes of endoscopic balloon dilatation for Crohn's disease strictures.

Aim: To investigate the short and long-term outcomes of endoscopic balloon dilatation (EBD) for Crohn's disease (CD) strictures.

Methods: Between January 1995 and December 2011, 47 EBD procedures were performed in 30 patients (8 females and 22 males) with CD. All patients had strictures through which an endoscope could not pass, and symptoms of these strictures included abdominal pain, abdominal fullness, nausea, and/or vomiting.

Prognostic and diagnostic significance of tumor budding associated with β-catenin expression in submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma.

Endoscopic resection has become a major curative treatment for early colorectal carcinoma without lymph node metastasis. However, lymph node metastasis, a poor prognostic factor in colorectal carcinoma, occurs in about 10% of the patients with submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma. Therefore, it is important to identify a high-risk factor for lymph node metastasis in submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma.

Two cases of diffuse duodenitis associated with ulcerative colitis.

The upper gastrointestinal tract is not generally considered a target organ in ulcerative colitis (UC). However, several cases showing upper gastrointestinal involvement in UC have been reported. In this report, we present 2 rare cases of diffuse duodenitis accompanying pancolonic UC.

Changes of faecal microbiota in patients with Crohn's disease treated with an elemental diet and total parenteral nutrition.

Background: Intestinal microbiota contributes to the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease. Elemental diet and total parenteral nutrition are effective therapies for Crohn's disease; however, changes of microbiota as a result of both treatments have not been fully elucidated.

Aim: To elucidate changes of faecal microbiota in Crohn's disease patients treated with elemental diet and total parenteral nutrition.

[Clinical courses and pregnancy outcomes in Japanese women with inflammatory bowel disease].

In this study, we analyzed the clinical courses and the pregnancy outcomes in Japanese women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in our hospital in the recent 10 years. We analyzed 49 pregnancies in 38 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 24 pregnancies in 16 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) retrospectively. The results indicated that pregnancy has less influence on the clinical courses of IBD and that IBD also has less influence on the pregnancy outcomes.

Increased expression of NKX2.3 mRNA transcribed from the risk haplotype for ulcerative colitis in the involved colonic mucosa.

NKX2.3 is a promising candidate for susceptibility genes to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to perform a candidate gene analysis of NKX2.

Scheduled maintenance therapy with infliximab improves the prognosis of Crohn's disease: a single center prospective cohort study in Japan.

The main goal of Crohn's disease (CD) treatment at present is to induce and maintain remission for as long as possible, and several approaches have been used as induction and maintenance therapies. There are no reports that have compared the effects on mid- and long-term prognosis among the induction and maintenance therapies, especially between infliximab, a chimeric antibody to tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and nutritional therapies. A total of 262 CD patients with induced remission were enrolled in the cohort study.