A single FMT is relatively safe and can result in a short-term response in young patients with active IBD. Responders possessed increased Fusobacterium prior to FMT and demonstrated more significant microbiome changes compared with nonresponders after FMT. Microbiome characteristics may help in predicting response.

Background Children with Crohn’s disease (CD) may report abdominal pain despite clinical remission, suggesting that functional abdominal pain (FAP) may be playing a role. Aim This study aims to explore the presence and impact of FAP in children with CD in remission. Methods Children, aged 9–17, with CD were enrolled. Demographic information, the Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (PCDAI), and the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) were obtained. Disease remission was defined by physician global assessment, normal labs, and absence of 3 or more stools a day, nocturnal stooling, bloody diarrhea, concurrent steroid therapy, strictures, or disease flare within 6 months. FAP was defined as patients with abdominal pain and CD remission. Rates of depression (CDI >9) were compared. Results 139/307 children reported abdominal pain. Of this group, 18/139 (13%) met criteria for FAP. Despite clinical remission, 8/18 CD FAP patients were classified with active disease by PCDAI. CD FAP patients had a higher rate of depression than CD patients in remission with no abdominal pain (55.6% vs. 29.9%; p=0.03), similar to patients with abdominal pain from active CD (55.6% vs. 44.8%; p=0.62). Conclusions A proportion of children with CD in remission have FAP. These children are at significant risk for depression. Future studies are needed to determine whether depression contributes to functional pain development or if pain itself leads to depression. Especially given that functional pain may exaggerate disease activity, clinicians caring for children with CD and FAP should consider evaluating for depressive disorders before escalating therapy.

In the US, H. pylori vacA shows allelic variation in the signal sequence (which may be type sla, slb or s2) and the mid-region (type ml or m2). Previous PCR-based vacA mid-region typing classified most, but not all, Asian and South American strains tested as ml or m2. We now sought to investigate vacA mid-region diversity further.MotlmodL We studied 13 Japanese, 6 Chinese, 9 Thai, and 8 Peruvian H. pylori isolates. cagA was identified by colony hybridisation (CH), vacA signal sequence was typed by PCR, and vacA mid-region was typed proximally by CH and distally by PCR. Sections of the vacA mid-region from 8 strains were PCR-amplified, sequenced, and compared with known sequences from 8 other strains.Rcuts Of the 36 Asian and South American strains studied, 35 were cagA+ (the cagA-was Peruvian) and 35 were vacA sla (1 cagA + Peruvian was slb). vacA mid-regions from the 13 Japanese strains were not PCR-amplified by ml or m2-specific primers, but hybridised weakly with an ml probe. Sequence analysis of vacA from 1 Japanese strain revealed 91% nucleotide identity with the ml probe but only 71% identity with the m2 probe. The previously equivocal Thai and Peruvian strains also had ml-like mid-region sequences. A Chinese strain was ml in the proximal mid-region and m2 distally, showing a clear crossover site. Final mid-region types were: Japanese, all 13 ml; Chinese, 1 ml, 1 ml/m2, 4 m2; Thai, 3 ml, 6 m2; Peruvian 4 ml, 4 m2. Distal mid-region sequences of 16 strains, compared over 294 bp, clustered into 2 groups, ml and m2. Nucleotide identity between ml and m2 strains ranged from 73-78%. Within groups, m2 strains were less diverse than ml strains (m2 range 94-99.7%, ml 88-99.3%, p<0.001). Sequence analysis of 7 ml and 3 m2 strains over 1.1kb proximally showed maintenance of clustering outside the 294bp region C duions These Asian and South American strains are similar in terms of cagA status and vacA sla genotype, but fall into 2 vacA midregion groups. ml sequences are more diverse than m2, and thus may be phylogenetically older. The vacA sequence of 1 Chinese strain suggests recombination in vivo between ml and m2 alleles. Introduction: H.pylori antimicrobial susceptibility is an important determinant ofthe efficacy of eradication therapies'. The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance varies within the UK and may increase given the increased use of eradication therapy. This multicentre study assesses the prevalence and possible associations ofH.pylon antimicrobial resistance. Methods: H.pylon was isolated from antral biopsies of patients undergoing routine endoscopy and cultured according to standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial resistance was determined using "E-tests" or disc tests (tinidazole only) with breakpoints defined by previous studies. Results: H.pyloni was isolated from 32% (1222/3823) of patients and antimicrobial susceptibility determined in 90% (1077/1222) Previous case-control studies of IBD have used hospital or community derived controls. There are obvious inherent biases in both metho...

The term pediatric autoimmune enteropathy was originally applied to a form of intractable diarrhea seen in children under the age of 6 months and characterized by male predominance, concurrent autoimmuneassociated disorders, circulating gut autoantibodies, a lack of severe immunodeficiency and small bowel atrophy with prominent crypt apoptosis. However, recent studies have cast doubt over the specific clinicopathologic findings associated with this entity. We, therefore, collected 178 gastrointestinal biopsies from 14 patients and examined their clinical, serologic and pathologic findings. Patients at presentation ranged in age from birth to 15.9 years (median, 5.5 months; mean, 4.1 years) and included six males and eight females. All children suffered from chronic watery diarrhea and malnutrition. Concomitant-associated disorders were noted in 11 (79%) cases and included 10 (71%) with an immunodeficiency disorder and/or another autoimmunerelated disease. Eleven patients (79%) were positive for anti-enterocyte antibodies. The salient findings of autoimmune enteropathy were most prominent in the small intestines and the majority (79%) of patients demonstrated villous blunting, crypt hyperplasia, mononuclear cell inflammatory expansion of the lamina propria and crypt apoptosis. The remaining (21%) patients showed marked intraepithelial lymphocytosis reminiscent of celiac disease. Further, acute cryptitis and crypt abscesses were seen in seven (50%) patients obscuring the presence of apoptosis. The absence of Paneth cells, goblet cells or both was noted in seven (50%) patients. Follow-up information was available for all patients with 13 (93%) receiving immunosuppressant therapy and demonstrating partial-to-complete response. In total, three patients died from continued diarrhea and sepsis with one decedent before treatment could be initiated. In summary, autoimmune enteropathy in children is a heterogenous disease with protean clinical and pathologic findings. Although anti-enterocyte antibodies were identified in the majority of the cases, their presence was variable and insensitive. In addition, pediatric autoimmune enteropathy was frequently encountered in the setting of immunodeficiency disorders.

Anemia is one of the most common extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It can be asymptomatic or associated with nonspecific symptoms, such as irritability, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and anorexia. In IBD patients, the etiology of anemia is often multifactorial. Various causes include iron deficiency, anemia of inflammation and chronic disease, vitamin deficiencies, hemolysis, or myelosuppressive effect of drugs. Anemia and iron deficiency in these patients may be underestimated because of their insidious onset, lack of standardized screening practices, and possibly underappreciation that treatment of anemia is also required when treating IBD. Practitioners may hesitate to use oral preparations because of their intolerance whereas intravenous preparations are underutilized because of fear of adverse events, availability, and cost. Several publications in recent years have documented the safety and comparative efficacy of various intravenous preparations. This article reviews management of anemia in children with IBD, including diagnosis, etiopathogenesis, evaluation of a patient, protocol to screen and monitor patients for early detection and response to therapy, treatment including parenteral iron therapy, and newer approaches in management of anemia of chronic disease. This report has been compiled by a group of pediatric gastroenterologists serving on the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) IBD committee, in collaboration with a pediatric hematologist, pharmacist, and a registered dietician who specializes in pediatric IBD (IBD Anemia Working Group), after an extensive review of the current literature. The purpose of this review is to raise awareness of under-diagnosis of anemia in children with IBD and make recommendations for screening, testing, and treatment in this population.

Background Pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have high rates of abdominal pain. The study aims were to (1) Evaluate biological and psychological correlates of abdominal pain in depressed youth with IBD, (2) Determine predictors of abdominal pain in Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods 765 patients ages 9–17 with IBD seen over 3 years at two sites were screened for depression. Depressed youth completed comprehensive assessments for abdominal pain, psychological (depression and anxiety), and biological (IBD-related, through disease activity indices and laboratory values) realms. Results 217 patients with IBD (161 CD, 56 UC) were depressed. 163 (120 CD, 43 UC) patients had complete API scores. In CD, abdominal pain was associated with depression (r=0.33; p<0.001), diarrhea (r=0.34; p=0.001), ESR (r=0.22; p=0.02), low albumin (r=0.24; p=.01), weight loss (r=0.33; p=0.001), and abdominal tenderness (r=0.38, p=0.002). A multivariate model with these significant correlates represented 32% of the variance in pain. Only depression (p=0.03), weight loss (p=0.04), and abdominal tenderness (p=0.01) predicted pain for CD patients. In UC, pain was associated with depression (r=0.46; p=0.002) and nocturnal stools (r=.32; p=.046). In the multivariate model with these significant correlates 23% of the variance was explained, and only depression (p=0.02) predicted pain. Conclusions The psychological state of pediatric patients with IBD may increase the sensitivity to abdominal pain. Thus, screening for and treating comorbid depression may prevent excessive medical testing and unnecessary escalation of IBD medications.

The rodent intestinal mucosa undergoes a remarkable morphogenesis as the crypt-villus axis is formed. Endoderm-mesenchymal interactions play a critical role in this process. Epimorphin is a mesenchymal protein postulated to play a role in lung and skin morphogenesis. The rat homologue, syntaxin 2, belongs to a family of integral membrane proteins that function in vesicle docking and fusion. To clarify its role in fetal gut morphogenesis, epimorphin expression was examined during ontogeny, in an isograft model of ischemic injury and mucosal repair, and during intestinal adaptation after small bowel resection. Epimorphin/syntaxin 2 mRNA levels were increased in fetal gut during lumen formation and villus morphogenesis. mRNA levels remained elevated in the first 2 wk after birth and then declined at weaning. In situ hybridization showed epimorphin/syntaxin 2 mRNA in gestational day 14( G14) and G15 intestinal mesenchymal cells and in the mucosal lamina propria during villus formation. Epimorphin/syntaxin 2 mRNA expression increased during villus repair in the isograft. In contrast, in the early stages of intestinal adaptation after small bowel resection, epimorphin/syntaxin 2 mRNA expression was suppressed in the adapting gut. We conclude the cell-specific and temporal patterns of epimorphin expression in the models used in this study suggest a role in the morphogenesis of the crypt-villus axis.

TIME shifts the way of learning for the staff from a traditional to a more innovative and reflection-based learning through a process of learning how to learn at work. The staff's experienced increased coping in their approach to complex problems. Our results emphasise the importance of a structured and biopsychosocial approach to NPS in clinical practice. Future research should explore models for integrating situated learning in daily routines in nursing homes.