The elemental diet (Elental) reduced mucosal cytokine production and corrected an imbalance between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in CD.

Abstract. The role of nephritis-associated antigen as a virulence factor for acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) remains to be fully clarified. Nephritis-associated plasmin receptor (NAPlr) was previously isolated from group A streptococcus (GAS) and shown to bind plasmin(ogen). The nucleotide sequence of the naplr gene from GAS isolates obtained from patients with APSGN was determined. The sequence of the putative open reading frame (1011 bp) showed 99.8% identity among isolated strains. Homology screen revealed an exact match with streptococcal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). NAPlr exhibited GAPDH activity in zymography, and it activated the complement pathway in vitro. In APSGN kidney biopsy specimens, NAPlr was observed mainly in the early stage of the disease (1 to 14 d after onset) but was not colocalized with either C3 or IgG as assessed by double immunofluorescence staining. Sera of patients with APSGN, patients with GAS infection without renal involvement, nonrenal pediatric patients, and healthy adults as controls were assayed for antiNAPlr antibody titers. Anti-NAPlr antibodies were present most frequently in APSGN sera, and antibody titers were also significantly higher than in patients with GAS infection alone or in other control patients. Moreover, antibody titers remained elevated during the entire 10-yr follow-up period.

Long-term enteral nutrition in patients with quiescent CD has a clear suppressive effect on clinical and endoscopic disease activities and the mucosal inflammatory cytokine levels.

SUMMARY BackgroundThe impact of enteral nutrition on post-operative recurrence has not been properly examined.

The indication for reoperation in CD tends to be the same as the primary operation, i.e., perforating disease tends to re-present as perforating disease, and nonperforating as nonperforating. Also, perforating CD appears to be associated with a higher recurrence rate compared with nonperforating CD. However, because of significant HG among studies, further studies should be undertaken to confirm this finding.