GS, NI and RHI histopathological scoring systems are comparable in what concerns patients' stratification into histological remission/activity. Additionally, FC levels are increased when neutrophils are present in the epithelium and the intestinal mucosa has erosions or ulcers. The presence of neutrophils in the epithelium is, indeed, the main marker of histological activity.

Background To make effective progress towards a global reduction in obesity prevalence, there needs to be a focus on broader structural factors, beyond individual-level drivers of diet and physical activity. This article describes the use of a systems framework to develop obesity prevention policies with adolescents. The aim of this research was to use the group model building (GMB) method to identify young people’s perceptions of the drivers of adolescent obesity in five European countries, as part of the EU-funded Co-Create project. Methods We used GMB with four groups of 16–18-year-old in schools in each of the five European countries (The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and the UK) to create causal loop diagrams (CLDs) representing their perceptions of the drivers of adolescent obesity. The maps were then merged into one, using a new protocol. Results Two hundred and fifty-seven participants, aged 16–18 years, engaged in 20 separate system mapping groups, each of which generated 1 CLD. The findings were largely congruent between the countries. Three feedback loops in the merged diagram particularly stand out: commercial drivers of unhealthy diets; mental health and unhealthy diets; social media use, body image and motivation to exercise. Conclusions GMB provides a novel way of eliciting from young people the system-based drivers of obesity that are relevant to them. Mental health issues, social media use and commercial practices were considered by the young people to be key drivers of adolescent obesity, subjects that have thus far had little or no coverage in research and policy.

EM strategy showed to be a successful program to improve patterns and quality of breakfast of the children and adolescents, reinforcing the importance of school-based nutritional programs in changing lifestyles. Nutrient profiling can be a useful tool to provide a selection of foods to be part of a healthy diet and can be used by policy-makers to design policies to identify the foods to which marketing restrictions to children, will apply.

CGE does not improve the detection of IN in the endoscopic screening of patients with longstanding UC without primary sclerosing cholangitis and/or history of IN. CGE takes longer than CC, but it decreases the number of biopsies performed and significantly increases the per-biopsy yield of IN. Endomicroscopy is an accurate tool for IN detection.

Background and Aims The histological status of ulcerative colitis [UC] patients in clinical and endoscopic remission has gained space as an important prognostic marker and a key component of disease monitoring. Our main aims were to compare two histological indexes—the continuous Geboes score [GS] and the Robarts Histopathology index [RHI]—regarding their definitions of histological remission and response, and the ability of faecal calprotectin [FC] levels to discriminate between these statuses. Methods This was an analysis of three prospective cohorts including 422 patients previously enrolled in other studies. Results The two continuous scores [GS and RHI] were shown to be significantly correlated [correlation coefficient of 0.806, p < 0.001] and particularly close regarding their definition of histological response: 95% and 88% of all patients classified as having/not having [respectively] histological response according to RHI also did so according to GS. Moreover, median FC levels in patients with histological response were lower than those in patients without histological response [GS: 73.00 vs 525.00, p < 0.001; RHI: 73.50 vs 510.00, p < 0.001]; a similar trend was observed when FC levels of patients in histological remission were compared to those of patients with histological activity [GS: 76.00 vs 228.00, p < 0.001; RHI: 73.50 vs 467.00, p < 0.001]. FC levels allowed us to exclude the absence of histological remission [according to RHI] and absence of histological response [according to RHI and GS], with negative predictive values varying from 82% to 96%. However, optimization of the FC cut-off to exclude the absence of histological remission, as for the continuous GS, falls within values that resemble those of the healthy population. Conclusion The continuous GS and RHI histological scores are strongly correlated in their definitions of histological response. An absence of histological remission could only be excluded at physiological levels of FC.

Long-standing UC patients with ≥3 ACF have a significantly higher likelihood of having IN. Age >40 years, family history of CRC, and increased BMI have significant positive associations with the number of ACF.

Left atrium function is essential for cardiovascular performance and is evaluable by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE). Our aim was to determine how echocardiographic parameters interrelate with exercise capacity and ventilatory efficiency in subjects with no structural heart disease. Asymptomatic volunteers, in sinus rhythm and with normal biventricular size and function, were recruited from a community-based population. Individuals with moderate-to-severe valvular disease, pulmonary hypertension, and history of cardiac disease were excluded. We performed a transthoracic echocardiogram and assessed left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) mechanics via 2D-STE. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing by treadmill took place immediately thereafter. Peak oxygen uptake (VO) served as measure of functional capacity and ventilation/carbon dioxide output (VE/VCO) slope as surrogate of ventilation/perfusion mismatch. 20 subjects were included (age 51 ± 14 years, male gender 65%). Peak VO strongly correlated with age (r = -0.83; P < 0.01), with E/e' ratio (r = -0.72; P < 0.01), and with LA reservoir- and conduit-phase mechanics, particularly with LA conduit strain rate (SR) (r = -0.82; P < 0.01), but showed no correlation with LA volume index or LV mechanics. A similar pattern of associations was identified for VE/VCO slope. In multivariate analysis, LA conduit SR (β = -0.69; P = 0.02) emerged as sole independent correlate of peak VO, adjusted for age and for E/e' ratio (adjusted r = 0.76; P< 0.01). Conduit and reservoir components of LA mechanics displayed strong associations with peak VO and VE/VCO slope. LA conduit-phase SR seems best suited as echocardiographic marker of functional capacity in subjects with no structural heart disease.

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