Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a chronically relapsing inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) constitute barrier surfaces and play a critical role in maintaining gut health. Dysregulated immune responses and destruction of IECs disrupt intestinal balance. Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) is the most widely used chemical for inducing colitis in animals, and its treatment induces colonic inflammation, acute diarrhea, and shortening of the intestine, with clinical and histological similarity to human UC. Current treatments for this inflammatory disorder have poor tolerability and insufficient therapeutic efficacy, and thus, alternative therapeutic approaches are required. Recently, dietary supplements with probiotics have emerged as promising interventions by alleviating disturbances in the indigenous microflora in UC. Thus, we hypothesized that the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis strain BB12 could protect against the development of colitis in a DSS-induced mouse model of UC. In the present study, oral administration of BB12 markedly ameliorated DSS-induced colitis, accompanied by reduced tumor necrosis factor-α-mediated IEC apoptosis. These findings indicate that the probiotic strain BB12 can alleviate DSS-induced colitis and suggest a novel mechanism of communication between probiotic microorganisms and intestinal epithelia, which increases intestinal cell survival by modulating pro-apoptotic cytokine expression.

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This study analyzed the effect of family meals on the psychological problems of children. We performed focus group interviews (FGI) on the basic characteristics of family meals, and chose several scales (such as Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), self-esteem, and a daily hassles questionnaire), to measure the psychological variables. We collected data from 442 dyads (mother-child) and used 440 from dyads. In our results, the frequency of family meals affected the psychological problems of children, especially aggression and emotional instability. The atmosphere during meals also affected depression/anxiety, concentration difficulties, emotional instability, self-esteem, peer relationships, and sociality. There were significant correlations between meal atmosphere, family bonding, maternal personality, and psychological problems of children. We performed covariation analysis to examine and control the influence of family bonding and maternal personality; despite controlling for these variables, family meals still influenced children's psychological problems. We conclude that the family meal is a significant variable that impacts the emotional and behavioral problems of children and stress the importance of frequent family meals.

Gastric high-grade dysplasia is an important premalignant lesion in gastric epithelial cells and has a high possibility of transforming to adenocarcinoma. Therefore, biopsy-proven high-grade dysplasia should be treated with en bloc resection methods such as endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). We report the case of a 63-year-old male patient, diagnosed with gastric high-grade dysplasia at the angle and lesser curvature side of the lower body. The patient was initially treated with ESD, although histopathology subsequently showed horizontal margin involvement. Since the lesion was diffusely edematous and margins were uncertain because of the previous ESD treatment, we chose to treat the patient with laparoscopy-assisted endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR). EFTR is a recently developed procedure, which uses both endoscopic and laparoscopic techniques to resect the full-thickness of the tissue. The final pathologic report revealed high-grade dysplasia and a focal intramucosal carcinoma of 0.8×0.7 cm. We conclude that EFTR can be an effective alternative treatment in gastric high-grade dysplasia unsuitable for ESD.