Purpose Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Korea has been increasing in recent years, but accurate statistics about operations for IBD are lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the trends and current status of IBD surgeries in Korea.Methods Using a national database from the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, we analyzed data from patients who underwent surgery for Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis from January 2009 to October 2016. Results The mean number of patients who underwent surgery for Crohn disease was 791.8 per year. Colorectal surgery, small bowel surgery, and anal surgery were performed fairly often (31.2%, 29.4%, 39.4%, respectively), and laparoscopic surgery continued to increase, recently exceeding 30%. About 50% of Crohn patients used biologics before and after surgery, and those patients also underwent a relatively high rate of anal surgeries (44.2%). The mean number of patients who underwent surgery for ulcerative colitis was 247.6 per year. Colorectal surgery accounted for more than half of all operations, and laparoscopic surgery has been increasing rapidly, having been performed in about 60% of patients in recent years. The incidence of colorectal cancer in patients with ulcerative colitis was very high and increased rapidly during the study period, reaching about 80%.Conclusion The number of patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery for IBD in Korea has increased significantly. Biologics are actively used by patients with Crohn disease, with a high proportion of anal surgeries required. Many of the surgical indications for ulcerative colitis have shifted into colorectal cancer.

Background and Aim: There is paucity of data regarding the epidemiology of pediatric IBD in Asia compared to that of Western countries. We aimed to investigate the incidence and prevalence trends of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the Daegu-Kyungpook province of South Korea from 2017 to 2020.Methods: This study was a multicenter, retrospective study conducted in eight IBD referral centers located in the Daegu-Kyungpook province. Children and adolescents of ≤18 years who were initially diagnosed with IBD between 2017 and 2020 were included. The annual number of children and adolescents newly diagnosed with IBD and the annual resident population of children and adolescents ≤18 years of age in the Daegu-Kyungpook province were investigated to calculate the annual incidence and prevalence in the region.Results: A total 304 children and adolescents that had been diagnosed with IBD were included in this study. Among these patients, 71.4% had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD), and 28.6% with ulcerative colitis (UC). The population based annual incidences of IBD from 2017 to 2020 were each 7.24, 6.82, 10.27, and 13.33 per 100,000, respectively (P for trend <0.001), 4.48, 5.26, 7.39, and 9.8 per 100,000, respectively, for CD (P for trend <0.001), and 2.76, 1.56, 2.88, and 3.53 per 100,000, respectively, for UC (P for trend = 0.174).Conclusion: Pediatric IBD, especially CD has significantly increased recently in the Daegu-Kyungpook province. Epidemiology studies from other regions of Asia are required to better elucidate this trend of increase in Asia.

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Dehydrins (DHNs) are hydrophilic proteins with conserved lysine-rich K-segment, which belong to Group II of the late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) protein family. DHNs are considered as molecular chaperons playing important roles in abiotic stress tolerance. In this study, DHN genes were identified through genome-wide searches in five Cucurbitaceae species, including cucumber, wild cucumber, melon, watermelon, and bitter gourd. Three to five DHN genes were found in each of the five species, which were further divided into several protein architecture types based on the presence and order of the major conserved motifs such as K-, Y-, and S-segments. In silico expression profiling using RNA-Seq data revealed high expression of SK3-type DHN gene and low expression of other type DHN genes in cucumber and melon. In silico promoter analysis identified a number of cis-acting element-like sequences related to abiotic stress-response such as DRE and ABRE in 2-kb putative promoter sequences. DHN genes identified in this study will be valuable for understanding the stress response mechanism as well as assisting molecular breeding in Cucurbitaceae crops.

PurposeBowel preparation with sodium phosphate was recently prohibited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is safe and effective; however, it is difficult to drink. To identify an easy bowel preparation method for colonoscopy, we evaluated three different bowel preparation regimens regarding their efficacy and patient satisfaction.MethodsIn this randomized, comparative study, 892 patients who visited a secondary referral hospital for a colonoscopy between November 2012 and February 2013 were enrolled. Three regimens were evaluated: three packets of sodium picosulfate/magnesium citrate (PICO, group A), two packets of PICO with 1 L of PEG (PICO + PEG 1 L, group B), and two packets of PICO with 2 L of PEG (PICO + PEG 2 L, group C). A questionnaire survey regarding the patients' preference for the bowel preparation regimen and satisfaction was conducted before the colonoscopies. The quality of bowel cleansing was scored by the colonoscopists who used the Aronchick scoring scale and the Ottawa scale.ResultsThe patients' satisfaction rate regarding the regimens were 72% in group A, 64% in group B, and 45.9% in group C. Nausea and abdominal bloating caused by the regimens were more frequent in group C than in group A or group B (P < 0.01). Group C showed the lowest preference rate compared to the other groups (P < 0.01). Group C showed better right colon cleansing efficacy than group A or group B.ConclusionGroup A exhibited a better result than group B or group C in patient satisfaction and preference. In the cleansing quality, no difference was noted between groups A and C.

Combined surgical and infliximab therapy was efficacious to treat fistulizing perianal Crohn's disease with rapid treatment response and favorable clinical outcomes. It is expected that this top-down strategy with combining surgeries can overcome previous limitations in treating perianal Crohn's disease.