Correlation of Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO-2) with Endoscopic and Histological Features in Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease Patients.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in consecutive newly diagnosed patients with inflammatory bowel disease in a tertiary care referral center. The initial evaluation included patient-reported outcome for stool frequency subscore and rectal bleeding. Endoscopic activity was determined using the Mayo scoring system for ulcerative colitis and the Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's disease. Histopathological activity was assessed using a validated numeric scoring system. RESULTS: We included 159 patients (63 Crohn's disease with colonic involvement and 96 with ulcerative colitis). We found significant correlation between the Mayo endoscopic subscoring system and histology activity in ulcerative colitis, while no correlation was found in patients with Crohn's disease. Patient-reported outcome showed inverse correlation with endoscopic and histological activity in Crohn's disease (r s = -0.67; r s = -0.72), while positive correlation was found in ulcerative colitis (r s = 0.84; r s = 0.75). Interpretation and Conclusions. Patient-reported outcome is a practical and noninvasive tool for assessment of disease activity in ulcerative colitis patients but not in Crohn's disease.

Growth impacts of Saharan dust, mineral nutrients, and CO2 on a planktonic herbivore in southern Mediterranean lakes.

Rising levels of CO2 can boost plant biomass but reduce its quality as a food source for herbivores. However, significant uncertainties remain as to the degree to which the effect is modulated by other environmental factors and the underlying processes causing these responses in nature. To address these questions, we carried out CO2-manipulation experiments using natural seston from three lakes under nutrient-enriched conditions (mimicking eutrophication and atmospheric dust-input processes) as a food source for the planktonic Daphnia pulicaria. Contrary to expectations, there were no single effects of rising CO2 on herbivorous growth. Instead, synergistic CO2 × nutrient interactions indicated that CO2 did not support higher zooplankton growth rates unless supplemented with dust or inorganic nutrients (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P) in two of three studied lakes. The overall positive correlation between zooplankton growth and seston carbon (C), but not seston C:P, suggested that this was a food quantity-mediated response. In addition, we found that this correlation improved when the data were grouped according to the nutrient treatments, and that the response was largest for dust. The synergistic CO2 × nutrient effects reported here imply that the effects of rising CO2 levels on herbivorous growth may be strongly influenced by eutrophication processes and the increase in dust deposition predicted for the Mediterranean region.