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Enjoyment is recognized as a determinant of physical activity habits. The enjoyment of engaging in physical activity can be measured with the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES). Later versions of this scale have been shortened to capture the component of subjective feeling, which has been validated using German-speaking samples. The aim of this study was to examine internal consistency, factorial validity, criterion-related validity, test-retest reliability, and measurement invariance (across gender and languages) in an English-speaking population. Data on physical activity enjoyment and self-reported physical activity were collected through an online survey with a test-retest design (n = 276,189 female, M = 42.55, SD = 16.81 years) conducted from September 2023 to December 2023. In addition, a German-speaking sample (n = 1017, 497 female, M = 29.77, SD = 13.54 years) was analyzed to assess measurement invariance with respect to language. McDonald's omega at time 1 was ω = 0.95. The confirmatory factor analysis supports the assumption of the unidimensional structure of PACES-S (χ2 = 19.8, df = 2, p < 0.05; CFI = 0.984; RMSEA = 0.180, 90% CI [0.113-0.256]), as the model fit can be estimated as good in view of the CFI value, while the sensitivity of the χ2 test is very high and the RMSEA may underestimate the model fit. Although the RMSEA value is higher than the conventional threshold, the small number of degrees of freedom may have a significant impact on this indicator. The criterion-related validity for light physical activity was r(107) = 0.26 (p < 0.05). The retest reliability was r(199) = 0.69 (p < 0.05). Further, the results supported measurement invariance across gender and partial measurement invariance across languages. Overall, the English PACES-S demonstrated good psychometric properties specifically for light intensity of physical activity, and can serve as an economical instrument to assess physical activity enjoyment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Weyland et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194222.].

Background: Serum anti-glycan antibodies are a promising tool for differential diagnosis, disease stratification and prediction of Crohn's disease (CD). To investigate possible heritability of the markers we assessed the presence of serum anti-glycan antibodies in affected and unaffected relatives of patients with CD., Methods: Serum samples of 169 IBD patients of the German inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) network (140 CD & 29 Ulcerative colitis (UC)), 349 relatives of CD patients, 63 relatives of UC patients and 46 healthy controls were tested for the presence of anti-glycan antibodies by ELISA in a blinded fashion. Clinical data of the IBD patients and controls were available., Results: A higher proportion of non-affected CD relatives was positive for anti-glycan antibodies compared to healthy subjects. No inheritance of a specific pattern of anti-glycan antibodies could be detected. No difference in marker expression depending on the degree of relationship in the non-affected relatives was noted and the presence of family history did not lead to a difference in marker levels in the affected CD subjects., Conclusions: Non-affected CD relatives had a higher frequency of anti-glycan antibodies compared to healthy subjects. This difference was mild and was found to be true for the overall reactivity to glycan antigens, but not for specific patterns. This may indicate an inherited mechanism resulting in a non-specific increased reactivity to microbial antigens in IBD.

Background: Potassium channels have been shown to determine wound healing in different tissues, but their role in intestinal epithelial restitution--the rapid closure of superficial wounds by intestinal epithelial cells (IEC)--remains unclear., Methods: In this study, the regulation of IEC migration by potassium channel modulation was explored with and without additional epidermal growth factor (EGF) under baseline and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-pretreated conditions in scratch assays and Boyden chamber assays using the intestinal epithelial cell lines IEC-18 and HT-29. To identify possibly involved subcellular pathways, Western Blot (WB)-analysis of ERK and Akt phosphorylation was conducted and PI3K and ERK inhibitors were used in scratch assays. Furthermore, mRNA-levels of the potassium channel KCNN4 were determined in IEC from patients suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)., Results: Inhibition of Ca(2+)-dependent potassium channels significantly increased intestinal epithelial restitution, which could not be further promoted by additional EGF. In contrast, inhibition of KCNN4 after pretreatment with IFN-γ led to decreased or unaffected migration. This effect was abolished by EGF. Changes in Akt, but not in ERK phosphorylation strongly correlated with these findings and PI3K but not ERK inhibition abrogated the effect of KCNN4 inhibition. Levels of KCNN4 mRNA were higher in samples from IBD patients compared with controls., Conclusions: Taken together, we demonstrate that inhibition of KCNN4 differentially regulates IEC migration in IFN-γ-pretreated vs. non pretreated conditions. Moreover, our data propose that the PI3K signaling cascade is responsible for this differential regulation. Therefore, we present a cellular model that contributes new aspects to epithelial barrier dysfunction in chronic intestinal inflammation, resulting in propagation of inflammation and symptoms like ulcers or diarrhea.

Background: Markers that predict the occurrence of a complicated disease behavior in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) can permit a more aggressive therapeutic regimen for patients at risk. The aim of this cohort study was to test the blood levels of hemoglobin (Hgb) and hematocrit (Hct) for the prediction of complicated CD behavior and CD related surgery in an adult patient population., Methods: Blood samples of 62 CD patients of the German Inflammatory Bowel Disease-network "Kompetenznetz CED" were tested for the levels of Hgb and Hct prior to the occurrence of complicated disease behavior or CD related surgery. The relation of these markers and clinical events was studied using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and adjusted COX-proportional hazard regression models., Results: The median follow-up time was 55.8 months. Of the 62 CD patients without any previous complication or surgery 34% developed a complication and/or underwent CD related surgery. Low Hgb or Hct levels were independent predictors of a shorter time to occurrence of the first complication or CD related surgery. This was true for early as well as late occurring complications. Stable low Hgb or Hct during serial follow-up measurements had a higher frequency of complications compared to patients with a stable normal Hgb or Hct, respectively., Conclusions: Determination of Hgb or Hct in complication and surgery naïve CD patients might serve as an additional tool for the prediction of complicated disease behavior.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of extra-enteric findings in a large cohort of patients undergoing magnetic resonance enterography (MR-E) and to classify the clinical significance of these findings., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 1154 MR-E performed in 1006 patients referred to our radiological department between 1999-2005. The reasons for referral were suspected or proven inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) (n = 710), further diagnostic work-up for small bowel disease because of non-specific abdominal symptoms (SBD; n = 182) or suspected small bowel malignancies (SBM; n = 114). All extra-enteric findings were reviewed by a radiologist and a gastroenterologist and were classified as having high, moderate, or low significance for further diagnostic or therapeutic procedures., Results: The average age of all patients was 40+/-16 (Mean+/-SD) years (y) (IBD 35+/-13 y; SBD 49+/-16 y; SBM 57+/-15 y). A total of 1113 extra-enteric findings were detected in 600 of 1006 patients (59.6%). Of these findings 180 (16.2%) were judged as having a high, 212 (19.0%) a moderate and 721 (64.8%) a low significance. On a per group basis in patients with IBD 12.0% of the findings were of major clinical significance compared to 13.7% and 33.3% in patients with SBD and SBM, respectively. The most common major findings were abscesses (69.9%) in the IBD group and extraintestinal tumors, metastases or masses in the SBD and SBM groups (41.9% and 74.2%, respectively)., Conclusions: MR-E reveals a substantial number of extra-enteric findings, supporting the role of a cross-sectional imaging method for the evaluation of the small bowel.