34 WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS JULY 2016 Editorial | Expert Point of View | Gastro 2016: EGHS-WGO | WDHD News | WGO & WGOF News | WGO Global Guidelines | Calendar of Events The 1st Asia-Pacific Probiotics Consensus Board Meeting Henry Cohen, MD, FACG, AGAF President (2011-2013), World Gastroenterology Organisation Professor of Gastroenterology Hospital de Clínicas Director, ECHO Project UruguayVice President, National Academy of Medicine Montevideo, Uruguay Eamonn MM Quigley, MD, FRCP, FACP, FACG, FRCPI Past Chairman, WGO Foundation President (2005-2009), World Gastroenterology Organisation Chief, Gastroenterology and Hepatology David M Underwood Chair of Medicine in Digestive Disorders Houston Methodist Hospital Professor of Medicine Weill Cornell Medical College Houston, Texas, USA A panel of leading experts in the field of adult and pediatric gastroenterol-ogy from countries in the Asia-Pacific region was convened in Paris, France for a two day meeting on the 11th and 12th of April 2016 as the 1st Asia- Pacific Probiotics Consensus Board Meeting. The objective of this gather-ing was to explore current use of pro-biotics in GI disorders and to address the need for regional guidelines for probiotic use in the region. The pres-ent report summarizes the program as well as discussion topics. Meeting Participants: The consensus meeting was developed by a Scientific Committee composed of four global academic clinicians through a Medical Educational grant from Biocodex Laboratories and the endorsement of the World Gastro-enterology Organisation. Fourteen representative members from seven Asia-Pacific countries, including Aus-tralia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, were invited to participate. Meeting Justification: Over the past 20 years, research has provided grounds to indicate efficacy of probiotics in the management of a variety of gastrointestinal disorders. Over the past ten years, we have wit-nessed a tremendous rise in the num-ber of new publications on subjects related to the intestinal microbiota modulation and the potential role of probiotics. Increasing interest together with the growing body of evidence from scientific and clinical research on these topics have led to an increasing number of regional consensus meet-ings and practical guideline recom-mendations for the use of probiotics. To date, none have been generated in the Asia-Pacific region. Meeting Overview: The kick off session took place at The Sorbonne University in Paris with plenary lectures followed by two workshops. In the plenary session, lectures were presented on: the human gut microbiota in health and disease; an overview of the epidemiology of gastrointestinal disorders; probiot-ics: definition, mechanism of action and clinical evidence; an overview of existing guidelines for probiotic use in adults and children; and, finally, From left to right: Marcellus Simadibrata, Kentaro Sugano, Uday Goshal, Henry Cohen, Eamonn Quigley, Gerald Holtmann, Claudia Ferreira, Neelan Mohan, Quak Seng Hock, Bhupinder Sandhu, Caley Mutrie, Alfredo Guarino, Don Cameron, Yuichiro Yamashiro, Soo Jung Park, and Yanmei Li.
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