Recent advances in gastroenterology and hepatology as well as new findings in biliary and pancreatic diseases are presented in the proceedings of the 86th annual congress of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology. From the hundreds of papers delivered at the congress, 70 were selected for inclusion here. Opening with special lectures on gastroenterology in the new millennium, ulcerative colitis-pathophysiology and therapy, and life style-related diseases and gastroenterology, the volume is divided into sections reflecting the major concerns of researchers in the science of digestive diseases in Japan today: apoptosis in digestive organs, nitric oxide, transcription factors in digestive organs, antigen-presenting cells, pathology of inflammatory bowel disease, NSAID-induced gastric lesions, microcirculation in digestive diseases, hepatic regeneration, and hepatic fibrosis.