administration (RR=1.81) and previous AAD episodes (RR=1.87). Abdominal pain occurred in 27/289 (9.3%), particularly in children >6 years (RR=4.15), with previous abdominal pain (RR=7.2) or constipation (RR=4.06). Constipation was recorded in 23/289 (8.0%), with increased risk in children having surgery (RR=2.56) or previous constipation (RR=7.38). Probiotic supplementation significantly reduced AAD (RR=0.30) and abdominal pain (RR=0.36). Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) and L. reuteri significantly reduced AAD (RR=0.37 and 0.35) and abdominal pain (RR=0.37 and 0.24).CONCLUSION: AAD occurred in 20.4% of children, with increased risk at younger age, lower respiratory and urinary tract infections, intravenous treatment and previous AAD. LGG and L. reuteri reduced both AAD and associated abdominal pain.]]>
Abdominal Pain ; Administration, Intravenous ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Child ; Constipation ; Diarrhea ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inpatients ; Lactobacillus reuteri ; Lactobacillus rhamnosus ; Probiotics ; Prospective Studies ; Protective Factors ; Urinary Tract Infections

Severe and critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were usually with underlying diseases, which led to the problems of complicated drug use, potential drug-drug interactions and medication errors in special patients. Based on ( 6), and -19: , we summarized the experience in the use of antiviral drugs, corticosteroids, vascular active drugs, antibacterial, probiotics, nutrition support schemes in severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients. It is also suggested to focus on medication management for evaluation of drug efficacy and duration of treatment, prevention and treatment of adverse drug reactions, identification of potential drug-drug interactions, individualized medication monitoring based on biosafety protection, and medication administration for special patients.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Antiviral Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Betacoronavirus ; isolation & purification ; Coronavirus Infections ; drug therapy ; Critical Illness ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Nutritional Support ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; drug therapy ; Probiotics ; administration & dosage

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore how fermented barley extracts with Lactobacillus plantarum dy-1 (LFBE) affected the browning in adipocytes and obese rats. METHODS: In vitro, 3T3-L1 cells were induced by LFBE, raw barley extraction (RBE) and polyphenol compounds (PC) from LFBE to evaluate the adipocyte differentiation. In vivo, obese SD rats induced by high fat diet (HFD) were randomly divided into three groups treated with oral gavage: (a) normal control diet with distilled water, (b) HFD with distilled water, (c) HFD with 800 mg LFBE/kg body weight (bw). RESULTS: In vitro, LFBE and the PC in the extraction significantly inhibited adipogenesis and potentiated browning of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, rather than RBE. In vivo, we observed remarkable decreases in the body weight, serum lipid levels, white adipose tissue (WAT) weights and cell sizes of brown adipose tissues (BAT) in the LFBE group after 10 weeks. LFBE group could gain more mass of interscapular BAT (IBAT) and promote the dehydrogenase activity in the mitochondria. And LFBE may potentiate process of the IBAT thermogenesis and epididymis adipose tissue (EAT) browning via activating the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1)-dependent mechanism to suppress the obesity. CONCLUSION These results demonstrated that LFBE decreased obesity partly by increasing the BAT mass and the energy expenditure by activating BAT thermogenesis and WAT browning in a UCP1-dependent mechanism.
3T3 Cells ; Adipocytes ; drug effects ; physiology ; Adipose Tissue, Brown ; drug effects ; physiology ; Adipose Tissue, White ; drug effects ; physiology ; Animal Feed ; analysis ; Animals ; Anti-Obesity Agents ; administration & dosage ; metabolism ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Diet ; Fermentation ; Hordeum ; chemistry ; Lactobacillus plantarum ; chemistry ; Male ; Mice ; Obesity ; drug therapy ; genetics ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Probiotics ; administration & dosage ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Uncoupling Protein 1 ; genetics ; metabolism

To understand the effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) on intestinal barrier function in pre-weaning piglets under normal conditions, twenty-four newborn littermate piglets were randomly divided into two groups. Piglets in the control group were orally administered with 2 mL 0.1 g/mL sterilized skim milk while the treatment group was administered the same volume of sterilized skim milk with the addition of viable L. rhamnosus at the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days after birth. The feeding trial was conducted for 25 d. Results showed that piglets in the L. rhamnosus group exhibited increased weaning weight and average daily weight gain, whereas diarrhea incidence was decreased. The bacterial abundance and composition of cecal contents, especially Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Fusobacteria, were altered by probiotic treatment. In addition, L. rhamnosus increased the jejunal permeability and promoted the immunologic barrier through regulating antimicrobial peptides, cytokines, and chemokines via Toll-like receptors. Our findings indicate that oral administration of L. rhamnosus GG to newborn piglets is beneficial for intestinal health of pre-weaning piglets by improving the biological, physical, and immunologic barriers of intestinal mucosa.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Cytokines/genetics* ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Immunity, Innate ; Intestinal Mucosa/immunology* ; Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus ; Male ; Probiotics/administration & dosage* ; Signal Transduction ; Swine ; Weaning

BACKGROUND: The consumption of dietary supplements is increasing in Korea. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence, types, and trends of dietary supplement (DS) use in Korean adults. METHODS: We analyzed the Nutrition Survey data of Korean aged 19 years old or older from the 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Two thousand and six hundred twenty one men and 3,324 women totaling 5,945 adults were included. The prevalence of DS use was calculated by two methods, i.e., consumption experience of more than two weeks during previous one year and current consumption. Each reported DS in the one day 24 hour recall was coded based on ingredients according to the 2016 Korean Food and Drug Administration Notification. RESULTS: The prevalence (standard error) of current DS use was 18.4% (1.2) for men, 27.4% (1.1) for women. Those with DS use for longer than two weeks during previous one year were 35.2% (1.5), and 50.4% (1.2), for men and women respectively. Multi-vitamin mineral supplement (89.6/103 persons) was the most frequently consumed DS in Korean adults followed by vitamin C (66.2/103 persons), omega 3 fatty acid (49.5/103 persons), Panax ginseng (27.3/103 persons), and probiotics (22.2/103 persons) in listing. CONCLUSIONS: The trend for DS use in Korean adults is changing as well as increasing. These factors should be considered in patient care.
Adult ; Ascorbic Acid ; Dietary Supplements ; Fatty Acids ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Minerals ; Miners ; Nutrition Surveys ; Panax ; Patient Care ; Prevalence ; Probiotics ; United States Food and Drug Administration ; Vitamins

OBJECTIVESTo investigate whether three strains of probiotics, L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, and L. sporogenes, had signifificant inhibitive effects on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).

METHODSThis is a 4-week, randomly assigned, parallel-group, doubled-blind, and placebo-controlled study. Fifty patients with a positive H. pylori infection urea breath test (△UBT) result > 10% and without ulcer symptoms were randomized into a treatment group and a placebo group by a computer generated allocation sheet with 1:1. These subjects took one capsule of probiotics or placebo twice daily. The primary measurement was the change in △UBT values.

RESULTSThe △UBT values during the 4-week treatment period and the 2-week follow-up period were not signifificantly different between the treatment group and the placebo group, indicating that the inhibitive effects on H. pylori were comparable between both groups. The monocyte count (%) was 5.77±1.11 in the treatment group versus 5.09±1.12 in the placebo group (P=0.044), and the basophile count was 0.55±0.32 in the treatment group versus 0.36±0.23 in the placebo group (P=0.024) at week 2 of the treatment period, both of which reached statistical signifificance. The monocyte count was 5.75±1.26 in the treatment group and 4.72±0.99 in the placebo group at the end of the follow-up period (P=0.003).

CONCLUSIONThere was no signifificant inhibitive effects of the three probiotic strains (L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, and L. sporogenes) on H. pylori. Probiotics can not play the same role as antibiotics in the eradication of H. pylori, the role of probiotics is likely to be important as adjuvant to the triple or quadruple therapy for H. pylori, especially in resistance cases.

Adult ; Aged ; Breath Tests ; Demography ; Double-Blind Method ; Endpoint Determination ; Female ; Helicobacter pylori ; drug effects ; Humans ; Lactobacillus ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Probiotics ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; pharmacology ; Urea ; analysis ; Young Adult

Red ginseng is a well-known alternative medicine with anti-inflammatory activity. It exerts pharmacological effects through the transformation of saponin into metabolites by intestinal microbiota. Given that intestinal microflora vary among individuals, the pharmacological effects of red ginseng likely vary among individuals. In order to produce homogeneously effective red ginseng, we prepared probiotic-fermented red ginseng and evaluated its activity using a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model in mice. Initial analysis of intestinal damage indicated that the administration of probiotic-fermented red ginseng significantly decreased the severity of colitis, compared with the control and the activity was higher than that induced by oral administration of ginseng powder or probiotics only. Subsequent analysis of the levels of serum IL-6 and TNF-α, inflammatory biomarkers that are increased at the initiation stage of colitis, were significantly decreased in probiotic-fermented red ginseng-treated groups in comparison to the control group. The levels of inflammatory cytokines and mRNAs for inflammatory factors in colorectal tissues were also significantly decreased in probiotic-fermented red ginseng-treated groups. Collectively, oral administration of probiotic-fermented red ginseng reduced the severity of colitis in a mouse model, suggesting that it can be used as a uniformly effective red ginseng product.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Colitis ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Colon ; drug effects ; immunology ; Dextran Sulfate ; adverse effects ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Fermentation ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; immunology ; Lactobacillus plantarum ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Panax ; chemistry ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Plant Extracts ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Powders ; administration & dosage ; metabolism ; Probiotics ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; immunology

The increasing incidence rate of allergic diseases has attracted global attention, and these diseases greatly threaten children′s health. The common pathogenesis of allergic diseases is the specific IgE- or cell-mediated immune response to common inhalant or food allergens. Epidemiological investigation, analysis of fecal flora, and clinical studies all suggest that the development and progression of allergic diseases are closely related to the early disturbance of intestinal flora. Probiotics can regulate intestinal immune response, increase the barrier function of epithelial cells, inhibit the adhesion and colonization of pathogenic bacteria, and thus restore or reconstruct normal intestinal flora. With the increasing understanding of allergic diseases, the effect of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of such diseases will be taken more and more seriously.
Child ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; drug therapy ; immunology ; microbiology ; prevention & control ; Intestines ; immunology ; microbiology ; Probiotics ; administration & dosage

Antiviral activity against Influenza virus of 14 Lactobacillus species isolated from food was monitored. Lactobacillus species were isolated from traditional Korean fermented food. Each live Lactobacillus was administered into the nasal cavity of SPF 6-week-old BALB/c mice. After the Lactobacillus treatment, Influenza virus (A/NWS/33/H1N1) was inoculated to each mouse. Clinical signs and mortality was monitored for 21 days. Each Lactobacillus strain showed various level of antiviral activity against Influenza virus. As a result of this study, this mouse experiment model, including intranasal treatment of live Lactobacillus species, could be effective model in evaluating immunomodulatory response of probiotics against respiratory viruses.
Administration, Intranasal* ; Animals ; Influenza, Human ; Lactobacillus ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Mortality ; Nasal Cavity ; Orthomyxoviridae* ; Probiotics

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical effect of proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy combined with Saccharomyces boulardii in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection among children in terms of Hp eradication rate and incidence of adverse events.

METHODSA prospective randomised controlled study was conducted on 240 children with a confirmed diagnosis of Hp infection. These patients were randomized into triple therapy (n=120) and probiotics groups (n=120). The triple therapy group received amoxicillin [40 mg/(kg·d), Tid], clarithromycin [15 mg/(kg·d), Bid] and omeprazole [0.7-0.8 mg/(kg·d), Qd], while the probiotics group received Saccharomyces boulardii (250 mg, Bid) in addition to triple therapy. The course of treatment was 14 days in both groups. The adverse events in subjects were recorded by their parents during treatment. Hp eradiation was evaluated by (13)C breath test at 4 weeks after treatment, and the eradication rate and incidence of adverse events were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe Hp eradication rates were 75.8% (91/120) in the triple therapy group and 85% (102/120) in the probiotics group (P>0.05). Compared with the triple therapy group, the probiotics group had nonsignificantly lower incidence of nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain (P>0.05) and significantly lower incidence of stomatitis, constipation and diarrhea (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSTriple therapy combined with Saccharomyces boulardii cannot significantly increase Hp eradication rate, but can significantly reduce the incidence of stomatitis, constipation, and diarrhea during treatment.

Amoxicillin ; administration & dosage ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Clarithromycin ; administration & dosage ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Helicobacter Infections ; therapy ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Male ; Omeprazole ; administration & dosage ; Probiotics ; administration & dosage ; Prospective Studies ; Saccharomyces