Do synbiotics really enhance beneficial synbiotics effect on defecation symptoms in healthy adults?: Randomized,double-blind,placebo-controlled trial

Goals:We examined whether synbiotics enhance improvement by probiotics.Background:Probiotics, which are beneficial microbacteria, are a nutritional intervention for treatment of functional constipation or its tendency. Prebiotics, meanwhile, can promote the proliferation of probiotics in the gastrointestinal tract and enhance their beneficial effects. Synbiotics, a combination of probiotics and prebiotics, may be superior to probiotics in the treatment of defecation-related symptoms, but this requires elucidation.Study:This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled 69 healthy adults with constipation tendency. Participants were allocated to either control, probiotics, or synbiotics groups and they recorded details of their defecations and their condition. The first 2 weeks were the observation period and the latter 2 weeks were the intervention period, in which participants took test foods. Probiotic foods included Bifidobacterium longum NT strain (10¹⁰ CFU/day), synbiotic foods included the NT strain (10¹⁰ CFU/day) and galactooligosaccharide (1 g/day). Placebo foods contained the vehicle only. Participants answered questionnaires (Patient Assessment on Constipation Symptoms [PAC-SYM], and one on dietary history) on the last day of each period.Results:Nine participants withdrew consent, and 2 of the remaining 60 had missing data. Age, body mass index, and sex were not significantly different between the 3 groups. Frequency of bowel movements in the fourth week, the primary endpoint, was not increased in the probiotics or synbiotics groups compared with the control group, and the frequency of bowel movements and days with defecation were not changed by probiotics or synbiotics during the intervention period. Probiotics and synbiotics did not improve stool conditions, although incomplete defecation was improved by probiotics but not by synbiotics compared with placebo. PAC-SYM indicated that stool condition and total scores were improved by probiotics but not by synbiotics during the intervention compared with placebo.Conclusion:The probiotic strain Bifidobacterium longum NT can improve constipation symptoms, especially stool condition, but it does not increase bowel movement frequency in healthy adults with constipation tendency. Synbiotics treatment seemed to diminish this improvement of constipation induced by probiotics. This study indicates the possibility of attenuation of beneficial effects from probiotics by the use of synbiotics, contrary to synbiotics theory.     

Case of traumatic pulmonary pseudocysts coinciding with vertebral fracture

Here, we report a case of traumatic pulmonary pseudocysts (TPPs) coinciding with vertebral fracture. Traumatic pulmonary pseudocysts (TPPs) are rare complications of blunt chest trauma. These clinical images of CT, presenting here, seemed to be valuable because they show the process of pseudocyst formation.     

Analysis of potential anti-aging beverage Pru,a traditional Cuban refreshment,by desorption electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and FTICR tandem mass spectrometry

Aging has been established as a major risk factor for prevalent diseases and hence, the development of anti-aging medicines is of great importance. Recently, herbal fermented beverages have emerged as a promising source of potential anti-aging drug. Pru, a traditional Cuban refreshment produced by decoction and fermentation of multispecies plants with sugar, has been consumed for many years and is claimed to have multiple medicinal properties. Besides the traditional method, Pru is also manufactured industrially. The present study analyzed the major components of both traditional Pru (TP) and industrial Pru (IP) to reveal their potential application in promoting the health span. We performed desorption electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) and acquired mass spectra by scanning over the 50–1200 m/z range in both positive and negative ion modes. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was performed for validating the compound assignments. Three important compounds were identified by comparing the MS and MS/MS spectra with reported literature and the online database. One of the identified compounds, gluconic acid, was found to be the most abundant shared metabolite between TP and IP whereas the other two compounds, magnoflorine and levan were exclusively detected in TP. The present study is the first report of component profiling in Cuban traditional and industrial Pru using DESI-MS and FTICR MS/MS, and reveals the potential application of Pru as a health-promoting agent.     

Cerebellar GABAA and benzodiazepine receptor characteristics in young and aged mice

Age-related differences in GABAA and benzodiazepine receptors were investigated in cerebella of young (1-month-old), mature adult (3 months old), older (8 months old) and aged (20 months old) mice. In cerebellar membranes of aged mice, [3H]muscimol binding was significantly higher as compared to those from all three younger age groups. Binding was the same in these younger age groups. Scatchard analysis of binding isotherms in cerebellum of young and aged mice showed the presence of two components (with different affinities and binding capacities). In aged mice, a significantly lower KD of low affinity sites and a significantly higher Bmax of high affinity sites were noted as compared to those in young mice. However, [3H]flunitrazepam binding to benzodiazepine receptors in cerebellar membranes was the same in both age groups. These results suggested that GABAA receptor binding was increased during senescence in cerebella without altering benzodiazepine binding.     

Multiple system atrophy variant with severe hippocampal pathology

The striatonigral and olivopontocerebellar systems are known to be vulnerable in multiple system atrophy (MSA), showing neuronal loss, astrogliosis, and alpha-synuclein-immunoreactive inclusions. MSA patients who displayed abundant neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCIs) in the regions other than the striatonigral or olivopontocerebellar system have occasionally been diagnosed with variants of MSA. In this study, we report clinical and pathologic findings of MSA patients characterized by prominent pathologic involvement of the hippocampus. We assessed 146 consecutively autopsied MSA patients. Semi-quantitative analysis of anti-alpha-synuclein immunohistochemistry revealed that 12 of 146 patients (8.2%) had severe NCIs in two or more of the following areas: the hippocampal granule cells, cornu ammonis areas, parahippocampal gyrus, and amygdala. In contrast, the remaining 134 patients did not show severe NCIs in any of these regions. Patients with severe hippocampal involvement showed a higher representation of women (nine women/three men; Fisher's exact test, p = 0.0324), longer disease duration (13.1 ± 5.9 years; Mann–Whitney U-test, p = 0.000157), higher prevalence of cognitive impairment (four patients; Fisher's exact test, p = 0.0222), and lower brain weight (1070.3 ± 168.6 g; Mann–Whitney U-test, p = 0.00911) than other patients. The hippocampal granule cells and cornu ammonis area 1/subiculum almost always showed severe NCIs. The NCIs appeared to be ring-shaped or neurofibrillary tangle-like, fibrous configurations. Three of 12 patients also had dense, round-shaped NCIs that were morphologically similar to pick bodies. The patients with Pick body-like inclusions showed more severe atrophy of the medial temporal lobes and broader spreading of NCIs than those without. Immunohistochemistry for hyperphosphorylated tau and phosphorylated TDP-43 revealed minimal aggregations in the hippocampus of the hippocampal MSA patients. Our observations suggest a pathological variant of MSA that is characterized by severe involvement of hippocampal neurons. This phenotype may reinforce the importance of neuronal alpha-synucleinopathy in the pathogenesis of MSA.     

Inhibition of protein synthesis by a Vero toxin (VT2 or Shiga-like toxin II) produced by Escherichia coli O157:H7 at the level of elongation factor 1-dependent aminoacyl-tRNA binding to ribosomes

A Vero toxin (VT2 or Shiga-like toxin II) from Escherichia coli O157:H7 was shown to inhibit protein synthesis in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate, but not in wheat germ or Ercherichia coli lysates. The toxin, VT2, inactivated 60S ribosomal subunits of rabbit reticulocytes. The site of inhibition of protein synthesis by VT2 was shown to be elongation factor 1-dependent aminoacyl-tRNA binding to ribosomes. VT2 did not affect Met-tRNAf binding to ribosomes, non-enzymatic binding of aminoacyl-tRNA to ribosomes, peptide bond formation or translocation.     

Inhibition of natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity by ML-9, a selective inhibitor of myosin light chain kinase

To investigate the role of microfilaments in natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytotoxicity, general microfilament inhibitors, cytochalasins B,D and dihydrocytochalasin B, and a selective inhibitor of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) which regulates microfilament contraction, i.e. 1-(5-chloronaphthalene-1-sulfonyl)-1H-hexahydro-1,4-diazepine hydrochloride (ML-9) were examined in an NK assay system. ML-9 inhibited NK cell activity in a dose-dependent manner without affecting target cell binding, whereas cytochalasins suppressed the binding. The dextran suspension method revealed that ML-9 inhibits the programming for the lysis stage of the lytic process. In the single cell assay, the addition of ML-9 after target cell binding had occurred inhibited the lysis of bound target cells, whereas the addition of cytochalasins in a similar manner did not affect it. Thus, these results suggest the possibility that microfilament contraction is involved in the lytic mechanism of NK cell-mediated cytolysis. However, the mechanism whereby cytochalasins inhibit target cell binding remains unclear.     

Autoradiographic study of tissue distribution of [3H]ubenimex in IMC carcinoma-bearing mice

[3H]Ubenimex was administered to IMC carcinoma-bearing mice, and the tissue distribution of the radioactivity was examined at various times after drug injection by autoradiography of glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues. Silver grains were concentrated on some of the macrophages present around the solid tumor and in thymic medulla, splenic red pulp, and mesenteric lymph node medulla. The grains were also seen at a similar concentration on some nurse cell-like cells in the thymic cortex and on some reticular cells in splenic red pulp. In the liver, grains were concentrated on the hepatocytes and bile duct epithelium. The grains were most densely concentrated on kidney proximal straight tubules, in which strong leucine aminopeptidase activity was also observed.     

The application of titanium alloy wires for the reattachment of the greater trochanter in total hip arthroplasty

We developed a new fixing method using titanium alloy wires in order to facilitate the attachment of the greater trochanter in total hip arthroplasty. This wire is composed of Ti-3Al-2.5V by weight. According to the fatigue test in vitro, the titanium alloy wire had better fatigue properties than Ortron 90 wire of the same diameter. In experiments in vivo, both titanium alloy wires and SUS-316L wires were used for the reattachment of the greater trochanter of dogs, and the titanium alloy wires showed better biocompatibility than the latter. Thus, titanium alloy wires seem applicable for the reattachment of the greater trochanter in human total hip arthroplasty.