Search

ABSTRACT: Oxidative stress is a crucial factor in the age-related decline in physiological, genomic, metabolic, and immunological functions. We screened Lactiplantibacillus plantarum JS19, which has been shown to possess therapeutic properties in mice with ulcerative colitis. In this study, L. plantarum JS19 used as the adjunct starter culture in fermented goat milk (LAF) was employed to alleviate d-galactose-induced aging and regulate intestinal flora in an aging mouse model. The oral administration of LAF effectively improved the health of spleen and kidney in mice, while mitigating the hepatocyte and oxidative damage induced by d-galactose. Additionally, LAF alleviated d-galactose-induced dysbiosis of the intestinal flora by reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria Desulfovibrio and Helicobacter, while greatly promoting the growth of beneficial Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group and Eubacterium. Biomarker 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid was found to be positively linked with those harmful bacteria, whereas bio-active metabolites were strongly correlated with the beneficial genus. These observations suggest that LAF possesses the capability to mitigate the effects of d-galactose-induced aging in a mouse model through the regulation of oxidative stress, the gut microbiota composition, and levels of fecal metabolites. Consequently, these findings shed light on the potential of LAF as a functional food with antiaging properties.

Abstract Background Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common health problem worldwide. The objective of this study was to noninvasively and quantitatively evaluate early changes in left ventricular systolic function in patients with IDA using the left ventricular press–strain loop (LV-PSL). Methods Sixty-two patients with IDA were selected and divided into two groups based on hemoglobin (Hb) concentration: Group B with Hb > 9 g/dL and group C with 6 g/dL

SnO2 has been extensively used in the detection of various gases. As a gas sensing material, SnO2 has excellent physical-chemical properties, high reliability, and short adsorption-desorption time. The application of the traditional SnO2 gas sensor is limited due to its higher work-temperature, low gas response, and poor selectivity. Nanomaterials can significantly impact gas-sensitive properties due to the quantum size, surface, and small size effects of nanomaterials. By applying nanotechnology to the preparation of SnO2, the SnO2 nanomaterial-based sensors could show better performance, which greatly expands the application of SnO2 gas sensors. In this review, the preparation method of the SnO2 nanostructure, the types of gas detected, and the improvements of SnO2 gas-sensing performances via elemental modification are introduced as well as the future development of SnO2 is discussed.

Hazardous gases have been strongly associated with being a detriment to human life within the environment. The development of a reliable gas sensor with high response and selectivity is of great significance for detecting different hazardous gases. TiO2 nanomaterials are promising candidates with great potential and excellent performance in gas sensor applications, such as hydrogen, acetone, ammonia, and ethanol detection. This review begins with a detailed discussion of the different dimensional morphologies of TiO2, which affect the gas sensing performance of TiO2 sensors. The diverse morphologies of TiO2 can easily be tuned by regulating the manufacturing conditions. Meanwhile, they exhibit unique characteristics for detecting gases, including large specific surface area, superior electron transport rates, extraordinary permeability, and active reaction sites, which offer new opportunities to improve the gas sensing properties. In addition, a variety of efforts have been made to functional TiO2 nanomaterials to further enhance sensing properties, including TiO2-based composites and light-assisted gas sensors. The enhanced gas sensing mechanisms of multi-component composite nanomaterials based on TiO2 include loaded noble metals, doped elements, constructed heterojunctions, and compounded with other functional materials. Finally, several studies have been summarized to demonstrate the comparative sensing properties of TiO2-based gas sensors.

Early-life antibiotic exposure can increase the risks for immune and metabolic disease development. However, research on the effect of stachyose on the antibiotic-destroyed microbiota is still lacking. In this study, we investigated the effect of stachyose on the gut flora of weaned mice and evaluated whether stachyose can improve the intestinal flora in early life after antibiotic consumption. We found that stachyose increased the abundance of Akkermansia in the intestinal microbiota, increased acetic and propionic acid levels, ameliorated LPS-mediated inflammation through the NF-κB pathway, and increased occludin and ZO-1 expression in penicillin-treated mice. However, when the intestinal flora was severely disrupted, stachyose could not significantly reduce intestinal inflammation or increase occludin and ZO-1 expression levels. These findings suggest that dietary supplementation with stachyose may reduce the negative impacts of antibiotic treatment, laying a foundation for the use of prebiotics to prevent and treat antibiotic-mediated infections.

Freeze drying has been well applied in the preparation of high-efficiency probiotic powders. However, the process is generally accompanied by probiotic viability deficiency, which is the bottleneck for further application. To improve the viability of Bifidobacterium bifidum BB01 during freeze-drying, we optimized the cryoprotectant of B. bifidum BB01 by response surface methodology (RSM) with a Central Composite Design (CCD). In this study, two values of B. bifidum BB01 with different protectant factors were investigated, including freeze-drying survival rate and the viable counts of per unit weight of freeze-dried powder. The optimized cryoprotectants were obtained as follows: glycine of 5.5%, sodium bicarbonate of 0.8%, xylo-oligosaccharides of 7%, arginine of 4.5% and skim milk of 25%. The survival rate and the viable counts of per unit weight of powder were 90.37 ± 1.9% and (2.78 ± 0.13) × 1011cfu·g−1, respectively, both close to the predicted value (88.58% and 2.71 × 1011 cfu·g−1). Our research demonstrated that RSM was successful in optimizing composite cryoprotectant for freeze-dried powder of B. bifidum which can as well protect the probiotic cells.

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is an important pathogen causing diarrhea in humans. Finding natural, safe and effective functional ingredients to replace antibiotics is an important direction for preventing and treating E. coli infection and protecting intestinal health. However, it is unknown whether stachyose promotes the proliferation of probiotics and thus inhibits ETEC infection. Here, we investigated whether stachyose improves the gut microbiota of ETEC-infected mice and induces effects in early postnatal life. Stachyose promoted the proliferation of A. muciniphila and Bifidobacterium, increased short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) levels, increased the expression of tight junction proteins (occludin and ZO-1), increased SIgA and albumin levels, and reduced the level of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), IL-1, 6, 17 and TNF-α. After antibiotic-induced ablation, the resistance of the intestinal microbiota of the ETEC-infected mice to bacteria was significantly reduced, and the level of inflammation was increased, the SIgA and albumin levels decreased significantly, showed the intestinal microbiota plays an important role in maintaining immune resistance. Stachyose enabled partial microbiota recovery and protection after ETEC infection.