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Based on factual scientific health claims, prebiotics have gained significant importance in ever-growing food and pharmaceutical industries. The diverse nature of distinct prebiotics influences the host differently in distinguishable patterns. Functional oligosaccharides are either plant-derived or commercially prepared. Raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose are the 3 types of raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs) that have been extensively used as medicine, cosmetic, and food additives. These dietary fiber fractions avert the adhesion and colonization by enteric pathogens and add nutrition metabolites for a healthy immune system. Enrichment of RFOs in healthy foods should be promoted as these oligosaccharides augment gut microecology by enhancing the health conferring microbes i.e. bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. RFOs influence the host's multiorgan systems due to their physiological and physicochemical properties. For example, the fermented microbial products of such carbohydrates affect neurological processes, including memory, mood, and behavior in humans. Raffinose-type sugar uptake is thought to be a ubiquitous property of bifidobacteria. This review paper summarizes the source of RFOs and their metabolizing entities, highlighting bifidobacterial carbohydrate utilization and health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of observer‐based finite‐time event‐triggered H∞ control for nonlinear uncertain switched systems is investigated in this paper. An observer‐based event‐triggered controller is constructed using a state observer. The event‐triggering updating strategies for the control law are designed. The multiple Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and average dwell time technique are utilized to derive some sufficient conditions that guarantee the switched system is observer‐based event‐triggered H∞ finite‐time stabilizable. We give the observer gain and controller gain. At the end of this paper is a numerical example that illustrates the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Upper extremity (UE) motor function impairment is a major poststroke complication whose recovery remains one of the most challenging tasks in neurological rehabilitation. This study examined the efficacy and safety of the personalized neuroimaging-guided high-dose theta-burst stimulation (TBS) for poststroke UE motor function recovery., Methods: Patients after stroke with UE motor impairment from a China rehabilitation center were randomly assigned to receive high-dose intermittent TBS (iTBS) to ipsilesional UE sensorimotor network, continuous TBS (cTBS) to contralesional UE sensorimotor network, or sham stimulation, along with conventional therapy for 3 weeks. The primary outcome was the score changes on the Fugl-Meyer assessment-UE from baseline to 1 and 3 weeks. The secondary outcomes included the response rate on Fugl-Meyer assessment-UE scores posttreatment (≥9-point improvement) and score changes in multidimensional scales measuring UE, lower extremity, and activities and participation., Results: From June 2021 to June 2022, 45 participants were randomized and 43 were analyzed. The iTBS and continuous TBS groups showed significantly greater improvement in Fugl-Meyer assessment-UE (mean improvement, iTBS: 10.73 points; continuous TBS: 10.79 points) than the sham group (2.43 points) and exhibited significantly greater response rates on Fugl-Meyer assessment-UE (iTBS, 60.0%; continuous TBS, 64.3%) than the sham group (0.0%). The active groups consistently exhibited superior improvement on the other 2 UE assessments at week 3. However, only the iTBS group showed greater efficacy on 1 lower extremity assessment than the sham group at week 3. Both active groups showed significant improvements in activities and participation assessments., Conclusions: The study provides evidence for the efficacy and safety of high-dose TBS in facilitating poststroke UE rehabilitation., Registration: URL: www.chictr.org.cn; Unique identifier: ChiCTR2100047340., Competing Interests: Dr Liu receives compensation from Neural Galaxy, Inc, for consultant services. R. Pan, M. Ding, and J. Sun are employees of the company, which is not a sponsor of this study. The other authors report no conflicts.