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The health-promoting effects of probiotics include maintenance of normal intestinal microbiota, increased nutritional value of foods, and immune system stimulation. Multi-strain probiotics have recently been proposed as health-enhancing foods and functional food ingredients. Fruit-vegetable powders (FVP), being a kind of prebiotic, are food supplements that are non-digestible by the host, but can improve the host's health by selectively stimulating the growth or activities of gastrointestinal tract bacteria. However, the intestinal efficacy of multi-strain probiotics combined with FVP remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of the present work was to explore the effect of multi-strain probiotics combined with FVP on intestinal inflammation. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to treat RAW264.7, which was then co-cultured with Caco-2 cells to mimic the intestinal inflammatory environment. Caco-2 cells were incubated with various probiotics and FVP (0.125 and 0.25 mg/mL). The inflammatory cytokines from the medium were collected for ELISA analysis, and the ZO-1 expression in the Caco-2 cells was examined by fluorescence assay. Probiotics combined with FVP significantly decreased the inflammatory cytokines, IL-6, and TNF-α, and increased ZO-1 expression when compared with the LPS only group. Probiotics combined with FVP could decrease inflammatory cytokines, and protect the intestinal barrier from tight junction dysregulation.

The multiple probiotic characteristics of strain TCI904 isolated in this study from natural fermented milk were investigated using a mouse model. TCI904 was identified as Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricu (LDB), a well-known lactic acid starter bacterium found in yogurt. TCI904 exhibited an outstanding pancreatic lipase inhibition activity among several strains of lactic acid bacteria in vitro. Its in vivo effects were further studied. In a comparison of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) and those fed a HFD combined with TCI904 for 9 weeks, differences were observed in various aspects of health, and the adverse effects of a HFD were prevented in the latter group. TCI904 effectively prevented fat and body weight accumulation without reducing food intake; it also modulated innate immunity and increased the level of IgA in feces, reversing the increased blood sugar and insulin levels and attenuated the hyperlipidemia caused by a HFD. Based on biochemical test data, compared with the HFD group, a HFD combined with TCI904 induced significant lowering of insulin resistance indicator, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and atherogenic indices of plasma (AIP), the atherogenic coefficient (AC) and cardiac risk ratio (CRR) and increased the cardioprotective index (CPI). In addition, the administration of TCI904 alleviated mood disorders caused by a HFD. Taking the recommended human dose of TCI904 did not affect the liver or kidney function, indicating that TCI904 has sufficient in vivo safety. Taken together, the results of the present study contributed towards validation of the probiotic benefits of lactic acid starter microflora. Orally taken TCI904 exhibited positive immune- and metabolic-modulating, and anxiolytic properties, especially in HFD-induced obesity.

Hyperuricemia (HC) was one of the important risk factors for gout, arteriosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. Animal studies have shown that Lactobacillus plantarum can improve the microbiota, immune regulation, and inhibit the uric acid production. However, it was not clear whether L. plantarum can improve HC and intestinal microbiota. We used potassium oxonate (PO) to induce HC in male SD rats, and then treated L. plantarum TCI227 in a dose dependent (HC+LD, HC+MD, HC+HD) for 4 weeks, and examined weight organs, biochemical examination of blood and urine, and analyzed the intestinal microbiota in feces by 16s rDNA sequence analysis. In this study, TCI227 improved body weight, decreased creatinine, serum uric acid, and increased urine uric acid compared to the HC group. Furthermore, TCI227 increased short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). In fecal microbiota (family), TCI227 increased the level of Lactobacillaceae, and then decreased the level of Deferribacteres and Prevotellaceae compared to the HC group. Finally, in fecal microbiota (genus), TCI227 decreased the level of Prevotella, and then increased the level of Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus compared to the HC group. This study suggested that TCI227 can improve HC and change the compositions of the intestinal microbiota in PO induced male HC SD rats.

Aging is a natural process that will cause physiological changes in organs. The effects of djulis and green caviar in skincare are currently unclear. This study combined hydrolyzed collagen with djulis and green caviar to develop new functional formulas that improve skin parameters. Fifty subjects were randomly assigned and divided into a placebo group (n=25) and a collagen drink group (n=25), and gave 50 ml of collagen of a collagen drink or placebo drink daily for 28 days, and we examined skin moisture, elasticity, gloss, spot, wrinkle, roughness, smoothness, pore, collagen and erythema. We find that intake of collagen drinks group improved skin parameters at 14 days and 28 days compared with baseline (0 day). The collagen drinks group improved skin parameters at 28 days compared with the placebo group. This clinical study proved the combination of collagen with djulis and green caviar for the substantial improvements in moisture, elasticity, gloss, spot, wrinkle, roughness, smoothness, pore, collagen, and erythema in the skin.

Vegetables and fruits had antioxidant capacity. Fermented grapes had a higher content of anthocyanins and flavonoids, and reduced skin wrinkles. There were not more clinical studies on whether fermented grapes with fruit and vegetable extracts had anti-aging and anti-inflammatory activities. The current study used fermented grapes beverages made from fermented grapes combined with fruit and vegetable extracts to explore anti-aging and anti-inflammatory. 60 subjects were recruited and divided into a placebo and another fermented grape drinks group. The subjects drank 50 ml , 1 bottle a day for 8 week. After drinking for 8 weeks, a skin test and blood inflammatory factor analysis were performed. Compared to the placebo group, skin brightness, moisture, elasticity was significantly increased by 3.6%, 4.9%, 5.4%, respectively. Fermented grape drinks decreased skin spots, and wrinkles by 7.0%, and 19.0%, respectively. TNF-¦A (Tumor Necrosis Factor) and IL-6 (Interleukin-6) expression were decreased, also, as a function of fermented grape drinks intakes. This study indicated that fermented grapes combined with fruit and vegetable extracts can significantly improve the brightness, moisture, elasticity, wrinkles, pores, and decrease TNF-¦A and IL-6 expression.

Purpose Population aging was a global trend, and the most obvious thing after aging was the change in skin appearance. Therefore, the active ingredients that delay skin aging were particularly noticed. Past studies had pointed out that Chinese herbal extracts can improve skin elasticity, reduce wrinkles and melanin precipitation. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether combining hydrolyzed collagen with Chinese herbal extracts can improve skin conditions and achieve anti-inflammatory effects. Design/methodology/approach Fifty subjects were randomly divided into collagen or placebo groups, and one bottle of collagen or placebo drink was used every day for four weeks, after which skin and inflammatory factors were tested. Findings In comparison with the baseline results, the skin parameters were improving after four-week intervention. In addition, the IL-6, IL-8, TNF-a were significantly decreased and tissue inhibitor matrix metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) was increased after four-week hydrolyzed collagen intervention. Originality/value This study showed that hydrolyzed collagen combined with Chinese herbal extracts can improve the condition of the skin, and can also reduce inflammatory associated factors, thereby achieving anti-aging effects.

Hyperuricemia (HC) is one of the important risk factors for gout, arteriosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease. Animal studies have shown that

Many Chinese herbal medicines have been proven to have anti-inflammatory effects. Among them, edible and medicinal mushrooms are rich in a variety of physiologically active ingredients, which can enhance immunity and are good materials for the development of health foods. This article aims to investigate the beneficial effects of SOD Light, a herbal formula consisting of Sparassis crispa, Aureobasidium pullulan, and Ganoderma lucidum, on anti-inflammation, antioxidant, and immune-modulation. SOD Light was able to inhibit ROS expression level and boost the SOD activity in PBMCs by 11% and 43.8%, respectively, as compared with the control group, and the significant improvement effect of the phagocytic activity of neutrophils was exhibited. Moreover, SOD Light also significantly enhanced the expression of the lymphocyte development-associated and adaptive immune-related genes (i.e., CD134, CD26, CD96, CD247, and IL-16). This study successfully unveils that the combination of S. crispa, A. pullulans, and G. lucidum was available for anti-oxidation, cytokines production, enhancement of T cell activation, and lymphocyte development in PBMCs, which implies that SOD Light are beneficial for immune modulation.

Red djulis (Chenopodium formosanum) is a native grain plant, and shows that it has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, it was still unclear whether unhulled red djulis extracts promoted collagen production and anti-aging. This study aimed to explore whether the unhulled red djulis extracts had anti-aging properties. Using unhulled red djulis extracts to treat human fibroblasts for functional analysis, and used HPLC to analyze the effective components of red djulis. This study found that unhulled red djulis extracts can increase the repairing ability of the skin cells, and increased skin-barrier-related genes, antioxidant-related genes expression. In addition, it increased collagen-related genes, and inhibited AGEs and melanin formation. Finally, we isolated six active ingredients from the unshelled Red Julie extract, which can increase collagen. Thus, the unhulled red djulis extracts can affect gene expressions related to the skin barrier, antioxidation, and collagen.

Purpose Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), a ubiquitous fruit in Southeastern Asia, was rich in vitamins and phytochemicals, which were beneficial for improving of skin conditions. The fermentation process increased phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether phytochemicals can be increased through the fermentation process of rambutan extracts to improve skin aging. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used the three stages of fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus plantarum TCI028 and Acetobacter aceti under red light to develop a fermented rambutan extract. Findings The level of polyphenols of red-light-based fermented rambutan extract (RLFRE) were significantly increased 108.9% (p < 0.01) and 97% (p < 0.01) compared with fermented rambutan extract (FRE) and pure rambutan extract (RE), respectively. The human skin fibroblasts treated with 0.03 or 0.06% of RLFRE can significantly decrease reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels by 0.74- (p < 0.001) and 0.84-fold (p < 0.001) compared with H2O2 group, respectively. And 0.03% of RLFRE can significantly increase in elastin content by 1.13-fold (p < 0.05). Also, ten compounds were identified including one new phenolic compound and nine known compounds from RLFRE. Moreover, red light could enhance the levels of compounds 4, 9 and 3 by 5, 2.5 and 2.5-fold, respectively, relative to the results of FRE. The last, RLFRE isolated compounds significantly facilitated the elastin content on fibroblast (compound 1, 7, 9, 10 compared with control: p < 0.001, compound 2 compared with control: p < 0.001). Originality/value In short, this was the first study to unveil that the red-light-based fermentation can enrich the antioxidant content in a rambutan extract and its product had the potential to be developed a functional product for health-promoting effects such as skin aging.

This study demonstrates the applications of Bacillus coagulans in alcohol elimination. Bacillus coagulans has recently drawn tremendous interest in the food industry and medicine considering its gr...

This preliminary clinical study reveals the possibilities of a weight loss kit with a prebiotic formula for weight management and metabolic improvement in volunteers. Considering the convenience, passive diets are a popular choice for some people for weight management. However, the synergic effect between passive diet kits and prebiotics has seldom been reported. 90 volunteers were enrolled in this two-month study and assigned them to normal diet (ND), weight loss program kit (WLPK), or WLPK with the prebiotic formula (WLPK-AKK) group based on purposive sampling. Anthropometric measurements, biochemical analysis, and fecal microbiome analysis were conducted at the baseline and 1 and 2 months. The prebiotic formula could reduce weight mass, fat mass, visceral fat, body fat percentage, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol of the subjects by 0.5 kg, 0.7 kg, 9 cm2, 0.6%, 2%, 1.6%, 1.2%, respectively. Also, it improved the abundance of A. muciniphila by 250% in comparison with the control group. In short, this study demonstrates that the weight loss kit with the prebiotic formula enables to facilitate the abundance of probiotics in the human intestines and comprehensively improve body weight and metabolic disorders.

This preliminary clinical study demonstrates the possibility of a prebiotic juice for improvement of skin conditions. Recently, the health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics for prevention/treatment of diseases have been underscored in the medical field. However, it is challenging to uphold the viability of probiotics in drinks with low pH ranges (e.g., juices), while prebiotics are possible to overcome the impediment. In this study, we utilized a berry juice with xylooligosaccharides (XOS) to explore the clinical benefits for skin heath. There is little clinical evidence for the XOS applications in anti-aging. After 8-week juice-XOS intervention, in comparison with the baseline results, the mean levels of skin brightness, moisture, elasticity, spots, UV spots, and brown spots of subjects were improved by 2.7%, 11%, 5.1%, 3.1%, 6.2%, and 0.6%, respectively. Besides UV spots, the results of other skin parameters at 8 weeks in juice-XOS group were significantly different from the baseline results. Nevertheless, juice-XOS did not exert an obvious improving effect on body composition since the XOS content was too few to impart a remarkable improving effect on metabolism as evidenced by the previous reports. In brief, we demonstrated that prebiotic juice may provide an alternative route to daily skincare although the underlying mechanism of juice-XOS for improvement of skin health is not clear.

Objectives: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been shown to reduce insulin resistance and improve beta cell function in previous studies. The aim of this study was to assess whether the use of...

Background The efficacy of Djulis for skin care is currently based on cellular or animal models, and the clinical aspect is not in place. Aim This clinical study is to investigate the synergistic effect of fish collagen and Djulis (Chenopodium formosanum Koidz.) for improvement of skin parameters. We used the combination of hydrolyzed collagen and Djulis to develop a new functional formula for skin improvement. Patients/methods Fifty volunteers were randomly allocated (in a 1:1 ratio) to the placebo or collagen drink group. Volunteers were required to consume a 50 mL of a collagen drink or placebo drink daily for 8 weeks. For measurements, the indexes of skin conditions were measured at the baseline and 4 and 8 weeks. Results The improvements of skin hydration, brightness, crow's feet, texture, wrinkles, pores, spots, and collagen content after 8 weeks in collagen group were 17.8%, 5.4%, 14.9%, 9.9%, 29.3%, 10.4%, 9.9%, and 22.3%, respectively. Noticeably, over 68% of subjects got improved for their skin parameters after 8-week intake of collagen drink. The improvement levels indicated competitive skin improvement effects in comparison with previous studies. Conclusion This clinical study demonstrates the synergistic effect of fish collagen and Djulis (the main components) for the substantial improvements in hydration, brightness, crow's feet, texture, wrinkles, pores, surface spots, and collagen content in skin. The collagen drink comprehensively improved skin parameters for most subjects after 4-week intake and manifested competitive efficiency in comparison with other similar studies. We convince that the collagen drink may delay skin aging process and improve skin aging parameters.

Vitamin C is an important antioxidant in the human body that plays a role in many body functions. Liposomal encapsulation is a technology commonly used in food processing and medicine. This study determines whether Double Nutri (liposomal encapsulation) increases the absorption rate for vitamin C supplementation. Subjects enrolled in this study took vitamin C without liposome; then, 14 d washout was given with liposomal process A vitamin C. After 14 d washout, the subjects took liposomal process B vitamin C (Double Nutri) was given. After taking the test sample, the vitamin C concentration in venous blood was measured from the baseline (0 h), 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 h. Eleven healthy subjects were recruited for three tests. The vitamin C concentration for liposomal process B vitamin C (Double Nutri) group is higher (7.26±3.52, pp

We demonstrate simultaneous electrical and optical modulations of the first GaN/InGaN quantum-well light-emitting transistor (QW-LET) which contains an In0.15 Ga0.85N QW in the heavily p-doped In0.05 Ga0.95N base. Unlike GaAs/InGaAs counterparts, the GaN/InGaN QW- LET has a current gain (up to 5) and optical power which increases linearly with the base current. Its emission spectra are centered at a wavelength of 420 nm and barely shift with the current injection, in contrast to the behavior of typical nitride-based LEDs. The unusual features of this device may be related to the tilted band profile induced by the polarization field in the QW and issue of p-type doping.

Lactobacillus (Lab.) is a human probiotic beneficial for the prevention and improvement of disease, yet properties of different Lab. strains are diverse. To obtain a Lab. strain that possesses greater potential against gastrointestinal dysfunction, we isolated Lactobacillus plantarum TCI378 (TCI378) from naturally fermented Korean kimchi. TCI378 has shown potential as probiotic since it can survive at pH 3.0 and in the presence of 0.3% bile acid. The bile salt hydrolase activity of TCI378 was shown by formation of opaque granular white colonies on solid de Man Rogosa Sharpe (MRS) medium supplemented with taurodeoxycholic acid, and its cholesterol-lowering ability in MRS medium supplemented with cholesterol. The metabolites of TCI378 from liquid culture in MRS medium prevented emulsification of bile salts. Moreover, both the metabolites of TCI378 and the dead bacteria reduced oil droplet accumulation in 3T3-L1, as detected by Oil red O staining. The expressions of adipocyte-specific genes perilipin 1 and glucose transporter type 4 were suppressed by the metabolites of TCI378, indicating TCI378 may have anti-obesity effects in adipocytes. These in vitro data show the potential of the prophylactic applications of TCI378 and its metabolites for reducing fat and lowering cholesterol.

This research unveils the possibility of a salmon sperm formula, called DNA drink, for anti-aging and anti-oxidation. The applications of salmon sperm have been rarely reported in scientific investigations if compared with salmon roe, but salmon sperm also contains copious nucleotides. Our experiments confirmed that the DNA drink could enhance the anti-oxidant ability and improve the expression levels of aging-related genes (CCT2, CCT6A, Atg1, Atg8, and SIRT1 genes) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). These results suggest the potential of salmon sperm for boosting cell vitality and protecting cells from oxidative damage.

UV exposure is the principal cause of extrinsic photoaging. Antioxidant-related genes (SOD2 and CAT) and collagen-related genes (COL1A1 and TIMP1) were selected for analysis of the mRNA expression in human dermal fibroblasts (CCD-966SK) using qPCR. In this study, UVA-exposed (15 J/cm2 cells showed decrease in SOD2 , CAT (p < 0 001) and COL1A1 (p < 0 05) gene expression, indicating the decline of antioxidant ability and collagen formation. However, treatment with ice plant callus extract (2 mg/mL, 24 h) before UVA exposure significantly up-regulated SOD2 , CAT , COL1A1 and TIMP1 genes (p < 0 01) by 9.5, 2.7, 1.7 and 3.8 times, respectively, compared with those of the control group, and by 10.2, 4.3 (p < 0 001), 2.1 and 3.8 times, respectively, compared with those of the UVA (only) group. These results demonstrated that ice plant extracts affect both antioxidant- and collagen-related gene expressions, and show positive effects on endogenous antioxidant activity and skin collagen preservation.

Passive mode locking of erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs) started by different two-dimensional (2-D) saturable absorbers (SAs) is demonstrated and compared. The self-amplitude modulation (SAM) coefficients of four 2-D SAs, including graphene, MoS2, and n-/p-type Bi2Te3, are also estimated to compare their mode-locking performance at first stage. By analyzing the nonlinear absorption of those 2-D SAs, graphene possesses the largest SAM coefficient $(\gamma _{{\rm{Graphene}}})$ of 8.7x10–4 better than other 2-D SAs ( $\gamma _{{\rm MoS}2}= 5.5\times 10^{\hbox{--} 4}$ , $\gamma _{{\rm n-Bi2Te}3}= 7.2\times 10^{-4}$ , and $\gamma _{{\rm p-Bi2Te}3}= 7.9\times 10^{\hbox{--} 4}$ ). When operating the EDFL under low-gain condition, the mode-locked EDFL pulsewidth is mainly correlated with the SAM coefficient of SA. All of these 2-D SAs can generate the sub-700 fs EDFL pulsewidth at first mode-locking stage. In particular, graphene can produce the narrowest EDFL pulse with 615-fs pulsewidth because of its largest SAM coefficient to start up the mode locking. When inducing the soliton mode locking by mutually compensating the group-delay dispersion and self-phase modulation, the pulsewidth can be further compressed to sub-400 fs with enlarging pumping power. The graphene mode-locked EDFL effectively compresses its soliton pulsewidth to 343 fs with the widest spectral linewidth of 7.86 nm among all cases. All the obtained EDFL pulses exhibit similar compression ratio of ∼0.55.

Blue light was common in natural light and white light, and long-term blue light exposure caused skin damage. Glutathione (GSH) inhibited melanin production and brightened the skin. In addition, the high content of polyphenol in punica grantum and vitamin C in acerola cherry had whitening effects. The purpose of this study was to explore whether GSH formula that combined GSH, punica grantum, and acerola cherry can reduce melanin formation. Blue light to stimulate A375 cell line to produce melanin, used GSH formula to treat A375 cell line, analyzed melanin, tyrosinase activity, melanogenesis associated genes, and functional analysis in CCD-996SK by nCounter analysis. GSH formula significantly decreased the melanin content and tyrosinase activity under blue light exposure. GSH formula also decreased melanogenesis associated genes. And nCounter analysis showed that GSH formula had antioxidant, anti-aging, DNA repair, and anti-inflammatory abilities. GSH formula supplemented with GSH, punica granatum, and acerola cherry extracts can reduce melanin formation, and accompanied by anti-oxidation, anti-aging, DNA repair, anti-inflammatory ability.

This study demonstrates the applications of