Objective To systematically assess the efficacy and safety of probiotics in prevention and treatment of bronchial asthma. Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of probiotics in prevention/treatment of asthma compared with placebo were searched in PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, OVID and The Cochrane Library published before August 2011. The quality of the included RCTs was evaluated and the data were extracted by two assessors independently. Meta-analyses were performed with RevMan 5.1 software. Results Eleven RCTs on probiotics preventing asthma (n=3 656) and 5 RCTs on probiotics treating asthma (n=430) were identified. The Meta-analyses on preventing asthma showed that probiotics didn’t statistically decease the incidence of asthma (RR=0.76, 95%CI 0.47 to 1.22, P=0.25) and asthma-like wheezing (RR=0.92, 95%CI 0.62 to 1.39, P=0.71) compared with placebo. The Meta-analyses on treating asthma indicated that probiotics could prolong free episodes of asthma (RR=1.48, 95%CI 1.20 to 1.76, Plt;0.000 1) in comparison with placebo. No severe adverse events were found in all included studies. Conclusion The present evidence is not b enough to prove that probiotics is effective to prevent asthma, but it may prolong free episodes of asthma. Although it seems to have the effect on improving lung function, it fails to reduce the acute onset of asthma and has no have the advantage of improving immune function.
Objective To study the effect of probiotics on the change of intestinal permeability and inflammatory reaction after surgery of colorectal cancer. Methods Sixty patients who underwent colonic surgery were randomly divided into two groups: probiotic group and control group, with 30 cases in each group. Each group received nutritional support of the same nitrogen and calorie from day 3 to day 7 after operation. The patients in probiotic group were orally administrated probiotic (2 g/d) from the first day after surgery for 7 days. Every patient’s body temperature and heart rate were observed after operation, and white blood cell counts were observed before operation and on day 1, 5, 8 after operation. The levels of microbial DNA in whole blood and plasma D-lactate, and urine lactulose/mannito (L/M) ratio were measured before operation and on day 1 and day 8 after operation, respectively. In addition, the occurrence of postoperative systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and complications of inflammation were closely observed. Results The average heart rate in postoperative 5 days was significantly lower in probiotics group than that in control group (P＜0.01). The duration of fever and the recovery time for white blood cell counts decreasing to normal were significantly less in probiotics group than those in control group (P＜0.01) as well. There was no significant difference of positive rate of microbial DNA in peripheral blood on day 1 after operation between two groups. However, the number of patients that showed positive result of microbial DNA PCR test in probiotic group （1 case, 3.3%） was significantly less than that of control group (7 cases, 23.3%）on day 8 after operation (P＜0.05). The level of plasma D-lactate in probiotic group 〔decreasing from (6.90±1.41) ng/ml on day 1 to (0.56±0.18) ng/ml on day 8〕 was also significantly lower than that in control group 〔decreasing from (6.63±1.29) ng/ml on day 1 to (0.95±0.83) ng/ml on day 8〕 on day 8 after operation (P＜0.05). Urine L/M ratio increased from 0.053±0.019 on day 1 to 0.063±0.016 on day 8 after operation in control group; while in probiotic group, the ratio decreased from 0.047±0.012 on day 1 to 0.031±0.008 on day 8 after operation, and there was significantly statistical difference of the ratio between two groups on day 8 (P＜0.01). There was no significant difference of the occurrence rate of SIRS and complications of inflammation between two groups (Pgt;0.05). Conclusion Probiotics can decrease intestinal permeability and maintain the intestinal barrier function after operation. It may be helpful for the recovery of patients with early inflammatory response after surgery of colorectal cancer.
ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the efficacy of probiotics in preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) in aged people. MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, CNKI, VIP, and WANFANG electronic databases were searched for studies published, and references of included studies and reviews were screened from database inception to April 2014. Only randomized, controlled trials involving patients older than 65 years were included. Furthermore, only the trials which combined antibiotic administration and probiotic therapy for the prevention of AAD and Jadad score >3 were extracted. ResultsA total of eight articles containing 3 680 subjects (1 843 in the probiotic group, 1 837 people in the control group) met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) between probiotics and control groups[RR=0.76, 95%CI (0.51, 1.13), P=0.17]. Further subgroup analysis found that compared with the control group, saccharomyces[RR=1.24, 95%CI (0.70, 2.19), P=0.46], lactobacillus[RR=0.59, 95%CI (0.31, 1.13), P=0.11], multi-probiotics combination[RR=0.58, 95%CI (0.24, 1.41), P=0.23] in the probiotics group were not significantly different. ConclusionThere is no evidence to support that probiotics can reduce the risk of AAD among aged people administrated with antibiotics therapy.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of probiotics for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) infection in children. MethodsWe electronically searched The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data databases to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about probiotics for the treatment of H.pylori infection in children from inception to January 2015. The references of included studies and conference proceedings were manually searched for additional studies. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of include studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of twelve RCTs were included, involving 1 227 patients. The result of meta-analysis showed that the probiotics adjuvant therapy group was superior to the control group in H.pylori eradication rates (OR=2.23, 95%CI 1.66 to 2.99, P<0.000 01) and the incidence of adverse effect (OR=0.31, 95%CI 0.18 to 0.53, P<0.000 1). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that probiotics adjuvant therapy may be a new effective and safe solution in the treatment of H.pylori infections in children. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more higher quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of probiotics-containing rescue regimen for the eradication of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection. MethodsWe electronically searched PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), CBM, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases, and Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR) and ClinicalTrial.gov from inception to December 2015, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about probiotics-containing rescue regimen for the eradication of Hp infection. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsEleven RCTs involving 1888 patients were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: Compared with the control group, probiotics-containing rescue regimen could significantly increase the eradication rate (ITT analysis: 80.3% vs. 69.3%, RR =1.15, 95%CI 1.10 to 1.22, P<0.00001; PP analysis: 86.5% vs. 74.3%, RR=1.16, 95%CI 1.11 to 1.22, P<0.00001), and decrease the incidence of total adverse reaction (ITT analysis: 19% vs. 29.2%, RR=0.60, 95%CI 0.40 to 0.91, P=0.02). Sensitivity analysis showed that the result was relatively stable. Publication bias test showed no evidence of substantial publication bias. ConclusionCurrent evidence indicates that probiotics-containing rescue regimen may contribute to improve eradication rate of Hp infection patients, and may reduce the occurrence of major gastrointestinal associated adverse reaction. Due to the limited quality and quantity of included studies, more high-quality RCTs are needed to verify the above conclusion.
ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of probiotics for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).MethodsThe Web of Science, Pubmed, OVID, Cochrane Library, CNKI, EMbase, Sciencedirect, Chinese biomedical database, and Wanfang database before August 2017 were searched, and the relevant data resources were also searched by hand to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of probiotics for prevention of VAP. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using a modified version of the Jadad scale. Meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 16 RCTs were included. The use of probiotics can reduce the incidence of VAP [RR=0.71, 95%CI (0.62, 0.80), P<0.000 01], ICU days [MD=–3.28, 95%CI (–6.15, –0.41), P=0.03] and total duration of antibiotics [MD=–2.47, 95%CI (–4.89, –0.04), P=0.05], but can not reduce the mortality of ICU [RR=0.99, 95%CI (0.74, 1.32), P=0.94], hospital mortality [RR=0.77, 95%CI (0.58, 1.01), P=0.06], 28-day mortality [RR=1.01, 95%CI (0.69, 1.47), P=0.97], 90-day mortality [RR=1.00, 95%CI (0.72, 1.37), P=0.99], hospital stays [MD=–0.68, 95%CI (–3.88, 2.52), P=0.68], duration of mechanical ventilation [MD=–2.17, 95%CI (–4.78, 0.44), P=0.10], or the incidence of diarrhea [RR=0.96, 95%CI (0.80, 1.14), P=0.62]. No serious adverse events were reported in all included RCTs.ConclusionsThe use of probiotics can reduce the incidence of VAP, but it has no effect on the mortality, hospital stay, duration of mechanical ventilation or the incidence of diarrhea. However, considering the heterogeneity of research designs, we need more rigorous, large sample randomized controlled studies to increase the strength of evidence.
The correlation between gut microbes and epilepsy is a hot research topic. This review aims to summarize the effects of Ketogenic diet (KD) on gut microbes and the preclinical and clinical progress of the use of Fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) and Probiotics in the intervention of epilepsy to provide clinical reference. Gut microbes mediates the antiepileptic effect of KD. Many studies have found that bactericides decreased in epileptic patients, and KD can increase bactericides abundance, which may be one of its effective mechanisms. Both FMT and probiotics showed antiepileptic effects on epileptic model mice with different pathogenesis, suggesting that gut microbes is an important target for epilepsy treatment. Preliminary clinical studies of small samples suggest that the use of probiotics can effectively treat refractory epilepsy and autoimmune-associated epilepsy, and can improve comorbidities. No serious and long-term side effects of probiotics have been found in epileptic patients. In the future, more high-quality studies are needed to further clarify its efficacy and mechanisms, which could lead to new strategies for epilepsy treatment and refresh our understanding of the causes of epilepsy.
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that affect patients' cognitive function and their mental health, imposing a huge burden on families and society. There are approximately 50 million epilepsy patients worldwide, with a prevalence rate of 4‰~7‰ in China, including about 6 million active epilepsy patients. Although scientists have been devoted to the research and exploration of epilepsy, the causes and pathological mechanisms of epilepsy are still poorly understood. The effectiveness of anti-seizure drugs is limited, and more effective methods is needed. With the deepening of microbiological research, many studies have found significant differences in the composition of the intestinal microbiota of epilepsy patients compared to healthy individuals. Analysis of the intestinal microbiota of epilepsy patients through sequencing has shown significantly lower abundances of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes compared to the normal population. Many related clinical studies have found that adopting a ketogenic diet, taking probiotics orally, using antibiotics, or fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can effectively control epilepsy by normalizing the intestinal microbiota. Various studies suggest a possible connection between the intestinal microbiota and epilepsy, recognizing that the intestinal microbiota can have an impact on the central nervous system. As a result, gut-brain axisis gradually recognized by scientists. Therefore, the role of the intestinal microbiota in epilepsy is gradually being recognized, and recent clinical studies have confirmed that supplementing probiotics can effectively reduce seizure frequency and improve comorbidities, which may become a new method for treating epilepsy.
Slow wound healing has been a troublesome problem in clinic. In China, traditional methods such as antibiotics and silver sulfadiazine are used to treat skin wound, but the abuse use has many disadvantages, such as chronic wounds and pathogen resistance. Studies have shown that the microorganisms with symbiotic relationship with organisms have benefits on skin wound. Therefore, the way to develop and utilize probiotics to promote wound healing has become a new research direction. In this paper, we reviewed the studies on the bacteriotherapy in the world, described how the probiotics can play a role in promoting wound healing through local wound and intestine, and introduced some mature probiotics products and clinical trials, aiming to provide foundations for further development of bacteriotherapy and products.