Twelve ruminally cannulated Holstein calves (age, 12 ± 3 weeks) were used to identify the effect of a probiotic comprised of Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium and Clostridium butyricum on ruminal components. The calves were adapted to a diet containing a 50% high-concentrate (standard diet) for 1 week, and then, the probiotic was given once daily for 5 days (day 1-5) at 1.5 or 3.0 g...

Strain-specificity of probiotic effects has been a cornerstone principle of probiotic science for decades. Certainly, some important mechanisms are present in only a few probiotic strains. But scientific advances now reveal commonalities among members of certain taxonomic groups of probiotic microbes. Some clinical benefits likely derive from these shared mechanisms, suggesting that sub-species...

Background Systematic reviews with meta-analyses and meta-regression suggest that timely probiotic use can prevent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in hospitalized adults receiving antibiotics, but the cost effectiveness is unknown. We sought to evaluate the cost effectiveness of probiotic use for prevention of CDI versus no probiotic use in the United States. Methods We programmed a dec...

Zvi G. Fridlender,1,4,* Jing Sun,1 Samuel Kim,1 Veena Kapoor,1 Guanjun Cheng,1 Leona Ling,2 G. Scott Worthen,3 and Steven M. Albelda1 1Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, 1016B ARC, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6160, USA 2Oncology Cell Signaling, Biogen Idec, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA 3Division of Neonatology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, ARC, University of Penns...

Feifang Hu*,1, Yanqing Hu2, Wei Ma3, Lixin Zhang4 & Hongjian Zhu5 Department of Statistics, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA Department of Statistics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA Biogen Idec, 14 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA Department of Mathematics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310006, PR China Department of Biostatistics, The Unive...

In the recent past, there has been an explosion of probiotic health-based products. Many reports indicated that there is poor survival of probiotic bacteria in these products. Further, the survival of these bacteria in the human gastro-intestinal system is questionable. Providing probiotic living cells with a physical barrier against adverse environmental conditions is therefore an approach cur...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Despite strong mechanistic data, and promising results from in vitro and animal studies, the ability of probiotic bacteria to improve blood pressure and serum lipid concentrations in humans remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus La5 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis Bb12, provided in either yoghurt or capsule...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to provide details on probiotic supplement use among young children in Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS This study is based on the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study database. We used questionnaires to collect information on probiotic supplement use among young children from birth to 18 months of age, while also considering their demographic characteristics an...

1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and 3Department of Pathology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA, 4Charles Norwood VA Medical Center, Augusta, GA 30904, USA, 5Sarcoma Research Center and 6Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX...

draft of chapter for John Clippinger (ed) THE BIOLOGY OF BUSINESS 0. ABSTRACT/INTRODUCTION. Markets, companies and various forms of business organizations may all (we have argued) be usefully viewed through the lens of CAS-the theory of complex adaptive systems. In this chapter, I address one fundamental issue that confronts both the theoretician and the business manager: the nature and opportu...