Effect of Bifidobacterium longum 35624 on disease severity and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

BACKGROUND Bifidobacterium longum 35624 has shown efficacy in improving irritable bowel syndrome(IBS)symptoms compared with placebo in double-blind randomized studies.However,few data are available from real-life clinical practice or from studies that used Rome IV criteria to diagnose IBS.AIM To assess the effect of B.longum 35624 on IBS severity and quality of life in a reallife setting.METHODS From November 2018 to January 2020,278 patients with IBS(according to Rome IV criteria)were enrolled in a prospective,open-label,multicenter observational study by private practice gastroenterologists to received one capsule of B.longum 35624(10^(9) colony-forming units)per day for 30 d.Participation in the study was independently proposed to patients during spontaneous consultations.Disease severity(assessed by the IBS severity scoring system)and patient quality of life(assessed by the IBS quality of life questionnaire)were compared between the inclusion visit(baseline)and the visit at the end of 30 d of treatment.The characteristics of patients were described at baseline.Continuous variables comparisons between inclusion and end-of-treatment visits were performed using the t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test.Categorical variables comparisons were performed using theχ^(2) test.RESULTSA total of 233 patients,with a mean age of 51.4 years and composed of 71.2%women,were included in the study.Of these patients,48.1%had moderate IBS and 46.4%had severe IBS.After a 30-d treatment period with one B.longum 35624 capsule per day,a significant decrease in IBS severity was observed compared to baseline(mean±SD,IBS severity scoring system scores:208±104 vs 303±81,P<0.001)and 57%of patients moved to lower severity categories or achieved remission.The quality of life of patients was also improved by the treatment(IBS Quality of Life questionnaire score:68.8±20.9 vs 60.2±20.5;P<0.001)and 63.8%of patients were satisfied with the treatment.CONCLUSION Thirty days of treatment with B.longum 35624 reduces disease severity and improves the quality of life of patients with IBS,particularly those with the most severe forms of IBS.

Epidemiology of respiratory distress and the illness severity in late preterm or term infants： a prospective multi-center study

Background The severity of respiratory distress was associated with neonatal prognosis. This study aimed to explore the clinical characteristics, therapeutic interventions and short-term outcomes of late preterm or term infants who required respiratory support, and compare the usage of different illness severity assessment tools.Methods Seven neonatal intensive care units in tertiary hospitals were recruited. From November 2008 to October 2009, neonates born at ≥34 weeks＇ gestational age, admitted at 〈72 hours of age, requiring continuous positive airway pressure （CPAP） or mechanical ventilation for respiratory support were enrolled. Clinical data including demographic variables, underlying disease, complications, therapeutic interventions and short-term outcomes were collected. All infants were divided into three groups by Acute care of at-risk newborns （ACoRN） Respiratory Score 〈5, 5-8, and 〉8.Results During the study period, 503 newborn late preterm or term infants required respiratory support. The mean gestational age was （36.8±2.2） weeks, mean birth weight was （2734.5±603.5） g. The majority of the neonates were male （69.4%）, late preterm （63.3%）, delivered by cesarean section （74.8%）, admitted in the first day of life （89.3%） and outborn （born at other hospitals, 76.9%）. Of the cesarean section, 51.1% were performed electively. Infants in the severe group were more mature, had the highest rate of elective cesarean section, Apgar score 〈7 at 5 minutes and resuscitated with intubation, the in-hospital mortality increased significantly. In total, 58.1% of the patients were supported with mechanical ventilation and 17.3% received high frequency oscillation. Adjunctive therapies were commonly needed.Higher rate of infants in severe group needed mechanical ventilation or high frequency oscillation, volume expansion,bicarbonate infusion or vasopressors therapy （P 〈0.05）. The incidence of complications was also increased significantly in severe group （P 〈0.05）. The in-hospital mortality in the severe group was significantly higher than other two groups （P〈0.05）. ACoRN Respiratory Score was correlated with Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology-Version Ⅱ （SNAP-Ⅱ） （P〈0.01）. High gestational age, high SNAP-Ⅱ score and oxygenation index （OI）, and Apgar score at 5 minutes 〈5 were independent risks for death.Conclusions Neonatal respiratory distress is still a common cause of hospitalization in China. Illness severity assessment is important for the management. ACoRN Respiratory Score which correlated with SNAP-Ⅱ score is easy to use and may be helpful in facilitating the caregivers in local hospital to identify the early signs and make the transfer decision promptly.

Scoring systems in critically ill: Which one to use in cancer patients?

BACKGROUND Scoring systems have not been evaluated in oncology patients.We aimed to assess the performance of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation(APACHE)II,APACHE III,APACHE IV,Simplified Acute Physiology Score(SAPS)II,SAPS III,Mortality Probability Model(MPM)II0 and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment(SOFA)score in critically ill oncology patients.AIM To compare the efficacy of seven commonly employed scoring systems to predict outcomes of critically ill cancer patients.METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of 400 consecutive cancer patients admitted in the medical intensive care unit over a two-year period.Primary outcome was hospital mortality and the secondary outcome measure was comparison of various scoring systems in predicting hospital mortality.RESULTS In our study,the overall intensive care unit and hospital mortality was 43.5%and 57.8%,respectively.All of the seven tested scores underestimated mortality.The mortality as predicted by MPM II0 predicted death rate(PDR)was nearest to the actual mortality followed by that predicted by APACHE II,with a standardized mortality rate(SMR)of 1.305 and 1.547,respectively.The best calibration was shown by the APACHE III score(χ^(2)=4.704,P=0.788).On the other hand,SOFA score(χ^(2)=15.966,P=0.025)had the worst calibration,although the difference was not statistically significant.All of the seven scores had acceptable discrimination with good efficacy however,SAPS III PDR and MPM II0 PDR(AUROC=0.762),had a better performance as compared to others.The correlation between the different scoring systems was significant(P<0.001).CONCLUSION All the severity scores were tested under-predicted mortality in the present study.As the difference in efficacy and performance was not statistically significant,the choice of scoring system used may depend on the ease of use and local preferences.