Context: The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes requires increased efforts to find effective therapeutic agents for this complex condition. Following the recent observation that the gut microbiota is altered in diabetic patients, researchers investigated the effect of probiotics in patients with diabetes. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effects of probiotic consumption on glycemic control in diabetic patients. Data Sources: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (formerly ISI Web of Knowledge), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses databases were searched up to November 2015. Study Selection: Clinical trials in diabetic patients in whom probiotics were administered as an intervention were included. Data Extraction: Primary outcomes were fasting blood glucose, insulin concentration, insulin resistance, and hemoglobin A1c. Secondary outcomes were adverse events. Data Synthesis: Of the 2736 reports that were screened, 13 clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. Pooling data from eligible clinical trials revealed that probiotic supplementation significantly (P < 0.05) decreased fasting blood glucose and hemoglobin A1c in diabetic patients, although the participants’ characteristics (eg, body mass index) and the number and type of probiotic microorganisms affected the clinical response. Conclusions: Administration of probiotics appears to have a beneficial role in the management of type 2 diabetes; however, more clinical studies with adequate sample sizes and sound methodology are required to inform the development of evidence-based treatment guidelines.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The efficacy of Saccharomyces boulardii for treatment of childhood diarrhea remains unclear. Our objective was to systematically review data on the effect of S. boulardii on acute childhood diarrhea. METHODS: Our data sources included Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and The Cochrane Library up to September 2013 without language restrictions. Randomized controlled trials and non-randomized trials that evaluated effectiveness of S. boulardii for treatment of acute diarrhea in children were included. Two reviewers independently evaluated studies for eligibility and quality and extracted the data. RESULTS: In total, 1248 articles were identified, of which 22 met the inclusion criteria. Pooling data from trials showed that S. boulardii significantly reduced the duration of diarrhea (mean difference [MD], −19.7 hours; 95% confidence interval [CI], −26.05 to −13.34), stool frequency on day 2 (MD, −0.74; 95% CI, −1.38 to −0.10) and day 3 (MD, −1.24; 95% CI, −2.13 to −0.35), the risk for diarrhea on day 3 (risk ratio [RR], 0.41; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.60) and day 4 (RR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.59) after intervention compared with control. The studies included in this review were varied in the definition of diarrhea, the termination of diarrhea, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and their methodological quality. CONCLUSIONS: This review and meta-analysis show that S. boulardii is safe and has clear beneficial effects in children who have acute diarrhea. However, additional studies using head-to-head comparisons are needed to define the best dosage of S. boulardii for diarrhea with different causes.

Background: Nisin, an effective natural food preservative, is an antimicrobial peptide produced by Lactococcus lactis. Although it has been mainly studied and developed as a potential alternative for antibiotics, other pharmacological effects of the nisin including cytotoxic and anti-tumor activity have been attracted many attentions.Objectives: Here, we aimed to evaluate in vitro cytotoxic activity of the nisin against breast cancer cells.Materials and Methods: The effect of temperature, pH, and chemical composition of the medium on the yield of nisin production was evaluated. As well, the anti-proliferative effect of nisin against a breast cancer cell line (i. e., MCF-7) and a non-cancerous cell line (i.e, HUVEC) was determined using MTT assay. Furthermore, the potential of the synergistic effect of the nisin on the doxorubicin cytotoxicity was evaluated.Results: The optimum culture condition for the nisin production by L. lactis was found to be MRS medium (pH 6.3) supplemented with the tryptone and incubation at 30 °C. MTT assay results indicate that nisin exhibits a high and selective cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cell line with IC50 value of 5 μM. Furthermore, a combination of nisin and doxorubicin at sub-inhibitory concentrations were more cytotoxic compared to either of drugs alone.Conclusion: It could be suggested that nisin, either alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, could be a potential therapeutic for the breast cancer cells.

Background and purpose: Lactobacillus, the most popular probiotic, has recently gained more attention because it is a potential reservoir of antibiotic resistance. This review summarized and discussed the phenotypic-genotypic characteristics of antibiotic resistance. Experimental approach: Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched up to February 2022. The inclusion criteria were all studies testing antibiotic resistance of probiotic Lactobacillus strains present in human food supplementation and all human/animal model studies in which transferring antibiotic-resistant genes from Lactobacillus strains to another bacterium were investigated. Findings/Results: Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Lactobacillus probiotics showed that the most antibiotic resistance was against protein synthesis inhibitors (fourteen studies, 87.5%) and cell wall synthesis inhibitors (ten studies, 62.5%). Nine of these studies reported the transfer of antibiotic resistance from Lactobacillus probiotic as donor species to pathogenic bacteria and mostly used in vitro methods for resistance gene transfer. Conclusion and implications: The transferability of resistance genes such as tet and erm in Lactobacillus increases the risk of spreading antibiotic resistance. Further studies need to be conducted to evaluate the potential spread of antibiotic resistance traits via probiotics, especially in elderly people and newborns.