• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.232-238
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• 2014

Purpose: This study investigated the clinical presentations of symptomatic Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in children. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 43 children aged <20 years who showed either positive C. difficile culture or C. difficile toxin test results between June 2010 and April 2014. Results: Of the 43 patients (mean age 6.7 years), 22 were boys. Sixteen patients (37.2%) showed both positive C. difficile culture and toxin test results. Seventeen out of 43 children (39.5%) had preexisting gastrointestinal diseases, and 26 children had other medical conditions that were risk factors for CDI. Twenty-eight children had a history of antibiotic treatment for >3 days, and the most frequently prescribed antibiotic was amoxicillin-clavulanate (35.7%). Twenty-eight patients were diagnosed with CDI despite taking probiotic supplements, most commonly Lactobacillus acidophilus (53.6%). The most common symptom was diarrhea (72.1%) at the time CDI was diagnosed. C. difficile was eradicated in 11 patients (25.6%) after treatment with oral metronidazole for 10-14 days, and in the two patients (4.6%) who required two courses of oral metronidazole. Sixteen patients (37.2%) showed clinical improvement without any treatment. Conclusion: This study showed the various clinical characteristics of CDI in children and that preexisting clinical conditions favored the development of CDI. In addition, CDI was found to occur in a number of patients even after probiotic prophylaxis given in conjunction with antibiotic therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1736-1745
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• 2016

The interactions of microbiota in the gut play an important role in promoting or maintaining the health of hosts. In this study, in order to investigate and compare the effects of dietary supplementation with Lactobacillus pentosus HC-2 (HC-2), Enterococcus faecium NRW-2, or the bacteria-free supernatant of a HC-2 culture on the bacterial composition of Litopenaeus vannamei, Illumina sequencing of the V1-V2 region of the 16S rRNA gene was used. The results showed that unique species exclusively existed in specific dietary groups, and the abundance of Actinobacteria was significantly increased in the intestinal bacterial community of shrimp fed with the bacteria-free supernatant of an HC-2 culture compared with the control. In addition, the histology of intestines of the shrimp from the four dietary groups was also described, but no obvious improvements in the intestinal histology were observed. The findings in this work will help to promote the understanding of the roles of intestinal bacteria in shrimps when fed with probiotics or probiotic supernatant.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.339-349
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to identify lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from kimchi and to evaluate its characteristics and functional properties for application in fermented dairy products as a probiotic or commercial starter culture. Eight stains isolated from kimchi were selected through an investigation of phenotypic characteristics. Two strains (DK211 and DK303) were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum, another two (DK207 and DK215) as Lactobacillus paracasei, and one (DK301) as Lactobacillus sakei. The remaining three strains were identified as species of Weissella. All selected Lactobacillus strains had acid and bile tolerance, even though there was wide variation in the ability of each strain. DK303 showed a remarkably higher proteolytic activity. There were no significant differences in β-galactosidase activity among the tested strains, except that DK301 showed no activity. Auto-aggregation varied between 82.1 and 90.0%, and hydrophobicity values ranged from 0.5 to 51.6%.The strongest auto-aggregation and hydrophobicity were observed in DK211. All selected strains showed better 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrzyl (DPPH) scavenging activity than commercial strains. DK211, DK215, DK301, and DK303 had effective inhibitory activity against all pathogens tested except E. coli. When selected strains were used for yogurt preparation as a single starter culture, the time required to reach target titratable acidity (0.9) was 11-12 h. The yogurt fermented with DK211 had favorable panelists ratings for most sensory attributes, which were comparable with yogurt fermented with a commercial strain. The results suggest that strains isolated from kimchi could be potential probiotic and starter cultures for use in yogurt manufacturing.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.511-516
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• 2006

The objectives of this study was to compare the probiotic characteristics of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for their ability to assimilate cholesterol, production of bacteriocin, inhibition of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE), and viability under artificial gastrointestinal fluids. Among tested lactic acid bacteria, L167 strain exhibited the highest ACE inhibitory activity (58.75%). The production of ACE inhibitory peptide derived from fermented milk by L167 strain started at the beginning of stationary phase with maximum activity occurring late of the stationary phase. The highest ACE inhibitory activity was observed at 20 h in 10% skim milk medium. L155 strain exhibited cholesterol assimilation activity compared with probiotic strains such as Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 43121. With addition of bacteriocin culture, viable cells of Staphylococcus aureus in fermented sausage were slightly decreased during storage. Among selected strains of LAB, 3 strains weve identified as L. plantarum (L155, L165, L167), and two strains were identified as Pediococcus damnosus (L12) and L. paracasei ssp. paracasei (P113) by use of API carbohydrate fermentation pattern and physiological tests.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.12 no.4 s.31
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• pp.259-268
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• 2006

It has been recognized that high level of serum cholesterol is a risk factor associated with atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. Ingestion of probiotic lactic acid bacteria(LAB) in Kimchi would possibly be a method to decrease serum cholesterol in humans, as it was reported. In vitro culture experiment evaluated the effects of LAB(Leu. citreum, Lac. plantarum, Leu. mesenteroides, Weissella kimchii, W. confusa) extracted from Kimchi on cholesterol reduction in the MRS broth containing soluble cholesterol. Experimental strain of Leu. citreum and Leu. mesenteroides dominated in the first phase of Kimchi fermentation reduced the level of cholesterol 55.64% and 56.37%, respectively. Also, cholesterol lowering-effect was observed in over 55% of Lac. plantarum, W. kimchii and W. confusa strains, which were dominated in the end phase of fermentation. Our results suggest that selected probiotic LAB from Kimchi have an excellent cholesterol reducing effect in in vitro culture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.96-105
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• 2023

Probiotic supplements have promising therapeutic effects on chronic diseases. In this study, we demonstrated the anti-obesity effects of two potential probiotics, Bifidobacterium bifidum DS0908 (DS0908) and Bifidobacterium longum DS0950 (DS0950). Treatment with DS0908 and DS0950 postbiotics significantly induced the expression of the brown adipocyte-specific markers UCP1, PPARγ, PGC1α, PRDM16 and beige adipocyte-specific markers CD137, FGF21, P2RX5, and COX2 in C3H10T1/2 mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, both potential probiotics and postbiotics noticeably reduced body weight and epididymal fat accumulation without affecting food intake. DS0908 and DS0950 also improved insulin sensitivity and glucose use in mice with HFD-induced obesity. In addition, DS0908 and DS0950 improved the plasma lipid profile, proved by reduced triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, and cholesterol levels. Furthermore, DS0908 and DS0950 improved mitochondrial respiratory function, confirmed by the high expression of oxidative phosphorylation proteins, during thermogenesis induction in the visceral and epididymal fat in mice with HFD-induced obesity. Notably, the physiological and metabolic changes were more significant after treatment with potential probiotic culture-supernatants than those with the bacterial pellet. Finally, gene knockdown and co-treatment with inhibitor-mediated mechanistic analyses showed that both DS0908 and DS0950 exerted anti-obesity-related effects via the PKA/p38 MAPK signaling activation in C3H10T1/2 MSCs. Our observations suggest that DS0908 and DS0950 could potentially alleviate obesity as dietary supplements.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2015

To date, detection of microbial populations in dairy products has been performed using culture media, which is a time-consuming and laborious method. The recently developed chromogenic media could be more rapid and specific than classical culture media. However, the newly developed molecular-based technology can detect microbial populations with greater rapidity and sensitivity than the classical method involving culture media and chromogenic media. This molecular-based technology could provide various options for monitoring the characterization of different states of bacteria and cells. Thus, it could help upgrade the processing system of the dairy industry so as to maintain the safety and quality of dairy foods. Among the various newly developed molecular-based technologies, flow cytometry can potentially be used for monitoring microbiological populations in the dairy industry if official international standards are available for this purpose. When omics technology would have biomarker identification, it could be regarded as the rapid and sensitive analytical methods. Methods based on PCR, which has become a basic technique in microbiological research, can be developed and validated as alternative methods for quantification of dairy microorganisms. This review discusses methods for monitoring microbiological populations in dairy foods and the limitations of these studies, as well as the need for further research on such methods in the dairy industry.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.340-346
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• 2012

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics and residues of antibiotics in poultry products have encouraged the use of probiotics, prebiotic substrates, and synbiotic combinations of prebiotics and probiotics as alternative approaches to the use of antibiotics in poultry. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of a new probiotic CS61 culture on growth performance, feed conversion efficiency, and safety in broiler chickens, and to evaluate its value as an alternative for antibiotics used as a feed additive. Two dosages of CS61 culture (0.1% and 1%) were fed to chickens for 28 days. The results showed that terminal body weight and daily weight gain in the treatment groups increased in a dose-dependent manner when compared with the control group. Dietary supplementation with CS61 culture also improved feed conversion rate compared to the control group. There were no treatment-related toxic effects in terms of clinical findings, mortality, necropsy findings, hematology, or serum biochemistry parameters in any group tested. The nitric oxide assay showed that CS61 peptide has a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells. The results of this experiment indicated that dietary supplementation of CS61 culture may improve growth performance and feed conversion efficiency in chickens through its anti-inflammatory effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.475-480
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• 2015

Jeju citrus, which contains an abundance of calcium and vitamin, was used to develop fermented citrus peel extract. A total of seven probiotic strains were applied to tangerine dermis to select the best growing bacteria in citrus peel extracts. B. longum, B. bifidum, and L. mesenteroides were found to grow best in citrus peel extract culture containing glucose, yeast extracts, peptone, and potassium phosphate. Citrus peel extract culture consisting of 1% yeast extract, 5% peptone, and 0.1% phosphate was the best environment for growth of probiotics. The pH, acidity, and viable cell numbers of these fermented extracts were measured. The initial pH level of fermented extracts with nutrients was 5.25 and dropped rapidly to 3.39 after 72 hours of fermentation. The acidity of fermented extracts increased to 4.08 % after 72 hours of fermentation, and the viable cell number in fermented extracts after refrigeration for 2 weeks was $1.3{\times}10^{10}CFU/mL$. The antimicrobial activity of citrus peel fermented extracts against Campylobacter jejuni was determined, and concentrations more than 25,000 ppm showed antimicrobial activity.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 2001

For the development of probiotics in aquaculture of marine organisms, three strains having psychrophilic and salt tolerant characteristics were isolated from Kimchi. Amng the isolated strains. MG19, MG89 and MG208 were identified as Lactobacillus brevis, Enterococcus faecium and Lactobacillus plantarum, respectively. The neutralized culture broth of isolated strains were tested in order to evaluate the antibactrial activity, 조초 showed high antibacterial activity against Edwardsiella tarda, Vibrio cholerae andPseudomonas fluorescens. In mixed culture of pathogens and isolated strain,pathogens were signifi-cantly inhibited after 2 days of cultivation but the isolated strains showed normal growth. When the Edwardsiella tarda was cultured with three isolated strains, its growth was completely inhibited after 254 hours of cultivation. The effect of isolated three strains as probiotics was investigated based on the changes in body weight of aquacultured flounder. After 50 days feeding trial, it was found that the mean body weight gain of the tested group fed freeze-dried isolated cells was significantly greater than that of the control group. These results suggest that these isolated strains can play an important role as probiotics in aquaculture.