Probiotics have a number of beneficial health effects in humans and animals, such as reducing lactose intolerance symptoms and enhancing the bioavailability of nutrients. Probiotics help regulate intestinal microflora and immunomodulatory properties. Probiotics also decrease the prevalence of allergies in susceptible individuals, inhibit the inflammatory responses in the gut, and have antagonistic effects against intestinal and food-borne pathogens. Bacteria typically colonize the intestinal tract first and then reinforce the host defense systems by inducing generalized mucosal immune responses, including modulation of DC/NK interaction, a balanced T-helper cell response, self-limited inflammatory response, and the secretion of polymeric IgA. A lot of reports showed that lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and their fermented products are effective at enhancing innate and adaptive immunity, prevent gastric mucosal lesion development, alleviate allergies, and put up defense against intestinal pathogen infection. In this review paper, we compared the influence of immunomodulatory effects on the function and efficacy of lactobacillus products with different strains. We also discuss the beneficial effects of several LAB strain and its derivative products for human immunity and related diseases.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an acute respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly developed into a pandemic throughout the world. This disease is a highly infectious novel coronavirus and can affect people of all ages. Previous reports observed that particulate matter (PM) provided a platform for intermixing with viruses (i.e., influenza). However, the role of PM in SARS-CoV-2 transmission remains unclear. In this paper, we propose that PM plays a direct role as a “carrier” of SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 is reported to have a high affinity for the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Indirectly, exposure to PM increases ACE2 expression in the lungs which facilitates SARS-CoV-2 viral adhesion. Thus, the high risk of SARS-CoV-2 in heavily polluted regions can be explained by upregulation of ACE2 caused by PM. PM could be both a direct and indirect transmission model for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The prevalence of obesity is rapidly becoming endemic in industrialized countries and continues to increase in developing countries worldwide. Obesity predisposes people to an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Recent studies have described an association between obesity and certain gut microbiota, suggesting that gut microbiota might play a critical role in the development of obesity. Although probiotics have many beneficial health effects in humans and animals, attention has only recently been drawn to manipulating the gut microbiota, such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), to influence the development of obesity. In this review, we first describe the causes of obesity, including the genetic and environmental factors. We then describe the relationship between the gut microbiota and obesity, and the mechanisms by which the gut microbiota influence energy metabolism and inflammation in obesity. Lastly, we focus on the potential role of LAB in mediating the effects of the gut microbiota in the development of obesity.

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Intestinal parasitic infections are very severe among school aged children in the urban slums, thus regular mass de-worming programs, health education, and the provision of safe drinking water is recommended to combat IPIs among the school aged children.

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The present study investigated the immunomodulating activity of Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei NTU 101 in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7-infected BALB/c mice. Mice were given L. paracasei subsp. paracasei NTU 101 (10(8) colony-forming units) for 7 days, before and after the challenge with E. coli O157:H7. Feeding Lactobacillus for 7 days resulted in an increased postchallenge weight gain and lower cumulative morbidity rates. We observed the upregulation of dendritic cells, helper T cell activation, and antibody production in post- and pretreated mice, compared with untreated mice in the E. coli O157:H7 infection group. Moreover, Lactobacillus can down-regulate the expression of toll-like receptors (TLRs) on macrophages and proinflammatory cytokines, and chemokines in the post- or prefeeding mice induce by E. coli O157:H7 infection. These results demonstrated the inhibition of inflammation among the mice in the pretreated group than in the post-treated group by modulating their immune response. These findings suggest that L. paracasei subsp. paracasei NTU 101 may be an effective candidate for use as a probiotic in the prevention of infection caused by E. coli O157:H7 in humans.