End-of-Life Preference Lists as an Advance Care Planning Tool for Japanese People.

Advance care planning (ACP) is important to determine the wishes of patients before they lose decision-making capacity. However, Japanese people are often reluctant to have end-of-life discussions. This study aims to develop and categorize an end-of-life preference list in the Japanese context to encourage dialog about ACP for healthcare providers and patients.

Selection of acid tolerant bifidobacteria and evidence for a low-pH-inducible acid tolerance response in Bifidobacterium longum.

Acidity is an environmental condition commonly encountered by lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and fermented foods. In the present study, 22 strains of Bifidobacterium were screened for acid tolerance in artificial gastric juice (AGJ, pH 3.0) and fermented milk.