Randomised clinical trial: the effects of a multispecies probiotic vs. placebo on innate immune function, bacterial translocation and gut permeability in patients with cirrhosis.

Background: Probiotics may correct intestinal dysbiosis and proinflammatory conditions in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Aim: To test the effects of a multispecies probiotic on innate immune function, bacterial translocation and gut permeability.

Methods: In a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled study, stable cirrhotic out-patients either received a daily dose of a probiotic powder containing eight different bacterial strains (Ecologic Barrier, Winclove, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) (n = 44) or a placebo (n = 36) for 6 months and were followed up for another 6 months.

Triple Therapy with First Generation Protease Inhibitors for Hepatitis C Markedly Impairs Function of Neutrophil Granulocytes.

First-generation HCV protease inhibitors represent a milestone in antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C infection (CHC), but substantially increased rates of viral clearance are offset by increased rates of infection and infection-associated deaths, especially of patients with advanced liver disease. We aimed to assess whether first generation protease inhibitors interfere with neutrophil function. We included 108 consecutive, retrospective CHC patients and 44 consecutive, prospective CHC patients who were treated with peginterferon and ribavirin with or without protease inhibitors according to the guidelines in the period of November 2012 to June 2015.

What ICU nurses in different Austrian hospitals know and think about the Austrian organ donation law.

We previously reported a high level of information on the Austrian organ donation law in medical and non-medical students, patients and ICU nurses, whereby ICU nurses at University Hospital in Graz (n = 185) were very well informed and also had the most critical view of the Austrian organ donation law.This letter reports the extension of our previous study to ICU nurses from hospitals with a Christian background (n = 60). We found that ICU nurses in hospitals run by religious congregations considered the Austrian organ donation law to be good more often than did those at the University Hospital in Graz.

Synaptic neuropeptide release induced by octopamine without Ca2+ entry into the nerve terminal.

Synaptic release of neurotransmitters is evoked by activity-dependent Ca(2+) entry into the nerve terminal. However, here it is shown that robust synaptic neuropeptide release from Drosophila motoneurons is evoked in the absence of extracellular Ca(2+) by octopamine, the arthropod homolog to norepinephrine. Genetic and pharmacology experiments demonstrate that this surprising peptidergic transmission requires cAMP-dependent protein kinase, with only a minor contribution of exchange protein activated by cAMP (epac).