The Impact of Fermented Milk Products Containing BB536 on the Gut Environment: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Probiotics, particularly those native to the gut microbiota, have a profound influence on the gut environment. In this study, we conducted a randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group comparison trial to investigate the effects of BB536 ( BB536) on the fecal microbiota and metabolite compositions in healthy individuals. We compared the effects of fermented milk produced solely with and (placebo group) and fermented milk supplemented with BB536 (BY group).

[Measurement of the transport activities of bile salt export pump using chemiluminescence detection method].

Monovalent bile acids, such as taurine- and glycine-conjugated bile acids, are excreted into bile by bile salt export pumps (BSEP, ABCB11). Human BSEP (hBSEP) is physiologically important because it was identified as the gene responsible for the genetic disease: progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 2 (PFIC-2). The evaluation of the inhibitory effect of hBSEP transport activity provides significant information for predicting toxic potential in the early phase of drug development.

Measurement of bile salt export pump transport activities using a fluorescent bile acid derivative.

A novel fluorescent bile acid derivative, 4-N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole- conjugated bile acid was synthesized as a probe to develop a rapid screening method for function analysis of bile salt export pump (BSEP, ABCB 11). The transport properties of the synthetic fluorescent bile acid derivative in membrane vesicles obtained from hBSEP-expressing Sf9 cells were examined using the liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method. The Michaelis-Menten constant and maximum uptake rate for the synthetic fluorescent bile acid derivative by hBSEP were 23.

Measurement of transport activities of bile acids in human multidrug resistance-associated protein 3 using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A method has been developed for the measurement of transport activities in membrane vesicles obtained from human multidrug resistance-associated protein 3-expressing Sf9 cells for 1beta-hydroxy-, 6alpha-hydroxy- and unsaturated bile acids by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Calibration curves for the bile acids were linear over the range of 10 to 2000 pmol/mL, and the detection limit was less than 2 pmol/mL for all bile acids using selected reaction monitoring analysis. The method was applied to measurements of adenosine triphosphate-dependent transport activities of the membrane vesicles for the above-mentioned hydroxylated and unsaturated bile acids.

Measurement of the transport activities of bile salt export pump using LC-MS.

The high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method has been applied to the measurement of bile acid transport activities in membrane vesicles obtained from a human bile salt export pump expressing Sf9 cells. The amounts of bile acids transported using the human bile salt export pump expressing Sf9 cells were determined using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method and the values of the kinetic parameters were determined to be comparable with those obtained using radioisotope-labeled substrates. The developed method was highly useful for the measurements of bile acid transport activities.

Incidence of anesthesia-related medication errors over a 15-year period in a university hospital.

To clarify the incidence of anesthesia-related medication errors in Kyushu University Hospital, a retrospective analysis of anesthesia-related incidents from 1993 to 2007 was conducted based on the "Investigation of anesthesia-related medication incidents" by the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists. Out of a total of 64,285 anesthesia cases, drug errors occurred in 50 cases (0.078%), but none of the incidents led to serious sequelae.