Assessment of the safety, tolerance, and protective effect against diarrhea of infant formulas containing mixtures of probiotics or probiotics and prebiotics in a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Probiotics and prebiotics are considered to be beneficial to the gastrointestinal health of infants.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate infant formulas containing probiotics and synbiotics (combinations of probiotics and prebiotics) for safety and tolerance.

Design: In a prospective, controlled, double-blind, randomized trial, healthy full-term infants were exclusively fed a control formula or study formulas containing Bifidobacterium longum BL999 (BL999) + Lactobacillus rhamnosus LPR (LPR), BL999 + LPR + 4 g/L of 90% galactooligosaccharide/10% short-chain fructooligosaccharide (GOS/SCFOS), or BL999 + Lactobacillus paracasei ST11 (ST11) + 4 g/L GOS/SCFOS from < or = 2 to 16 wk of age (treatment period).

Effect of a prebiotic mixture on intestinal comfort and general wellbeing in health.

Specific carbohydrates, i.e. prebiotics such as fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS), are not digested in the small intestine but fermented in the colon.

The E6 and E7 proteins of the cutaneous human papillomavirus type 38 display transforming properties.

Several studies have suggested the involvement of cutaneous human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in the development of nonmelanoma skin cancers. Here we have characterized the in vitro properties of E7 proteins of three cutaneous HPV types, 10, 20, and 38, which are frequently detected in skin specimens. We show that HPV38 E7 is able to inactivate the tumor suppressor pRb and induces loss of G(1)/S transition control, a key event in carcinogenesis.

Patterns of importin-alpha expression during Drosophila spermatogenesis.

Importin-alpha proteins do not only mediate the nuclear import of karyophilic proteins but also regulate spindle assembly during mitosis and the assembly of ring canals during Drosophila oogenesis. Three importin-alpha genes are present in the genome of Drosophila. To gain further insights into their function we analysed their expression during spermatogenesis by using antibodies raised against each of the three Importin-alpha proteins identified in Drosophila, namely, Imp-alpha1, -alpha2, and -alpha3.

Identification of a novel activity of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 protein in deregulating the G1/S transition.

In this study we show that E6 of human papillomavirus has the ability to deregulate the cell cycle G1/S transition. In rodent immortalized fibroblasts (NIH3T3) serum deprivation or over-expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, p16(INK4a) or p27(KIP1), leads to G1 cell cycle arrest. HPV16 E6 overcomes the antiproliferative signals, gaining the ability to drive serum-deprived and p16(INK4a) or p27(KIP1) over-expressing cells into S phase.