Objective To evaluate the efficacy of probiotics for treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Methods The following databases as PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMbase, MD Consult, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data were searched from the data of their establishment to June 2011 to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on probiotics for treating IBS. The data were extracted and cross-checked independently by two reviewers, the methodological quality of trials was evaluated with Cochrane Handbook 5.0.2 criteria, and Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 20 RCTs involving 1 713 patients were included. Results of meta-analyses showed that compared with the placebo, probiotics was statistically and significantly better in improving the overall symptoms, alleviating abdominal pain/discomfort and relieving abdominal distention. Conlusion Current evidence shows probiotics may play a role in improving the symptoms of IBS. Due to a lot of differences existing among the included studies in aspects of methodological quality, diagnostic criteria, evaluation methods, dosage and course of treatment, this conclusion should be further tested with more strictly-designed and high-quality RCTs.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of self-assembling peptide GFS-4 on three-dimen-sional myocardial cell culture and tissue repair of myocardial infarction. The circular dichroism (CD) spectrum was used to detect secondary structure of GFS-4, and atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to analyze the microstructure of self-assembly. The nanofiber scaffolds self-assembled by GFS-4 were used as the three-dimensional culture material to observe the growth effect of cardiomyocytes. The model of myocardial infarction was established and the effect of GFS-4 on myocardial infarction was studied. The results indicated that self-assembling peptide GFS-4 could form mainly β-sheet structure that can form dense nanofiber scaffolds after 24 hours’ self-assembling. The myocardial cells had a favorable growth status in GFS-4 nanofiber scaffold hydrogel when cells treated in three-dimen-sional cell culture. The experiment of repairing myocardial infarction in vitro proved that peptide GFS-4 hydrogel scaffold could alleviate tissue necrosis in a myocardial infarction area. As a new nanofiber scaffold material, self-assembling peptide GFS-4 can be used for three-dimensional cell culture and tissue repairing in myocardial infarction area.
