• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.162-168
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• 2009

The aim of this study is to investigate microbial sanitary condition of public baths in Seoul, Korea. A total of 28 water samples were collected from 14 different public baths and sudatoriums. The prevalence of fecal indicator microorganisms such as total coliform, fecal coliform, and Escherichia coli was characterized. In addition, bacteria in water was membrane filtered by 0.45um nitrocellulose membrane, and the filter was analyzed by both cultivation and PCR amplification of partial 16S rRNA gene. The levels of chlorine were measured for each of water samples. More than 40% of 14 collected water samples, the concentrations of total coliform bacteria exceeded the water quality for bath water guideline. There was no significant correlation between chlorine residue and the presence of total coliform. Various microorganisms including pathogenic microorganisms were identified from cultivation and subsequent analysis of 16s rRNA gene sequences. Our results suggest that appropriate hygiene practice and continuous monitoring is needed for reducing health risk associated with public bathhouses.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.1142-1158
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• 2021

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are metabolic products produced during the microbial fermentation of non-digestible fibers and play an important role in metabolic homeostasis and overall gut health. In this study, we investigated the effects of supplementation with multispecies probiotics (MSPs) containing Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Limosilactobacillus reuteri, and Levilactobacillus brevis on the gut microbiota, and fecal SCFAs and lactate levels of weaned pigs. A total of 38 pigs weaned at 4 weeks of age were fed either a basal diet or a diet supplemented with MSPs for 6 weeks. MSP administration significantly increased the fecal concentrations of lactate (2.3-fold; p < 0.01), acetate (1.8-fold; p < 0.05), and formate (1.4-fold; p < 0.05). Moreover, MSP supplementation altered the gut microbiota of the pigs by significantly increasing the population of potentially beneficial bacteria such as Olsenella, Catonella, Catenibacterium, Acidaminococcus, and Ruminococcaceae. MSP supplementation also decreased the abundance of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia and Chlamydia. The modulation of the gut microbiota was observed to be strongly correlated with the changes in fecal SCFAs and lactate levels. Furthermore, we found changes in the functional pathways present within the gut, which supports our findings that MSP modulates the gut microbiota and SCFAs levels in pigs. The results support the potential use of MSPs to improve the gut health of animals by modulating SCFAs production.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.182-191
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• 2021

Objective: This study was performed to detect indicator bacteria in drinking spring water samples in Gwangju City and to identify their genus using the VITEK-II system. Methods: The subjects were ten drinking spring water sites in Gwangju. Samples of spring water were taken every month from September 2019 to August 2020. We analyzed for the indicator bacteria Yersinia and microorganisms isolated from the spring water. Result: According to the research results on indicator bacteria, general bacteria in st1-st7 with sterilization facilities in the spring and summer were investigated in the range of 0-2 CFU/mL and 0-12 CFU/mL. In st9, where a sterilization facility was not installed, the most general bacteria were detected (160 CFU/mL). Total coliform and fecal coliform showed unsatisfied rates of 16.7 and 11.1% in spring and 14.7 and 11.8% in summer, respectively. The unsatisfied rates of total coliform for the designated and non-designated spring water facilities were 3.8 and 47.1%, respectively, and for the fecal coliform group they were 2.5 and 35.3%. The difference was confirmed according to the presence of a sterilization facility. Yersinia spp. was not detected in all drinking spring water. Forty-one strains in 25 species were isolated from ten sites. The results classified as major dominant species are Pseudomonas spp. 14.6%, Pantoea spp. 9.8%, Serratia spp. 9.8%, Acinetobacter spp. 9.8%, Citrobacter spp. 7.3%, Bordetella spp. 7.3%, Delftia spp. 4.9%, and Enterobacter spp. 4.9%. Conclusions: Based on the result that various species derived from fecal pollution and artificial pollutants were detected in the non-specified public spring water facilities that many people use, the facilities need institutional complements such as continuous management or complete shutdowns.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1555-1558
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• 2015

Administration of dietary fibers has various health benefits, mainly by increasing numbers of beneficial bacteria and enhancing production of short-chain fatty acids in the colon. There has been growing interest in the addition of dietary fiber to human diet, due to its prebiotic effects. This study aimed to evaluate the prebiotic activity of inulin using an in vitro batch fermentation system with human fecal microbiota. Fermentation of inulin resulted in a significantly greater ratio of Lactobacillus or Bifidobacteria to Enterobacteria strains as an index of healthy human intestine and elevated butyrate concentration, which are related to improvement of gut health.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.3.1-3.21
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• 2022

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and the number of cancer patients is expected to continuously increase in the future. Traditional cancer therapies focus on inhibiting cancer growth while largely ignoring the contribution of the immune system in eliminating cancer cells. Recently, better understanding of immunological mechanisms pertaining to cancer progress has led to development of several immunotherapies, which revolutionized cancer treatment. Nonetheless, only a small proportion of cancer patients respond to immunotherapy and maintain a durable response. Among multiple factors contributing to the variability of immunotherapy response rates, commensal microbiota inhabiting patients have been identified as one of the most critical factors determining the success of immunotherapy. The functional diversity of microbiota differentially affects the host immune system and controls the efficacy of immunotherapy in individual cancer patients. Moreover, clinical studies have demonstrated that changing the gut microbiota composition by fecal microbiota transplantation in patients who failed a previous immunotherapy converts them to responders of the same therapy. Consequently, both academic and industrial researchers are putting extensive efforts to identify and develop specific bacteria or bacteria mixtures for cancer immunotherapy. In this review, we will summarize the immunological roles of commensal microbiota in cancer treatment and give specific examples of bacteria that show anticancer effect when administered as a monotherapy or as an adjuvant agent for immunotherapy. We will also list ongoing clinical trials testing the anticancer effect of commensal bacteria.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.417-421
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• 1999

This experiment examined the effects of feeding Aspergillus oryzae (AO) culture to laying hens, on fecal microbial populations, fecal pH and moisture content, egg quality, and metabolizabilities of several nutrients. Sixteen commercial 38-wk-old laying hens were randomly allotted to four diets: control; with 0.15% locally produced AO culture; with 0.3% locally produced AO culture, and; or with 0.3% imported AO. Each treatment consisted of four replicates (cages) containing one bird per cage according to a completely randomized design. After 4 wk, AO were recovered in the feces of birds fed the AO diets, indicating that AO might pass through the fore-gut alive and become active in the hind gut. The number of Lactobacillus spp. in feces was higher in all treated groups than that of the control, indicating that AO would provide a beneficial environment for the Lactobacillus spp. to proliferate in the intestine. The number of fecal E. coli was significantly reduced by the addition of AO. A similar trend was also found for aerobic bacteria. Although not significant, fecal moisture contents tended to be reduced by the addition of AO. Fecal pH was not significantly different among the treatments. The addition of AO did not affect the various economic traits of eggs. Metabolizabilities of gross energy and dry matter measured during the 5th wk were increased by the AO supplementation. It appears that AO culture alone could be used as a probiotic supplement for layers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.812-822
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• 2014

Metagenomic analysis of the human intestinal microbiota has extended our understanding of the role of these bacteria in improving human intestinal health; however, a number of reports have shown that current total fecal DNA extraction methods and 16S rRNA universal primer sets could affect the species coverage and resolution of these analyses. Here, we improved the extraction method for total DNA from human fecal samples by optimization of the lysis buffer, boiling time (10 min), and bead-beating time (0 min). In addition, we developed a new long-range 16S rRNA universal PCR primer set targeting the V6 to V9 regions with a 580 bp DNA product length. This new 16S rRNA primer set was evaluated by comparison with two previously developed 16S rRNA universal primer sets and showed high species coverage and resolution. The optimized total fecal DNA extraction method and newly designed long-range 16S rRNA universal primer set will be useful for the highly accurate metagenomic analysis of adult and infant intestinal microbiota with minimization of any bias.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.10.1-10.7
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• 2014

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with citrus pulp, fish by-product, and Bacillus subtilis fermentation biomass on the growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, and fecal microflora of weanling pigs. A total of 180 weaned piglets (Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire ${\times}$ Duroc) were randomly allotted to three treatments on the basis of body weight (BW). There were six replicate pens in each treatment with 10 piglets per pen. Dietary treatments were corn-soybean meal-based basal diet supplemented with 0 (control), 2.5, and 5.0% citrus pulp, fish by-product, and B. subtilis fermentation biomass. The isocaloric and isoproteineous experimental diets were fed in mash form in two phases (d 0 ~ 14, phase I and d 15 ~ 28, phase II). Dietary treatments had significant linear effects on gain to feed ratio (G:F) in all periods, whereas significant linear effects on ATTD of dry matter (DM), gross energy (GE), and ash were only observed in phase I. Piglets fed diet supplemented with 5.0% citrus pulp, fish by-product, and B. subtilis fermentation biomass showed greater (p < 0.05) G:F (phase I, phase II, and overall) as well as ATTD of DM, GE, and ash (phase I) than pigs fed control diet. Dietary treatments also had significant linear effects on total anaerobic bacteria populations by d 14 and 28. In addition, piglets fed diet supplemented with 5.0% citrus pulp, fish by-product and B. subtilis fermentation biomass showed greater (p < 0.05) fecal total anaerobic bacteria populations (d 14 and 28) than pigs fed control diet. Dietary treatments had no significant effects (linear or quadratic) on average daily gain (ADG), average dial feed intake (ADFI; phase I, phase II, and overall), or fecal populations of Bifidobacterium spp., Clostridium spp., and coliforms (d 14 and 28). These results indicate that dietary supplementation with 5.0% citrus pulp, fish by-product, and B. subtilis fermentation biomass has the potential to improve the feed efficiency, nutrient digestibility, and fecal microflora of weanling pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.119-123
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• 2009

In vitro acid- and bile-tolerant lactic acid bacteria isolated and identified from Indonesian traditional fermented milk dadih might be considered as potential probiotic strains after further characterization with animal models, especially for their therapeutic properties. Five dadih lactic bacteria isolates each had moderate survival rate for 2 h at pH 2.0, as well as bile tolerance. The aim of this research was to identify candidate probiotic lactic bacteria among indigenous dadih lactic isolates originated from Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra, especially their in vivo antimutagenic property. Milk cultured with Enterococcus faecium IS-27526 significantly lowered fecal mutagenicity of rats as compared to the control group, skim milk, and milk cultured with L. plantarum IS-20506. These results suggest that Enterococcus faecium IS-27526 may serve as a potential probiotic strain with its antimutagenicity.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.142-145
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• 2001

The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vivo effect of Lentinus edodes on the harmful enzymes of mouse intestinal bacteria. When mouse intestinal microflora were cultured in the anaerobic media containing Lentinus edodes water extract or trehalose (LD) isolated From its extract, final pH of the cultured media was significantly decreased and the activities of harmful enzymes, particulary ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanase, were significantly inhibited. By orally administering Lentinus edodes water extract or LD, mouse fecal ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanase were also signifcantly inhibited.