Effects of Combined Live Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Bacillus Cereus Tablets on Post-Stroke Depression and Serum Inflammatory Factorse.

OBJECTIVES: Although probiotics have been shown to improve several mental-related diseases, their association with post-stroke depression (PSD) remains unclear. This research aimed to investigate the effect of combined live Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Bacillus cereus tablets on PSD and serum inflammatory factors. METHODS: A total of 400 stroke patients treated from January 2020 to March 2022 in Shuyang Hospital were included and randomly divided into two groups: The observation group (n = 200) and the control group (n = 200). The control group was treated with conventional therapy, while the observation group was given combined live Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Bacillus cereus tablets on the basis of conventional therapy. The Hamilton Depression Scale score was used to assess the degree and incidence of depression in the two groups. Recurrence and complications of PSD in stroke patients after treatment were followed up. In addition, ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) was employed for the detection of serum levels of nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), interleukin (IL)-1ß and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and logistics regression analysis was also performed for the correlation between the occurrence of PSD and NF-κB, IL-1ß, and TNF-α levels. RESULTS: The analysis of clinical baseline data showed that the two groups of patients were comparable. After treatment, the Hamilton Depression Scale score in the observation group was significantly lower than in the control group (p < 0.05), and the observation group had a lower incidence rate of PSD, follow-up recurrence rate and complications (p < 0.05). In addition, the observation group showed a significant decrease in the serum levels of NF-κB, IL-1ß and TNF-α compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Further logistics regression analysis indicated that the levels of NF-κB (OR (odds ratio) = 3.337, p < 0.001), IL-1ß (OR = 2.411, p < 0.001) and TNF-α (OR = 1.557, p < 0.001) were risk factors for the development of PSD. CONCLUSIONS: Combined live Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Bacillus cereus tablets can promote neurological recovery and remission of depression in stroke patients. Such effects may be achieved by regulating the levels of NF-κB, IL-1ß and TNF-α.

New polybranchiaspiform fishes (Agnatha: Galeaspida) from the Middle Palaeozoic of China and their ecomorphological implications.

The 438-370-million-year-old galeaspids, diversified armoured jawless vertebrates ('ostracoderms') from China and northern Vietnam, were assumed to have a benthic feeding habit in a coastal, marine environment. Here, we describe two new genera of galeaspid fishes, Platylomaspis gen. nov. and Nanningaspis gen. nov. from the Middle Palaeozoic of China. The two new forms are characterized by a rostral process and strikingly broad ventral rim, and clustered with Gumuaspis to form a new family, Gumuaspidae, which represents the most primitive clade of Polybranchiaspiformes. They extend the earliest occurrence of Polybranchiaspiformes backward about 19 million years, and expand its geographical distribution from southern China and northern Vietnam to the Tarim Basin, northwestern China. The new taxa exhibit many morphological convergences with modern rays, and might specify a new kind of lifestyle of galeaspids, the half burrowing habit. Probably benefiting from the new lifestyle, the Gumuaspidae has become the longest lasting galeaspid family. The new findings demonstrated that the demersal galeaspids had developed three different kinds of lifestyles: semi-infaunal benthic (half buried), epibenthic, and suprabenthic (nektonic) habits to accommodate to differentiated ecological niches, and reached the peak of their diversity by the Pragian of the Early Devonian.