-Background -Healthy individuals exhibit a significantly higher concentration of faecal bifidobacteria in comparison to celiac patients.Even though there are potential benefits in probiotic usage, they have been little explored as an adjunctive therapy in celiac disease. Objective -This study aimed at the comparison of faecal bifidobacteria concentration and pH among celiac patients and healthy subjects before and after the daily intake of 100 g of yogurt containing probiotic for a thirty-day period. Methods -Feces from 17 healthy subjects and 14 celiac patients were analyzed, in which stool culture was performed for the isolation and quantification of faecal bifidobacteria. Furthermore, Gram's method was employed for the microscopic analysis of the colonies, while the identification of the Bifidobacterium genus was made through determination of the fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase enzyme. Faecal pH was measured using a calibrated pHmeter. Results -Faecal bifidobacteria concentration before probiotic consumption was significantly higher in healthy individuals (2.3x10 8 ±6.3x10 7 CFU/g) when compared to celiac patients (1.0x10 7 ±1.7x10 7 CFU/g). Faecal pH values did not show a significant difference. After the daily consumption of probiotic-containing yogurt both groups showed a significant increase in the concentration of faecal bifidobacteria, but healthy subjects presented significantly higher bifidobacteria concentrations (14.7x10 8 ±0.2x10 8 CFU/g) than the celiac group (0.76x10 8 ±0.1x10 8 CFU/g). The obtained pH values from both groups were not significantly different, being 7.28±0.518 for the celiac patients and 7.07±0.570 for healthy individuals after the probiotic intake. Conclusion -The probiotic supplementation significantly increased the number of bifidobacteria in the feces of celiac patients, although it was not sufficient to reach the concentration found in healthy individuals prior to its consumption.

No abstract

Background The adenosine deaminase (ADA) enzyme is a marker of inflammatory processes whose activity can be measured through a colorimetric method developed as an in‐house assay. This validation can reduce costs and expand the alternatives for laboratory diagnosis. Methods The ADA analysis was achieved through a modified form of Giusti and Galanti's (1984) method. The following parameters were characterized: calibration curve, linearity, analytical sensitivity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, method working range, precision (within‐assay and between‐assay), bias, total analytical error, and sample stability. The results were statistically evaluated and compared with quality specifications based on biological variations and the performance of commercial tests. Results The analytical sensitivity and limit of detection (0.013 and 3.0 U/L, respectively) were lower than those of commercial tests. The method's working range was 3.2‐100.0 U/L. According to the quality specification, the method showed optimum performance with a bias <3.5%. However, repeatability (2.2% and 1.7% for normal‐ and high‐activity samples, respectively) and reproducibility achieved worse results when compared to commercial tests. The method demonstrated an inappropriate between‐assay precision for low enzymatic activity (10.4%) and the minimum and desirable performance for medium (8.8%) and high (5.0%) activities, respectively. It also presented at least a minimum performance (<25%) for the total analytical error of the three analyzed samples. The pleural fluid samples were found to be stable at −20°C for six days. Conclusion The findings show that the in‐house method displays an acceptable performance and is capable of generating results comparable to existing commercial tests.