No abstract

Young children’s mouthing activities thought to be among the most important exposure pathways. Unfortunately, mouthing activity studies have only been conducted in a few countries. In the current study, we used videotaping and computer-based translating method to obtain mouthing activity data for 66 children aged 7 to 35 months old in Taiwan. The median indoor hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth frequencies were 8.91 and 11.39 contacts h−1, respectively. The median indoor hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth hourly contact durations were 0.34 and 0.46 min h−1, respectively. The indoor object-to-mouth activities were significantly and negatively correlated with age. Children aged 12 to <24 months in the current study had lower indoor hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth frequencies than children of same age group in the United States. We also found that indoor mouthing duration with pacifier was significantly and negatively correlated with indoor mouthing duration with other non-dietary objects. The results of the current study indicate that the mouthing behaviors might be different between different countries or populations with different ethnic or lifestyle characteristics. We conclude that using hand-to-mouth frequency values from the current literature may not be most reliable for estimating non-dietary exposures of young children living in Taiwan or even in other similar Asian countries.

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical features of Meckel's diverticula at different ages, genders, and pathology in order to serve as a reminder to clinicians when evaluating potential cases and to help obtain an early diagnosis. Methods. We collected information of patients with Meckel's diverticulum diagnosed at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan from 1984 to 2009. After performing a thorough review of their charts, the clinical features of the Meckel's diverticula were analyzed according to age groups, gender, and pathology. Result. A total of 126 patients, with 90 males and 36 females, were enrolled in this study. Seventy-five patients were symptomatic and 51 Meckel's diverticula were found incidentally during surgery for other diseases. Among symptomatic patients, 39% of pediatric patients and 5% of adult patients had intestinal hemorrhage. Twenty-eight percent of pediatric patients and 67% of adult patients had inflammation of Meckel's diverticulum. Forty-six percent of males and 16% of females had inflammation. Conversely, 27% of males and 58% percent of females had intestinal obstruction. When Meckel's diverticulum had ectopic gastric mucosa, it tended to cause intestinal hemorrhage when the patient is young. Conclusions. Age, gender, and pathology affect the clinical presentations of Meckel's diverticula.

In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and reinforcing barrier effects of Lactobacillus casei subsp. rhamnosus (Lcr35) on Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells already exposed to Salmonella LPS. Using the Transwell co-culture model, Salmonella LPS was apically added to polarized Caco-2 cells co-cultured with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in the basolateral compartment. LPS-stimulated Caco-2 cells were incubated with Lcr35 for 1, 6, 24 or 48 h. Apical inoculation of Lcr35 after 48 h significantly inhibited the basolateral secretion of interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the Caco-2/PBMC co-culture. The PCR analysis showed that Lcr35 significantly downregulated mRNA expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) (P,0.05) and had a trend of decreasing mRNA expression of IL-8 (P50.05), but did not alter mRNA expression of transforming growth factor-b1 in LPS-stimulated Caco-2 cells at 48 h after addition of Lcr35. Compared to non-LPS-pretreated controls, transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) of the polarized Caco-2 cell monolayers pretreated with LPS for 48 h was decreased by 9.9 % (P,0.05). Additionally, compared to those cells only treated with LPS, apical co-incubation with Lcr35 showed biphasic TEER levels increased by 12.1 % (P,0.001), 5.7 % (P,0.05) and 86.8 % (P,0.001) in the Caco-2 cell monolayers compared to those without Lcr35 treatment after 1, 6 and 48 h, respectively. In conclusion, Lcr35 can exert anti-inflammatory effects and ameliorate barrier dysfunction in the Salmonella LPS-pretreated inflamed intestinal epithelium in vitro.