Our study shows that Lactobacillus rhamnosus BFE5264 and Lactobacillus plantarum NR74 activated LXR and induced cholesterol efflux by promoting expression of ABCA1 and ABCG1. Both strains also suppressed proinflammatory cytokines including IL-1β and TNF-α. This study could account for the observation that LAB may block foam cell formation by cholesterol efflux and immune modulation.

Editorial on the Research TopicProbiotics and constipation This Research Topic mainly focuses on the attenuation effect and potential mechanism of new probiotics on constipation. To date, five papers, including four research articles and one review article have been collected in this Research Topic. Bacillus coagulans BC01, Bifidobacterium lactis TY-S01, and Lactobacillus plantarum KFY02 increased the fecal moisture and gastrointestinal transit rate in mice (Zhou et al., Tang et al. and Yi et al.). Furthermore, the authors found that these strains can promote the homeostasis of gut microbiota in the constipated mice (Zhou et al., Tang et al., and Yi et al.). Bifidobacterium lactis TY-S01 and Lactobacillus plantarum KFY02 increase the community richness and bacterial diversity. More importantly, the structure and composition of intestinal flora in the constipated mice are markedly changed by these three strains, and the change in the abundance of special species depends on the strain specificity of probiotics. The mechanisms underlying these effects on constipation are summarized as follows.

Jangkanghwan (JKH) is a Korean traditional food that is a mixture of food ingredients and traditional Korean medicine ingredients, and it has been observed to produce satisfactory anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial effects. In the current study, JKH was administered by gavage to BALB/C mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced colonic epithelial dysfunction, and mouse body weight and food intake were recorded. Indexes such as colonic paracellular permeability, serum inflammatory cytokines, and bacterial translocation were used to comprehensively evaluate the regulatory effect of JKH on mouse colonic epithelial function, and qPCR and Western blot were also used to analyze the expression of tight junction (TJ)-related genes, such as occludin, claudin, zonula occludens (ZOs) proteins, and junction adhesion molecules (JAM) in the colonic epithelial tissue. The experimental results indicated that JKH relieved the edema of the liver, spleen, and mesenteric lymph node tissues, and reduced the loss of appetite and diarrhea caused by LPS injection in mice. It increased the amount of mice food intake from 3.7 g/day in the LPS group to 4.7 g per day; the water content in the feces of mice in the JKH group was 13.86% less than that in the LPS group. JKH reduced the inflammatory response in mice caused by LPS, protected the integrity of the colon, the permeability of fluorescent macromolecules was one-fourth of the LPS group, and enhanced the mRNA and protein expression of TJ-related proteins in colon tissue. Our findings highlight that JKH has benefits in intestinal health and relieving systemic inflammation, relevant aspects of its use as a functional food.

This study focuses on operational analysis of 2 types of intersection shared lanes. First, the analysis showed that a through & right-turn shared lane is always less used than the adjacent through-only lanes and as a result, operational efficiency deteriorates. To improve the efficiency fine-tuning in signal timing optimization using lane-by-lane traffic volume data is required. Further improvement can be achieved by guiding drivers to equally use the shared lane. For left-turn & U-turn shared lanes, it was found that saturation flow rate is affected by interference between U-turn and conflicting right-turn movements. However, since such interference does not occur in every cycle, a statistical model must be established to develop realistic adjustment factor for saturation flow rate of the shared lane.