The Effects of Probiotic Honey Consumption on Metabolic Status in Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Trial

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first evaluating the effects of probiotic honey intake on glycemic control, lipid profiles, biomarkers of inflammation, and oxidative stress in patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN). This investigation was conducted to evaluate the effects of probiotic honey intake on metabolic status in patients with DN. This randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial was performed among 60 patients with DN. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups to receive either 25 g/day probiotic honey containing a viable and heat-resistant probiotic Bacillus coagulans T11 (IBRC-M10791) (10 8  CFU/g) or 25 g/day control honey (n = 30 each group) for 12 weeks. Fasting blood samples were taken at baseline and 12 weeks after supplementation to quantify glycemic status, lipid concentrations, biomarkers of inflammation, and oxidative stress. After 12 weeks of intervention, patients who received probiotic honey compared with the control honey had significantly decreased serum insulin levels (� 1.2 ± 1.8 vs. � 0.1 ± 1.3 μIU/mL, P = 0.004) and homeostasis model of assessment-estimated insulin resistance (� 0.5 ± 0.6 vs. 0.003 ± 0.4, P = 0.002) and significantly improved quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (+ 0.005 ± 0.009 vs. � 0.0007 ± 0.005, P = 0.004). Additionally, compared with the control honey, probiotic honey intake has resulted in a significant reduction in total-/HDL-cholesterol (� 0.2 ± 0.5 vs. + 0.1 ± 0.1, P = 0.04). Probiotic honey intake significantly reduced serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (� 1.9 ± 2.4 vs. � 0.2 ± 2.7 mg/L, P = 0.01) and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (� 0.1 ± 0.6 vs. + 0.6 ± 1.0 μmol/L, P = 0.002) compared with the control honey. Probiotic honey intake had no significant effects on other metabolic profiles compared with the control honey. Overall, findings from the current study demonstrated that probiotic honey consumption for 12 weeks among DN patients had beneficial effects on insulin metabolism, total-/HDL-cholesterol, serum hs-CRP, and plasma MDA levels, but did not affect other metabolic profiles. http://www.irct.ir: IRCT201705035623N115. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Asymptotics of the eigenvalues for exponentially parameterized pentadiagonal matrices

International audienceLet P(t) be an n × n (complex) exponentially parameterized pentadiagonal matrix. In this article, using a theorem of Akian, Bapat, and Gaubert, we present explicit formulas for asymptotics of the moduli of the eigenvalues of P(t) as t → ∞. Our approach is based on exploiting the relation with tropical algebra and the weighted digraphs of matrices. We prove that this asymptotics tends to a unique limit or two limits. Also, for n − 2 largest magnitude eigenvalues of P(t) we compute the asymptotics as n → ∞, in addition to t. When P(t) is also symmetric, these formulas allow us to compute the asymptotics of the 2‐norm condition number. The number of arithmetic operations involved, does not depend on n. We illustrate our results by some numerical tests

Physiochemical and microbial properties of honey containing heat-resistant Bacillus coagulans T11

The present work was assumed to evaluate the physicochemical and microbial characteristics of honey containing heat-resistant Bacillus coagulans T11 (HBC) samples. The HBC sample exhibited a Newtonian behavior with higher viscosity rate than the control honey (without B. coagulans T11) sample. The results from chemical analysis revealed that ash, proline, acidity, insoluble solid, pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of HBC sample were more than control honey sample (p < 0.05). Results showed B. coagulans T11 in honey was resistant to simulated gastrointestinal conditions. The viable counts of bacteria in HBC decreased after 120 days at the environmental temperature (24 ± 2 °C), but were not lower than 6 logs CFU/g. The present findings suggest that honey containing B. coagulans T11 can be used as a beneficial and functional product in the food industry. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature