PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Probiotics do not help infants with colic

Probiotics cannot be routinely recommended for all infants with colic, say experts

2014-04-02
(Press-News.org) These findings differ from previous smaller trials and do not support a general recommendation for the use of probiotics to treat colic in infants.

Infant colic (excessive crying of unknown cause) affects up to 20% of infants and is a major burden to families and health services. Although it spontaneously resolves three to four months after birth, its cause remains elusive and no single effective treatment exists.

Previous small trials suggest that the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri effectively treats colic in breastfed infants. These studies, however, had limitations as they examined only a highly selective group of infants with colic. The effects of L reuteri on formula fed infants with colic are unknown.

So researchers based in Australia and Canada set out to determine whether the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri reduces crying or fussing in 167 breastfed and formula fed infants with colic aged less than three months old.

A total of 85 infants were randomised to receive the probiotic and 82 to receive placebo for one month. Outcomes included daily duration of crying or fussing at one month, sleep duration, mother's mental health, family and infant quality of life.

Levels of gut microbial diversity, faecal calprotectin (a marker of gut inflammation) and E coli colonisation were also examined.

The results show that the probiotic group fussed significantly more than the placebo group at all time points from day seven to one month. At one month, the probiotic group cried or fussed 49 minutes more than the placebo group. This increased fussing occurred only in formula fed infants. L reuteri did not affect crying or fussing time in exclusively breastfed infants.

L reuteri treatment did not lead to changes in infant faecal microbial diversity, E coli colonisation, or calprotectin levels.

The researchers point out that this is the largest randomised controlled trial of probiotic intervention in infants with colic to date. They conclude that L reuteri treatment "did not reduce crying or fussing in infants with colic, nor was it effective in improving infant sleep, maternal mental health, family or infant functioning, or quality of life" and say "probiotics therefore cannot be routinely recommended for all infants with colic."

Further research is needed to identify which subgroups of infants with colic may benefit from probiotics, they add.

This represents the most definitive and well designed study to date on this controversial topic, writes William E Bennett Jr, Assistant Professor of Paediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, in an accompanying editorial.

With such a dearth of good evidence, should we be treating infant colic at all, he asks? He points out that children with colic "incur no serious long term effects" from the disorder and symptoms "abate with time," whereas the potential harm associated with diagnostic testing and treatment of infants "is likely to surpass the harm from colic itself."

As the old adage goes "babies cry," he concludes. Parents and their babies "may be better served if we devote more resources to studying the interventions recommended long before the discovery of probiotics: reassurance, family social support, and the tincture of time."

INFORMATION: END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New dementia diagnosis targets will lead to overdiagnosis

2014-04-02
The government is putting pressure on commissioners, and in turn general practitioners, to make more diagnoses of dementia, but no analysis has been done to assess the harm that these targets could cause. Dr Martin Brunet, a GP from Surrey, says that "medicine depends on a fundamental, unspoken agreement between patients and doctors […] the only factor influencing the decision to diagnose should be the best interests of patients". He adds that the idea of doctors being motivated by self interest is "abhorrent and undermines the basis of the relationship". He says that ...

The Sun's campaign may actually harm women

2014-04-02
The "check 'em Tuesday" campaign is a weekly call for women to examine their breasts. Readers are asked to send in photos to prove compliance and can even sign up for a text message reminder. But Dr McCartney argues that teaching women to examine their breasts regularly "has been shown not to reduce deaths from breast cancer and actually increases the chances of a benign biopsy result." She says it is "unfair to tell women that regular self examination will save their lives when it may simply incur anxiety and have the potential to harm." She points out that this is ...

Screening for liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis

2014-04-02
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 47 studies with 15,158 patients, Amit Singal (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and colleagues found that patients with cirrhosis who underwent surveillance (via liver ultrasound with or without measurement of serum alpha fetoprotein) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) had cancers detected at an earlier stage, were more likely to receive curative instead of palliative treatment, and had longer survival. Across all the studies, the pooled 3-year survival rate was 50.8% among the 4735 patients who underwent HCC surveillance, ...

Heart attack gene, MRP-14, triggers blood clot formation

Heart attack gene, MRP-14, triggers blood clot formation
2014-04-02
Right now, options are limited for preventing heart attacks. However, the day may come when treatments target the heart attack gene, myeloid related protein-14 (MRP-14, also known as S100A9) and defang its ability to produce heart attack-inducing blood clots, a process referred to as thrombosis. Scientists at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center have reached a groundbreaking milestone toward this goal. They have studied humans and mice and discovered how MRP-14 generates dangerous clots that could trigger heart attack or ...

Will roe deer persist? Climate change spells disaster for species unable to keep up

2014-04-02
As the climate continues to change, it's unclear to what extent different species will be able to keep pace with altered temperatures and shifted seasons. Living organisms are the survivors of previous environmental changes and might therefore be expected to adapt, but are there limits? According to research to be published in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on April 1, some species may be much less able to cope with the effects of climate change than previously thought. The study, by Floriane Plard, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Christophe Bonenfant and colleagues, looked ...

Age-related decline in sleep quality might be reversible

2014-04-02
Sleep is essential for human health. But with increasing age, many people experience a decline in sleep quality, which in turn reduces their quality of life. In a new study publishing April 1 in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology, Scientists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biology of Ageing in Cologne have investigated the mechanisms by which ageing impairs sleep in the fruit fly. Their findings suggest that age-related sleep decline can be prevented and might even be reversible. To uncover basic age-related sleep mechanisms, the Max Planck scientists studied the ...

Enhancers serve to restrict potentially dangerous hypermutation to antibody genes

2014-04-02
How B lymphocytes are able to direct mutations to their antibody genes to produce millions of different antibodies has fascinated biologists for decades. A new study publishing in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on April 1 by Buerstedde and colleagues shows that this process of programed, spatially targeted genome mutation (aka. somatic hypermutation) is controlled by nearby transcription regulatory sequences called enhancers. Enhancers are usually known to control gene transcription, and these antibody enhancers are now shown to also act in marking the antibody genes ...

Going batty for jumping DNA as a cause of species diversity

2014-04-02
The vesper bats are the largest and best-known common family of bats, with more than 400 species spread across the globe, ranking second among mammals in species diversity. Authors Ray et al., wanted to get at the root cause of this diversity by taking advantage of two vesper bat species whose genomes have recently been sequenced. They speculated that one cause of this diversity might be jumping elements in the genome, called DNA transposons, which are more active and recent in the evolutionary history of this family than any other mammal. Why and how this DNA transposon ...

Likely culprit in spread of colon cancer identified

Likely culprit in spread of colon cancer identified
2014-04-02
New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville has implicated a poorly understood protein called PLAC8 in the spread of colon cancer. While elevated PLAC8 levels were known to be associated with colon cancer, the researchers now have shown that the protein plays an active role in shifting normal cells lining the colon into a state that encourages metastasis. The work appears April 1 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. "We knew levels of this protein are elevated in colon cancer," said ...

Gene therapy improves limb function following spinal cord injury

2014-04-02
Delivering a single injection of a scar-busting gene therapy to the spinal cord of rats following injury promotes the survival of nerve cells and improves hind limb function within weeks, according to a study published April 2 in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest that, with more confirming research in animals and humans, gene therapy may hold the potential to one day treat people with spinal cord injuries. The spinal cord is the main channel through which information passes between the brain and the rest of the body. Most spinal cord injuries are caused ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Electrons reveal their handedness in attosecond flashes

Research implicates biomolecular condensates in a type of childhood brain cancer

AUF1 protein plays anti-aging role by regulating cellular metabolism

How Iceland’s fiery mantle plume scattered ancient volcanoes across the North Atlantic

Many patients with advanced cancer feel their treatment is not aligned with their personal care goals

Older species tend to have large ranges – unless they live on islands

Glow-in-the-dark succulents that recharge with sunlight

Origin of life breakthrough: Chemists show how RNA might have started to make proteins on early Earth

Partial heart transplant for congenital heart disease

Two big steps toward the evolution of bipedality

Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists among individuals undergoing bariatric surgery in the US

Global inequities in diabetes technology and insulin access and glycemic outcomes

New fossils show how “bizarre” armoured dinosaur, Spicomellus afer, had 1 metre spikes sticking out from its neck

UCLA scientists uncover brain network controlling stress and social behavior in mice

Housing aid linked to lower medical financial hardship among U.S. renters with cancer

The no surprises act has reduced patients’ out-of-pocket spending for medical care

Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and skin cancer risk

Molecular Analysis for Precision Oncology Congress (MAP) 2025: Event Announcement

Unmasking inflammatory bowel disease in nigeria: a multicenter cross-sectional analysis of clinico-pathological and endoscopic findings

Gene therapy leads to improved quality of life in patients with sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia

Seroprevalence 36 months after a single-dose bivalent human papillomavirus vaccination among nine to fifteen-year-old girls in Dhaka, Bangladesh

In a challenging labor market, Black women with disabilities are choosing self-employment

SwRI develops an ion-assisted chromatography process to accelerate drug development

Local news services need to adapt or face extinction: report

Myocardial infarction may be an infectious disease

Access to four-year colleges that effectively serve low-income students is uneven across U.S., new study finds

American Meteorological Society announces 2026 weather, water, and climate honorees

Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation for gastrointestinal disorders

WSU study suggests returning students didn’t drive COVID-19 outbreaks in town

CURE GABA-A announces GABRA1 proof-of-concept for nanolipid particle therapy with Grann Pharmaceuticals

[Press-News.org] Probiotics do not help infants with colic
Probiotics cannot be routinely recommended for all infants with colic, say experts