A randomized, double blind, parallel, placebo‐controlled st…

| 5

WANG et al .

FIGURE 2 The anthropometrics and intestinal movements of subjects. (a) The height (line chart used the left vertical axis) and weight (histogram used the right axis) of subjects in both groups showed no significant differences. (b, c) The scores of stool consistency and flatulence were calculated based on daily symptom diary. Both of them revealed no significant differences, so were the results in the 6–­ 18 months subgroup shown in the upper right corner of each histogram

FIGURE 3 Salivary cortisol values (pg/ ml) for both LP N1115 and placebo groups according to the different age groups. (a) Cortisol levels were assessed at baseline, week 4 and week 8 which showed no significant difference between two groups ( p > .05). (b) Cortisol levels at the same three time points also showed no significant differences in the 6–18 months subgroup ( p > .05). Hollow dots represent data of each subjects in the placebo group, and solid dots are data in LP N1115 group

delivered infants within the first year of life (Shao et al., 2019). In contrast, the mid and lower sections on the left-hand side of the heatmap are dominated with high levels of Ruminococcaceae , Lachnospiraceae, and Christensenellaceae spp . that are known to be prevalent in the gut of young children between the ages of 3 and 4 years (Fouhy et al., 2019). In this instance, it was determined that gender, the age of subjects represented as years and months, and LP N1115 treatment explained the largest proportion of variance in terms of the microbiota (Figure 4c). In total, 16 phyla were identified, of which, Firmicutes (62.49%) followed by Bacteroidetes (23.03%) and Actinobacteria (9.70%) dom - inated the microbiota over the course of the 8-week intervention (Figure 4d). Although not statistically significant, Actinobacteria de - creased in abundance from 17.70% at baseline to 7.00% by week 4 in

LP N1115 group. Conversely, Bacteroidetes increased in abundance from 22.50% at baseline to 28.60% by week 4. In addition, there were a number of differentially abundant bacteria between LP N1115 and placebo groups at each time point and overtime (see Table S1 for all differentially abundant genera). In LP N1115 group, differences between baseline and week 4 included Bifidobacterium , Gemella , Erysipelatoclostridium , Citrobacter , Enterococcus , Sarcina , Klebsiella , Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, and Hungatella (all p < .05). From base - line to week 8, Gemella , Granulicatella , Bifidobacterium , Citrobacter , and Rothia were significantly different. Lastly, Prevotella_9 and Megamonas were significantly different between weeks 4 and 8. In the placebo group, Megamonas was significantly different between baseline and week 4 and between weeks 4 and 8. Interestingly, when comparing the two groups at each time point, a notably significant

Powered by