BACKGROUND The probiotic mixture VSL#3 has proven efficacious in inflammatory bowel diseases and irritable bowel syndrome; however, its efficacy in microscopic colitis (MC) is being investigated. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a multistrain probiotic, VSL#3, in inducing clinical remission and achieving clinical response, as compared with mesalamine, in patients with active M...

BACKGROUND The intestinal microbiota plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of pouchitis, a major complication after ileal pouch anal anastomosis in patients with ulcerative colitis. Recently, controlled trials have demonstrated that probiotics are effective in maintenance of remission in pouchitis patients. However, the mechanism by which therapy with probiotics works remains elusive. Th...

This paper discusses various interpersonal factors with implications for valuation of statistical lives (VSL). We argue that such factors are important and that a valuation principle whereby risk changes are elicited on a purely individualistic basis may seriously bias VSL valuation. Risk-focussed altruism and purely selfish motivations for the survival of others, in particular close family mem...

The value of a statistical life (VSL) literature primarily utilizes cross-sectional analyses that are susceptible to bias from unobserved time-invariant factors. Further, many occupational death data have considerable non-classical measurement error. This paper addresses these two shortcomings by using truck driver panel data from 1979 to 2002 to bound VSL estimates. Measurement error will atte...

OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine the effects of the probiotic, VSL#3, on body and fat mass, insulin sensitivity, and skeletal muscle substrate oxidation following 4 weeks of a high-fat diet. METHODS Twenty non-obese males (18-30 years) participated in the study. Following a 2-week eucaloric control diet, participants underwent dual X-ray absorptiometry to determine body composition, a...

To determine the effects of heat-killed VSL#3 (B. breve, B. longum and B. infantis; L. plantarum, L. bulgaricus, L. casei and L. acidophilus; S. salivarius subsp. thermophilus) therapy in the dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced acute experimental colitis in rats. Acute experimental colitis was induced in rats by 5% DSS and freely drink for seven days. Beginning on Day 8, rats underwent gavage ...

Research recently conducted at the University of Central Florida involving crashes on Interstate-4 (I-4) freeway in Orlando, Florida led to the creation of new statistical and neural networks models that are capable of determining rear-end and lane-change crash risks along the freeway in real-time. For determining the rear-end crash risk, it was found that rear-end crashes occur within one of t...

We contrast features of simple varying speed of light (VSL) cosmologies with inflationary universe models. We present new features of VSL cosmologies and show that they cannot explain the cosmological isotropy problem. We find that if c falls fast enough to solve the flatness and horizon problems then the quantum wavelengths of massive particle states and the radii of primordial black holes wil...