Department of pediatrics

Abstract
Background: Campylobacter spp. are a major cause of bacterial food-borne diarrhoeal disease. This mainly arises
through contamination of meat products during processing. For infection, Campylobacter spp. must adhere to
epithelial cells of the mucus layer, survive conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, and colonise the intestine of the
host. Addition of probiotic bacteria might promote competitive adhesion to epithelial cells, consequently reducing
Campylobacter jejuni colonisation. Effect of Lactobacillus spp. (PCS20, PCS22, PCS25, LGG, PCK9) on C. jejuni adhesion,
invasion and translocation in pig (PSI cl.1) and chicken (B1OXI) small-intestine cell lines, as well as pig enterocytes
(CLAB) was investigated.
Results: Overall, in competitive adhesion assays with PSI cl.1 and CLAB cell monolayers, the addition of Lactobacillus spp.
reduced C. jejuni adherence to the cell surface, and negatively affected the C. jejuni invasion. Interestingly, Lactobacillus
spp. significantly impaired C. jejuni adhesion in three-dimensional functional PSI cl.1 and B1OXI cell models. Also, C. jejuni
did not translocate across PSI cl.1 and B1OXI cell monolayers when co-incubated with probiotics. Among selected
probiotics, Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG was the strain that reduced adhesion efficacy of C. jejuni most significantly under
co-culture conditions.
Conclusion: The addition of Lactobacillus spp. to feed additives in livestock nutrition might be an effective novel strategy
that targets Campylobacter adhesion to epithelial cells, and thus prevents colonisation, reduces the transmission, and
finally lowers the incidence of human campylobacteriosis.
Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni, Lactobacillus spp., Chicken and pig cell line, Adhesion, Invasion, Translocation

    Optimal nutrition is one of the most important aspects in the care of infants, especially for the preterm infants and neonates. Until the 1900s, an infant’s survival and health were closly related to the availability of breastmilk.  Human milk was and still is the best food for nearly all infants. Besides physical growth, human milk offers a variety of other benefits, including modulation of postnatal intestinal function, maturation of immune system, and has positive effect on brain development. Even though breastfeeding is highly recommended, it may not always be possible, suitable or adequate. Through history, the evolution of infant feeding included wet nursing, bottle feeding, and formula use. Wet nursing was the safest and most common alternative to the breastmilk before bottles and infant milk formula were invented. However, society's negative view of wet nursing together with the invention and improvements of the feeding bottle, the availability of animal’s milk, and ...

Background: Measurements of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among celiac disease patients using a validated questionnaire have been lacking in Slovenia. This study aims to measure HRQoL in celiac disease (CD) patients using EQ-5D internationally validated questionnaire and comparing it to the HRQoL of the general population. Methods: In this cross sectional analysis all of the approximately 2,000 members of the Slovenian Celiac Society were invited to take part. We used a 3 step approach for recruitment and data collection. HRQoL was evaluated through the EuroQoL EQ-5D-5L instrument (Slovenian version) and analysed using the ordinal logistic regression. Results: Out of 321 patients who gave their consent, 247 celiac patients were included in the study (77%). 68% of the participants were female and 53% of them lived in an urban setting. Most patients originated from North-East Slovenia, whereas approximately 30% of patients came from other Slovenian regions. The EQ-5D responde...

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