SICHUAN, China, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Probiotics, added to nutrients supplied through a feeding tube to a patient with a traumatic brain injury, may improve outcomes, Chinese researchers suggest.
Professor Jing-Ci Zhu -- study leader from the Third Military Medical University School of Nursing and colleagues at the North Sichuan Medical College and Hospital in China -- said traumatic brain injury is associated with a profound suppression of a patient's ability to fight infection. Probiotics, found in yogurt and supplements, are live microorganisms thought to be beneficial to the host organism.
Patients often suffer hyper-inflammation due to the brain releasing glucocorticoids in response to the injury, the researchers said.
Suppression of the immune system can be measured by an alteration of helper T-cells (Th) from Th1 -- which stimulate action of macrophages to fight infection -- to Th2. Th2 cells recruit B-cells, which in turn are involved in antibod
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