Efficacy of a Probiotic Consisting of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus PDV 1705, Bifidobacterium bifidum PDV 0903, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis PDV 1911, and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum PDV 2301 in the Treatment of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and COVID-19-associated diarrhea remains challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a multi-strain probiotic in the treatment of COVID-19. This was a randomized, controlled, single-center, open-label trial (NCT04854941). Inpatients with confirmed COVID-19 and pneumonia were randomly assigned to a group that received a multi-strain probiotic (PRO group) or to the control group (CON group). There were 99 and 101 patients in the PRO and CON groups, respectively. No significant differences in mortality, total duration of disease and hospital stay, incidence of intensive care unit admission, need for mechanical ventilation or oxygen support, liver injury development, and changes in inflammatory biomarker levels were observed between the PRO and CON groups among all included patients as well as among subgroups delineated based on age younger or older than 65 years, and subgroups with chronic cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Diarrhea on admission was observed in 11.5% of patients; it resolved earlier in the PRO group than in the CON group (2 [1-4] vs. 4 [3-6] days; p = 0.049). Hospital-acquired diarrhea developed less frequently in the PRO group than in the CON group among patients who received a single antibiotic (0% vs. 12.5%; p = 0.023) unlike among those who received > 1 antibiotic (10.5% vs. 13.3%; p = 0.696). The studied probiotic had no significant effect on mortality and changes in most biomarkers in COVID-19. However, it was effective in treating diarrhea associated with COVID-19 and in preventing hospital-acquired diarrhea in patients who received a single antibiotic.

Low aquaporin-2 excretion in the nephrotic syndrome: an escape from the vasopressin regulating effect.

PURPOSE: Experimental studies suggest that the nephrotic syndrome is associated with "vasopressin escape", characterized by low aquaporin-2 (AQP2) expression in the collecting duct despite high vasopressin secretion. We investigated this phenomenon in patients with the nephrotic syndrome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We recruited 47 patients with proteinuric kidney disease who were distributed into the following four groups: 1) nephrotic syndrome with kidney dysfunction (n=10); 2) nephrotic syndrome with normal kidney function (n=16); 3) partial remission of nephrotic syndrome (n=10); and 4) minimal proteinuria (n=11). Nine healthy volunteers comprised a control group. Serum copeptin level (as a marker of vasopressin secretion) and urinary AQP2 were measured using ELISA. RESULTS: Nephrotic syndrome was associated with a significant increase in serum copeptin levels compared with those in the other groups (all P<0.05). In patients with nephrotic syndrome and a partial remission of nephrotic syndrome combined, there was more than a ten-fold decrease in the median urinary AQP2 excretion (0.03 ng/mL) compared with healthy volunteers (0.41 ng/mL; P<0.001) and more than a five-fold decrease compared with patients with minimal proteinuria (0.21 ng/mL; P<0.05). Unlike copeptin levels, the median urinary AQP2 excretion in patients with minimal proteinuria also decreased but less significantly than in those with nephrotic syndrome. There was a negative correlation between the urinary AQP2 excretion and daily proteinuria (R=-0.41; P=0.005). CONCLUSION: Our clinical study was the first to demonstrate low AQP2 excretion in nephrotic syndrome that may indicate an escape from the vasopressin regulating effect.