Review: Meta-analysis on mindfulness-based interventions for adolescents' stress, depression, and anxiety in school settings: a cautionary tale.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been applied in school settings for adolescents with symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety; however, general conclusions of the efficacy of such interventions remain unclear. This meta-analysis reviewed randomized-controlled MBI trials for stress, depression, and anxiety in school settings. METHODS: One hundred one records were included after removing duplicates. Nine studies met inclusion criteria, totalling 5046 adolescents aged 12-18. Eighteen comparisons between an MBI and a control group were analyzed. RESULTS: The overall effect for symptoms of the 17 observations including stress, depression, and anxiety resulted in a significant improvement with a small effect size (k = 17, n = 3721, Hedge's g = .33, CI 95% .17-.49 p < .01). Subgroup analysis revealed that when MBIs were compared to an active control group effects were not significant (k = 5, n = 2753, Hedge's g = .27, CI 95% -.03-.57 p = .08), and when compared to an inactive control group the effect was significant with a small effect size (k = 5, n = 1065, Hedge's g = .38, CI 95% .02-.75 p < .05). Analysis of the interventions on a per symptom basis yielded a significant and moderate effect size for perceived stress (k = 7, n = 1116, Hedge's g = .55, CI 95% .31-.79 p < .01); however, there were no significant effects for depression (k = 6, n = 3172, Hedge's g = .20, CI 95% -.05-.44 p < .01) and anxiety (k = 4, n = 837, Hedge's g = .19, CI 95% -.14-.53 p = .25). CONCLUSIONS: The impact of MBIs in school settings for adolescents yielded a significant improvement for stress, but did not for depression and anxiety. The effects were significant when compared to inactive controls, but not when compared to active controls. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Regulation of Intestinal Inflammation by Soybean and Soy-Derived Compounds.

Environmental factors, particularly diet, are considered central to the pathogenesis of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In particular, the Westernization of diet, characterized by high intake of animal protein, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates, has been shown to contribute to the development and progression of IBD. During the last decade, soybean, as well as soy-derived bioactive compounds (e.g., isoflavones, phytosterols, Bowman-Birk inhibitors) have been increasingly investigated because of their anti-inflammatory properties in animal models of IBD. Herein we provide a scoping review of the most studied disease mechanisms associated with disease induction and progression in IBD rodent models after feeding of either the whole food or a bioactive present in soybean.

Autologous fecal microbiota transplantation for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

The term autologous fecal microbiota transplantation (a-FMT) refers herein to the use of one's feces during a healthy state for later use to restore gut microbial communities after perturbations. Generally, heterologous fecal microbiota transplantation (h-FMT), where feces from a ``healthy" donor is transplanted into a person with illness, has been used to treat infectious diseases such as recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), with cure rates of up to 90%. In humans, due to limited response to medicines, h-FMT has become a hallmark intervention to treat CDI. Extrapolating the benefits from CDI, h-FMT has been attempted in various diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but clinical response has been variable and less effective (ranging between 24% and 50%). Differences in h-FMT clinical response could be because CDI is caused by a Clostridial infection, whereas IBD is a complex, microbiome-driven immunological inflammatory disorder that presents predominantly within the gut wall of genetically-susceptible hosts. FMT response variability could also be due to differences in microbiome composition between donors, recipients, and within individuals, which vary with diet, and environments, across regions. While donor selection has emerged as a key factor in FMT success, the use of heterologous donor stool still places the recipient at risk of exposure to infectious/pathogenic microorganisms. As an implementable solution, herein we review the available literature on a-FMT, and list some considerations on the benefits of a-FMT for IBD.