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Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder in gastrointestinal system and impairs the quality of life of the patients. Clostridium butyricum ( CB ) is a probiotics that has been used in several gastrointestinal diseases. The efficacy of CB in treating IBS is still unknown. This prospective, multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of CB in treating diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) and analyze the fecal microbiota after treatment. Two hundred patients with IBS-D were recruited and were given CB or placebo for 4 weeks. End points included change from baseline in IBS symptoms, quality of life, stool consistency and frequency. Compared with placebo, CB is effective in improving the overall IBS-D symptoms (−62.12 ± 74.00 vs. −40.74 ± 63.67, P  = 0.038) as well as quality of life (7.232 ± 14.06 vs. 3.159 ± 11.73, P  = 0.032) and stool frequency (−1.602 ± 1.416 vs. −1.086 ± 1.644, P  = 0.035). The responder rates are found higher in CB compared with the placebo (44.76% vs. 30.53%, P  = 0.042). The change in fecal microbiota was analyzed and function pathways of CB in treating IBS-D were predicted. In conclusion, CB improves overall symptoms, quality of life and stool frequency in IBS-D patients and is considered to be used as a probiotics in treating IBS-D clinically.

Developing efficient catalysts for organic pollutants degradation is crucial for remediating the current severe water environment, yet remains a great challenge. Herein, we report silver nanoparticles immobilized on an amine-functionalized metal-organic framework (MOFs) (Ag/UiO-66-NH 2 ) as a robust catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The fabricated Ag/UiO-66-NH 2 catalyst exhibits the merits of superior activities (high turnover frequency (TOF) 3.2 × 10 4 h −1 and k value 6.9 × 10 −2 s −1 ), cost-effectiveness under the lowest NaBH 4 concentration ( n [NaBH4] / n [4-NP] , 200), outstanding cyclability (10 recycling runs), and observable long-term durability, significantly outperforming previously reported catalytic system. The excellent degradation efficiency is ascribed to the favorable microenvironment modulation of unique MOF structure, which regulates the intrinsic properties of active sites and improves the electron-transfer process. Notably, the Ag/UiO-66-NH 2 also promotes the catalytic degradation of several organic pollutants at room temperature and hence could find a broad application for water remediation. This work offers a new avenue for the development of high-performance MOF-based catalysts with excellent activity and durability.