Acetylcysteine in the treatment of subacute sinusitis: A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial

2017 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. E7-E21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrzad Bahtouee ◽  
Gholamhosein Monavarsadegh ◽  
Mohammadjavad Ahmadipour ◽  
Mazyar Motieilangroodi ◽  
Niloofar Motamed ◽  
...  

Sinusitis is a common disease with harmful effects on the health and finances of patients and the economy of the community. It is easily treated in most of its acute stages but is associated with some management difficulties as it goes toward chronicity. Therefore, we tried to improve the treatment of subacute sinusitis by using acetylcysteine, which is a safe mucolytic and antioxidant agent. Thirty-nine adult patients with subacute sinusitis proved by computed tomography (CT) were enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. They received oral amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and normal saline nasal drops for 10 days and oral pseudoephedrine for 7 days. In addition, the patients received acetylcysteine (600 mg orally, once daily) in the intervention group or placebo in the control group for 10 days. A paranasal CT scan was taken at baseline and 30 days after patients finished the treatment and was evaluated quantitatively by Lund-Mackay (LM) score. Symptoms and some aspects of quality of life also were assessed at baseline and 14 days after initiation and 30 days after termination of the treatment via the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test questionnaire. The groups showed no significant difference in LM score after treatment. A positive correlation was observed between the LM and SNOT-20 scores. We concluded that adding oral acetylcysteine to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, pseudoephedrine, and intranasal normal saline has no benefit for the treatment of subacute sinusitis.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Yargholi ◽  
Leila Shirbeigi ◽  
Roja Rahimi ◽  
Parvin Mansouri ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Ayati

Abstract Objective Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. It can involve any body skin area, particularly the scalp, lower back, elbows, and knees. There are several topical and systemic therapies for the treatment. Nowadays, herbal medicines are popular treatments for dermatologic conditions. This two-arm parallel, randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted to examine the hypothesis of the efficacy of Melissa officinalis syrup on patients with mild-to-moderate Plaque psoriasis. Result Among 100 patients, 95 participants completed the trial and five of them withdrew. The mean pruritus intensity and PASI scores decreased significantly in the intervention group compared to the placebo group (P < 0.001). The DLQI score in the intervention group increased post-treatment compared to pre-treatment (P = 0.029); however, there was no significant difference between the intervention and control group at the end of the study (0.065). Trial registration: The trial was registered in the Iranian registry of clinical trials on November 9th, 2019 (https://www.irct.ir/trial/43434; registration number: IRCT20191104045326N1).


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2940
Author(s):  
Marina Perić ◽  
Dominique Maiter ◽  
Etienne Cavalier ◽  
Jérôme F. Lasserre ◽  
Selena Toma

Background: This study assessed the effects of weekly vitamin D (VD) supplementation on clinical and biological parameters after scaling and root planning (SRP) in the treatment of periodontitis and served to validate the VD dosage regimen. Methods: It was a monocentric, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial with 6 months follow-up. Healthy Caucasian periodontitis patients presenting serum 25(OH) vitamin D3 below 30 ng/mL were randomly allocated to test group (SRP + VD 25,000 international units (IU)/week) or the control group (SRP + placebo). Results: A total of 59 patients were screened, 27 were included and 26 completed 3 months (M) and 21 completed 6M control. Test (n = 13) and control groups (n = 14) had similar 25(OH) vitamin D3 levels at baseline (17.6 ± 7.4 vs. 14.4 ± 5.2, respectively). After one month, there was a significant difference between groups (32.9 ± 5.2 vs. 16.1 ± 4.7), also seen at M3 and M6 (t-test, p < 0.001). Periodontal treatment was successful in both groups, since it resulted in a reduction of all measured clinical parameters at M3 and M6 (probing pocket depth (PPD), full mouth bleeding and plaque). However, the reduction in PPD was greater in the test group. Conclusions: In this short-term pilot study, no significant differences were observed between two groups. However, supplementation with VD tended to improve the treatment of periodontitis in patients with initial 25(OH) vitamin D3 < 30 ng/mL and proved safe and efficacious. NCT03162406.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Yargholi ◽  
Leila Shirbeigi ◽  
Roja Rahimi ◽  
Parvin Mansouri ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Ayati

Abstract Objective: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. It can involve any body skin area, particularly the scalp, lower back, elbows, and knees. There are several topical and systemic therapies for the treatment. Nowadays, herbal medicines are popular treatments for dermatologic conditions. This two-arm parallel, randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted to examine the hypothesis of the efficacy of Melissa officinalis syrup on patients with mild-to-moderate Plaque psoriasis.Result: Among 100 patients, ninety-five participants completed the trial and five of them withdrew. The mean pruritus intensity and PASI scores decreased significantly in the intervention group compared to the placebo group (P<0.001). The DLQI score in the intervention group increased post-treatment compared to pre-treatment (P= 0.029); however, there was no significant difference between the intervention and control group at the end of the study (0.065). Trial registration The trial was registered in the Iranian registry of clinical trials on November 9th, 2019 (https://www.irct.ir/trial/43434 ; registration number: IRCT20191104045326N1).


Author(s):  
Elçin Bedeloğlu ◽  
Mustafa Yalçın ◽  
Cenker Zeki Koyuncuoğlu

The purpose of this non-random retrospective cohort study was to evaluate the impact of prophylactic antibiotic on early outcomes including postoperative pain, swelling, bleeding and cyanosis in patients undergoing dental implant placement before prosthetic loading. Seventy-five patients (45 males, 30 females) whose dental implant placement were completed, included to the study. Patients used prophylactic antibiotics were defined as the experimental group and those who did not, were defined as the control group. The experimental group received 2 g amoxicillin + clavulanic acid 1 h preoperatively and 1 g amoxicillin + clavulanic acid twice a day for 5 days postoperatively while the control group had received no prophylactic antibiotic therapy perioperatively. Data on pain, swelling, bleeding, cyanosis, flap dehiscence, suppuration and implant failure were analyzed on postoperative days 2, 7, and 14 and week 12. No statistically significant difference was detected between the two groups with regard to pain and swelling on postoperative days 2, 7, and 14 and week 12 ( p &gt;0.05), while the severity of pain and swelling were greater on day 2 compared to day 7 and 14 and week 12 in both groups ( p =0.001 and p &lt;0.05, respectively). Similarly, no significant difference was found between the two groups with regard to postoperative bleeding and cyanosis. Although flap dehiscence was more severe on day 7 in the experimental group, no significant difference was found between the two groups with regard to the percentage of flap dehiscence assessed at other time points. Within limitations of the study, it has been demonstrated that antibiotic use has no effect on implant failure rates in dental implant surgery with a limited number of implants. We conclude that perioperative antibiotic use may not be required in straightforward implant placement procedures. Further randomized control clinical studies with higher numbers of patients and implants are needed to substantiate our findings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Younes Najafian ◽  
Zahra M. Khorasani ◽  
Mona N. Najafi ◽  
Shokouh S. Hamedi ◽  
Marjan Mahjour ◽  
...  

Background:Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the most common complications of diabetic patients. Mostly, non-healing DFU leads to infection, gangrene, amputation and even death. High costs and poor healing of the wounds need a new treatment such as alternative medicine. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Aloe vera/ Plantago major gel (Plantavera gel) in healing of DFUMethods:Forty patients with DFU enrolled in a double-blind randomized clinical trial. The patients who were randomly assigned into the intervention group (n = 20), received topical Plantavera gel in addition to the routine cares, whereas the patients in the control group (n = 20), received topical Placebo gel in addition to the routine cares. Intervention was done twice a day for 4 weeks in the both groups. Photography and an evaluation of DFU healing were conducted by a checklist and then were scored at baseline and at the end of each week. The collected data was analyzed by SPSS software.Results:At the end of the study, there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of total ulcer score (P<0.001) and Plantavera gel significantly reduced the ulcer surface comparing with the control group (P=0.039). However, there was not a significant difference between the two groups (P=0.263) in terms of the ulcer depth. During this study, no side effect was observed for Plantavera gel in the intervention group.Conclusion:Topical Plantavera gel seems to be an effective, cheap and safe treatment. Of course, further studies are required to confirm the properties of the wound healing of this gel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Barati ◽  
Mina Iravani ◽  
Majid Karandish ◽  
Mohammad Hosein Haghighizadeh ◽  
Sara Masihi

Abstract Background Gestational diabetes is the most common medical complication in pregnancy, and it has many side effects for the mother and the fetus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of oat bran consumption on gestational diabetes. Methods This study is a randomized clinical trial that was performed on 112 women with gestational diabetes treated with diet. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of 56. Participants in both groups were given a diet for gestational diabetes. In addition to the diet, the intervention group received 30 g of oat bran daily for 4 weeks at lunch and dinner. Tests of fasting blood glucose and two-hour postprandial (2hpp) glucose were taken from both groups: before the intervention, and 2 and 4 weeks after the start of the intervention. Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software (version 22) using independent t-test, as well as Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of mean blood glucose before the intervention, while 2 and 4 weeks after the intervention, mean fasting blood glucose and two-hour postprandial (2hpp) glucose decreased significantly in the intervention group compared with the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion Based on the results of this study, the addition of oat bran to the standard diet for pregnant women with gestational diabetes reduced fasting blood glucose and two-hour postprandial (2hpp) glucose. More detailed studies with higher sample sizes are recommended to prove the effectiveness of this valuable dietary supplement. Trial registration IRCT registration number:IRCT20191220045828N1. Registration date: 2020-04-18. Registered while recruiting.


Author(s):  
Ali Abbasi ◽  
Hossein Ebrahimi ◽  
Hossein Bagheri ◽  
Mohammad Hasan Basirinezhad ◽  
Seyedmohammad Mirhosseini ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundOne of the factors associated with readmission is inappropriate sexual activity after myocardial infarction (MI). This study aimed to assess the effect of peer education on the sexual quality of life (SQOL) in patients with MI.MethodsIn this randomized controlled clinical trial, 70 patients with MI meeting the inclusion criteria were assigned to experimental or control groups using block randomization. Peer education for the intervention group was provided on the third day after MI. Education sessions lasted from 90 to 120 minutes. Data were collected using demographic, sexual quality of life-female (SQOL-F), and sexual quality of life-male (SQOL-M) questionnaires during the fourth week after MI.ResultsThere was no significant difference between the two groups before the intervention in terms of demographic and SQOL. The mean of SQOL in the peer education group was significantly higher than the control group at the 4-week follow-up.ConclusionsAccording to the results, using peer education is recommended for the sexual health care professionals.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e041958
Author(s):  
Nirmani Yasara ◽  
Nethmi Wickramarathne ◽  
Chamila Mettananda ◽  
Aresha Manamperi ◽  
Anuja Premawardhena ◽  
...  

IntroductionDespite being one of the first diseases to be genetically characterised, β-thalassaemia remains a disorder without a cure in a majority of patients. Most patients with β-thalassaemia receive only supportive treatment and therefore have a poor quality of life and shorter life spans. Hydroxyurea, which has shown to induce fetal haemoglobin synthesis in human erythroid cells, is currently recommended for the treatment of sickle cell disease. However, its clinical usefulness in transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia is unclear. Here, we present a protocol for a randomised double-blind controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral hydroxyurea in transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia.Methods and analysisThis single-centre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial is conducted at the Thalassaemia Centre of Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka. Adult and adolescent patients with haematologically and genetically confirmed transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia are enrolled and randomised into the intervention or control group. The intervention group receives oral hydroxyurea 10–20 mg/kg daily for 6 months, while the control group receives a placebo which is identical in size, shape and colour to hydroxyurea without its active ingredient. Transfused blood volume, pretransfusion haemoglobin level, fetal haemoglobin percentage and adverse effects of treatment are monitored during treatment and 6 months post-treatment. Cessation or reduction of blood transfusions during the treatment period will be the primary outcome measure. The statistical analysis will be based on intention to treat.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained from the Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya (P/116/05/2018) and the trial is approved by the National Medicinal Regulatory Authority of Sri Lanka. Results of the trial will be disseminated in scientific publications in reputed journals.Trial registration numberSLCTR/2018/024; Pre-results.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-562
Author(s):  
ROBERT MCDONALD ◽  
SHEILA R. MARSHALL

As doubt had been cast upon the reputed efficacy of iron in the treatment of pica, a double blind controlled trial was carried out in an endeavor to establish a firmer conclusion in the matter. One group of children received intramuscular iron and a control group of equal mean age were given intramuscular injections of normal saline. Three to 4 months later nearly all of those given iron had lost their pica, but it was still present in three-quarters of the controls. After 5 to 6 months there was no significant difference between the two groups and this failure of maintenance of cure may have been related to a fall in mean hemoglobin level which occurred. Five children who initially received saline and in whom pica was still present were given iron at 6 months and all lost their pica. Our experience is that pica can be cured by iron in nearly all cases, but that permanent cure may be dependent upon the maintenance of adequate hemoglobin levels.


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