scholarly journals Placebo - More hatred than love

2011 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 105-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Hong-Liang
Keyword(s):  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Optimal Treatment ◽  
Ethical Concern ◽  
Healthy Population ◽  
Randomized Control Trials ◽  
Medical Conditions ◽  
Laboratory Evidence ◽  
Randomized Control ◽  
The Way

ABSTRACTA placebo is a sham medical intervention that can produce a placebo eff ect. Laboratory evidence supports the existence of several mechanisms of placebo eff ects in both healthy population and patients with a variety of medical conditions. The ethics of placebos have long been debated. However, accumulating ethical concern has arisen from the worldwide use of placebo in randomized control trials (RCTs), which may render their participants without early and optimal treatment. Although the pilgrimage of placebo is still on the way, refi nement of controls in RCTs is worth paying new attention to.

scholarly journals Whole Grain Consumption and Inflammatory Markers: A Systematic Literature Review of Randomized Control Trials

Nutrients ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 374
Author(s):  
Genevieve Milesi ◽  
Anna Rangan ◽  
Sara Grafenauer
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Inflammatory Markers ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Inflammatory Marker ◽  
Healthy Population ◽  
Randomized Control Trials ◽  
Whole Grain ◽  
Randomized Control ◽  
Grain Foods

Whole grain foods are rich in nutrients, dietary fibre, a range of antioxidants, and phytochemicals, and may have potential to act in an anti-inflammatory manner, which could help impact chronic disease risk. This systematic literature review aimed to examine the specific effects of whole grains on selected inflammatory markers from human clinical trials in adults. As per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) protocol, the online databases MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Scopus were searched from inception through to 31 August 2021. Randomized control trials (RCTs) ≥ 4 weeks in duration, reporting ≥1 of the following: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), were included. A total of 31 RCTs were included, of which 16 studies recruited overweight/obese individuals, 12 had pre-existing conditions, two were in a healthy population, and one study included participants with prostate cancer. Of these 31 RCTs, three included studies with two intervention arms. A total of 32 individual studies measured CRP (10/32 were significant), 18 individual studies measured IL-6 (2/18 were significant), and 13 individual studies measured TNF (5/13 were significant). Most often, the overweight/obese population and those with pre-existing conditions showed significant reductions in inflammatory markers, mainly CRP (34% of studies). Overall, consumption of whole grain foods had a significant effect in reducing at least one inflammatory marker as demonstrated in 12/31 RCTs.

Fighting Poverty One Experiment at a Time: A Review of Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo's Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ravallion
Keyword(s):  
Poor People ◽  
Randomized Control Trials ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Social Experiments ◽  
Randomized Control ◽  
The Way

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo offer a coherent vision for an economics of poverty and antipoverty policy. Their economics is grounded in an effort to understand the economic and psychological complexities in the lives of poor people, informed by social experiments and field observations. Their preferred policies entail small reforms at the margin, also informed by experiments—specifically randomized control trials. While the book provides some interesting insights, I question how far its approach will get us in fighting global poverty. (JEL I32, I38, O15, P36)

EXPRESS: Comparison of Mothership versus Drip-and-Ship Models in treating patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 174749302110132
Author(s):  
Ahmed Mohamed ◽  
Nida Fatima ◽  
Ashfaq Shuaib ◽  
Maher Saqqur
Keyword(s):  
Functional Outcome ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Functional Independence ◽  
Models Of Care ◽  
Randomized Control Trials ◽  
Symptomatic Intracerebral Hemorrhage ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Randomized Control

Introduction There is controversy if direct to comprehensive center “mothership” (MS) or stopping at primary center for thrombolysis before transfer to comprehensive center “drip-and- ship” (DS) are best models of treatment of acute stroke. In this study, we compare MS and DS models to evaluate the best option of functional outcome. Methods Studies between 1990 and 2020 were extracted from online electronic databases. We compared the clinical outcomes, critical time measurements, functional independence and mortality were then compared. Results A total of 7,824 patients’ data were retrieved from 13 publications (3 randomized control trials and 10 retrospective ones). 4,639 (59.3%) patients were treated under MS model and 3,185 (40.7%) followed the DS model with mean age of 70.01±3.58 vs. 69.03±3.36; p< 0 .001, respectively. The National Institute Health Stroke Scale was 15.57±3.83 for the MS and 15.72±2.99 for the DS model (p=<0.001). The mean symptoms onset-to-puncture time was significantly shorter in the MS group compared to the DS (159.69 min vs. 223.89 min; p=<0.001, respectively). Moreover, the collected data indicated no significant difference between symptom’s onset to intravenous (IV) thrombolysis time and stroke onset-to-successful recanalization time (p=0.205 and p=<0.001, respectively). Patients had significantly worse functional outcome [modified rankin score (mRS)] (3-6) at 90-days in the DS model [Odds Ratio (OR): 1.47, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.13-1.92, p<0.004] and 1.49-folds higher likelihood of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (OR: 1.49, 95%CI: 1.22-1.81, p<0.0001) compared to MS. However, there were no statistically significant difference in terms of mortality (OR: 1.16, 95%CI: 0.87-1.55, p=0.32) and successful recanalization (OR: 1.12, 95%CI: 0.76-1.65, p=0.56) between the two models of care. Conclusion Patients in the MS model have significantly improved functional independence and recovery. Further studies are needed as the data from prospectively randomized studies is not of sufficient quality to make definite recommendations.

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