Effectiveness and Safety of Umbilicus Treatment with Modified Dinggui Powder () in Patients with Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal external umbilicus treatment with Modified Dinggui Powder (, MDGP) in patients with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (CNP).@*METHODS@#A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted among 72 patients with CNP. Participants were randomly allocated to a treatment group and a placebo group using computer software in a 1:1 ratio, and received either MDGP external umbilicus treatment (MDGP group, 36 cases) or placebo control groupl (36 cases) at acupoints Shenque (CV 8), twice a week for 4 weeks. In addtion, patients all received herbal medicine treatment twice a day for 4 weeks. The primary outcomes was the US National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Scores Index (NIH-CPSI) with a questionnaire at weeks 2 and 4. The secondary outcomes including prostatic fluid examination (white blood cells and lecithin bodies), the clinical efficacy evaluation, and the adverse events were also assessed during the entire trial.@*RESULTS@#The NIH-CPSI scores regarding pain or discomfort scores showed greater improvement in the MDGP group than placebo control group at weeks 2 (P0.001) and week 4 (P0.004), respectively. NIH-CPSI scores of symptom severity, total scores, the amount of leukocytes number in the prostatic fifluid in the MDGP group were significantly improved (P0.05). The clinical effective rate was 73.53% (25/34) in the MDGP group, which was significally higher than the placebo control group with 48.39% (25/31, P<0.05). Patients were blinded successfully, and no serious adverse effects were found during the trial.@*CONCLUSION@#A 4-week course of umbilicus treatment with modified Dinggui Powder seems to relieve pain and symptom severity effectively and increase the amount of leukocytes number in patients with CNP (Trial registration No. ChiCTR1800014687).

Evaluation of the potential inhibitory activity of a combination of L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus and L. sporogenes on Helicobacter pylori: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To investigate whether three strains of probiotics, L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, and L. sporogenes, had signifificant inhibitive effects on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This is a 4-week, randomly assigned, parallel-group, doubled-blind, and placebo-controlled study. Fifty patients with a positive H. pylori infection urea breath test (△UBT) result > 10% and without ulcer symptoms were randomized into a treatment group and a placebo group by a computer generated allocation sheet with 1:1. These subjects took one capsule of probiotics or placebo twice daily. The primary measurement was the change in △UBT values.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The △UBT values during the 4-week treatment period and the 2-week follow-up period were not signifificantly different between the treatment group and the placebo group, indicating that the inhibitive effects on H. pylori were comparable between both groups. The monocyte count (%) was 5.77±1.11 in the treatment group versus 5.09±1.12 in the placebo group (P=0.044), and the basophile count was 0.55±0.32 in the treatment group versus 0.36±0.23 in the placebo group (P=0.024) at week 2 of the treatment period, both of which reached statistical signifificance. The monocyte count was 5.75±1.26 in the treatment group and 4.72±0.99 in the placebo group at the end of the follow-up period (P=0.003).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There was no signifificant inhibitive effects of the three probiotic strains (L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, and L. sporogenes) on H. pylori. Probiotics can not play the same role as antibiotics in the eradication of H. pylori, the role of probiotics is likely to be important as adjuvant to the triple or quadruple therapy for H. pylori, especially in resistance cases.</p>

Efficacy and safety of benidipine in patients with mild- to- moderate hypertension, a multicenter double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial / 中国药学杂志

METHODS: With random and double-blinded method in multicenters, 201 eligible patients aged from 18 to 75 years with mild to moderate hypertension were devided into two groups after received placebo for 2 weeks, 99 patients in experimental group received benidipine 2 mg once a day, 102 patients in control group were given lacidipine 4 mg, once a day for 4 weeks. The dose is adjusted after 4 weeks in the patients not reaching the blood pressure target of DBP or SBP. The whole treatment was continued for 8 weeks, patients must finish one visit every 2 weeks for observing efficacy and adverse events.

Efficacy of Probiotic Therapy on Atopic Dermatitis in Children: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial

PURPOSE: To evaluate a therapeutic efficacy of probiotics mixture (probiotics) in the treatment of children with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis (AD). METHODS: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel trial with a washout period of 2 weeks and an intervention period for 6 weeks, conducted from November 2010 to October 2011. One hundred children with mild to moderate AD (2-9 years old) were randomly allocated to the probiotics (Lactobacilluss casei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Bifidobacterium lactis) or placebo groups. The assessment of efficacy was based on the change in eczema area severity index (EASI), visual analogue scale for pruritus (VASP), fecal cell counts of each strains (log10[cell counts/g stool]), and serum cytokine levels (Interleukin-4 [IL-4]; IL-10; Tumor necrosis factor alpha, [TNF-alpha]) in weeks 0 and 6. RESULTS: Demographics and baseline characteristics at the week 0 were not significantly different between the 2 groups. The significant increments in fecal-cell counts were observed in the probiotcs group at week 6 (P=0.00), while the cytokine levels between the 2 groups were not significantly different in week 6 (IL-4, P=0.50; IL-10, P=0.58; TNF-alpha, P=0.82). The probiotics significantly improved clinical severity after 6 weeks' intervention of probiotics; however, the placebo group also showed significant improvement (EASI; P=0.00, VASP; P=0.00). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that probiotics successfully colonized in the intestine after 6 weeks' intervention; nevertheless, we could not find an additional therapeutic or immunomodulatory effects on the treatment of AD. Further long-term studies will be necessary to clarify the therapeutic efficacy of probiotics.

Low dose, short-term oral methylprednisolone for nasal polyps: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial

Objectives: To determine the efficacy of a 7-day treatment of methylprednisolone 16mg in reducing the size of nasal polyps and on improvement of nasal symptoms. Methods: Design: Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial Setting: Out-patient department of the East Avenue Medical Center Patients: Patients 18 years old and above with nasal polyposis determined by history and endoscopic examination Results: There was a significant decrease in polyp size by an average of 16 percent (P < .05) among 12 out of the 23 patients (52.17 percent) in the steroid group versus placebo. The treatment group also exhibited an improvement in nasal symptoms of rhinorrhea, congestion and anosmia compared to the placebo. Conclusion: Medical treatment with oral methylprednisolone given at a low dose of 16 mg for one week resulted in reduction of the size of nasal polyps and improved the symptoms of rhinorrhea, nasal congestion and anosmia. Other associated symptoms like headache, epistaxis, sneezing, itchiness, epiphora, cough, postnasal drip, throat discomfort, facial pain, eyecomplaints and fever did not differ between the steroid and placebo groups. Recommendation: One week of oral steroids can be used to treat nasal polyps initially. If there is response, this mode of management can be combined with a long-term course of intranasal steroid sprays. Patients who do not respond may be referred for surgery. (Author)

Cap Nimodipine in the Treatment of Cerebrovascular Disease:A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial / 中国医师杂志

Objective To study the effect of Cap Nimodipine on the treatment of three kinds of cerebrovascular disease included acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease(AICVD),subarachroid hemorrahage(SAH),and multiple infarct dementia(MID).Method 103 cases were orally given cap nimodipine 30mg tid/d ,for 18 monthes. The efficacy was assessed by a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.Results ⑴ AICVD treating group comparing to placebo group, there was significant difference in effective rate,(P0 1).⑵SAH treating group compared with placebo group,we revealed that the cerebrovascular system (CVS) event rate and death rate decreased markedly (P

Antioxidant Vitamin Supplementation and Levels of Circulating Cellular Adhesion Molecules / 대한임상병리학회지

BACKGROUND: The oxidative modification of lipids and the endothelial expression of adhesion molecules are key events in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The appropriate antioxidants that protected and slowed the progression of the disease were reported. We measured the antioxidant enzyme activities and the levels of soluble cellular adhesion molecules in order to evaluate whether antioxidant vitamin supplementation affected the oxidative changes and the expression of cellular adhesion molecules. METHODS: Seventy-seven patients participated in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. The test group (38 patients) was given antioxidant vitamin doses including a daily dose of vitamin C 500 mg, beta-carotene 15 mg, vitamin E 400 IUs, and selenium 50 microgram, The control group (44 patients) received placeboes for three months. We measured the vitamin serum levels, intercellular adhesion molecules-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), E-selectin and activities of erythrocyte enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) before and at 3 months after supplementation. RESULTS: After supplementation, the serum vitamin levels increased significantly (P<0.05) and the activity of the erythrocyte SOD significantly increased by 0.85 unit/mg hemoglobin (P<0.05) in the test group. Soluble ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin levels did not change significantly in the test group after supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the antioxidant vitamin supplementation may affect erythrocyte SOD activity, but not soluble cellular adhesion molecule levels.

A Preliminary Study on Therapeutic Effect of Human IFN-? on Chronic Cervicitis / 第二军医大学学报

215 cases of chronic cervicitis were treated with low concentration interferon prepared from human umbilical cord blood by spray on the focus of the disease. A randomized double-blind and placebo-eontrolled trial was used in this study. The results obtained from the clinical study showed that the total effective rate of the treated-IFN group was 93.02% (200/215) and the markedly improved rate was 49.77% (107/215). There was very significant difference between the study group and the placebo-controlled group. It is indicated that the degree and type of chronic cervicitis is related to the therapeutic effect The erosion degree of cervix is slighter, it is easier for the treatment Chronic cervicitis is divided into three types. Among them, the simple type of chronic cervicitis is easily cured and its markedly improved rate was 67.57% (50/74). The second is particle type (51.25%, 41/80). The most difficult for treatment is papillar type (26.23%, 16/61). Moreover, the mechanism of treatment of chronic cervidtis with inteiferon is also discussed