The Effect of Adding Sour Cherry Concentrate to The Usual Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In 6 To 12 Years Old Children.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of sour cherry concentrate in symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). METHODS: In a randomized clinical trial, 70 children with ADHD referred to the psychiatric clinic of Ibn-e-Sina Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, in 2021 were selected. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. The intervention group received 75 ml of sour cherry concentrate twice daily in addition to the routine treatment for 2 weeks. The patients were evaluated using The Conner's Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) before and after the study by a psychiatry resident. RESULTS: Based on the findings, no significant differences were observed between the groups in change percent of Cognitive impairments (p = .317), Hyperactivity/impulsivity (p = .525), Oppositional (p = .986), and ADHD index (p = .451). Moreover, 28.6% and 31.4% of children with ADHD consuming the concentrate presented abdominal pain, and asthenia, respectively. CONCLUSION: The present study did not indicate a beneficial effect of sour cherry concentrate on symptoms of ADHD.

Immunogenicity of 23-Valent Pneumococcal Vaccine in Children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease which is characterized by B-cell abnormality and auto-antibody generation. Since bacterial infections are the most important causes of mortality in these patients, pneumococcal vaccination is recommended for children with SLE. OBJECTIVE: To investigate humoral immunity and specific-antibody formation in response to a 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccination in SLE children and asthmatic control group. METHOD: The case and control groups consisted of 30 children with the mean age of 13 years who were matched by sex and age. Anti-pneumococcal antibody titers were determined using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) before the vaccination with the 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine and 3 weeks later in both groups. Also the correlation between anti-pneumococcal antibody titer and different factors including age, sex, lupus activity, disease duration, medications, history of recurrent infections, and laboratory data were investigated. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant increases in anti-pneumococcal antibody level after vaccination (p≤0.001). The increase in antibody level were almost the same in both groups (p≥0.05) such that 77.7% of SLE children and 86.2% of control children showed at least 2-fold increase in anti-pneumococcal antibody titer following immunization. Significant correlations were seen between the level of post-immunization anti-pneumococcal antibody with the age of children with SLE (p=0.02) and their age of disease onset (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that pneumococcal vaccination is generally immunogenic in children with SLE. However, a small group of patients show impaired response to the vaccine.