Efficacy of Ginger Supplementation in Relieving Persistent Hypothyroid Symptoms in Patients with Controlled Primary Hypothyroidism: A Pilot Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Primary hypothyroidism is a common disease. Some patients have persistent symptoms despite normal serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. Ginger is reported to be beneficial in relieving similar symptoms. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of ginger supplementation in relieving persistent symptoms in these patients. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 60 hypothyroid patients aged 20-60 years with normal serum TSH concentrations were randomly allocated to two equal parallel study groups of ginger (500 mg twice a day) or placebo for 30 days. Hypothyroid symptoms were evaluated as the primary outcome using the Thyroid Symptom Rating Questionnaire (ThySRQ) before and after the intervention. Anthropometric measures and laboratory indices including TSH, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TChol), and fasting blood sugar (FBS) were considered as secondary outcomes. A significant lower mean total ThySRQ score (8.63 ± 5.47 vs. 15.76 ± 6.09, P < 0.001) was observed in the ginger group compared to the control group. Ginger led to significant improvements in the mean scores of the weight gain, cold intolerance, constipation, dry skin, appetite, memory loss, concentration disturbance, and feeling giddy or dizzy domains (P < 0.001). However, no significant improvements were observed in hair loss, nail fragility, hearing, hoarseness, speech, and depression or feeling down (P > 0.05). Ginger supplementation also led to a significant decrease in body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, serum TSH, FBS, TG, and TChol levels compared to the placebo. In summary according to preliminary results of this study, ginger supplementation can help relieve persistent hypothyroid symptoms. Also, it may have beneficial effects in terms of weight reduction and regulation of the FBS and lipid profile in hypothyroid patients.

Use of Complementary Alternative Medicine and the Associated Factors among Patients with Depression.

Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) has been widely used in the world, but limited data are available on the use of CAM in depression. This study aimed to evaluate the use of CAM and its associated factors in depression. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 depressed patients referred to the Yasuj Neurology and Psychiatric Clinic, southern Iran, between 2019 and 2020. A valid semistructured international questionnaire was used; amongst the participants, 230 (77%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 41.47 ± 12.2 years and the mean duration of the disease was 4.49 ± 4.88 years. The prevalence of CAM use was 37.6% among the patients. The results showed a significant difference between the CAM users and nonusers regarding the disease duration (p=0.045) and body mass index (p=0.007). Moreover, the results of logistic regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between CAM use and female gender, disease duration, overweight, obesity, and self-employment (p=0.039, p=0.028, p=0.029, p=0.048, and p=0.044, resp.). The most frequently used type of CAM was herbal medicine (97.35%) followed by pray therapy (23.89%). Additionally, the most widely used herbs were borage (77%), chamomile (46.9%), and lavender (21.2%). Furthermore, 62.8% of the patients reported that their main reason for using CAM was its effectiveness. The majority of the patients (77%) had not consulted their physicians prior to utilization of CAM therapies. Herbal medicine was the most common form of CAM in depression, with a high satisfaction level. Thus, it is necessary to increase physicians' awareness in different fields of CAM.

Emotional Processing In Patients with Ischemic Heart Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent public health problem on a worldwide scale, and ischemic heart disease accounts for approximately one-half of these events in high-income countries. One of the most important risk factors for this disease is mental and psychological especially stressful experiences. AIM: This research was established to compare emotional processing, as a key factor in stress appraisal, between IHD patients and people with no cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Using simple sampling, fifty patients were selected from people who diagnosed as IHD in the hospital and referred for treatment after discharging care and treatment. Control group participants were selected as control group peoples, using neighbourhood controls selection. The Emotional Processing Scale was filled by all members of the two groups. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the two groups on the EPS-25 total scores, as well as on emotional processing dimensions of signs of unprocessed emotion, unregulated emotion; avoidance and impoverished. Also, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the dimension of Suppression. The final step of regression revealed a ß of 10.15 and 1.05 for AVO and IEE subscales respectively. CONCLUSION: The result showed that patients with IHD are using more negative emotional processing styles.