The use of the term "placebo" was discussed for very long ago, "placebo" had been used in therapy in associating with jugglery, religion, leading to the art of treating disease. Most physicians recognize the efficacy of placebo and magicians have got success. Placebo has latin origine as "placere" and in singular of future tense it means "I shall make a pleasure".
Placebos ; therapy ;

This study evaluates the effect of a commercial brand of chicken essence (BEC) on the various parameters related to stress and cognition of human volunteers. BEC is produced by a hot-water extraction process from chicken meat under high pressure conditions. It contains concentrated amounts of proteins, amino acids and peptides such as carnosine compared to homemade traditional chicken soup. Due to the unique extraction process, it has been postulated that readily absorbed amino acids and bioactive peptides are present in BEC. In this study, we evaluated the effect of BEC in comparison with a placebo on a group of distressed medical students. Students were randomly divided into two groups and given either BEC or a placebo drink daily for two weeks. Before and after the two weeks, the students were given a series of tests to assess their level of cognitive functioning and perceived stress level while being monitored for EEG recording. The combination of these tests, namely Digit span, Arithmetic and Letter-number sequencing, generally assessed the student’s attention and working memory. The working memory performance of students who ingested essence of chicken was found to be significantly better than those who consumed placebo when data comparing baseline and after two weeks consumption were compared. This study seems to suggest that essence of chicken has positive effects on the subjects’ cognitive functions.
Chickens ; seconds ; week ; cognitive ability ; Placebos

The acute effect of a single−dose of caffeine on the P300 event−related brain potential (ERP) was assessed in a study using a repeatedly presented auditory oddball button−press task. A dose (5mg/kg body−weight) of either caffeine or placebo lactose, dissolved in a cup of decaffeinated coffee, was administered double−blindly to coffee drinkers who had abstained from coffee for 24hrs, with the presentation order of the sessions counterbalanced and separated by 2−4 weeks. The caffeine−treatment condition demonstrated a smaller P300 amplitude and a shorter latency overall than the placebo treatment condition. The mean P300 amplitude value difference (caffeine minus placebo) increased with the successive trial blocks. Caffeine ingestion appears to yield a lower resource−consumption and a net increase in allocating attention resources for task performance across repeated measurements.
Caffeine ; Acute ; Caffeine Measurement ; Placebos ; Measured

We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy of ginseng supplements on fatigue reduction and physical performance enhancement as reported by randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs that investigated the efficacy of ginseng supplements on fatigue reduction and physical performance enhancement compared with placebos were included. The main outcome measures were fatigue reduction and physical performance enhancement. Out of 155 articles meeting initial criteria, 12 RCTs involving 630 participants (311 participants in the intervention group and 319 participants in the placebo group) were included in the final analysis. In the fixed-effect meta-analysis of four RCTs, there was a statistically significant efficacy of ginseng supplements on fatigue reduction (standardized mean difference, SMD = 0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.16 to 0.52). However, ginseng supplements were not associated with physical performance enhancement in the fixed-effect meta-analysis of eight RCTs (SMD = −0.01; 95% CI = −0.29 to 0.27). We found that there was insufficient clinical evidence to support the use of ginseng supplements on reducing fatigue and enhancing physical performance because only few RCTs with a small sample size have been published so far. Further lager RCTs are required to confirm the efficacy of ginseng supplements on fatigue reduction.
Fatigue* ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Panax* ; Placebos ; Sample Size

BACKGROUND: Palmar hyperhidrosis is a common disorder of excessive sweating. A number of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of iontophoresis in the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis. However, controlled clinical studies on iontophoresis for palmar hyperhidrosis have been limited. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy and safety of iontophoresis in the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis with a randomized, sham-controlled, single-blind, and parallel-designed study. METHODS: Twenty nine patients with significant palmar hyperhidrosis were enrolled in this study. They received active iontophoresis treatment (group A) or sham treatment (group B). Iontophoresis was performed 20 minutes each time, five times per week, for 2 weeks. Its efficacy was assessed with starch-iodine test, mean sweat secretion rate, and hyperhidrosis disease severity scale. RESULTS: Twenty-seven of the 29 patients completed the 2-week treatment. After completion of 10 times of treatment, results of the starch-iodine test showed clinical improvement in 92.9% of patients in group A and 38.5% of patients in group B (p=0.001). The mean sweat secretion rate was reduced by 91.8% of patients in group A and by 39.1% of patients in group B (p<0.001). Improvement in quality of life was reported by 78.6% of patients in group A and by 30.8% of patients in group B (p=0.028). In group A, one case of localized adverse event was noted, although no adverse event was encountered in group B. CONCLUSION: Tap water iontophoresis could be used as an effective and safe treatment modality for palmar hyperhidrosis.
Humans ; Hyperhidrosis* ; Iontophoresis* ; Placebos ; Quality of Life ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Water*

Attitude to Health ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Humans ; Placebos

We observed allergic cutaneous reaction to vitsmin K, injection in 3 patients who developed pruritic erythematous indurated plaques at the sites of intramuscular injection and leakage sites of vitamin K1 preparation into dermis during IV injection 12 to 23 days after injection. Intradermal tests with vitamin K1,K3 and their placebos performed on 145 healthy medical students revealed positive skin reaction in 13 students 7 to 22 days after injection similar to the original 3 cases. Five students also showed the same reaction to vitarnin K1 placebo, however, a more severe reaction to vitamin K1 preparation than its placebo in 3 of them, indicating that the index of cutaneous sensitivity of vitamin K1 lies somewhere between 5. 5,% and 8. 9%. There was no cross sensitivity between vitamin K1 and K3 We consider these reactions to be of allergic nature.
Dermatitis* ; Dermis ; Humans ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Intradermal Tests ; Placebos ; Skin ; Students, Medical ; Vitamin K 1* ; Vitamins*

PURPOSE: This study investigated long-term care hospital nurses' knowledge and practice of pain management and their attitudes towards the job with an ultimate aim to provide fundamental information for development of a pain education program. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 120 nurses from four long-term care hospitals. Nurses' knowledge of and attitudes towards pain management was measured using a tool developed by Watt-Watson. To examine their pain management practice, an instrument was developed based on the pain management guidelines used by the long-term care settings. RESULTS: For pain management knowledge, the participants gave an average of 26.2 (±13.10) correct answers out of 40 questions. The most frequently missed question was one about subjectivity of pain, “Patients' physiological and behavioral reactions to pain hint at the presence and intensity of pain” (89.2%), and 56.7% of the nurses believed that increasing tolerance for a narcotic analgesic means addiction. Regarding attitudes towards and practice of pain management, 80.2% of the nurses used placebos to patients who complain about pain often. CONCLUSION: This study revealed poor level of pain management knowledge of and attitude among long-term care hospital nurses. This might negatively affect their pain management practice. From the educational perspective, nurses should be provided with education on pain management education with emphasis on the nature of pain and misuse of placebo drugs.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Education ; Humans ; Long-Term Care* ; Pain Management* ; Placebos ; Practice Patterns, Nurses'

OBJECTIVETo assess the long-term (up to 6 months) safety profile of a 3-month regimen of NeuroAiD for acute ischemic stroke.

METHODSA total of 190 patients with acute ischemic stroke were identified for eligibility in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, of which 150 patients allocated to either receiving NeuroAiD (80 cases) or placebo (70 cases) were analyzed after dropouts due to absence of baseline data, early death, or noncompliance. Both groups received treatment for three months and followed up for another three months after the completion of the treatment. Occurrence of clinical adverse events and laboratory parameters were assessed at 1 month, 3 months (while under treatment) and 6 months (3 months after the completion of treatment). Statistical comparisons between groups were performed using chi-square test or t-test whenever appropriate.

RESULTSThe two groups had comparable baseline characteristics. Mild nausea was more commonly reported in patients taking NeuroAid compared with placebo (P=0.01), of which 9 out of 10 were observed only during the first month of treatment. However, none of the adverse events reported were considered severe or required discontinuation of the study drug. There was no significant change observed in mean arterial blood pressure, haemoglobin, renal and liver laboratory parameters during treatment with NeuroAid and up to 3 months after completion of a 3-month regimen.

CONCLUSIONNeuroAiD is safe and does not affect hematologic, hepatic, and renal functions during and long after completion of treatment.

Aged ; Brain Ischemia ; therapy ; Double-Blind Method ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Patient Compliance ; Placebos ; Stroke ; therapy

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of intratendinous injection of 12.5% dextrose water on healing of injured Achilles tendon in rat. METHOD: Quantification of hydroxyproline concentration in Achilles tendons of 21 Sprague-Dawley rats was performed to assess the concentration of collagen, and hematoxyline-eosin and immunochemistry staining was performed to analyse histopathology. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in collagen concentration between the three groups (p>0.05). Light microscopic examination showed irregular arrangement of coarse collagen fibers and decreased number of fibroblasts in sham treatment and dextrose injection group and showed more irregular arrangement of coarse collagen fibers in dextrose injection group than in sham treatment group. The immunochemical staining of sham treatment and dextrose injection group showed more increased immunoreactivity for type I and III collagen than control group, but the same as in sham treatment group and dextrose injection group. CONCLUSION: The increase of collagen concentration in injured Achilles tendon of rat treated with hyperosmolar dextrose was not found. This implies that clinical observation of collagen remodelling process may alter biomechanical property other than collagen concentration which should be further investigated.
Achilles Tendon* ; Animals ; Collagen ; Fibroblasts ; Glucose* ; Hydroxyproline ; Immunochemistry ; Placebos ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Water*