Objective: To assess the effect of acupuncture on pain of patients with refractory trigeminal neuralgia (TN).Methods: Acupuncture was accomplished for 14 patients with refractory TN, 3 sessions in a week for 10 sessions. Every treatment session lasted about 30 min. The pain severity of patients was evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) at days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 1 month later as follow up. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 18.0. Results: The mean age of participants was (59.4±13.2) years old. The VAS points decreased from day 0 to the follow-up. As the results showed, the amount of VAS points decreased by acupuncture has emerged more significance in comparisons between days 0, 3 and days 14, 21, and the one-month follow-up, the differences in VAS points on the mentioned days were significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture can cause proper pain relief for refractory TN. Acupuncture can induce an analgesic effect after multiple repetitions of therapeutic sessions.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the waist circumference of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), had an impact on lung function. METHODS: There were 180 patients with COPD recruited into this prospective cross-sectional study. The age, weight, body mass index and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Spirometry parameters including forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), were measured and FEV1/FVC calculated. RESULTS: The mean FEV1/FVC in both normal weight and overweight patients, did not statistically significantly correlate with WC. The COPD assessment test, positively correlated with WC ( p = 0.031). A positive correlation with body mass index ( p < 0.001), smoking ( p = 0.027), and global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease score ( p = 0.009), were observed to positively associate with WC. WC, age, C-reactive protein, duration of disease, and gender (male), were observed to be statistically significant risk factors for the severity of COPD. CONCLUSION: WC was not observed to impact upon lung function in this study but it was a predictive factor for COPD severity in patients.
Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; C-Reactive Protein ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Diseases, Obstructive ; Overweight ; Prospective Studies ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spirometry ; Vital Capacity ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUNDLipid-lowering effect of Rhus coriaria L. (Rhus) has been investigated in multiple animal studies with promising results. Nonetheless, its clinical efficacy has not been adequately examined.

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to evaluate the lipid-lowering effects of Rhus among patients with hyperlipidemia.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONSThe study was designed as a two-arm, double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial, using a parallel design. Eighty patients with primary hyperlipidemia were randomly assigned to receive Rhus capsules or placebo for 6 weeks.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURESThe serum lipid levels, apolipoprotein-A1 (Apo-A1) and apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) were measured.

RESULTSMean serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and Apo-A1 levels were significantly increased in the Rhus group, compared with the placebo group, after 6 weeks of intervention (P = 0.001). The analysis of covariance test including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and smoking as co-variables revealed that the increase in HDL-C and Apo-A1 levels remained significant, and increases in HDL-C were dependent on the increase in Apo-A1 levels. No significant difference was observed between Rhus and placebo groups in terms of mean reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels; however, more significant improvement was observed among obese patients (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m).

CONCLUSIONThe study showed significant increases in HDL-C and Apo-A1 levels in response to Rhus supplementation in patients with hyperlipidemia.

TRIAL REGISTRATIONClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02295293.

PURPOSE: To systematically review the risk of permanent disability related to road traffic injuries (RTIs) and to determine the implications for future research regarding permanent impairment following road traffic crashes. METHODS: We conducted this systematic review according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis statement. An extended search of the literature was carried out in 4 major electronic databases for scientific research papers published from January 1980 to February 2020. Two teams include 2 reviewers each, screened independently the titles/abstracts, and after that, reviewed the full text of the included studies. The quality of the studies was assessed using the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) checklist. A third reviewer was assessed any discrepancy and all data of included studies were extracted. Finally, the data were systematically analyzed, and the related data were interpreted. RESULTS: Five out of 16 studies were evaluated as high-quality according to the STROBE checklist. Fifteen studies ranked the initial injuries according to the abbreviated injury scale 2005. Five studies reported the total risk of permanent medical impairment following RTIs which varied from 2% to 23% for car occupants and 2.8% to 46% for cyclists. Seven studies reported the risk of permanent medical impairment of the different body regions. Eleven studies stated the most common body region to develop permanent impairment, of which 6 studies demonstrated that injuries of the cervical spine and neck were at the highest risk of becoming permanent injured. CONCLUSION The finding of this review revealed the necessity of providing a globally validated method to evaluate permanent medical impairment following RTIs across the world. This would facilitate decision-making about traffic injuries and efficient management to reduce the financial and psychological burdens for individuals and communities.
Humans ; Accidents, Traffic ; Disabled Persons ; Abbreviated Injury Scale ; Databases, Factual ; Wounds and Injuries/etiology*