Complementary therapies in medicine
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Complement Ther Med · Aug 2020
Dry needling for the management of spasticity, pain, and range of movement in adults after stroke: A systematic review.
To summarise the available evidence about the effectiveness of deep dry needling (DN) on spasticity, pain-related outcomes, and range-of-movement (ROM) in adults after stroke. ⋯ The management of adults after stroke with DN may impact positively on spasticity, pain, and ROM. However, there was significant heterogeneity across trials in terms of sample size, control groups, treated muscles, and outcome measures, and a meta-analysis was not feasible. Further research should include proper blinding, sham placebo DN as control intervention, and investigate long-term effects.
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Complement Ther Med · Aug 2020
Meta AnalysisThe effect of melatonin supplementation on liver indices in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.
Several randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluated the effect of melatonin supplementation on liver enzymes in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and reported conflicting results. To meet these discrepancies, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the eff ;ect of melatonin on liver indices in patients with NAFLD. To collect the required data, a thorough search was conducted through Web of science, Pubmed, Cochrane database, Embase, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Scopus databases. ⋯ Melatonin had no significant effect on alanine aminotransferase (ALT) regarding the overall effect size. Based on this meta-analysis, melatonin supplementation can improve liver indices. However, more RCTs are required with larger sample sizes and better control of confounding variables such as weight, body mass index, and gender to determine the effect of melatonin on patients with non-alcoholic fatty acid disease.