Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of long-term acupuncture treatment on resting-state brain activity in migraine patients: a randomized controlled trial on active acupoints and inactive acupoints.
Acupuncture has been commonly used for preventing migraine attacks and relieving pain during a migraine, although there is limited knowledge on the physiological mechanism behind this method. The objectives of this study were to compare the differences in brain activities evoked by active acupoints and inactive acupoints and to investigate the possible correlation between clinical variables and brain responses. ⋯ Long-term active acupoint therapy and inactive acupoint therapy have different brain activities. We postulate that acupuncture at the active acupoint might have the potential effect of regulating some disease-affected key regions and the pain circuitry for migraine, and promote establishing psychophysical pain homeostasis.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of an Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) program in Manga format on improving subthreshold depressive symptoms among healthy workers: a randomized controlled trial.
The purpose of this study was to develop a new Internet-based computerized cognitive behavior therapy (iCBT) program in Manga format, the Japanese cartoon, for workers and to examine the effects of the iCBT program on improving subthreshold depression using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design among workers employed in private companies in Japan. ⋯ The present study first demonstrated that a computerized cognitive behavior therapy delivered via the Internet was effective in improving depression in the general working population. It seems critical to improve program involvement of participants in order to enhance the effect size of an iCBT program.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of topical tranexamic acid on bleeding and quality of surgical field during functional endoscopic sinus surgery in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis: a triple blind randomized clinical trial.
The effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) on bleeding and improvement of surgical field during functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is not clear yet. This study was conducted to answer this question. ⋯ Topical TXA can efficiently reduce bleeding and improve the surgical field in FESS in patients with rhinosinusitis. Based on these findings, topical TXA may be a useful method for providing a suitable surgical field during the first 30 minutes after use.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomised controlled trials may underestimate drug effects: balanced placebo trial design.
It is an inherent assumption in randomised controlled trials that the drug effect can be estimated by subtracting the response during placebo from the response during active drug treatment. ⋯ Although this study examined placebo effects and not the whole placebo response as in randomised controlled trials, it does suggest that the additivity assumption may be incorrect, and that the estimated drug effects in randomised controlled trials may be underestimated, particularly in studies reporting large placebo responses. The implications for randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews need to be discussed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Pronounced inflammatory response to endotoxaemia during nighttime: a randomised cross-over trial.
Circadian variation in bodily functions has been shown to impact health in acute and chronic medical conditions. Little is known about the relationship between circadian rhythm and sepsis in humans. We aimed to investigate circadian variations in the host response in a human endotoxaemia model. ⋯ A day-night difference in the acute phase response to endotoxaemia exists in healthy volunteers with a more pronounced inflammatory response during the night time. This circadian difference in the response to endotoxaemia may play an important role in the clinical setting and should be investigated further.