Articles: cross-over-studies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Evaluation of a home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) treatment device for chronic pain: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Stimulation of the primary motor cortex (M1) has been shown to reduce the pain of neuropathy in multiple studies. There are several methods of stimulation both invasive and non-invasive. Recent work by this laboratory has seen that 40% of a sample of chronic neuropathic pain patients responded positively to non-invasive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the motor cortex with a reduction in pain levels by at least 20%. The effect however is short lived and multiple return visits are necessary to maintain this response. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) offers a more mobile method of motor cortex stimulation and is similarly non-invasive. The protocol described is designed to assess the analgesic effect of a home-based tDCS treatment device on chronic neuropathic pain in both responders and non-responders to previous TMS treatment. ⋯ The result of this trial will assess the efficacy of self-administered tDCS of the motor cortex in the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain and also provide insight into whether a potential differential effect is seen in patients that have previously been shown to be either responsive or non-responsive to rTMS over the same area.
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Intensive care medicine · Apr 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyImproving ultrasonic measurement of diaphragmatic excursion after cardiac surgery using the anatomical M-mode: a randomized crossover study.
Motion-mode (MM) echography allows precise measurement of diaphragmatic excursion when the ultrasound beam is parallel to the diaphragmatic displacement. However, proper alignment is difficult to obtain in patients after cardiac surgery; thus, measurements might be inaccurate. A new imaging modality named the anatomical motion-mode (AMM) allows free placement of the cursor through the numerical image reconstruction and perfect alignment with the diaphragmatic motion. Our goal was to compare MM and AMM measurements of diaphragmatic excursion in cardiac surgical patients. ⋯ MM overestimates diaphragmatic excursion in comparison to AMM in cardiac surgical patients. Using MM may lead to a lack of recognition of diaphragmatic dysfunction.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Short-term effects of a combined nutraceutical of insulin-sensitivity, lipid level and indexes of liver steatosis: a double-blind, randomized, cross-over clinical trial.
Overweight subjects easily develop alterations of the glucose and lipid metabolism and are exposed to an increased cardiometabolic risk. This condition is potentially reversible through the improvement of dietary and behavioural habits. However, a well-assembled nutraceutical would be a useful tool to better improve the metabolic parameters associated to overweight and insulin resistance. ⋯ This combination seems to improve a large number of metabolic and liver parameters on the short-term in overweight subjects. Further studies are needed to confirm these observations on the middle- and long-term.