Search results for " trial"

Use of Ganoderma lucidum (Ganodermataceae, Basidiomycota) as Radioprotector

2020

For millennia, naturopaths and physicians have used Ganoderma lucidum (reishi mushroom) for its diverse therapeutic properties, as recorded in the oldest Chinese herbal encyclopedia. Indeed, a radioprotective effect has been reported in the isolated components of its extracts. A systematic review and meta-analyses (PRISMA) was conducted in March 2020, searching databases including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar, along with Clinical Trials. The inclusion criteria were ex vivo, in vitro, and in vivo studies, with full texts in English, conducted to determine the radioprotective benefits of G. lucidum, or reports in which ionizing radiation was used. From a total number of 1109 rec…

Everolimus as first line therapy for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours: current knowledge and future perspectives

2017

urpose Everolimus has been shown to be effective for advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNETs), but its positioning in the therapeutic algorithm for pNETs is matter of debate. Methods With the aim to shed light on this point, we performed an up-to-date critical review taking into account the results of both retrospective and prospective published studies, and the recommendations of international guidelines. In addition, we performed an extensive search on the Clinical Trial Registries databases worldwide, to gather information on the ongoing clinical trials related to this specific topic. Results We identified eight retrospective published studies, two prospective published studies…

Saccharomyces boulardii to Prevent Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea: A Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

2015

Antibiotic-associated diarrhea is an important clinical problem, associated with morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Our randomized, placebo controlled multicenter trial do not support the efficacy of Saccharomyces boulardii in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

Introduction

2020

Randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses are the pinnacle of evidence-based medicine, enabling identification of the best available diagnostic, interventional, and therapeutic options. These tools help clinicians and policy-makers to set clinical guidelines, but they also represent a double-edged sword: the meaningfulness of RCTs and meta-analyses relies on their quality, performance, and integrity. The present Views and Reviews collection prepared by 18 renowned experts and coordinated by Ben Mol aims to inform and educate our readers about RCTs and meta-analyses in reproductive medicine. The collection begins with the basic features that guarantee the quality of a trial, incl…

North African Medicinal Plants Traditionally Used in Cancer Therapy.

2017

Background: Cancer is a major cause of mortality worldwide with increasing numbers by the years. In North Africa, the number of cancer patients is alarming. Also shocking is that a huge number of cancer patients only have access to traditional medicines due to several factors, e.g., economic difficulties. In fact, medicinal plants are widely used for the treatment of several pathologies, including cancer. Truthfully, herbalists and botanists in North African countries prescribe several plants for cancer treatment. Despite the popularity and the potential of medicinal plants for the treatment of cancer, scientific evidence on their anticancer effects are still scarce for most of the describe…

Is it time to combine untargeted antifungal strategies to reach the goal of 'early' effective treatment?

2016

A recently published retrospective study by Posteraro et al. [1] investigated the use of (1–3)-β-D-glucan (BDG) as a strategy for antifungal drug administration in patients at high risk of candidemia. The strategy consisted of the administration of antifungals (anidulafungin in most cases) to septic patients with a Candida score ≥ 3a nd a positive BDG result (≥80 pg/ml). This untargeted strategy led to better selection of patients, avoiding exposure to antifungals in approximately 73 % of patients with negative BDG results and leading to shortened treatment duration in another 20 % of patients. Untargeted antifungal treatments (including prophylaxis, pre-emptive and empiric approaches) are …

2020

Friedreich’s ataxia is the commonest autosomal recessive ataxia among population of European descent. Despite the huge advances performed in the last decades, a cure still remains elusive. One of the most studied hallmarks of the disease is the increased production of oxidative stress markers in patients and models. This feature has been the motivation to develop treatments that aim to counteract such boost of free radicals and to enhance the production of antioxidant defenses. In this work, we present and critically review those “antioxidant” drugs that went beyond the disease’s models and were approved for its application in clinical trials. The evaluation of these trials highlights some …

Alzheimer's disease: Only prevention makes sense

2018

Alzheimer's disease therapeutics is one of the most important endeavours in today's clinical investigation. Over more than 30 years of research, no disease-modifying treatment has been approved by either the FDA or the EMA to treat Alzheimer's disease. Recently, the evidence of pathological alterations in the brain tissue has been gathered showing that the signs of brain damage appear more than 20 years before the onset of Alzheimer's dementia. The major aim of this review is to underpin the idea that in Alzheimer's therapeutics, only prevention makes sense. It is difficult to visualise that would-be patients may be treated with endovenous administration of antibodies for several years to d…

Step by Step Toward Biomarker-Based Precision Medicine in Heart Failure

2019

> You wouldn't wear just any pair of glasses—your prescription is tailored to your vision. This statement was made by President Obama in 2016 during the presentation and launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative. Whether we like it or not (and some politicians today seem rather indifferent), we are headed toward a new paradigm of precision medicine. This is a new era of medicine in which the right treatment is delivered at the right time to the right person. In the context of heart failure (HF)5 there is a long road ahead to fully realize the goals of precision medicine. HF is a complex syndrome with heterogeneous pathophysiology. Most medical treatments currently used in HF have been tes…

Systemic inflammatory status predict the outcome of k-RAS WT metastatic colorectal cancer patients receiving the thymidylate synthase poly-epitope-pe…

2018

// Pierpaolo Correale 1 , Cirino Botta 2 , Nicoletta Staropoli 3 , Valerio Nardone 4 , Pierpaolo Pastina 4 , Cristina Ulivieri 5 , Claudia Gandolfo 6 , Tatiana Cosima Baldari 5 , Stefano Lazzi 7 , Domenico Ciliberto 3 , Rocco Giannicola 1 , Antonella Fioravanti 8 , Antonio Giordano 9 , Silvia Zappavigna 10 , Michele Caraglia 9, 10 , Pierfrancesco Tassone 2, 3, 10 , Luigi Pirtoli 4 , Maria Grazia Cusi 6 and Pierosandro Tagliaferri 3 1 Unit of Medical Oncology, Grand Metropolitan Hospital Bianchi Melacrino Morelli, Reggio-Calabria, Italy 2 Medical Oncology Unit, AUO Mater Domini, Magna Graecia University, Catanzaro, Italy 3 Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Magna Graecia Unive…