The Author Replies: Although medical practitioners may possess the sophistication to distinguish among complementary, integrative, and alternative therapies, the average patient is unfortunately not as health-literate. Time and again, and nowhere more than in the field of oncology, the patients who turn to alternative therapies are those who eschew conventional treatment and feel that alternati...

BACKGROUND People with depressive disorders or subsyndromal symptoms of depression (SSD) often use complementary and alternative therapies, including massage therapy (MT). This systematic review evaluates the evidence, from randomised clinical trials (RCTs), for the effectiveness of multiple sessions of classical European (Swedish) MT for the treatment of depression. METHODS Eligible RCTs wer...

By the conclusion of this talk, attendees should be exposed to and understand the following concepts: the function of the pancreas, with emphasis on the endocrine function; Diabetes (particularly type 1); traditional therapies for type 1 diabetes; limitations of these therapies; recent alternative therapies, particularly the tissue engineered bioartificial pancreas; how NMR can aid in the monit...

Major progress has been made both in the field of vaccination and also in therapies against H. pylori infections in recent years. But, the increasing number of H. pylori infections and its resistance to current antibiotics has become a worldwide problem, due to the direct correlation between H. pylori infections and gastritis, gastric ulcers as well as cancer. In this regard, new alternative th...

seems that the only difference between the two groups should be the suit; if both groups had received the same treatment, the actual effects of the suit alone would be evident. Several questions are left unanswered and suggest future research before AST can be accepted as an effective treatment. In this study, AST seemed to work best for Gross Motor Function Classification System level II. What...

Between March 1989 and July 1990, 13 patients with tracheobronchial cancer were treated by laser hyperthermia at the National Cancer Center Hospital. A complete response was achieved in 9 patients (with 9 carcinoma lesions), with no evidence of local recurrence on follow-up ranging from 4 to 29 months. Four patients had a partial response, requiring alternative therapy.The surface area of the l...

BACKGROUND Many patients use alternative therapies. The purpose of this study was to determine the percentage of stroke rehabilitation patients in Saskatchewan using alternative therapies, whether patients found these therapies effective in alleviating stroke-related symptoms, how often those patients who used alternative therapies discuss this fact with their primary care doctor and the main r...

BACKGROUND Although previous meta-analyses have examined effects of antidepressants, psychotherapy, and alternative therapies for depression, the efficacy of these treatments alone and in combination has not been systematically compared. We hypothesized that the differences between approved depression treatments and controls would be small. METHODS AND FINDINGS The authors first reviewed data...

Infections with the sexually transmitted protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis are usually treated with metronidazole, a 5-nitroimidazole drug derived from the antibiotic azomycin. Metronidazole treatment is generally efficient in eliminating T. vaginalis infection and has a low risk of serious side effects. However, studies have shown that at least 5% of clinical cases of trichomoniasis are caused b...

The number of people seeking alternative medications to treat disease is increasing; indeed, this was the subject of study conducted by Eisenberg et al in 1993 [1] who reported that there were 425 million visits to providers of alternative treatment during 1992 in the USA. This number has probably increased since then. These alternative therapies are sold as nutritional supplements for numerous...