Background: About 50% of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients still suffer significant symptoms even after the recommended first-line therapy. This demonstrates the necessity to investigate strategies to improve alleviation of symptoms. Objective: The main objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a 5-hydroxytryptophan 3 receptor antagonist, tropisetron, as an adjuvant therapy to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, in ameliorating obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. Methods: Men and women between the ages of 18–60 years diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, based on DSM5, who had a Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale score of more than 21 were recruited in a double-blinded, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of 10 weeks to receive either tropisetron (5 mg twice daily) and fluvoxamine (100 mg daily initially followed by 200 mg daily after week 4) or placebo and fluvoxamine. The primary outcome of interest in this study was the Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale total score decrease from baseline. Results: One hundred and eight participants were equally randomized into two groups; 48 participants in each group finished the trial. The Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive total score significantly dropped in both groups while the tropisetron group participants experienced a significantly higher decrease in their scores (Greenhouse-Geisser F(1.53–65.87)=3.516, p-value=0.04). No major adverse effect was observed in any of the groups. Conclusion: This trial showed a significant efficacy for tropisetron over placebo in treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms when added to fluvoxamine.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder, which is characterized by episodes of abdominal pain related to changes in bowel habits. 1 This condition has an estimated prevalence of approximately 11 per cent in North America, whereas its prevalence is 7.5 per cent in the Middle East. 2 IBS is among gastrointestinal disorders which causes substantial productivity loss in terms of high work absenteeism rate in addition to physician visits in the United States. 3 Furthermore, people with this disorder have a significantly lower quality of life. 4-6 Unfortunately, until now no definite treatment for this disorder has been found. Therefore, different modalities of treatment are currently advised for this condition. Some of these include lifestyle and diet modification, laxatives, antibiotics, probiotics and even faecal microbiota transplantation. 1,7 Antidepressant medications and
Assessment of scientific misconduct is considered to be an increasingly important topic in medical sciences. Providing a definition for scientific research misconduct and proposing practical methods for evaluating and measuring it in various fields of medicine discipline are required. This study aimed at assessing the psychometric properties of Scientific Research Misconduct-Revised (SMQ-R) and Publication Pressure Questionnaires (PPQ). After translation and merging of these two questionnaires, the validity of the translated draft was evaluated by 11-member expert panel using Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). Reliability of the final questionnaire, completed by 100 participants randomly chosen from medical academic members, was assessed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The final version was named Persian Research Misconduct Questionnaire (PRMQ) and consisted of 63 question items. The item-level content validity indices of 61 questions were above 0.79, and reliability assessment showed that 6 out of 7 subscales had alpha values higher than 0.6. Hence, PRMQ can be considered an acceptable, valid and reliable tool to measure research misconduct in biomedical sciences researches in Iran.
Orbital arteriovenous fistula is a rare acquired disorder. The coincidence of arteriovenous fistula with lymphaticovenous malformation is even rarer. The optimal treatment, thus, is controversial. Surgical approaches vary widely, with associated pros and cons. The purpose of this case report is to describe an orbital arteriovenous fistula in a 25-year-old man with congenital fronto-orbital lymphaticovenous malformation, refractory to endovascular techniques, which was later successfully ablated by a direct endoscopic-assisted orbital approach.
Background:
Vascular insufficiency of the optic nerve head is the cause of nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). Carotid artery abnormalities are now considered as a predisposing factor for developing NAION. In this report, we present a case of NAION associated with ipsilateral internal carotid artery hypoplasia.
Methods:
A 69-year-old female with decreased vision in her right eye due to NAION was evaluated. the magnetic resonance imaging showed a considerably smaller left internal carotid artery than the right side. The magnetic resonance angiography confirmed the disparity and perfusion abnormalities of intracranial carotid arteries.
Results:
The diagnosis of left internal carotid artery hypoplasia was made and verified by depicting a left side small carotid canal on the computed tomography scan.
Conclusion:
This report suggests that internal carotid artery hypoplasia could be associated with NAION.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.