BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in plantar fascia thickness are a reliable gauge of efficacy of treatment protocols for plantar fasciitis. METHODS Thirty-nine feet (30 patients) with plantar fasciitis received an ultrasound examination to measure the thickness of the medial band of the plantar fascia. Each patient assessed his or her pain using the visual...

Male factor subfertility has increasingly been considered the cause of infertility in couples. Many men with male infertility have sperm problems such as oligozoospermia, asthenozoospermia, or teratozoospermia. Because abnormal semen parameters are idiopathic to some extent, no standard therapy has been established to date. Herbal medicine has been reported to have beneficial properties in the ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of individualized classical homeopathy in the treatment of fibromyalgia. METHODS This study was a double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial of homeopathy. Community-recruited persons (N = 62) with physician-confirmed fibromyalgia (mean age 49 yr, s.d. 10 yr, 94% women) were treated in a homeopathic private practice setting. Participant...

BACKGROUND The Combinatietherapie Bij Reumatoide Artritis (COBRA) trial has proved that combination therapy with prednisolone, methotrexate and sulphasalazine is superior to sulphasalazine monotherapy in suppressing disease activity and radiological progression of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In addition, 5 years of follow-up proved that COBRA therapy results in sustained reduction of the r...

We report the first successful use of irreversible electroporation for the minimally invasive treatment of aggressive cutaneous tumors implanted in mice. Irreversible electroporation is a newly developed non-thermal tissue ablation technique in which certain short duration electrical fields are used to permanently permeabilize the cell membrane, presumably through the formation of nanoscale def...

BACKGROUND Acute auriculocephalic angle refers to an ear with helix that is spaced closely to the cranium. An increasing number of patients with acute auriculocephalic angle wish to undergo corrective operation for aesthetic purposes. However, there is a paucity of data regarding acute auriculocephalic angle. This paper proposes a treatment protocol for patients with acute auriculocephalic angl...

BACKGROUND Paclitaxel and vinorelbine are active in advanced breast cancer pretreated with anthracyclines We therefore conducted a phase II study to define the toxicity and activity of paclitaxel and vinorelbine administered in combination. PATIENTS AND METHODS Our patient population consisted of 37 patients with metastatic breast cancer, 35 of whom had received prior chemotherapy including a...

It is currently unclear whether the addition of chemotherapy to standard radiation therapy improves clinical outcome in patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of integrating chemotherapy with external beam radiation therapy in this clinical setting. Using previously described methods, a protocol was developed outlining a...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Hyperglycemia may worsen brain injury during acute cerebral infarction. We tested the feasibility and tolerability of aggressive hyperglycemia correction with intravenous insulin compared with usual care during acute cerebral infarction. METHODS We conducted a randomized, multicenter, blinded pilot trial for patients with cerebral infarction within 12 hours after onset,...

BACKGROUND There is no consensus on the standard treatment options for female pattern androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Efficacy of finasteride in women is controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of 5 mg/day oral finasteride in normoandrogenic postmenopausal woman. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 40 normoandrogenic postmenopausal women with AGA wa...