Mood congruent alterations in information processing such as an impaired memory bias for emotional information and impaired inhibitory functions are prominent features of a major depressive disorder (MDD). Furthermore, in MDD patients hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunctions are frequently found. Impairing effects of stress or cortisol administration on memory retrieval as well as impai...

medical therapies have been widely used for premenstrual syndrome (pms), but in all of them side effects are predominant. herbal remedies rarely have side effects and people have more tendencies toward them than chemical therapies. in this study the therapeutic effect of vitex agnus castus on women who had the pms, in comparison with placebo, were investigated. in this randomized, placebo-contr...

conclusions the present study showed that g-csf is not superior to placebo in production of protective antibody titers after hbv vaccination but could result in a more rapid antibody response, compared to the placebo. results there was no statistically significant difference between anti-hbv antibody titers in patients receiving double dose hbv vaccination plus g-csf and patients receiving doub...

Little is known about placebo effects with scientific precision. Poor methodology has confounded our understanding of the magnitude and even the existence of the placebo effect. Investigating placebo effects presents special research challenges including: the design of appropriate controls for studying placebo effects including separating such effects from natural history and regression to the ...

BACKGROUND Understanding changes in the placebo arm is essential for correct design and interpretation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). It is assumed that placebo response, defined as the total improvement in the placebo arm of surgical trials, is large; however, its precise magnitude and properties remain to be characterized. To the best of our knowledge, the temporal changes in the pla...

In this study, the effect of lovastatin and fluvastatin was compared with placebo in patients with high levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) on the plasma lipid profile. In a prospective single blind clinical trial with convenient sampling, 120 hypercholesterolemic men and women with Tcholesterol ≥220 mg/dL, LDL-C ≥ 160 mg/dL, and triglyceride ≤ 350 mg...

A recent study investigated the therapeutic response of dogs afflicted by hip osteoarthritis when evaluating therapeutic modalities compared to a negative (placebo) control group. Authors suggested a placebo effect based on peak vertical force measurement. In addition, small effect size for each of the tested therapeutics as well as the extremely large sample size needed (>450) to discern thera...

Critically ill patients often suffer from disturbance of sleep-wake cycle and consequently delirium development, in intensive care units (ICU). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of exogenous melatonin on delirium development and its related adverse sequelae in the subgroup of medical and surgical ICU patients. We performed a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized pilot study i...