Complementary and alternative medicine application in cancer patients in Iran.

PURPOSE: Nowadays, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used by cancer patients all over the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of CAM use in patients with cancer in Iran. METHODS: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 320 cancer patients in Arak. For gathering information, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. This questionnaire was consisted of two parts: demographic and clinical information; and patient's attitude toward using complementary and alternative medicine treatments and their effectiveness, as well as how much they used different kinds of these treatments. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. RESULTS: Our findings showed that average age of participants was 55.11 ± 15.58. Most of them had leukemia (25.9%) and underwent chemotherapy (55%), and 141 (44.3%) of individuals were using CAM. Majority of patients (73.2%) were using CAM to improve physical conditions, 61.4% were using it simultaneously with conventional medical treatments, and 25% to reduce pain. Participants have reported visiting holy places, yoga, prayer therapy, and using medicinal plants and special diets, respectively. CONCLUSION: Considering the high number of patients using CAM treatments, proper planning and implementation to educate professional members of health team, especially doctors and nurses about CAM treatments is essential. The most important CAM treatments to be educated are spiritual therapies, yoga, medicinal plants, and diet therapy. Moreover, support and education about using these kinds of treatment should be considered in the supportive care program for patients with cancer.

Interventional treatments for chronic, axial or radicular, non-cancer, spinal pain: a protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic, non-cancer, axial or radicular spinal pain is a common condition associated with considerable socioeconomic burden. Clinicians frequently offer patients various interventional procedures for the treatment of chronic spine pain; however, the comparative effectiveness and safety of available procedures remains uncertain. METHODS: We will conduct a systematic review of randomised controlled trials that explores the effectiveness and harms of interventional procedures for the management of axial or radicular, chronic, non-cancer, spine pain. We will identify eligible studies through a systematic search of Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Web of Science from inception without language restrictions. Eligible trials will: (1) enrol primarily adult patients (≥18 years old) with axial or radicular, chronic, non-cancer, spine pain, (2) randomise patients to different, currently available, interventional procedures or to an interventional procedure and a placebo/sham procedure or usual care, and (3) measure outcomes at least 1 month after randomisation.Pairs of reviewers will independently screen articles identified through searches and extract information and assess risk of bias of eligible trials. We will use a modified Cochrane instrument to evaluate risk of bias. We will use frequentist random-effects network meta-analyses to assess the relative effects of interventional procedures, and five a priori hypotheses to explore between studies subgroup effects. We will use the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach to assess the certainty in evidence for each outcome, including direct, indirect and network estimates. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No research ethics approval is required for this systematic review, as no confidential patient data will be used. We will disseminate our findings through publication in a peer-reviewed journal and conference presentations, and our review will support development of a BMJ Rapid Recommendations providing contextualised clinical guidance based on this body of evidence. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020170667.

Investigate the ultrasound energy assisted adsorption mechanism of nickel(II) ions onto modified magnetic cobalt ferrite nanoparticles: Multivariate optimization.

In present study, magnetic cobalt ferrite nanoparticles modified with (E)-N-(2-nitrobenzylidene)-2-(2-(2-nitrophenyl)imidazolidine-1-yl) ethaneamine (CoFe2O4-NPs-NBNPIEA) was synthesized and applied as novel adsorbent for ultrasound energy assisted adsorption of nickel(II) ions (Ni2+) from aqueous solution. The prepared adsorbent characterized by Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscope (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The dependency of adsorption percentage to variables such as pH, initial Ni2+ ions concentration, adsorbent mass and ultrasound time were studied with response surface methodology (RSM) by considering the desirable functions. The quadratic model between the dependent and independent variables was built. The proposed method showed good agreement between the experimental data and predictive value, and it has been successfully employed to adsorption of Ni2+ ions from aqueous solution. Subsequently, the experimental equilibrium data at different concentration of Ni2+ ions and 10mg amount of adsorbent mass was fitted to conventional isotherm models like Langmuir, Freundlich, Tempkin, Dubinin-Radushkevich and it was revealed that the Langmuir is best model for explanation of behavior of experimental data. In addition, conventional kinetic models such as pseudo-first and second-order, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion were applied and it was seen that pseudo-second-order equation is suitable to fit the experimental data.