ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the effect of acupuncture on pain of patients with refractory trigeminal neuralgia (TN).Methods: Acupuncture was accomplished for 14 patients with refractory TN, 3 sessions in a week for 10 sessions. Every treatment session lasted about 30 min. The pain severity of patients was evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) at days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 1 month later as follow up. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 18.0. Results: The mean age of participants was (59.4±13.2) years old. The VAS points decreased from day 0 to the follow-up. As the results showed, the amount of VAS points decreased by acupuncture has emerged more significance in comparisons between days 0, 3 and days 14, 21, and the one-month follow-up, the differences in VAS points on the mentioned days were significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture can cause proper pain relief for refractory TN. Acupuncture can induce an analgesic effect after multiple repetitions of therapeutic sessions.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal susceptibility patterns of three antifungals, methanolic extracts and N-hexane oil of sesame seeds on C. albicans and C. glabrata, isolated from oral cavity of liver transplant recipients. The results were compared with other reports to develop a mini review as well. Candida species were isolated from liver transplant recipients. To evaluate the antifungal activity of sesame seed oil and methanolic extract, fluconazole, caspofungin and nystatin, the corresponding minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by CLSI M27-A3 standard method. Minimum fungicidal concentration was also evaluated. The most prevalent species was C. albicans, followed by C. glabrata. Findings indicated sensitivity to antifungal agents and resistance to methanolic extract and N-hexane oil for all C. albicans and C. glabrata isolates. The rate of Candida colonization in the oral cavity of liver transplant recipients was high. Our results revealed that the methanolic and N-hexan extracts of sesame seeds are not effective on C. albicans and C. glabrata species, isolated from the patients. The sesame seed oil pulling and mouthwash cannot effectively cleanse and remove the Candida species in the mouth. Investigation of other medicinal plants or other parts of sesame like leaves and roots are suggested.