ABSTRACT
Dr. Ruth Harrell and her colleagues conducted a study in 1981 in which the administration of high dosages of vitamins were determined to dramatically improve the intellectual functioning of mentally retarded children. This paper documents the efforts of its authors to replicate the Harrell et al. research and, although no significant differences were found between active treatment groups and control groups at study's end, a thorough comparison is made between the two research efforts.
Subject(s)
Intellectual Disability/diet therapy , Minerals/therapeutic use , Vitamins/therapeutic use , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Double-Blind Method , Down Syndrome/diet therapy , Female , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Random Allocation , Thyroid (USP)/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Previous studies have shown that large doses of a urinary alkalinizing agent reduced cigarette consumption spontaneously among smokers. After establishing a safe daily dose of an alkalinizing agent, sodium bicarbonate, its effect upon smoking cessation rates among 72 enrollees in a smoking cessation program was studied. In the first study, we determined that sodium bicarbonate (3900 mg per day) significantly increased urinary pH (from 6.0 to 6.7) and lowered titratable acidity. Ascorbic acid (1500 mg per day) had no effect of pH or acidity. In a second study, a group given sodium bicarbonate surpassed a placebo control group (who were given 1500 mg per day ascorbic acid) in total daily cigarette reduction after 5 weeks and in week-to-week smoking reduction. The groups did not, however, differ in the number who achieved total abstinence.
Subject(s)
Bicarbonates/administration & dosage , Smoking Prevention , Adult , Ascorbic Acid/administration & dosage , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Female , Humans , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Male , Sodium BicarbonateABSTRACT
A comparison of hypnotic analgesia, frontalis electromyographic feedback, and frontalis electromyographic feedback in conjunction with Jacobson progressive relaxation for treating chronic prefrontal muscle contraction headache was done. There were four 1-hour treatment sessions for each type, and a follow-up. Measures were the number of headache hours per week, a subjective estimate of pain intensity, and an objective ratio of pain intensity found by using the submaximum tourniquet technique. No significant differences were found between treatments on these dependent measures, although all produced significant change in the desired direction. The current study utilized 48 patients with chronic prefrontal headache, and was performed in a clinical situation. Certain responses to the Headache Questionnaire used in screening were significantly correlated with improvement in headache. The current study controlled for class of medication the patient may have been taking for headache, thereby giving a more realistic assessment of the effectiveness of psychological treatments in a clinic.