In a double-blind randomized placebo trial, the effect of the powdered rhizome of ginger (Zingiber officinale) was tested on seasickness. Eighty naval cadets, unaccustomed to sailing in heavy seas reported during voyages on the high seas, symptoms of seasickness every hour for 4 consecutive hours after ingestion of 1 g of the drug or placebo. Ginger root reduced the tendency to vomiting and cold sweating significantly better than placebo did (p less than 0.05). With regard to vomiting, a modified Protection Index (PI) = 72% was calculated. Remarkably fewer symptoms of nausea and vertigo were reported after ginger root ingestion, but the difference was not statistically significant. For all symptom categories, PI = 38% was calculated.

Histologic studies of recent years have definitely concluded that the epithelium of the middle ear is a modified respiratory epithelium with ciliated and secretory cells, including goblet cells. These cells, like the ciliated cells, are developd from the basal cell and are just ordinary secretory cells completely filled with secretory granules. For different reasons it is postulated, that the dark secretory granules are prestages of the actual secretory product presenting as light granules and that dark and light granules do not represent different secretory capacities of the cell. The subepithelial layer which consists of loose connective tissue is a structure of just as great importance as the epithelial layer.

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