BackgroundThe common cold is the most widespread viral infection in humans. Iota-carrageenan has previously shown antiviral effectiveness against cold viruses in clinical trials. This study investigated the efficacy of a carrageenan-containing nasal spray on the duration of the common cold and nasal fluid viral load in adult patients.MethodsIn a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 211 patients suffering from early symptoms of the common cold were treated for seven days. Application was performed three times daily with either a carrageenan-supplemented nasal spray or saline solution as placebo with an overall observation period of 21 days. The primary endpoint was the duration of disease defined as the time until the last day with symptoms followed by all other days in the study period without symptoms. During the study, but prior unblinding, the definition of disease duration was adapted from the original protocol that defines disease duration as the time period of symptoms followed by 48 hours without symptoms.ResultsIn patients showing a laboratory-confirmed cold virus infection and adherence to the protocol, alleviation of symptoms was 2.1 days faster in the carrageenan group in comparison to placebo (p = 0.037). The primary endpoint that had been prespecified but was changed before unblinding was not met. Viral titers in nasal fluids showed a significantly greater decrease in carrageenan patients in the intention-to-treat population (p = 0.024) and in the per protocol population (p = 0.018) between days 1 and 3/4.ConclusionsIn adults with common cold virus infections, direct local administration of carrageenan with nasal sprays reduced the duration of cold symptoms. A significant reduction of viral load in the nasal wash fluids of patients confirmed similar findings from earlier trials in children and adults.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN80148028

Overall, there was a highly favourable benefit/risk ratio in favour of Antibiophilus.

This systematic meta-analysis provides evidence for the symptomatic efficacy of diacerein in the treatment of knee and hip osteoarthritis, with reasonable tolerability.

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Persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons assimilated through the diet may, as a result of their carcinogenic, immunotoxic, and, at least in regard to certain of these substances, estrogenic properties, play a role in the etiology of human breast cancer. As a consequence, increased concentrations of these ubiquitous environmental contaminants may be found in breast tissue of women suffering from malignant breast disease. To examine this possibility, surgically removed breast tissue samples from 65 women in Hesse, Germany were examined by capillary gas chromatography for p, p'-dichloro(diphenyl)trichloroethane (p,p'-DDT), p, p'-dichloro(diphenyl)-dichloroethane (p,p'-DDD), p, p'-dichloro(diphenyl)dichloroethene (p,p'-DDE), hexachlorobenzine (HCB), alpha-, beta-, and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) as well as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) no. 28, 31, 49, 52, 101, 105, 118, 138, 153, 156, 170, and 180. Of the 65 patients, 45 were diagnosed with breast cancer. The control group of 20 women suffered from benign breast disease such as mastopathy. After statistical adjustment for age differences, higher concentrations of p,p'-DDT, p, p'-DDE, HCB as well as PCB-congeners no. 118, 138, 153, and 180 were detected in tissue from women with breast cancer than in tissue from control persons. These differences were weakly significant for p, p'-DDE (p = 0.017), for PCB 118 (p = 0.042) and for PCB no. 153 barely not significant (p = 0.083). On an average, a 62% higher concentration of p,p'-DDE was found in cancer tissue (cancer patients: 805 microg/kg fat; controls: 496 microg/kg fat) and 25% higher concentration of PCB no. 118 (81 microg/kg fat; 65 microg/kg fat). The concentrations of beta-HCH, PCB no. 156 and 170 were lower (not significant) in cancer tissue than in tissue from women with benign disease. PCB-congeners no. 105 and 149 as well as gamma-HCH could only be detected in individual tissue samples; congeners no. 28, 31, 49, 52, and 101 as well as alpha-HCH and p,p'-DDD were not detected in any of the samples. To rule out the possibility that the concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons measured were influenced by the surgical procedure, 20 samples of tissue that were at a distance (minimum 1 cm and maximum 3 cm) from the tumor, tissue that was in direct proximity to the tumor (no more than 5 mm from the tumor), and tumor tissue itself (center of tumor) were separately prepared and analyzed. The average concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons varied to differing degrees and only minimally in tumor and surrounding breast tissue, indicating that the surgical procedure did not influence the results.