This study aimed to investigate the effect of violet syrup on cough alleviation in children with intermittent asthma. In a parallel, double-blind, randomized controlled trial, 182 children aged 2 to 12 years with intermittent asthma were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive violet syrup or placebo along with the common standard treatments in both groups (short-acting β-agonist). Both groups were evaluated in terms of the duration until cough suppression was achieved. No significant difference was observed in basic characteristics. The duration lasting to yield more than 50% cough reduction and 100% cough suppression was significantly less in the violet syrup group compared to placebo (P = .001, P < .001, respectively). There was no significant difference in therapeutic effects between boys and girls. There was a significant inverse correlation between the age of children and rate of cough alleviation and suppression by violet syrup. This study showed that the adjuvant use of violet syrup with short-acting β-agonist can enhance the cough suppression in children with intermittent asthma.

The findings of this study showed that the topical use of (chamomile) oil can decrease the frequency of nocturia in children with monosymptomatic nocturnal or daytime enuresis.

Objectives. Pneumonia is one of the common mortality causes in young children. Some studies have shown beneficial effect of zinc supplements on treatment of pneumonia. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of short courses of zinc administration on recovery from this disease in hospitalized children. Methods. In a parallel Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial at Ayatollah Golpaygani Hospital in Qom, 120 children aged 3–60 months with pneumonia were randomly assigned 1 : 1 to receive zinc or placebo (5 mL every 12 hours) along with the common antibiotic treatments until discharge. Primary outcome was recovery from pneumonia which included the incidence and resolving clinical symptoms and duration of hospitalization. Results. The difference between two groups in all clinical symptoms at admittance and the variables affecting the disease such as age and sex were not statistically significant (P < 0.05) at baseline. Compared to the placebo group, the treatment group showed a statistically significant decrease in duration of clinical symptoms (P = 0.044) and hospitalization (P = 0.004). Conclusions. Supplemental administration of zinc can expedite the healing process and results in faster resolution of clinical symptoms in children with pneumonia. In general, zinc administration, along with common antibiotic treatments, is recommended in this group of children. It can also reduce the drug resistance caused by multiple antibiotic therapies. This trial is approved by Medical Ethic Committee of Islamic Azad University in Iran (ID Number: 8579622-Q). This study is also registered in AEARCTR (The American Economic Association's Registry for Randomized Controlled Trials). This trial is registered with RCT ID: AEARCTR-0000187.

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Introduction: Intelligence is the ability of using the different powers and effective behaviors or adapting to new situations or diagnosing conditions and qualities of the environment. It seems that a considerable damage to the brain as a result of premature birth in the last weeks of pregnancy in the maturational - structuring process of the brain can be correlated with Intelligent Quotient (IQ). Due to the high incidence of preterm birth and its associated disorders and its impact on the society and according to a few studies in this field, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the association between IQ and preterm birth.Materials and Methods: This cohort study was performed on 303 children of school age. All subjects randomly allocated to cohort groups (n=147) or controls (n=156) with or without any history of preterm birth, respectively. In this study, in addition to demographic characteristics such as age, sex, gestational age at the delivery and parents’ educational levels, the standard Raven test was used by trained interviewers to measure the IQ in children. Then data were analyzed by Statistical software SPSS version 16.0 by central statistical indicators of independent T tests and Chi-square test. Significant difference was set at P<0.05.Results: The mean IQ of the children in the study, obtained the score of 99.75±9.26 regarding which the independent T-test results showed no significant difference between two groups. In this study, no significant relationship was found between age and gestational age and IQ (P=0.499 and P=0.255, respectively). But this study showed a significant positive correlation between IQ and weight and head circumference at birth (r=0.179, P=0.002 and r=0.299, P=<0.001, respectively).Conclusion: Unlike results of a few previous studies on this issue, no significant differences were found between the two groups. It is recommended that future studies to be done on broader populations, and behavioral and psychological dimensions should be considered.