To determine whether a new "anti-regurgitation formula" containing a bean gum preparation decreases the number of regurgitations and gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR), we studied 20 infants from 1 week to 4 months of age, referred for evaluation of regurgitation, in a double-blind prospective study. The number of regurgitations decreased significantly in both the treatment group (the formula with thickening product, positional treatment, parental reassurance) and the placebo group (the same formula without thickening product, positional treatment, parental reassurance) (P 0.002 and 0.032, respectively). The results of a 24-h oesophageal pH monitoring, performed before and during treatment, showed a significant decrease in the percentage of time oesophageal pH was < 4.0 in the treatment group. It is concluded that conservative treatment of regurgitation in infants, consisting mainly of parental reassurance and postural therapy, is sufficient to obtain clinical remission in most patients. In addition, milk thickening products tend to improve clinical remission and contribute to the normalisation of some pH metric parameters.

Stroke remains a disease with a serious impact on quality of life but few effective treatments exist. There is an urgent need to develop and/or improve neuroprotective strategies to combat this. Many drugs proven to be neuroprotective in experimental models fail to improve patient outcome in a clinical setting. An emerging treatment, therapeutic hypothermia (TH), is a promising neuroprotective therapy in stroke management. Several studies with TH in experimental models and small clinical trials have shown beneficial effects. Despite this, implementation into the clinical setting is still lacking due to methodological considerations as well as hypothermia-related complications. This paper discusses the possible opportunities and limitations of the use of TH in animal models and the translation into the clinic.

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