Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2004
Review Meta AnalysisSelenium supplementation for critically ill adults.
Selenium is a trace mineral essential to human health, which has an important role in the immune response, defence against tissue damage and thyroid function. Improving selenium status could help protect against overwhelming tissue damage and infection in critically ill adults. ⋯ There is insufficient evidence to recommend supplementation of critically ill patients with selenium or ebselen. Trials are required which overcome the defects of the reviewed studies, particularly inadequate size and methodology. This review will be updated when four ongoing trials are completed.
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Low-back pain (LBP) is a common reason for consulting a general practitioner, and advice on daily activities is an important part of the primary care management of low-back pain. ⋯ For people with acute LBP, advice to rest in bed is less effective than advice to stay active. For patients with sciatica, there is little or no difference between advice to rest in bed and advice to stay active. There is little or no difference in the effect of bed rest compared to exercises or physiotherapy, or seven days of bed rest compared with two to three.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2004
Review Meta AnalysisPharmacologic therapies for adults with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Multiple pharmacologic treatments have been studied for acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ Effective pharmacotherapy for ALI and ARDS is extremely limited, with insufficient evidence to support any specific intervention.
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Acute psychotic illnesses, especially when associated with agitated or violent behaviour, require urgent pharmacological tranquillisation or sedation. Clotiapine, a dibenzothiazepine neuroleptic, is being used for this purpose in several countries. ⋯ We found no evidence to support the use of clotiapine in preference to other 'standard' or 'non-standard' treatments for management of people with acute psychotic illness. All trials in this review have important methodological problems. We do not wish to discourage clinicians from using clotiapine in the psychiatric emergency, but well-designed, conducted and reported trials are needed to properly determine the efficacy of this drug.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2004
Review Meta AnalysisInterventions for preventing oral candidiasis for patients with cancer receiving treatment.
Treatment of cancer is increasingly more effective but is associated with short and long term side effects. Oral side effects remain a major source of illness despite the use of a variety of agents to prevent and treat them. One of these side effects is oral candidiasis. ⋯ There is strong evidence, from randomised controlled trials, that drugs absorbed or partially absorbed from the GI tract prevent oral candidiasis in patients receiving treatment for cancer. There is also evidence that these drugs are significantly better at preventing oral candidiasis than drugs not absorbed from the GI.