A comparative study of visual outcome in patients with optic neuritis treated with five or seven days of intravenous corticosteroid treatment.

Background: Optic neuritis (ON), a major cause of visual impairment in young adults, is generally associated with rapid visual recovery when treated with intravenous methylprednisolone treatment (IVMPT). However, the optimal duration of such treatment is unknown, ranging from three to seven days in clinical practice. We aimed to compare the visual recovery in patients treated with 5-day or 7-day duration IVMPT.

Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Trial With N-acetylcysteine for Treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Background: A local increase in angiotensin 2 after inactivation of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may induce a redox imbalance in alveolar epithelium cells, causing apoptosis, increased inflammation and, consequently, impaired gas exchange. We hypothesized that N-acetylcysteine (NAC) administration could restore this redox homeostasis and suppress unfavorable evolution in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, single-center trial conducted at the Emergency Department of Hospital das Clínicas, São Paulo, Brazil, to determine whether NAC in high doses can avoid respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19.

A randomized crossover trial to assess therapeutic efficacy and cost reduction of acid ursodeoxycholic manufactured by the university hospital for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis.

Background: Health care costs are growing faster than the rest of the global economy, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Countries' health expenditures include paying for general medicine, diagnostic procedures, hospitalizations and surgeries, as well as medications and prescribed treatment. Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a rare autoimmune liver disease and the first line available treatment is ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), however, direct and indirect treatment costs are expensive.

Low dose capsule based 13c-urea breath test compared with the conventional 13c-urea breath test and invasive tests.

Context: One of the limitations of 13C-urea breath test for Helicobacter pylori infection diagnosis in Brazil is the substrate acquisition in capsule presentation.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a capsule-based 13C-urea, manipulated by the Pharmacy Division, for the clinical practice.

Methods: Fifty patients underwent the conventional and the capsule breath test.