Visiting a sauna: does inhaling hot dry air reduce common cold symptoms? A randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of applying hot dry air versus dry air at room temperature to the throat of patients with a newly acquired common cold using a symptom severity score.

Design, Setting And Participants: A randomised single-blind controlled trial with a treatment duration of 3 days and a follow-up period of 4 days was conducted at a sauna in Berlin, Germany. Between November 2007 and March 2008 and between September 2008 and April 2009, 157 patients with symptoms of the common cold were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=80) and a control group (n=77).

Treatment of the adverse effects from acupuncture and their economic impact: a prospective study in 73,406 patients with low back or neck pain.

The aim was to investigate the frequency of adverse effects due to acupuncture treatment, the need for treatment and the costs in patients with chronic low back or neck pain. This prospective observational study included patients who received acupuncture for chronic low back pain or chronic neck pain. After treatment all patients documented adverse events associated with acupuncture (defined as adverse effects) and provided details e.

Homoeopathic versus conventional therapy for atopic eczema in children: medical and economic results.

Background: One of five children visiting a homoeopathic physician is suffering from atopic eczema.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness, safety and costs of homoeopathic versus conventional treatment in usual care.

Methods: In a prospective multicentre comparative observational non-randomised study, 135 children (homoeopathy n = 48 vs.

Safety of acupuncture: results of a prospective observational study with 229,230 patients and introduction of a medical information and consent form.

Background: To evaluate the safety of acupuncture in a large number of patients receiving conventional health care and, based on these results, to develop a new medical consent form for acupuncture.

Methods: The prospective observational study included patients who received acupuncture treatment for chronic osteoarthritis pain of the knee or hip, low back pain, neck pain or headache, allergic rhinitis, asthma, or dysmenorrhoea. After treatment, all patients documented adverse events associated with acupuncture (defined as adverse effects).

Pragmatic randomized trial evaluating the clinical and economic effectiveness of acupuncture for chronic low back pain.

In a randomized controlled trial plus a nonrandomized cohort, the authors investigated the effectiveness and costs of acupuncture in addition to routine care in the treatment of chronic low back pain and assessed whether the effects of acupuncture differed in randomized and nonrandomized patients. In 2001, German patients with chronic low back pain were allocated to an acupuncture group or a no-acupuncture control group. Persons who did not consent to randomization were included in a nonrandomized acupuncture group.

[Effect of gold on lymphocyte stimulation by influenza A in chronic polyarthritis].

In vitro stimulation with influenza-A antigens of the peripheral lymphocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis is significantly higher than that in those from healthy controls. Stimulation was performed without autologous serum, is dependent on the monocyte function and correlates with disease activity. Gold compounds can inhibit monocyte function and so the lymphocyte stimulation by influenza-A antigens.

[Demonstration of increased influenza-A-antibody levels in the serum of patients with chronic polyarthritis].

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis show increased levels of anti-influenza-A antibodies in their sera compared to healthy controls and patients with other inflammatory rheumatic diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis). These antibody levels are dependent on the activity of rheumatoid arthritis.