Effect of Ginger on Relieving Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Background: Nausea and vomiting are common and unpleasant complications in pregnancy. Although many alternative therapists support the use of ginger for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, there is currently insufficient clinical evidence to support its use in this condition Objectives: The present study was performed to assess the effectiveness of ginger in the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. Patients and Methods: This seven-day clinical trial was performed on 120 eligible pregnant women with symptoms of mild to moderate nausea and vomiting before 16 weeks gestation. They were divided into; ginger, placebo and control groups, by block randomization. Women were asked to record their nausea and vomiting for three days, and then participants received either ginger capsules, or a placebo for four days. No intervention was done with the control group. Data measure was self-recorded symptoms according to the Rhodes Index. Data were analyzed by ANOVA, ANCOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square, and Fisher’s exact test, for the quantitative and qualitative variables. Results: There were no statistical differences in the baseline demographics between the three groups apart from age of marriage and wanted or unwanted pregnancy. An ANCOVA test (covariance test) showed significant differences in mean scores after the intervention in the three groups (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Ginger was effective for the relief of mild to moderate nausea and vomiting in pregnant women at less than 16 weeks gestation

Prevalence and Severity of Menopausal Symptoms and Related Factors Among Women 40-60 Years in Kashan, Iran

Background: Menopause is a unique event in a woman’s life which has many symptoms. Frequency and severity of these symptoms vary, and they are based on the woman’s epidemiological characteristics. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and related factors among women, 40-60 years in Kashan, Iran. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 700 menopausal women in Kashan City were selected using cluster sampling. Data were collected by the Menopause Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL). In addition, demographic variables including; current age, age of menarche and menopause, marital status, educational level, working status and exercise activity levels, were recorded. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16 and socio-demographic characteristics were compared using a chi-square test. A P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The most common symptoms in; vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual domains were; ‘night sweats’, ‘accomplishing less than I used to’, ‘feeling a lack of energy’, and ‘change in sexual desire’, respectively. Moreover, the most severe symptoms in these domains were; ‘night sweats’, ‘feeling anxious or nervous’, ‘aching muscles or joints’, and ‘avoiding intimacy’. There was a statistically significant difference between; the severity of menopausal symptoms and working status (P = 0.017), different educational levels (P = 0.001), exercise activity (P = 0.001), exercise frequency (P = 0.04), and duration of menopause (P = 0.03). Conclusions: The prevalence of menopausal symptoms in our population is similar to most other communities. Employment, higher educational levels, doing physical activity and duration of menopause of more than five years is associated with milder menopausal symptoms

Effect of Foeniculum vulgare essence on symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS): A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most common cause of ovulatory infertility with an endocrine origin. An alternative therapy for PCOS is complementary medicine (CM), with herbal medicine becoming the most popular during the past ten years. The fennel plant (Foeniculum Vulgare Mill) belongs to the flowering plant of the fennel Apiaceae family. It is a medicinal plant that is commonly recommended by practitioners of Iranian traditional medicine for ovarian or unknown infertility in women because it has an estrogenic effect. The effects of fennel (FOEVU: Foeniculum vulgareMill essence of fennel seeds) on PCOS has yet to be investigated. Therefore, the main objective of our study was to investigate and evaluate the effects of fennel essential oil capsules on PCOS symptoms. Subjects and methods: This study was a double-blinded, randomized controlled study. Our subjects were thirty female students who were selected from the age range of 20�35 and met the Rotterdam diagnostic criteria for PCOS. The subjects were randomly assigned to two groups: fennel (study) and placebo (control). The ultrasonography assessments, body mass index, biochemical, and hirsutism variables were measured individually before and after three months usage of the fennel and placebo as our main outcome measurements. The comparison between the quantitative data obtained for the two studied groups was carried out using the Man-Whitney and chi-square tests. Results: The comparison of menstruation cycle, hirsutism, BMI, biochemical, and ultrasonography measurements revealed that the interventions did not cause significant differences in the two groups, except in the dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) and ovarian volume (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Fennel was not effective in alleviating the ovarian cyst symptoms in polycystic women but since the sample size calculation in our small study was based on very large effect sizes, the study might not be powered enough to detect smaller effects. © 2019 Elsevier Gmb

To Recycle or Not to Recycle? An Intergenerational Approach to Nuclear Fuel Cycles

This paper approaches the choice between the open and closed nuclear fuel cycles as a matter of intergenerational justice, by revealing the value conflicts in the production of nuclear energy. The closed fuel cycle improve sustainability in terms of the supply certainty of uranium and involves less long-term radiological risks and proliferation concerns. However, it compromises short-term public health and safety and security, due to the separation of plutonium. The trade-offs in nuclear energy are reducible to a chief trade-off between the present and the future. To what extent should we take care of our produced nuclear waste and to what extent should we accept additional risks to the present generation, in order to diminish the exposure of future generation to those risks? The advocates of the open fuel cycle should explain why they are willing to transfer all the risks for a very long period of time (200,000 years) to future generations. In addition, supporters of the closed fuel cycle should underpin their acceptance of additional risks to the present generation and make the actual reduction of risk to the future plausible

Introduction: Severe Uncertainty in Science, Medicine, and Technology

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Ethics & Philosophy of Technolog