Effect of garlic on cardiovascular disorders: a review

Garlic and its preparations have been widely recognized as agents for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. Effectiveness of garlic in cardiovascular diseases was more encouraging in experimental studies, which prompted several clinical trials. Though many clinical trials showed a positive effect of garlic on almost all cardiovascular conditions mentioned above, however a number of negative studies have recently cast doubt on the efficary of garlic specially its cholesterol lowering effect of garlic. It is a great challenge for scientists all over the world to make a proper use of garlic and enjoy its maximum beneficial effect as it is the cheapest way to prevent cardiovascular disease. This review has attempted to make a bridge the gap between experimental and clinical study and to discuss the possible mechanisms of such therapeutic actions of garlic

The effect of integrated control methods of broadleaf weeds density on sugar beet yield in kermanshah zone

In order to study the impacts of mechanical (using cultivation), chemical (using herbicides) methods and their integration in controlling broadleaf weeds in sugar beet fields, this experiment was carried out as a randomized complete block design with 4 replications in Mahidasht-Kermanshah in 2006.  In this experiment, 9 different treatments consisting a mixture of post-emergence herbicides phenmedipham + desmedipham +  Ethofumesate and Triflusulfuron Methyl with Sittogate combined with cultivation and 2 check treatments with and without control of the weeds were investigated. The results indicated that cultivation treatment accompanied by Triflusulfuron Methyl reduced dry weight of weeds by 54.91% and showed 100% control of Amaranthus spp. In comparison with control treatment. Cultivation treatment combined with a mixture of phenmedipham+desmedipham+Ethofumesate and Triflusulfuron Methyl with Sittogate increased the sugar beet root dry weight by 159.89% and caused 100% control of the density of Conringia orientalis. Phenmedipham+desmedipham+Ethofumesate plus Triflusulfuron Methyl with sittogate treatment increased root yield by 121.86% compared to the check. In conclusion, the highest root yield was obtained in the cultivation treatment combined with phenmedipham + desmedipham+Ethofumesate, a mixture of phenmedipham + desmedipham + Ethofumesate and Triflusulfuron Methyl with Sittogate and cultivation treatments in sugar beet

Presentation at computed tomography (CT) scan of the thorax and first year diagnostic and treatment utilization among patients diagnosed with lung cancer.

As Medicare expands the use of computed tomography (CT) for diagnosing lung cancer, there is increased opportunity to diagnose lung cancer in asymptomatic patients. This descriptive study characterizes the disease-specific diagnostic and treatment services that patients with a positive diagnosis following CT received, stratified by presentation at CT.Patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer following CT in 2013, had no history of lung cancer, survived at least 1 year, were aged 55-80 years, and had Medicare Advantage insurance were included. Patients were grouped based upon presentation at CT: morbidities unrelated to lung cancer, classic lung cancer symptoms, and cancer syndromes. Patients with none of these factors were categorized into a no diagnoses/symptoms group. The type and intensity of services used in the year following the CT was reported for each group.1,261 patients were included. Early treatment services were most common in the group with morbidities unrelated to lung cancer (13.7%) and least common in the cancer syndromes group (6.6%). Advanced treatment services were used by 47.3% of the cancer syndromes group versus 23.5% of the no diagnoses/symptoms group.The intensity of disease-specific diagnostic and treatment services varied by presentation at CT. Patients with no symptoms or morbidities at the time of CT less frequently received advanced interventions. Learning about the utilization patterns of others with a similar presentation at CT may help patients with positive lung cancer diagnoses engage in shared decision making and in norming their experiences against those of other similarly-situated patients

Lung Cancer Treatment Trends During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Claims and Order Data Analysis (2019–2021)

Introduction: Lung cancer is treated using systemic therapy, radiation therapy (RT), and surgery. This study evaluates how utilization of these modalities and cancer stage at initial treatment shifted from 2019 to 2021. Methods: Claims for lung cancer treatment were extracted from the database of a national health care organization offering Medicare Advantage health plans and paired with enrollment data to determine utilization rates. Seasonally adjusted rates were trended, with monotonicity evaluated using Mann-Kendall tests. Using contemporaneous prior authorization order data, the association between year and the patient’s cancer stage at the time of the initial RT or surgery order was evaluated through univariable and multivariable analyses. Results: The study considered 140.9 million beneficiary-months of data. There were negative and significantly monotonic trends in utilization of RT (p = 0.033) and systematic therapy (p = 0.003) for initial treatment between January 2020 and December 2021. Analysis of RT and surgery order data revealed that the patients were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to have advanced (stage III or IV) cancer at the time of their surgery order in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019. After adjusting for urbanicity, age, and local income, a significant relationship between year of the initial order and presence of advanced cancer at the time of ordering was found for surgery orders placed in 2020 (p < 0.001) and 2021 (p < 0.01), but not for RT orders. Conclusions: There was a per-capita reduction in lung cancer treatment in 2020 and 2021, and patients receiving initial orders for surgery after the onset of the pandemic had more advanced cancer

Study design diagram.

<p>Study design diagram.</p

Effect of Long-Term Hormonal Therapy (vs Short-Term Hormonal Therapy): A Secondary Analysis of Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer Patients Treated on NRG Oncology RTOG 9202.

PURPOSE: NRG Oncology RTOG 9202 was a randomized trial testing long-term adjuvant androgen deprivation (LTAD) versus initial androgen deprivation only (STAD) with external beam radiation therapy (RT) in mostly high-risk and some intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients. RTOG 9408 found an overall survival (OS) advantage in patients with cT1b-T2b disease and prostate-specific antigen (PSA)/mL, with benefit observed mostly among intermediate-risk patients. It was still unknown whether intermediate-risk patients would experience an additional survival benefit with LTAD; thus, we performed a secondary analysis to explore whether LTAD had any incremental benefit beyond STAD among the intermediate-risk subset of RTOG 9202. The study endpoints were OS, disease-specific survival (DSS), and PSA failure (PSAF). METHODS AND MATERIALS: An analysis was performed for all patients enrolled in RTOG 9202 defined as intermediate-risk (cT2 disease, PSA/mL, and Gleason score = 7 or cT2 disease, PSA 10-20 ng/mL, and Gleason score RESULTS: With over 11 years of median follow-up, 39 STAD patients were alive and 33 LTAD patients were alive. There was no difference in OS (10-year estimates, 61% STAD vs 65% LTAD; P=.53), DSS (10-year DSS, 96% vs 97%; P=.72), or PSAF (10-year PSAF, 53% vs 55%; P=.99) between groups. CONCLUSION: LTAD did not confer a benefit in terms of OS, DSS, or PSAF rates in the intermediate-risk subset in this study. Whereas the subset was relatively small, treatment assignment was randomly applied, and a trend in favor of LTAD would have been of interest. Given the small number of disease-specific deaths observed and lack of benefit with respect to our endpoints, this secondary analysis does not suggest that exploration of longer hormonal therapy is worth testing in the intermediate-risk prostate cancer subset

Demographics.

<p>Demographics.</p

Study design diagram.

<p>Study design diagram.</p