Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: Total Recall
Two major changes in the epidemiology of non-typhoidal salmonellosis have occurred during the second half of the 20th century. First, Salmonella typhimurium strains resistant to multiple antibiotics have emerged and spread within populations of food animals. Secondly, Salmonella enteritidis has emerged as a major egg-associated pathogen. This article reviews available data on the origins of the human epidemics.
In the early 1930s, the industrial chemical dinitrophenol found widespread favor as a weight-loss drug, due principally to the work of Maurice Tainter, a clinical pharmacologist from Stanford University. Unfortunately the compound's therapeutic index was razor thin and it was not until thousands of people suffered irreversible harm that mainstream physicians realized that dinitrophenol's risks outweighed its benefits and abandoned its use. Yet, it took passage of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938 before federal regulators had the ability to stop patent medicine men from selling dinitrophenol to Americans lured by the promise of a drug that would safely melt one's fat away.
Knowledge of the US Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee is sometime cited as a principal reason for the relatively low participation rates seen among racial/ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, in biomedical research. However, only a few studies have actually explored this possibility. We use data from a random digit dial telephone survey of 510 African-Americans and 253 Latinos, age 18 to 45 years, to investigate associations between knowledge of the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee and endorsement of HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories. All respondents were drawn from an area of low-income, predominantly race-segregated inner city households in Los Angeles. Results indicate that African Americans were significantly more likely than Latinos to endorse HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories. Further, African Americans were more aware of the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (SST). Nevertheless, 72% of African Americans and 94% of Latinos reported that they have never heard of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Further, while awareness of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee was a significant predictor of endorsing HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories, results suggest that other factors may be more important in accounting for low biomedical and behavioral study participation rates.
Objectives To compare the effectiveness of cranberry extract with low-dose trimethoprim in the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) in older women. Patients and methods One hundred and thirty-seven women with two or more antibiotic-treated UTIs in the previous 12 months were randomized to receive either 500 mg of cranberry extract or 100 mg of trimethoprim for 6 months. Trial registration: ISRCTN80031108. Results Thirty-nine of 137 participants (28%) had an antibiotic-treated UTI (25 in the cranberry group and 14 in the trimethoprim group); difference in proportions relative risk 1.616 (95% CI: 0.93, 2.79) P = 0.084. The time to first recurrence of UTI was not significantly different between the groups (P = 0.100). The median time to recurrence of UTI was 84.5 days for the cranberry group and 91 days for the trimethoprim group (U = 166, P = 0.479). There were 17/137 (12%) withdrawals from the study, 6/69 (9%) from the cranberry group and 11/68 (16%) from the trimethoprim group (P = 0.205), with a relative risk of withdrawal from the cranberry group of 0.54 (95% CI: 0.19, 1.37). Conclusions Trimethoprim had a very limited advantage over cranberry extract in the prevention of recurrent UTIs in older women and had more adverse effects. Our findings will allow older women with recurrent UTIs to weigh up with their clinicians the inherent attractions of a cheap, natural product like cranberry extract whose use does not carry the risk of antimicrobial resistance or super-infection with Clostridium difficile or fungi.
Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin that occurs in select species of the family Tetraodontidae (puffer fish). It causes paralysis and potentially death if ingested in sufficient quantities. In 2007, two individuals developed symptoms consistent with tetrodotoxin poisoning after ingesting home-cooked puffer fish purchased in Chicago. Both the Chicago retailer and the California supplier denied having sold or imported puffer fish but claimed the product was monkfish. However, genetic analysis and visual inspection determined that the ingested fish and others from the implicated lot retrieved from the supplier belonged to the family Tetraodontidae. Tetrodotoxin was detected at high levels in both remnants of the ingested meal and fish retrieved from the implicated lot. The investigation led to a voluntary recall of monkfish distributed by the supplier in three states and placement of the supplier on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Import Alert for species misbranding. This case of tetrodotoxin poisoning highlights the need for continued stringent regulation of puffer fish importation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, education of the public regarding the dangers of puffer fish consumption, and raising awareness among medical providers of the diagnosis and management of foodborne toxin ingestions and the need for reporting to public health agencies.
Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and colitis have emerged as major complications associated with use of systemic antimicrobials. In this study, the medical records for 18 subjects who received donor stool by nasogastric tube for recurrent C. difficile infection during a 9-year period at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. During the period between the initial diagnosis of C. difficile colitis and the stool treatments, the 18 subjects received a total of 64 courses of antimicrobials (range, 2-7 courses; median, 3 courses). During the 90 days after receipt of treatment with stool, 2 patients died of unrelated illnesses. One of the 16 survivors experienced a single recurrence of C. difficile colitis during 90-day follow-up. No adverse effects associated with stool treatment were observed. Patients with recurrent C. difficile colitis may benefit from the introduction of stool from healthy donors via a nasogastric tube.
Frequently, patients identified as high risk for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are treated prophylactically with intravenous (IV) ondansetron and postoperatively with IV promethazine. The purpose of this study was to determine if using an aromatic therapy of 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) would be more effective than promethazine in resolution of breakthrough PONV symptoms in groups of high-risk patients administered prophylactic ondansetron. All subjects enrolled were identified as high risk for PONV, administered general anesthesia and a prophylactic antiemetic of 4 mg of IV ondansetron, and randomized to receive IPA or promethazine for treatment of breakthrough PONV Demographics, verbal numeric rating scale (VNRS) scores for nausea, time to 50% reduction in VNRS scores, and overall antiemetic and incidence of PONV were measured. The data for 85 subjects were included in analysis; no differences in demographic variables or baseline measurements were noted between groups. The IPA group reported a faster time to 50% reduction in VNRS scores and decreased overall antiemetic requirements. A similar incidence in PONV was noted between groups. Based on these findings, we recommend that inhalation of 70% IPA is an option for treatment of PONV in high-risk patients who have received prophylactic ondansetron.
Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) is caused by consumption of shellfish that have accumulated domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by some strains of phytoplankton. The neurotoxic properties of domoic acid result in neuronal degeneration and necrosis in specific regions of the hippocampus. A serious outbreak of ASP occurred in Canada in 1987 and involved 150 reported cases, 19 hospitalisations and 4 deaths after consumption of contaminated mussels. Symptoms ranged from gastrointestinal disturbances, to neurotoxic effects such as hallucinations, memory loss and coma. Monitoring programmes are in place in numerous countries worldwide and closures of shellfish harvesting areas occur when domoic acid concentrations exceed regulatory limits. This paper reviews the chemistry, sources, metabolism and toxicology of domoic acid as well as human case reports of ASP and discusses a possible mechanism of toxicity.
Adequate fruit and vegetable intake was suggested to protect against colorectal cancer and colorectal adenomas; however, several recent prospective studies reported no association. We examined the association between fruits and vegetables and adenomatous polyp recurrence in the Polyp Prevention Trial (PPT). The PPT was a low-fat, high-fiber, high-fruit, and vegetable dietary intervention trial of adenoma recurrence, in which there were no differences in the rate of adenoma recurrence in participants in the intervention and control arms of the trial. In this analysis of the entire PPT trial–based cohort, multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of advanced and nonadvanced adenoma recurrence within quartiles of baseline and change (baseline minus the mean over 3 y) in fruit and vegetable intake, after adjustment for age, total energyy intake, use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, BMI, and gender. There were no significant associations between nonadvanced adenoma recurrence and overall change in fruit and vegetable consumption; however, those in the highest quartile of change in dry bean intake (greatest increase) compared with those in the lowest had a significantly reduced OR for advanced adenoma recurrence (OR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.18–0.69; P for trend = 0.001). The median in the highest quartile of change in dry bean intake was 370% higher than the baseline intake. The PPT trial–based cohort provides evidence that dry beans may be inversely associated with advanced adenoma recurrence.
Study Objectives: To examine the association between sleep-related factors and memory impairment. Design: Cross-sectional study Setting: Community-based study in Guangzhou, China. Participants: 28,670 older Chinese (20,776 women and 7,894 men) aged 50 to 85 years. Measurements and Results: Demographic and socioeconomic data, sleep-related factors, and cognitive function were collected by face-to-face interview. Potential confounders, such as employment and occupational status, smoking, alcohol and tea use, physical activity, self-rated health, anthropometry, blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose and lipids were measured. After adjusting for multiple potential confounders, an inverted U-shaped association between sleep duration and delayed word recall test (DWRT) score, a validated measure of memory impairment, was found, with 7 to 8 h of habitual sleep duration showing the highest score (P-values for trend from 3 to 7 h and from 7 to ≥ 10 h were all ≤ 0.001). Compared to sleep duration of 7 h, the adjusted odds ratio for memory impairment from the sleep duration of 3 to 4 or ≥ 10 h was 1.29 (95% confidence interval 1.07-1.56) and 1.52 (1.25-1.86), respectively. Subjects with daily napping, morning tiredness, or insomnia had significantly lower DWRT scores than those without (P ranged from < 0.001 to 0.01). Conclusions: Short or long sleep duration was an important sleep-related factor independently associated with memory impairment and may be a useful marker for increased risk of cognitive impairment in older people. Citation: Xu L; Jiang CQ; Lam TH; Liu B; Jin YL; Zhu T; Zhang WS; Cheng KK; Thomas GN. Short or long sleep duration is associated with memory impairment in older Chinese: the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. SLEEP 2011;34(5):575-580.
In 1999, drug manufacturers introduced a class of NSAIDs called COX-2 inhibitors or coxibs. The drugs were avidly promoted directly to the consumers and became bestsellers from the start. Arthritis sufferers were eager to take medications that eased joint pain with less risk of causing gastrointestinal pain, bleeding and other side-effects. In the year after their introduction, doctors wrote over 100 million prescriptions for celecoxib (Celebrex) and rofecoxib (Vioxx). Celebrex is the sixth best-selling drug, with sales of more than US$ 4 billion since its debut in 1999. Vioxx had sales of US$ 2.6 billion in 2001. However, the coxibs increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and their price, in the USA, is obscene. The manufacturers faced a possibly complicit, toothless and bloodless FDA, and used every maneuvering to fleece the patients. We must now reflect on attitudes that we thought only belong to the tobacco industry. Fortunately, safe and active alternatives exist.
The protective effect of vegetables on the risk of breast cancer recurrence is uncertain. We sought to evaluate the association between breast cancer recurrence and vegetable intake including analyses stratified on tamoxifen use. Experimental evidence of anti-carcinogenic activity of phytochemicals in cruciferous vegetables in combination with tamoxifen led to specific evaluation of this class of vegetables as well. To assess the association between vegetable intake and breast cancer recurrence, vegetable intake from repeat 24-h dietary recalls were examined as a secondary analysis of 3,080 breast cancer survivors enrolled in the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study. At the time of enrollment women were, on average, 23.5 months post-diagnosis. The hazard of recurrence, controlling for relevant and significant clinical and demographic variables, with vegetable intake was assessed overall and separately for women taking tamoxifen. WHEL participants reported mean baseline intakes (⁻x, SE) of 3.1 ± 0.05 and 0.5 ± 0.02 servings/day of total and cruciferous vegetables, respectively. Baseline vegetable intake in the highest as compared to lowest tertiles was associated with an overall lower adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for recurrence of 0.69, 95% CI 0.55-0.87. Among women taking tamoxifen, the HRs were 0.56, 95% CI 0.41-0.77 for total vegetables and 0.65, 95% CI 0.47-0.89 for cruciferous vegetable intake. The hazard in women using tamoxifen who reported cruciferous vegetable intake above the median and who were within the highest tertile of total vegetable intake was HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.32-0.70. This secondary analysis in over 3,000 breast cancer survivors suggests that baseline vegetable intake may be associated with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer recurrent or new events particularly for those using tamoxifen. Such associations should be explored further as the possibility that vegetable intake is simply a surrogate for other health-promoting behaviors cannot be ruled out.
One hundred and fifty-nine ichtyosarcotoxic outbreaks, including 477 people, were recorded in the island of Réunion (SW Indian ocean) between 1986 and 1994. Ciguatera outbreaks represented 78.6% of the total cases and its annual incidence rate was estimated to be 0.78/10,000 residents. Symptoms caused by ciguatera poisoning are not different from those reported in Pacific and Caribbean islands, except for the additional symptoms of hallucinatory poisoning in 16% of the patients. Serranidae fish, including species of great commercial value, were the most commonly incriminated accounting for 50% of the outbreaks.
The present report, describes for the first time the clinical efficacy of curcumin, the active constituent of rhizomes of Curcuma longa, in the treatment of patients suffering from idiopathic inflammatory orbital pseudotumours. Curcumin was administered orally at a dose of 375 mg/3 times/day orally for a period of 6-22 months in eight patients. They were followed up for a period of 2 years at 3 monthly intervals. Five patients completed the study, out of which four recovered completely and in one patient the swelling regressed completely but some limitation of movement persisted. No side effect was noted in any patient and there was no recurrence. It is suggested that curcumin could be used as a safe and effective drug in the treatment of idiopathic inflammatory orbital pseudotumours. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
BACKGROUND: Common warts (verruca vulgaris) are benign epithelial proliferations associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Salicylic acid and cryotherapy are the most frequent treatments for common warts, but can be painful and cause scarring, and have high failure and recrudescence rates. Topical vitamin A has been shown to be a successful treatment of common warts in prior informal studies. CASE: The subject is a healthy, physically-active 30 old female with a 9 year history of common warts on the back of the right hand. The warts resisted treatment with salicylic acid, apple cider vinegar and an over-the-counter blend of essential oils marketed for the treatment of warts. Daily topical application of natural vitamin A derived from fish liver oil (25,000 IU) led to replacement of all the warts with normal skin. Most of the smaller warts had been replaced by 70 days. A large wart on the middle knuckle required 6 months of vitamin A treatment to resolve completely. CONCLUSION: Retinoids should be further investigated in controlled studies to determine their effectiveness in treating common warts and the broad range of other benign and cancerous lesions induced by HPVs.
PURPOSE: To report the rate of recanalization and the efficacy of punctal occlusion surgery with a high heat-energy-releasing cautery device in patients with severe dry eye disease and recurrent punctal plug extrusion. DESIGN: Prospective, interventional case series. METHODS: Seventy puncta from 44 eyes of 28 dry eye patients underwent punctal occlusion with thermal cautery. All patients had a history of recurrent punctal plug extrusion. A high heat-energy-releasing thermal cautery device (Optemp II V; Alcon Japan) was used for punctal occlusion surgery. Symptom scores, best-corrected visual acuity, fluorescein staining score, rose bengal staining score, tear film break-up time, and Schirmer test values were compared before and 3 months after the surgery. Rate of punctal recanalization also was examined. RESULTS: Three months after surgical cauterization, symptom score decreased from 3.9 ± 0.23 to 0.56 ± 0.84 (P < .0001). Logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution best-corrected visual acuity improved from 0.11 ± 0.30 to 0.013 ± 0.22 (P = .003). Fluorescein staining score, rose bengal staining score, tear film break-up time, and the Schirmer test value also improved significantly after the surgery. Only 1 of 70 puncta recanalized after thermal cauterization (1.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Punctal occlusion with the high heat-energy-releasing cautery device not only was associated with a low recanalization rate, but also with improvements in ocular surface wetness and better visual acuity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
[3H]CP 55,940, a radiolabeled synthetic cannabinoid, which is 10-100 times more potent in vivo than delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, was used to characterize and localize a specific cannabinoid receptor in brain sections. The potencies of a series of natural and synthetic cannabinoids as competitors of [3H]CP 55,940 binding correlated closely with their relative potencies in several biological assays, suggesting that the receptor characterized in our in vitro assay is the same receptor that mediates behavioral and pharmacological effects of cannabinoids, including human subjective experience. Autoradiography of cannabinoid receptors in brain sections from several mammalian species, including human, reveals a unique and conserved distribution; binding is most dense in outflow nuclei of the basal ganglia--the substantia nigra pars reticulata and globus pallidus--and in the hippocampus and cerebellum. Generally high densities in forebrain and cerebellum implicate roles for cannabinoids in cognition and movement. Sparse densities in lower brainstem areas controlling cardiovascular and respiratory functions may explain why high doses of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol are not lethal.
The present study surveyed Dunedin general practitioners to determine whether they would deliberately use placebo treatments, under what conditions they would do so, their basic understanding of the placebo effect, and their perception of their use of placebos relative to that of their colleagues. Results indicated that almost all GPS surveyed would deliberately use a placebo treatment under some circumstances. However, there was a clear and statistically significant tendency to understate their use relative to that of their colleagues. It was also clear that a significant number of those surveyed felt placebo treatments to be more appropriate for "imaginary illnesses". Results are discussed in comparison with overseas studies and in regard to their implications for medical training.
CONTEXT: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness in the working-aged population in the United States. There are many new interventions for DR, but evidence to support their use is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To review the best evidence for primary and secondary intervention in the management of DR, including diabetic macular edema. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Systematic review of all English-language articles, retrieved using a keyword search of MEDLINE (1966 through May 2007), EMBASE, Cochrane Collaboration, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology database, and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Database, and followed by manual searches of reference lists of selected major review articles. All English-language randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with more than 12 months of follow-up and meta-analyses were included. Delphi consensus criteria were used to identify well-conducted studies. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Forty-four studies (including 3 meta-analyses) met the inclusion criteria. Tight glycemic and blood pressure control reduces the incidence and progression of DR. Pan-retinal laser photocoagulation reduces the risk of moderate and severe visual loss by 50% in patients with severe nonproliferative and proliferative retinopathy. Focal laser photocoagulation reduces the risk of moderate visual loss by 50% to 70% in eyes with macular edema. Early vitrectomy improves visual recovery in patients with proliferative retinopathy and severe vitreous hemorrhage. Intravitreal injections of steroids may be considered in eyes with persistent loss of vision when conventional treatment has failed. There is insufficient evidence for the efficacy or safety of lipid-lowering therapy, medical interventions, or antivascular endothelial growth factors on the incidence or progression of DR. CONCLUSIONS: Tight glycemic and blood pressure control remains the cornerstone in the primary prevention of DR. Pan-retinal and focal retinal laser photocoagulation reduces the risk of visual loss in patients with severe DR and macular edema, respectively. There is currently insufficient evidence to recommend routine use of other treatments.
Human gammadeltaT lymphocytes are a subset of T cells and are a first line of defense against microbes and tumors. These gammadeltaT cells can be primed by nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates, and certain short-chain alkylamines. These primed gammadeltaT cells have an enhanced capacity to proliferate and to secrete cytokines upon ex vivo exposure to a wide variety of microbes and tumor cells. The largest dietary source of alkylamines is L-theanine, an amino acid unique to tea beverages that is catabolized to ethylamine. Supplementation of subjects with capsules containing L-theanine and catechins has recently been shown to decrease the incidence of cold and flu symptoms, while enhancing gammadeltaT cell function.
Four persons developed marked parkinsonism after using an illicit drug intravenously. Analysis of the substance injected by two of these patients revealed primarily 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) with trace amounts of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-4-propionoxy-piperidine (MPPP). On the basis of the striking parkinsonian features observed in our patients, and additional pathological data from one previously reported case, it is proposed that this chemical selectively damages cells in the substantia nigra.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Curcumin is a biologically active phytochemical substance present in turmeric and has pharmacologic actions that might benefit patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim in this trial was to assess the efficacy of curcumin as maintenance therapy in patients with quiescent ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS: Eighty-nine patients with quiescent UC were recruited for this randomized, double-blind, multicenter trial of curcumin in the prevention of relapse. Forty-five patients received curcumin, 1g after breakfast and 1g after the evening meal, plus sulfasalazine (SZ) or mesalamine, and 44 patients received placebo plus SZ or mesalamine for 6 months. Clinical activity index (CAI) and endoscopic index (EI) were determined at entry, every 2 months (CAI), at the conclusion of 6-month trial, and at the end of 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: Seven patients were protocol violators. Of 43 patients who received curcumin, 2 relapsed during 6 months of therapy (4.65%), whereas 8 of 39 patients (20.51%) in the placebo group relapsed (P=.040). Recurrence rates evaluated on the basis of intention to treat showed significant difference between curcumin and placebo (P=.049). Furthermore, curcumin improved both CAI (P=.038) and EI (P=.0001), thus suppressing the morbidity associated with UC. A 6-month follow-up was done during which patients in both groups were on SZ or mesalamine. Eight additional patients in the curcumin group and 6 patients in the placebo group relapsed. CONCLUSIONS: Curcumin seems to be a promising and safe medication for maintaining remission in patients with quiescent UC. Further studies on curcumin should strengthen our findings.
The 1950s saw the clinical introduction of the first two specifically antidepressant drugs: iproniazid, a monoamine-oxidase inhibitor that had been used in the treatment of tuberculosis, and imipramine, the first drug in the tricyclic antidepressant family. Iproniazid and imipramine made two fundamental contributions to the development of psychiatry: one of a social-health nature, consisting in an authentic change in the psychiatric care of depressive patients; and the other of a purely pharmacological nature, since these agents have constituted an indispensable research tool for neurobiology and psychopharmacology, permitting, among other things, the postulation of the first aetiopathogenic hypotheses of depressive disorders. The clinical introduction of fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, in the late 1980s, once again revolutionized therapy for depression, opening the way for new families of antidepressants. The present work reviews, from a historical perspective, the entire process that led to the discovery of these drugs, as well as their contribution to the development of the neuroscientific disciplines. However, all of these antidepressants, like the rest of those currently available for clinical practice, share the same action mechanism, which involves the modulation of monoaminergic neurotransmission at a synaptic level, so that the future of antidepressant therapy would seem to revolve around the search for extraneuronal non-aminergic mechanisms or mechanisms that modulate the intraneuronal biochemical pathways.
BACKGROUND: A growing number of preclinical studies have demonstrated that curcumin could be a promising anticancer drug; however, poor bioavailability has been the major obstacle for its clinical application. To overcome this problem, we developed a new form of curcumin (Theracurmin) and reported high plasma curcumin levels could be safely achieved after a single administration of Theracurmin in healthy volunteers. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the safety of repetitive administration of Theracurmin in cancer patients. METHODS: Pancreatic or biliary tract cancer patients who failed standard chemotherapy were eligible for this study. Based on our previous pharmacokinetic study, we selected Theracurmin containing 200 mg of curcumin (Level 1) as a starting dose, and the dose was safely escalated to Level 2, which contained 400 mg of curcumin. Theracurmin was orally administered every day with standard gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. In addition to safety and pharmacokinetics data, NF-κB activity, cytokine levels, efficacy, and quality-of-life score were evaluated. RESULTS: Ten patients were assigned to level 1 and six were to level 2. Peak plasma curcumin levels (median) after Theracurmin administration were 324 ng/mL (range, 47-1,029 ng/mL) at Level 1 and 440 ng/mL (range, 179-1,380 ng/mL) at Level 2. No unexpected adverse events were observed and 3 patients safely continued Theracurmin administration for >9 months. CONCLUSIONS: Repetitive systemic exposure to high concentrations of curcumin achieved by Theracurmin did not increase the incidence of adverse events in cancer patients receiving gemcitabine-based chemotherapy.
An ethanol extract of turmeric ("Curcuma longa") as well as an ointment of curcumin (its active ingredient) were found to produce remarkable symptomatic relief in patients with external cancerous lesions. Reduction in smell were noted in 90% of the cases and reduction in itching in almost all cases. Dry lesions were observed in 70% of the cases, and a small number of patients (10%) had a reduction in lesion size and pain. In many patients the effect continued for several months. An adverse reaction was noticed in only one of the 62 patients evaluated.