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Objective: The effect of lavender syrup on COVID-19-induced olfactory dysfunction (OD) has been assessed in this study. Materials and Methods: This pilot clinical trial was conducted in Gonbad-E-Kavoos (Golestan province, Iran). Twenty-three outpatients with COVID-19 and OD in lavender group took 9 ml of lavender syrup/bid for 3 weeks along with the standard COVID-19 treatments and 20 patients in control group took only standard COVID-19 treatments. The severity of OD was assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS). Data analysis was performed by Friedman and Mann-Whitney tests using SPSS software. Results: The mean± standard deviation of age was 36.6±9.1, and 42.6±10.4 years (p=0.05), and the duration of symptoms was 7.4±3.5, and 7.5±3.4 days (p=0.98) in the lavender and control group, respectively. The VAS score for OD decreased from 6.8±3.04 to 0.26±0.86 in the lavender group and from 5.3±3.4 to 1±2.61 in the control group. Although, VAS for OD was significantly decreased in both groups (p<0.001), the amount of VAS decrease was 6.6±2.9 scores in the lavender group, and 4.3±4 in the control group (p=0.03). No side effects were observed in the lavender group. Conclusion: The present study showed that lavender syrup is an effective treatment for COVID-19-induced OD. It is suggested to conduct further studies with larger sample size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data on the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the Middle East are scarce. We aimed to describe the clinical phenotype, disease course, and medication usage of IBD cases from Iran in the Middle East. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of registered IBD patients in the Iranian Registry of Crohn's and Colitis (IRCC) from 2017 until 2022. We collected information on demographic characteristics, past medical history, family history, disease extent and location, extra-intestinal manifestations, IBD medications, and activity using the IBD-control-8 questionnaire and the Manitoba IBD index, admissions history, history of colon cancer, and IBD-related surgeries. Results: In total, 9746 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) (n = 7793), and Crohn's disease (CD) (n = 1953) were reported. The UC to CD ratio was 3.99. The median age at diagnosis was 29.2 (IQR: 22.6,37.6) and 27.6 (IQR: 20.6,37.6) for patients with UC and CD, respectively. The male-to-female ratio was 1.28 in CD patients. A positive family history was observed in 17.9% of UC patients. The majority of UC patients had pancolitis (47%). Ileocolonic involvement was the most common type of involvement in CD patients (43.7%), and the prevalence of structuring behavior was 4.6%. A prevalence of 0.3% was observed for colorectal cancer among patients with UC. Moreover,15.2% of UC patients and 38.4% of CD patients had been treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF). Conclusion: In this national registry-based study, there are significant differences in some clinical phenotypes such as the prevalence of extra-intestinal manifestations and treatment strategies such as biological use in different geographical locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewing ancient manuscripts of Persian medicine (PM) reveals that there have been some basic principles for decision-making in epidemic infectious diseases that existed in the past. These PM rules for clinical reasoning were applied through a personalized approach along with public health advice in such situations. Currently, the coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest problem in the world. Its mainstay of treatment is based on preventative measures and symptomatic treatments. Meanwhile, traditional medical systems for providing preventive, supportive, and rehabilitative care to patients have received more attention than before. Thus, the specific individual approach considered by PM scholars for clinical courses of epidemic infectious diseases may help shed more light on the spread of knowledge on epidemic diseases in ancient Persia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]