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Objective: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with clinical signs characterized by fever, fatigue and cough. Our study aimed to assess the efficacy of a Persian medicine formulation, lavender syrup, as an add-on to standard care in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial which was conducted in Gorgan (Iran), 84 male and female COVID-19 outpatients were randomly allocated to either lavender syrup receiving 9 ml/twice/day for 21 days with standard conventional care or control groups. The primary objectives were to assess the improvement of clinical symptoms, while the secondary objectives were treatment satisfaction and anxiety levels which were evaluated once a week for 3 weeks.Results: Out of 84 participants, 81 were analyzed (41 in the add-on group). The comparison between groups for cough severity and anosmia showed a higher reduction in the lavender group. The effect size was 0.6 for cough relief. Other symptoms and the Hamilton total score decreased in both groups with no statistically significant differences between the groups. The lavender group showed greater patients’ satisfaction score.Conclusion: Adjunctive therapy with lavender syrup could reduce cough and improve the quality of life in patients with COVID-19 patients.

Background and purpose: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a skin disease manifested as chronic ulcerative skin lesions. Current standard therapies for this disease are associated with some problems such as high cost, numerous side effects, need for injections, and drug resistance. Sambucus ebulus is used in treatment of skin inflammation. This study aimed at investigating the effects of S. ebulus leaf extract on cutaneous leishmanisis. Materials and methods: This clinical trial was performed in 110 patients who were divided into intervention (n=55) and control groups (n=55). All patients received the standard treatment for leishmanisis. In addition, the intervention group received topical treatment of S. ebulus leaf extract 5%, while the control group received placebo. The therapy was continued until complete epithelialization of the lesions. Before the intervention and at the end of each week (until complete epithelialization of the lesions), healing progress and clinical characteristics of the lesions, including the size, induration, and degree of epithelialization were recorded. Results: The intervention accelerated the decrease in mean diameter of lesions (P