(Press-News.org) In a small, short-term study, a preservative-free, acidified nasal spray appears safe and well tolerated and maintained its sterility in an applicator used multiple times, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"The health of a topical nasal spray user relies on the prevention of contamination of the solution," the authors write as background information in the article. "Pharmaceutical manufacturers add various preservatives to destroy or inhibit the growth of micro-organisms that may be introduced into the solution after the opening of its container." However, some of these preservatives have been association with injury to the mucus membrane of the nose and sinuses, changes to the cells in the nasal lining, immobility of nasal hairs or cilia, damage to DNA and other adverse effects.
Making saline nasal spray more acidic is an alternative way of maintaining sterility without chemical preservatives. William R. Ryan, M.D., now of the University of California, San Francisco, and Peter H. Hwang, M.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif., evaluated a saline solution formula acidified by hydrochloric acid. Twenty volunteers used the preservative-free nasal spray and a saline spray containing preservatives for one week each in random order, separated by a one-week washout period. At the beginning of the study and after the week of using each solution, participants reported their symptoms and underwent examination of their nasal passages with an endoscope. A sample from each nasal spray bottle was cultured for microorganism growth.
No differences were observed in symptoms or in endoscopy findings after using the preservative-free vs. preservative-containing spray. In addition, microorganism growth was not detected in any samples from either solution.
"Of those analyzed, we believe that the most important symptoms for determining the safety and tolerance of the preservative-free acidified solution nasal spray are nasal burning, smell disturbance, taste disturbance, nasal bleeding, purulent rhinorrhea [runny nose with pus], sore throat, need to blow nose, sneezing, runny nose, postnasal discharge, thick nasal discharge, ear fullness, ear pain and facial pain or pressure," the authors write. "There were no discernible differences in these symptoms between the two nasal sprays used." There were also no differences in discharge, swelling, redness and the growth of polyps in the nasal passages.
"In conclusion, the preservative-free acidified solution nasal spray used in this study seems to be safe, well tolerated and effective at maintaining a sterile solution in a multidose applicator among a small sample of users over a short period," the authors write. "A larger series with longer follow-up is planned. Further studies are also necessary to explore use of a preservative-free acidified solution as a medium for drug delivery."
###
(Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2010;136[11]:1099-1103. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)
Editor's Note: Administrative support for this study was provided by the Stanford Sinus Center Research Fund. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
For more information, contact JAMA/Archives Media Relations at 312/464-JAMA (5262) or e-mail mediarelations@jama-archives.org.
END
Umbilical cord stem cells may be useful in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Animal and in vitro experiments, described in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research and Therapy, have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) taken from umbilical cord blood can suppress inflammation and attenuate collagen-induced arthritis.
Professor Zhan-guo Li worked with a team of researchers, from Peking University People's Hospital, China, to carry out the study. He said, "Very little is known about umbilical cord MSCs, and there has been no previous report ...
A major obstacle to achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals is the weakness of the health systems in many low and middle income countries, and their struggle to effectively provide health care to populations in need. Research into health systems aims to improve health care delivery; however, multiple definitions of this type of research exist and this lack of clarity is negatively affecting the credibility, and hence progress, of this research. In a paper published in PLoS Medicine this week to coincide with the first Global Symposium on Health Systems ...
AUSTIN, Texas—The source of HIV infection in two separate criminal cases in which men were convicted of intentionally infecting their female sexual partners was confirmed by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and Baylor College of Medicine using evolutionary forensics.
The research shows it's possible to identify the source of a cluster of diseases by analyzing the evolution of a virus within its host and between individuals. This type of research is known broadly as phylogenetic analysis.
In the cases, State of Washington vs. Anthony Eugene Whitfield ...
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore report that a new, highly sensitive investigative blood test may help predict the risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death much earlier than previously possible in older people who do not have symptoms of heart failure. Results of a study were presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association on November 15, 2010, and simultaneously published online in JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association.
The new test measures troponin T, a marker for the biological process ...
A Queen's University neuroscientist is launching a medical tool at the world's largest neuroscience conference in San Diego on Monday, Nov. 15.
The KINARM Assessment Station will greatly improve the way healthcare workers assess patients suffering from brain injuries and disease.
The new technology, invented by Stephen Scott, is the only objective tool for assessing brain function, and clinical researchers need this tool to develop better therapies for treating brain injury or disease.
"The beauty of this system is it that it captures subtle deficits caused by a ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio – If researchers could determine how to send signals to cells responding to a spinal cord injury, they might be able to stop one type of cell from doing additional damage at the injury site and instead, coax it into helping nerve cells grow.
That is the theory behind new research at Ohio State University, where scientists are trying to determine how to simultaneously stop damage and promote neuron growth with a single, targeted signal.
The cells in question are macrophages, a type of white blood cell found in injured tissue. After a spinal cord injury, ...
Alzheimer's disease is widely believed to be caused by the gradual accumulation in the brain of amyloid-beta peptide which is toxic to nerve cells. Amyloid beta peptide is formed from a protein known as APP, which is found in three forms. Most research into APP – a key area of study for the disease – does not distinguish between the different forms of the protein.
The findings, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, show that amyloid beta peptide is actually created mainly by just one form of APP – known as APP695 for the number of its amino acids. APP695 ...
People who take regular exercise could reduce their risk of developing around two dozen physical and mental health conditions - including some cancers and dementia - and slow down how quickly their body deteriorates as they age.
An extensive research review, published in the December issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice, says that apart from not smoking, being physically active is the most powerful lifestyle choice any individual can make to improve their health.
Physiotherapist and lecturer Leslie Alford from the University of East Anglia reviewed ...
Drug resistance is a major obstacle in curing ovarian cancer but new research from the Centenary Institute has discovered a treatment that kills ovarian cancer cells in a new way that can break the resistance mechanism. Published today in Autophagy, the researchers found the drug (FTY720) had a potent effect in human ovarian cancer cells, even in those resistant to cisplatin, the most commonly used chemotherapeutic drug currently available for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Centenary Institute Signal Transduction Head Associate Professor Pu Xia described the findings ...
Scientists have discovered the origin of a unique type of cell known for its ability to support regeneration in the central nervous system. Their findings, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), raise the possibility of obtaining a more reliable source of these cells for use in cell transplantation therapy for spinal cord injuries.
Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), as the name suggests, ensheath and protect the nerve fibres in the olfactory nerve, which transmit olfactory (smell) information to the brain from ...
