***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Objective : To evaluate carbamezapine ( CBZ ) for neuritic pain relief in Guillain‐Barré syndrome ( GBS ) patients in the intensive care unit ( ICU ) . Design : Prospect i ve , double‐blind , r and omly allocated crossover study days . Setting : ICU in a tertiary care university hospital . Participants : Twelve consecutive , conscious adult ( 22‐54 yrs ) patients with GBS during recovery from the muscular weakness and receiving pressure‐support ventilation in the ICU . All patients complained of severe backache and /or leg cramps and tenderness in muscles , and they required opioids for pain relief . Interventions : CBZ ( 100 mg every 8 hrs ) or equivalent placebo was given to nursing staff in coded powder form . Medication was given to patients through a nasogastric feeding tube . The same coded medicine was given for 3 days , and after a 1‐day omission , a second set of coded powder was given for the next 3 days in a r and omized , double‐blind , crossover fashion . Pethidine ( 1 mg·kg−1 ) was given intravenously in between , if the pain score was > 2 . Group 1 ( n = 6 ) patients were given a placebo on the first 3 days , followed by CBZ . Group 2 ( n = 6 ) patients were given CBZ on the first 3 days , followed by a placebo . Measurements and Main Results : In these two study periods of different medications , we observed and scored pain ( 1 , no pain ; 5 , severe pain ) , sedation ( 1 , alert ; 6 , asleep , does not respond to verbal comm and ) , and total pethidine requirement per day . In group 1 patients , a significant ( p < .001 ) improvement in the sedation score and a low requirement for pethidine was observed 3 days later , when CBZ was started . However , in group 2 patients , a gradual increase in the pethidine requirement and a high sedation score were noteworthy in the later days of placebo medication . Observations were also analyzed for CBZ days vs. placebo days . Overall , the pain score ( 1.7 ± 0.8 ) during the CBZ period of both regimens was significantly ( p < .001 ) lower than during the placebo days ( 3.1 ± 0.9 ) . Significantly higher doses of pethidine ( 3.7 ± 0.9 mg/kg/day ) were used on the placebo days than on the CBZ days ( 1.7 ± 1.0 mg/kg/day ) . Conclusion : The pain in GBS has a dual origin , and we recommend CBZ as an adjuvant to treat pain  in GBS patients , during the recovery phase in the ICU , to reduce the narcotic requirement In a double-blind crossover study of 39 children with established migraine , there was no difference between treatment with propanolol and placebo as regards frequency , severity or average duration of migraine attacks . There was some evidence that propanolol increased the average length of headaches Pain syndromes of Guillain-Barré are neuropathic as well as nociceptive in origin . We aim ed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of gabapentin in relieving the bimodal nature of pain in Guillain-Barré syndrome in a r and omized , double-blinded , placebo-controlled , crossover study in 18 patients admitted to the intensive care unit for ventilatory support . Patients were assigned to receive either gabapentin ( 15 mg · kg−1 · d−1 in 3 divided doses ) or matching placebo as initial medication for 7 days . After a 2-day washout period , those who previously received gabapentin received placebo , and those previously receiving placebo received gabapentin as in the initial phase . Fentanyl 2 & mgr;g/kg was used as a rescue analgesic on patient dem and or when the pain score was > 5 on a numeric rating scale of 0–10 . The numeric rating score , sedation score , consumption of fentanyl , and adverse effects were noted , and these observed variables were compared . The numeric pain score decreased from 7.22 ± 0.83 to 2.33 ± 1.67 on the second day after initiation of gabapentin therapy and remained low during the period of gabapentin therapy ( 2.06 ± 0.63 ) ( P < 0.001 ) . There was a significant decrease in the need for fentanyl from Day 1 to Day 7 during the gabapentin therapy period ( 211.11 ± 21.39 to 65.53 ± 16.17 [ & mgr;g ] ) in comparison to the placebo therapy period ( 319.44 ± 25.08 to 316.67 ± 24.25 [ & mgr;g ] ) ( P < 0.001 ) In a prospect i ve study we compared propranolol , placebo , and self-hypnosis in the treatment of juvenile classic migraine . Children aged 6 to 12 years with classic migraine who had no previous specific treatment were r and omized into propranolol ( at 3 mg/kg/d ) or placebo groups for a 3-month period and then crossed over for 3 months . After this 6-month period , each child was taught self-hypnosis and used it for 3 months . Twenty-eight patients completed the entire study . The mean number of headaches per child for 3 months during the placebo period was 13.3 compared with 14.9 during the propranolol period and 5.8 during the self-hypnosis period . Statistical analysis showed a significant association between decrease in headache frequency and self-hypnosis training ( P = .045 ) . There was no significant change in subjective or objective measures of headache severity with either therapy OBJECTIVES This study sought to compare the safety , efficacy and clinical utility of the Amplatzer septal occluder ( ASO ) for closure of secundum atrial septal defect ( ASD ) with surgical closure . BACKGROUND The clinical utility of a device such as the ASO can only be judged against the results of contemporaneous surgery . METHODS A multicenter , nonr and omized concurrent study was performed in 29 pediatric cardiology centers from March 1998 to March 2000 . The patients were assigned to either the device or surgical closure group according to the patients ' option . Baseline physical exams and echocardiography were performed preprocedure and at follow-up ( 6 and 12 months for device group , 12 months for surgical group ) . RESULTS A total of 442 patients were in the group undergoing device closure , whereas 154 patients were in the surgical group . The median age was 9.8 years for the device group and 4.1 years for the surgical group ( p < 0.001 ) . In the device group , 395 ( 89.4 % ) patients had a single ASD ; in the surgical group , 124 ( 80.5 % ) ( p = 0.008 ) had a single ASD . The size of the primary ASD was 13.3 + /- 5.4 mm for the device group and 14.2 + /- 6.3 mm for the surgery group ( p = 0.099 ) . The procedural attempt success rate was 95.7 % for the device group and 100 % for the surgical group ( p = 0.006 ) . CONCLUSIONS The early , primary and secondary efficacy success rates were 94.8 % , 98.5 % and 91.6 % , respectively , for the device group , and 96.1 % , 100 % and 89.0 % for the surgical group ( all p > 0.05 ) . The complication rate was 7.2 % for the device group and 24.0 % for the surgical group ( p < 0.001 ) . The mean length of hospital stay was 1.0 + /- 0.3 day for the device group and 3.4 + /- 1.2 days for the surgical group ( p < 0.001 ) . Mortality was 0 % for both groups . The early , primary and secondary efficacy success rates for surgical versus . device closure of ASD were not statistically different ; however , the complication rate was lower and the length of hospital stay was shorter for device closure than for surgical repair . Appropriate patient selection is an important factor for successful device closure . Transcatheter closure of secundum ASD using the ASO is a safe and effective alternative to surgical repair About 4 per cent of schoolchildren suffer from migraine . In some cases the attacks can be frequent and severe . Often symptomatic and prophylactic treatments are either ineffective or cause pronounced side effects . There have been reports on studies in which a prophylactic effect on migraine by propranolol has been noted . This beta‐receptor blocking agent has been tested in a double‐blind single crossover study in 32 children aged 7–16 with migraine .  Propranolol had an excellent prophylactic effect on migraine attacks . Since propranolol does not cause serious side effects provided certain patients are excluded , it seems justifiable to recommend this preparation where prophylactic therapy is indicated in cases of severe and frequent migraine . Forty-seven children with migraine have been included in a double-blind cross-over study with pizotifen and placebo . The children received either pizotifen for 3 months followed by placebo or vice versa . Thirty-nine children completed the trial and there was no significant difference between active and placebo treatment as regards reduction of number of attacks , total and mean duration of attacks and duration of longest attacks .  Pizotifen was well tolerated by the children 
    Output:
    
Electronic-only topics that have been published on the BestBets site ( www.bestbets.org ) and may be of interest to paediatricians include : N Is two thumb or two finger compression better in rescuscitating infants who have sustained a cardiac arrest ?