BACKGROUND: Fixed orthodontic appliances create areas of plaque stagnation leading to an increase in the volume, structure, and composition of plaque. This increases the chances of decalcification and white spot lesions. Oil pulling, an ancient practice involving swishing oil in the mouth, has demonstrated a significant reduction in plaque scores after 45 days, and a reduction in salivary Streptococcus mutans concentration in few studies done in nonorthodontic subjects. The aim was to compare the concentration of S. mutans in plaque around orthodontic brackets in patients using oil pulling with sesame oil and those on routine oral hygiene.
METHODS: Twenty subjects requiring fixed orthodontic treatment were divided into two equal groups: Group A-Oil pulling and Group B-Control. All subjects were instructed to follow common oral hygiene methods and in addition, Group A was instructed to perform oil pulling for 30 days starting 1 month after placement of fixed appliances. Plaque specimens were collected from labial surfaces of maxillary lateral incisors and quantification of S. mutans was done using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Mean and standard deviations for descriptive statistics, paired, and unpaired sample t-tests were analyzed.
RESULTS: Comparison of S. mutans concentration between T1 and T2 demonstrated a significant difference in both control and study groups. The experimental group showed significantly lesser S. mutans concentration compared to the control group.
CONCLUSIONS: Oil-pulling therapy with sesame oil resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the concentration of S. mutans in the plaque around orthodontic brackets.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this phase III randomized double-blinded controlled trial was to investigate the efficacy of a rose geranium in sesame oil (RG) nasal spray compared with an isotonic saline (IS) nasal spray for alleviating nasal vestibulitis symptoms among patients undergoing chemotherapy.
METHODS: Patients undergoing active chemotherapy who reported associated nasal symptoms were randomized 1:1 to receive RG or IS, administered twice daily for 2 weeks. Consenting participants completed nasal symptom questionnaires at baseline and then weekly while on treatment. The proportion of patients experiencing improvements in their nasal symptoms 2 weeks after initiating the nasal spray, using a six-point global impression of change score, was estimated within and between each randomized arm, and compared between arms, using Fisher\'s exact test. The estimated odds ratio was determined (95% confidence interval).
RESULTS: One hundred and six patients consented to this study; 43 participants in the RG arm and 41 in the IS arm were evaluable for the primary endpoint. Participants had a mean age of 57.8 years (SD 13.9). Demographic characteristics and baseline nasal symptoms were similar between arms. Of the evaluable participants who received RG, 67.4% reported improved nasal symptoms, compared with 36.6% of the participants who received IS (P = 0.009). Adverse events were sparse and did not differ between arms.
CONCLUSIONS: Rose geranium in sesame oil significantly improves nasal vestibulitis symptoms among patients undergoing chemotherapy.
BACKGROUND: NCT04620369.

BACKGROUND: Amiodarone is a prophylactic rhythm-regulating drug used to prevent arrhythmia; However, especially during infusion, it has the potential to cause a number of complications, especially phlebitis.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to determine the effects of sesame oil, which has the potential to prevent phlebitis that may occur during amiodarone infusion administered to patients after cardiac surgery.
METHODS: This prospective, two-arm (1:1), block randomized controlled interventional study.
METHODS: This study was conducted with 44 patients treated in the coronary intensive care unit of a university hospital, who received parenteral infusion of amiodarone. Sesame oil was applied superficially by applying 10 drops to a 10 cm perimeter of the cannula for 10 min. This application was repeated every 8 h during the 24-h amiodarone infusion. No intervention was made to the patients in the control group. However, standard nursing care measures and a standard transparent dressing were applied to the patients in both groups during the peripheral catheter application phase. Patients in the intervention and control groups were evaluated in terms of phlebitis at the end of every 24 h using the Visual Infusion Phlebitis Scale. The study was reported according to the CONSORT declaration.
RESULTS: Phlebitis symptoms occurred in 15/22 (68.2%) of the patients in the intervention group on the first day, 3/22 (13.6%) on the second day and 2/22 (9.1%) of the patients on the third day, while in the control group, 20/22 (90.9%) of the patients had phlebitis on the first day and 2/22 (9.1%) on the second day. The incidence of phlebitis was 20/22 (90.9%) in the intervention group and 22/22 (100%) in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in phlebitis symptoms between groups.
CONCLUSIONS: The research results showed that the application of sesame oil did not significantly reduce the frequency of phlebitis. However, a trend indicating delayed onset of phlebitis symptoms was observed in the sesame oil group. Nevertheless, larger sample studies are needed. These studies are expected to assist in determining the effects of sesame oil on phlebitis more precisely and provide stronger support for the results.
CONCLUSIONS: Training of nurses on non-pharmacological methods should be supported and opportunities should be given for their application.

Identification and quantification of sesame oil products are crucial due to the existing problems of adulteration with lower-priced oils and false labeling of sesame proportions. In this study, 1D CNN models were established to achieve discrimination of oil types and multiple quantification of adulteration using portable Raman spectrometer. An improved data augmentation method involving discarding transformations that alter peak positions was proposed, and synchronously injecting noise during geometric transformations. Furthermore, a novel neural network structure was introduced incorporating vector regression to accurately predict each component simultaneously. The proposed method has achieved higher accuracy in detecting multi-component adulteration compared with chemometrics (100 % accuracy in classifying different oils; R2 over 0.99 and RMSE within 2 % in predicting unknown adulterated samples). Finally, commercially available sesame oil products were tested and compared with gas chromatography and colorimetric methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of our proposed model in achieving higher detection accuracy at low-concentration adulteration.

OBJECTIVE: Considering the anti-inflammatory and positive effects of sesame oil in treating skin diseases, the present research aimed to study its therapeutic effects on acute radiotherapy dermatitis in such patients.
METHODS: Forty women with breast cancer during radiotherapy (for 5 weeks) were randomly grouped into two categories: sesame oil (20 patients) and placebo (20 patients). After each radiotherapy session, they were asked to use 3cc of the ointment on the treating field and continue the treatment until the end. They were examined weekly according to the staging criteria of the radiation therapy oncology group.
RESULTS: No significant difference was observed in the first 3 weeks. In the fourth week, dermatitis grade 0 was 35%, grade 1 was 65%, and grade 2 was 0% in the intervention (case) group, while in the control group, they were 10%, 75%, and 15%, respectively. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.046). Also, in the fifth week in the case group, dermatitis grade 0 was 25%, grade 1 was 70%, and grade 2 was 5%, while in the control group, they were 0%, 80%, and 20%, respectively. This difference was also statistically significant (p = 0.032).
CONCLUSIONS: Based on the findings, sesame oil, as a cheap and available herbal treatment, may be utilized in treating acute dermatitis caused by radiotherapy. However, an investigation with a larger sample size in several centers should be conducted to examine sesame oil effects in treating acute radio dermatitis more comprehensively.

The current work focused on the effect of repetitive frying on the physicochemical characteristics of palm oil (PO)and sesame oil (SO) during the preparation of french fries by deep fat frying. A total of 16 frying cycles were carried out and the effect on various parameters was evaluated. The repetitive frying caused higher damage to sesame oil as compared with PO as observed from changes in FFA and PV which increased to 0.63 ± 0.12, 1.31 ± 0.16%, and 2.71 ± 0.02, 7.21 ± 0.01 meq/kg from an initial value of 0.28 ± 0.00, 0.93 ± 0.16% and 0.19 ± 0.00, 0.71 ± 0.00 meq/kg for PO, SO respectively. The fatty acid composition of SO showed significant change with a decrease in linoleic acid and oleic acid content from 42.7 ± 0.01 to 28.1 ± 0.03 and 36.2 ± 0.01 to 25.1 ± 0.01 after 16 frying cycles respectively. The oleic acid content of PO was less affected it decreased from an initial value of 42.4 ± 0.01 to 38.9 ± 0.01 after 16 cycles. The fatty acid composition of PO made it more stable to the repetitive frying process. The physical properties like density refractive index and viscosity of SO were badly affected by repetitive frying. The french fries fried in PO score higher overall acceptability in the sensory examination.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05774-4.

BACKGROUND: Phlebitis is a severe inflammatory response in patients undergoing chemotherapy that can lead to complications and increased length of hospitalization.
OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to examine the effects of sesame oil and nitroglycerin ointment on the incidence of chemotherapy-induced phlebitis in patients with cancer.  Methods: This clinical trial study involved 138 cancer patients who were randomly assigned into three groups. The three groups received nitroglycerin ointment, sesame oil, or betadine alcoholic solution that were applied on the distal catheter area at a length of 1.5 centimeters and width of 2 × 4 cm using graded paper. The site was then dressed and fixed with anti-allergenic adhesives. The research samples were examined for 72 hours for the incidence of phlebitis.
RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was observed between the incidence of phlebitis in the sesame oil, nitroglycerin ointment and alcohol-betadine groups in the first 24 hours (p=0.2), the second 24 hours (p=0.13) and the third 24 hours (p=0.13).
CONCLUSIONS: External use of both sesame oil and nitroglycerin is effective in reducing chemotherapy-induced phlebitis. Due to its anti-inflammatory effect and low cost, however, using sesame oil is recommended.

BACKGROUND: Chronic sciatica (CS) is a common condition of disability and pain. Lawsonia inermis L. (henna) is a medicinal plant that is commonly recommended in traditional Persian medicine textbooks for pain relief in patients with sciatica, particularly in the form of oil.
OBJECTIVE: This research was designed to investigate the efficacy of a topical formulation from henna on pain intensity in patients with CS.
METHODS: In a randomized, double-blind clinical study, 81 patients were randomly allocated to three groups to receive the topical henna formulation (aqueous extract of henna in sesame oil), sesame oil, or placebo, three times daily, for four weeks. The patients were assessed by visual analog scale (VAS), 36-item short form health survey (SF-36), and Oswestry disability index (ODI).
RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in mean VAS in henna oil compared to sesame oil (p = 0.004) and placebo (p = 0.004). Significant improvements in total SF-36 scores were observed in henna oil and sesame oil compared to placebo (p = 0.011 and p = 0.025, respectively). Furthermore, ODI significantly decreased in henna oil compared to sesame oil (p < 0.001) and placebo (p = 0.005).
CONCLUSIONS: Henna oil seems to be an effective treatment to reduce pain intensity in patients with CS. Moreover, it improves quality of life and functional ability. Further randomized controlled trials with longer intervention periods are recommended to confirm this efficacy.

Sesame oil (SO) has been exhibited to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant influences. The goal of this experiment was to look into SO\'s hepato-protective properties and underlying processes in valproic acid (VPA)-induced hepatotoxicity. Molecular docking was carried out to clarify the functional and structural underlying mechanism of SO ameliorative effect. Mice were given 8 mL/kg/day of SO (orally) and 100 mg/kg/day of VPA (i.p.) for 21 days. The results revealed that VPA caused a considerable increase in hepatic malondialdehyde levels while decreasing the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme. There was also a significant rise in serum levels of interleukins 1β and 6 (IL-1β and IL-6) and a significant decrease in hepatic (PXR) gene expression level. SO co-administration with VPA significantly normalized the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory status and upregulated the gene expression level of PXR. In silico docking analysis results confirmed these results. This study concluded that supplementation of SO attenuated VPA-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Hence, it was recommended as a dietary supplement for protection against VPA-induced hepatotoxicity.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

UNASSIGNED: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of topical use of sesame oil on pain severity in patients with limb trauma.
UNASSIGNED: A placebo-controlled randomized controlled trial was conducted on 120 patients with nonpenetrating upper and lower limb traumas admitted to the trauma emergency department. The patients were allocated to either the sesame oil group or the placebo group using the stratified random sampling technique based on trauma size and age. Depending on the trauma area, sesame or placebo oil were poured on the trauma site and massaged for 5 to 7 minutes. The intervention was repeated twice a day for 3 days at home. Pain severity was measured using the numeric pain scale before intervention on the first day and 30 minutes after each intervention for 3 days, twice a day. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests including the independent t test, χ2 test, Fisher exact test, Mann-Whitney U test, Friedman test, and multiple linear regression analysis. The significance level was set at 0.05.
UNASSIGNED: The decreasing trend of pain was significant in both the intervention and placebo groups (P < .001). Comparison of the trend of changes in pain scores between the 2 groups showed that the mean changes of pain severity were higher in the intervention group compared with the placebo group in all assessments. There was a significant difference in the rate of analgesic consumption in the intervention group compared with the placebo group (P < .001). However, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups regarding pain severity. Pain reduction was negatively associated with body mass index (b = -0.091, P = .003), amount of received pain medication (b = -0.001, P = .039), and area of trauma (b = -0.002, P = .039). Pain reduction was greater in male patients than female patients (b = 0.676, P = .015). The effect of sesame oil on pain changes was not significant. No adverse side effects were reported.
UNASSIGNED: This study showed that despite less use of analgesics in the intervention group than in the placebo group, sesame oil did not have any statistically significant effects on the severity of limb trauma pain. Further research is needed regarding the effect of topical sesame oil application on pain as a safe and uncomplicated intervention.