Application of electrotherapy for pain relief

This article reviews the use of electrotherapy for pain relief. Authors present the basis of the successfull electrotherapy to treat many types of pain. In addition, the article described neurophysiological and neurochemical mechanisms by which non-pharmacological methods like: direct current stimulation (DCS), microcurrent electrical therapy (MET), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), Bernard’s currents and interferential currents demonstrate their efficacy.W artykule omówiono zastosowanie metod elektroterapii w leczeniu zespołów bólowych. Autorzy przedstawili podstawy skuteczności przeciwbólowych metod elektroterapeutycznych. Zwrócono uwagę na neurofizjologiczne i neurochemiczne mechanizmy leżące u podstawy skuteczności niefarmakologicznych metod leczenia bólu, takich jak stymulacja prądem stałym, mikroprądami (MET), przezskórna elektryczna stymulacja nerwów (TENS), stymulacja prądami Bernarda i prądami interferencyjnymi

Influence of MLS laser radiation on erythrocyte membrane fluidity and secondary structure of human serum albumin

The biostimulating activity of low level laser radiation of various wavelengths and energy doses is widely documented in the literature, but the mechanisms of the intracellular reactions involved are not precisely known. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of low level laser radiation from an multiwave locked system (MLS) of two wavelengths (wavelength = 808 nm in continuous emission and 905 nm in pulsed emission) on the human erythrocyte membrane and on the secondary structure of human serum albumin (HSA). Human erythrocytes membranes and HSA were irradiated with laser light of low intensity with surface energy density ranging from 0.46 to 4.9 J cm(−2) and surface energy power density 195 mW cm(−2) (1,000 Hz) and 230 mW cm(−2) (2,000 Hz). Structural and functional changes in the erythrocyte membrane were characterized by its fluidity, while changes in the protein were monitored by its secondary structure. Dose-dependent changes in erythrocyte membrane fluidity were induced by near-infrared laser radiation. Slight changes in the secondary structure of HSA were also noted. MLS laser radiation influences the structure and function of the human erythrocyte membrane resulting in a change in fluidity

Relationship between secondary health conditions and life satisfaction in persons with spinal cord injury:study across twenty-one countries

Purpose: To determine the relationships between impact of secondary health conditions (SHCs), treatment of SHCs, and life satisfaction (LS) following spinal cord injury (SCI) across 21 countries. Hypotheses were as follows: (1) Persons with SCI and fewer SHCs report higher LS and (2) Persons who receive treatment for SHCs report higher LS than those who do not receive treatment.Methods: Cross-sectional survey, including 10,499 persons with traumatic or non-traumatic SCI aged 18 years or older and living in the community. To assess SHCs, 14 items adapted from the SCI-Secondary Conditions Scale were used (range 1–5). SHCs index was calculated as the mean of all 14 items. LS was assessed using a selection of 5 items from the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment. LS index was calculated as the mean of these 5 items. Results: South Korea, Germany, and Poland exhibited the highest (2.40–2.93) and Brazil, China, and Thailand the lowest (1.79–1.90) impact of SHCs. Indexes for LS and SHCs were inversely correlated (– 0.418; p &lt; 0.001). Mixed Model Analysis showed that the fixed effect (key predictors of the study) of SHCs index (p &lt; 0.001) and the positive interaction between SHCs index and treatment (p = 0.002) were significant determinants of LS.Conclusion: Persons with SCI across the world are more likely to perceive better LS if they experience fewer SHCs and receive treatment for SHCs, in comparison to those who do not. Prevention and treatment of SHCs following SCI should be a high priority in order to improve the lived experience and enhance LS.</p

Gene Expression Analysis in Ovarian Cancer – Faults and Hints from DNA Microarray Study

The introduction of microarray techniques to cancer research brought great expectations for finding biomarkers that would improve patients’ treatment; however, the results of such studies are poorly reproducible and critical analyses of these methods are rare. In this study, we examined global gene expression in 97 ovarian cancer samples. Also, validation of results by quantitative RT-PCR was performed on 30 additional ovarian cancer samples. We carried out a number of systematic analyses in relation to several defined clinicopathological features. The main goal of our study was to delineate the molecular background of ovarian cancer chemoresistance and find biomarkers suitable for prediction of patients’ prognosis. We found that histological tumor type was the major source of variability in genes expression, except for serous and undifferentiated tumors that showed nearly identical profiles. Analysis of clinical endpoints [tumor response to chemotherapy, overall survival, disease-free survival (DFS)] brought results that were not confirmed by validation either on the same group or on the independent group of patients. CLASP1 was the only gene that was found to be important for DFS in the independent group, whereas in the preceding experiments it showed associations with other clinical endpoints and with BRCA1 gene mutation; thus, it may be worthy of further testing. Our results confirm that histological tumor type may be a strong confounding factor and we conclude that gene expression studies of ovarian carcinomas should be performed on histologically homogeneous groups. Among the reasons of poor reproducibility of statistical results may be the fact that despite relatively large patients’ group, in some analyses one has to compare small and unequal classes of samples. In addition, arbitrarily performed division of samples into classes compared may not always reflect their true biological diversity. And finally, we think that clinical endpoints of the tumor probably depend on subtle changes in many and, possibly, alternative molecular pathways, and such changes may be difficult to demonstrate

Symmetry of the Neck Muscles’ Activity in the Electromyography Signal during Basic Motion Patterns

The activity of muscles during motion in one direction should be symmetrical when compared to the activity of the contralateral muscles during motion in the opposite direction, while symmetrical movements should result in symmetrical muscle activation. The literature lacks data on the symmetry of neck muscle activation. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the activity of the upper trapezius (UT) and sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles at rest and during basic motions of the neck and to determine the symmetry of the muscle activation. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was collected from UT and SCM bilaterally during rest, maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) and six functional movements from 18 participants. The muscle activity was related to the MVC, and the Symmetry Index was calculated. The muscle activity at rest was 23.74% and 27.88% higher on the left side than on the right side for the UT and SCM, respectively. The highest asymmetries during motion were for the SCM for the right arc movement (116%) and for the UT in the lower arc movement (55%). The lowest asymmetry was recorded for extension–flexion movement for both muscles. It was concluded that this movement can be useful for assessing the symmetry of neck muscles’ activation. Further studies are required to verify the above-presented results, determine muscle activation patterns and compare healthy people to patients with neck pain

Annual Wildflower Strips as a Tool for Enhancing Functional Biodiversity in Rye Fields in an Organic Cultivation System

Ecological intensification of agriculture (e.g., with the use of wildflower strips) is being currently discussed as a mean for gaining high yields, preserving high biodiversity of farmland. The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of annual wildflower strips (WFSs) established in rye field (RF) in (1) increasing species richness and abundance in terms of beneficial arthropod groups (carabids, ground spiders, plant spiders, butterflies, insect pollinators and plant-dwelling insect predators), (2) decreasing the abundance of insect pests, (3) decreasing damages of the crop, and (4) increasing the yield. The field survey was carried out in 2019, in two WFSs and in the adjacent crop field at the distances of 3, 9, 21 and 45 m. The study was not skewed by pesticide use as it was carried out on an organic farm. Mean &ldquo;site&rdquo; species numbers (&alpha;-diversity) and the abundance of most groups were found to be significantly higher in WFSs than in RF. A negative relationship was found in most groups between distance from WFSs and species numbers and abundance. The mean total abundance of all observed pest insects was positively related to distance from WFSs and increased by 83% at distances between 3 and 45 m from WFSs. There was a negative exponential relationship between aphid abundance and total predator abundance, which suggests a mechanism reducing aphid abundance resulting from high levels of predator abundance in the nearby WFSs. The study shows that annual WFSs can be an efficient measure for enhancing cropland biodiversity and should be taken into account in agri-environmental schemes in the Common Agricultural Policy after 2020

Fibronectin and Periostin as Prognostic Markers in Ovarian Cancer

Previously, based on a DNA microarray experiment, we identified a 96-gene prognostic signature associated with the shorter survival of ovarian cancer patients. We hypothesized that some differentially expressed protein-coding genes from this signature could potentially serve as prognostic markers. The present study was aimed to validate two proteins, namely fibronectin (FN1) and periostin (POSTN), in the independent set of ovarian cancer samples. Both proteins are mainly known as extracellular matrix proteins with many important functions in physiology. However, there are also indications that they are implicated in cancer, including ovarian cancer. The expression of these proteins was immunohistochemically analyzed in 108 surgical samples of advanced ovarian cancer (majority: high-grade serous) and additionally on tissue arrays representing different stages of the progression of ovarian and fallopian tube epithelial tumors, from normal epithelia, through benign tumors, to adenocarcinomas of different stages. The correlation with clinical, pathological, and molecular features was evaluated. Kaplan&ndash;Meier survival analysis and Cox-proportional hazards models were used to estimate the correlation of the expression levels these proteins with survival. We observed that the higher expression of fibronectin in the tumor stroma was highly associated with shorter overall survival (OS) (Kaplan&ndash;Meier analysis, log-rank test p = 0.003). Periostin was also associated with shorter OS (p = 0.04). When we analyzed the combined score, calculated by adding together individual scores for stromal fibronectin and periostin expression, Cox regression demonstrated that this joint FN1&amp;POSTN score was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR = 2.16; 95% CI: 1.02&ndash;4.60; p = 0.044). The expression of fibronectin and periostin was also associated with the source of ovarian tumor sample: metastases showed higher expression of these proteins than primary tumor samples (&chi;2 test, p = 0.024 and p = 0.032). Elevated expression of fibronectin and periostin was also more common in fallopian cancers than in ovarian cancers. Our results support some previous observations that fibronectin and periostin have a prognostic significance in ovarian cancer. In addition, we propose the joint FN1&amp;POSTN score as an independent prognostic factor for OS. Based on our results, it may also be speculated that these proteins are related to tumor progression and/or may indicate fallopian&ndash;epithelial origin of the tumor

Motor re-training and immobilisation in the treatment of writer’s cramp: a clinical and fMRI study

Objectives: The aim of the paper was to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of the physiotherapeutic program in writer’s cramp, (2) compare the brain activity while writing in patients with writer’s cramp and in healthy controls, (3) compare the brain activity of subjects with writer’s cramp before and after the physiotherapy. Material and methods: Nine patients with diagnosed writer’s cramp and nine age-matched healthy controls were studied. The functional magnetic resonance imaging while writing was performed in the writer’s cramp subjects and in the controls. The patients with writer’s cramp participated in a 3-week therapeutic program of individualised exercises in combination with the immobilisation of the affected limb. The functional magnetic resonance imaging was repeated after completing the therapeutic program. Results: Only the results of the coil drawing test significantly improved after completing the therapeutic program. All other clinical tests did not reveal any significant changes after the therapy. Activation of primary motor cortex, premotor cortex and primary sensory cortex was observed while writing in the subjects with writer’s cramp and in the controls. Brain activation in clusters located in the areas BA4, BA7, BA18 and BA37 was more pronounced in the writer’s cramp group. Individual analysis revealed a significantly increased activation of the cerebellum in the writer’s cramp patients and it decreased after physiotherapy. Conclusion: In the writer’s cramp subjects, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed increased – when compared to the controls – activity of several brain structures while writing. This activity was modified by individualised physiotherapeutic program

The effect of MLS laser radiation on cell lipid membrane

Introduction Authors of numerous publications have proved the therapeutic effect of laser irradiation on biological material, but the mechanisms at cellular and subcellular level are not yet well understood. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the effect of laser radiation emitted by the MLS M1 system (Multiwave Locked System) at two wavelengths (808 nm continuous and 905 nm pulsed) on the stability and fluidity of liposomes with a lipid composition similar to that of human erythrocyte membrane or made of phosphatidylocholine. Material and Methods Liposomes were exposed to low-energy laser radiation at surface densities 195 mW/cm 2 (frequency 1,000 Hz) and 230 mW/cm 2 (frequency 2,000 Hz). Different doses of radiation energy in the range 0–15 J were applied. The surface energy density was within the range 0.46 – 4.9 J/cm 2 . Results The fluidity and stability of liposomes subjected to such irradiation changed depending on the parameters of radiation used. Conclusions Since MLS M1 laser radiation, depending on the parameters used, affects fluidity and stability of liposomes with the lipid content similar to erythrocyte membrane, it may also cause structural and functional changes in cell membranes

The influence of magnethotherapy on blood pressure in patients with and without arterial hypertension treated for lumbar back pain syndrome

Wstęp. Wśród metod fizjoterapii stosowanych w zespołach bólowych kręgosłupa znajduje się magnetoterapia. Wielu spośród pacjentów z zespołem bólowym kręgosłupa cierpi na nadciśnienie tętnicze (NT). Wpływ pola magnetycznego (PM) na ciśnienie tętnicze krwi (RR) jest nie do końca poznany i często budzi obawy przed stosowaniem tego rodzaju terapii u pacjentów z nadciśnieniem tętniczym. Celem pracy jest ocena wpływu zabiegów magnetoterapii stosowanej w zespołach bólowych kręgosłupa lędźwiowo-krzyżowego na wartości ciśnienia tętniczego i tętna u pacjentów z rozpoznanym i leczonym nadciśnieniem tętniczym (NT) oraz u chorych bez NT. Materiał i metody. Do badania zakwalifikowano 60 chorych z zespołem bólowym kręgosłupa lędźwiowo-krzyżowego, których podzielono na 2 grupy w zależności od współistnienia NT. U wszystkich pacjentów wykonywano zabiegipolem magnetycznym o następujących parametrach: indukcja magnetyczna 9 mT, częstotliwość zmian natężenia pola magnetycznego 40 Hz, czas impulsu 0,5 s, kształt pola prostokątny. U każdego pacjenta wykonywano czterokrotnie pomiar RR oraz tętna: przed, w połowie czasu, po, oraz 10 min. po wykonanym zabiegu. Wyniki. W grupie 1 obserwowano wyższe wartości RR przed, w trakcie i po zabiegu. Stwierdzono istotne zmniejszenie RR i zwolnienie tętna w trakcie zabiegów magnetoterapii w obu grupach. Nie zaobserwowano trwałych zmian RR po 10 zabiegach magnetoterapii. Wnioski. 1. W trakcie zabiegów magnetoterapii dochodzi do istotnego spadku RR skurczowego i tętna u chorych z NT i bez NT. 2. Ciśnienie rozkurczowe w trakcie zabiegów magnetoterapii ulega obniżeniu u chorych z NT i bez NT. 3. Obniżenie skurczowego ciśnienia tętniczego i tętna podczas zabiegu magnetoterapii utrzymuje się po 10 minutach od zakończenia zabiegu w grupie chorych z NT. 4. Magnetoterapia powoduje istotne podwyższenie ciśnienia rozkurczowego krwi po 10 minutach od zakończenia zabiegu w grupie z NT i bez NT. Długość trwania takiego efektu wymaga jednak potwierdzenia w kolejnych badaniach.Background: Magnetotherapy is one of the methods applied in the treatment of back pain syndromes. Many patients with back pain syndromes suffer from arterial hypertension (AH). The influence of magnetic fields (MF) on blood pressure is not clearly recognized and its application in patients with arterial hypertension causes some concern. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of magnetotherapy applied in patients with lumbar and sacral back pain syndromes on blood pressure and pulse rate in patients diagnosed with arterial hypertension and treated for it and those without hypertension. Materials and methods: 60 patients (pts) with lumbar and sacral back pain syndromes were included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups depending on the coexistence of hypertension. Magnetic fields procedures(magnetic induction 9 mT, frequency 40 Hz, impulse time – 0,5 s, impulse shape - rectangular) were performed in every patient. Blood pressure and pulse rate were measured 4 times in every patient: before, half time, after and 10 minutes after the procedure was completed. Results: Higher blood pressure measurements before, during and after the procedure were observed in group 1. Significant blood pressure and pulse rate decrease during magnetotherapy procedures was observed in both groups. Reduction of blood pressure was not observed after 10 procedures. Conclusions: 1. In the course of magnetotherapy procedure a significant decrease in systolic BP and pulse is observed in patients with hypertension and without AH. 2. Diastolic blood pressure is reduced during magnetotherapy in patients with hypertension and without AH. 3. The reduction in systolic BP and pulse lasts up to 10 minutes after the end of magnetotherapy procedure in patients with hypertension. 4. Magnetic field causes a significant increase in diastolic BP 10 minutes after the end of the procedure in the group with AH and without AH. The duration of this effect, however, requires confirmation in further studies