The present study was designed as a clinical trial to assess the efficacy of acupuncture and silver spike point (SSP) electro-therapy on dry eye syndrome. A total of 43 dry eye syndrome patients participated in the present study. Subjects were divided into control, acupuncture and SSP electro-therapy groups. The three groups were all given artificial tears treatment. Patients in the treatment groups were given two 20-minute treatments of either acupuncture or SSP. Assessment was carried out using the Basal Schirmer test, tear break-up time (BUT), visual analog scale (VAS) and an overall score of eye condition. After four weeks of treatment, both the acupuncture and SSP treatment groups showed improvements over the control group, in Schirmer tests of the left eye and average tearing of both eyes. After 8 weeks of treatment, both treatment groups showed improvements over the control group both in Schirmer tests and VAS. For the right eye, treatment groups showed significant improvements in Schirmer test and VAS versus the control group averages for both eyes. There was no significant difference in BUT at any time. Comparing scores before and after treatment, the acupuncture and SSP groups showed a significant improvement compared to the control group. The acupuncture group showed a greater 8-week improvement in Schirmer tests scores compared to the SSP group. However, the SSP group patients used fewer applications of artificial tears. Acupuncture and SSP electro-therapy were effective in increasing tear secretion in patients with dry eye syndrome. The SSP electro-therapy not only alleviated dry eye syndrome, but also reduced the number of applications of artificial tears necessary.

The present study was designed as a clinical trial to assess the efficacy of acupuncture and silver spike point (SSP) electro-therapy on dry eye syndrome. A total of 43 dry eye syndrome patients participated in the present study. Subjects were divided into control, acupuncture and SSP electro-therapy groups. The three groups were all given artificial tears treatment. Patients in the treatment groups were given two 20-minute treatments of either acupuncture or SSP. Assessment was carried out using the Basal Schirmer test, tear break-up time (BUT), visual analog scale (VAS) and an overall score of eye condition. After four weeks of treatment, both the acupuncture and SSP treatment groups showed improvements over the control group, in Schirmer tests of the left eye and average tearing of both eyes. After 8 weeks of treatment, both treatment groups showed improvements over the control group both in Schirmer tests and VAS. For the right eye, treatment groups showed significant improvements in Schirmer test and VAS versus the control group averages for both eyes. There was no significant difference in BUT at any time. Comparing scores before and after treatment, the acupuncture and SSP groups showed a significant improvement compared to the control group. The acupuncture group showed a greater 8-week improvement in Schirmer tests scores compared to the SSP group. However, the SSP group patients used fewer applications of artificial tears. Acupuncture and SSP electro-therapy were effective in increasing tear secretion in patients with dry eye syndrome. The SSP electro-therapy not only alleviated dry eye syndrome, but also reduced the number of applications of artificial tears necessary.

BACKGROUND:The effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) on Toxoplasma gondii have not been explained yet. The aim of this study was to assess the possible effects of ELF-EMF on growth, survival time and viability of Toxoplasma gondii. In addition, the life span of Toxoplasma infected animals was investigated.

METHODS:Sixty adult male BALB/c mice were used for in vivo and in vivo experiments in Laboratory of Biopyhsics and Parasitology of Medical Faculty, Adnan Menderes University, Turkey, in 2010. During in vivo experiments, pulsed and continuous EMFs were applied for 5 d to the infected mice. During in vivo experiments, pulsed and continuous EMF was applied to the tachyzoites within peritoneal exudates for 8 h/d at 4°C and the tachyzoites were then injected to mice. In both experiments, the number of T. gondii in peritoneal exudates was counted and T. gondii protein bands patterns were investigated with polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western Blotting.

RESULTS:Pulsed and continuous EMF exposure reduced the number of T. gondii tachyzoites in comparison to controls. However, no statistically significant differences were observed at the patterns of protein bands among the samples.

CONCLUSION:EMF exposure induces a decrease in the number of T. gondii. Further studies are required to understand the mechanism of EMF on intracellular parasites.

This study evaluated the effects and mechanism of action of combining irreversible electroporation (IRE) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) in breast cancer cellsand. Jin's formula was used to assess killing efficacy of different IRE+PDT dosing combinations in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Flow cytometry, high-content imaging, and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to detect apoptosis. qRT-PCR and western blotting were used to evaluate expression of apoptosis-related genes and proteins. IRE+PDT combination therapy was administered to BALB/C mice with breast cancer tumors in vivo; tumor size was used to assess treatment efficacy. Killing mechanisms were examined using transmission electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. We found that IRE+PDT combination therapy produced significant synergistic killing effects in breast cancer cells (highest Jin q value of 1.32). Early apoptosis rates were significantly higher in the IRE+PDT group (16.0%) than in IRE-alone (7.6%) and PDT-alone (4.6%) groups (<0.05). qRT-PCR showed higher Caspase-1, -3, -5, -6, -7, -8, and -9 and TNFRSF1A expression with IRE+PDT than with control. Western blots showed increased cleaved Caspase-3, -7, and -9, and PARP levels in the IRE+PDT group.tumor suppression rate for IRE (1200 V)+PDT (10 mg/kg) was 68.3%. Combination therapy produced the most obvious apoptosis effects. Compared with controls, the IRE+PDT group exhibited lower new blood vessel (VEGF, CD31), metastasis (TGF-β), and cell proliferation (Ki-67) indicators and higher inflammation indicator (TNF-α) 1 day post-treatment. Thus, combining IRE and PDT enhanced their anti-tumor effects in breast cancer, and apoptosis played a key role in this process.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a debilitating pain disorder for which patients commonly receive physiotherapy. The objective of this literature review is to assess how effective physiotherapy is in the management of adult and childhood CRPS type I. An electronic literature search was performed of the databases AMED, Cinahl, Embase, Ovid Medline, Pubmed, PEDro and PsycINFO, from their inception to November 2004. Human subjects clinical trials, written in English, which could assist in answering the research question were included. Twenty-five (of 748) papers met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. The review suggests that exercise, motor imagery and mirror feedback exercises, relaxation techniques, acupuncture, electroacupuncture, transcutaneous nerve stimulation and combined treatment programmes may help in the treatment of CRPS type I. However, since numerous methodological weaknesses (e.g. small sample sizes, not employing control groups, not evaluating findings against statistical tests) littered the limited literature, it was not possible to determine the effectiveness of individual treatments. Recommendations are made to develop the evidence base.