Irradiation in the red/near-infrared spectrum (R/NIR, 630 – 1000 nm) has been recently used as a potential therapeutic strategy to treat different diseases and injuries such as Mitochondrial Disease, Degenerative Eye Diseases, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke, Metabolic Diseases (Eells et al., 2003), wound healing, central nervous system injury, and for restless leg syndrome (Fitzgerald et al., 2013).
Dr. Janis Eells presented a study that was accomplished by her and her students under the title “UNBLINDED BY THE LIGHT: Photobiomodulation for the Treatment of Retinal Degenerative Disease”. The purpose of this study is to determine whether photobiomodulation with near-infrared is able to treat retinal degeneration diseases. Thus, they hypothesis that the exposure of a rodent model of methanol toxicity to photobiomodulation (PBM) with near-infrared (NIR) could play a potential role in protecting the retina against the toxic actions of the methanol- derived formic acid. What is known about the topic is that if a small amount of methanol is injected it will rapidly cause permanent blindness. The methanol is metabolized to a mitochondrial toxin, and it is formic acid that can inhibit Cytochrome c Oxidase. This formic acid is able to interrupt mitochondrial function and increases oxidative stress in the retina and optic nerve which eventually leads to blindness. In order to fully test their hypothesis, the rats were randomly divided into four treatment groups: untreated control, LED-treated control, methanol-intoxicated, and LED-treated, methanol-intoxicated rats. they used electroretinogram as a sensitive indicator of retinal function, the experimental rats under methanol intoxication were exposed to three ...
... middle of paper ...
...rons and enhanced vision in animal model with reduced risk of systemic side-effects and the potential for long term efficacy.
In the end, regardless of the scientific methods that could be used to treat different diseases and more specifically retinal degeneration, many studies should be conducted determine the potential clinical application of photobiomodulation with NIR for treatment of different injuries and disorders.
Works Cited
Eells, J., et al. “Therapeutic photobiomodulation for methanol-induced retinal toxicity.” PNAS 100.6 (2003): 3439–3444.
Fitzgerald, M., et al. “Red/near-infrared irradiation therapy for treatment of central nervous system injuries and disorders.” Rev. Neurosci. 24.2: (2013): 205-26.
Huang, Y., Enzmann, V., and Iidstad, S."Stem cell-based therapeutic applications in retinal degenerative diseases." Stem Cell Rev. 7.2 (2011): 434-445.
The wide range of prospective uses for stem cells could greatly improve the health and wellbeing of many people. In stem cell treatments, undifferentiated cells are programmed to form specific cells, which can then be transplanted to the afflicted area. Stems cells can possibly treat afflictions including “Alzheimer’s diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis” (“Stem Cell Basics”). Another important use is in drug testing. Drugs can be tested on stem cells that develop into the target tissue before using it on human test subjects, which improves safety. Finally, transplantation of organs created from stem cells could eliminate the need for human...
For the past few centuries western medicine has made significant improvements in medical technologies; however, as the pendulum swings we are obliged to remember that eastern medicine has been prevalent for numerous centuries. Eastern medicine includes many medical avenues that are slowly becoming more popularized in the western world. For example, I have noticed therapies such as acupuncture becoming much more accepted that in previous decades. Moreover, in the past year I have learned a great deal about the therapeutic effects of magnets, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) which is also known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).
2. Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is also used by modifying the radiation beams by varying their intensity. This is a more specialized form of the 3D-CR treatment.
...ith photodynamic therapy. Neoplastic tissues would take up compounds of photosensitizing agents, and the interaction of light with the photosensitizing agent eventually leads to the production of cytotoxic free radicles[secret]. The advantages of this treatment is that multiple lesions could be treated even though that could take more than one treatment. However, the downside to this treatment is that it is limited only to neoplasms that are at superficial level. Patients might also acquire side effects such as having photosensitization for around 4-6 weeks, or causing tissues to undergo necrosis which sloughs off after some time.[secret] The latter effect would induce pain in patients.
16. Wang, Yadong. "An Anti-angiogenic Reverse Thermal Gel as a Drug-Delivery System for Age-Related Wet Macular Degeneration." Macromolecular Bioscience: 464-469. Web. 1 May 2014.
Stem cell research began in 1956 when Dr. E Donnall Thomas performed the first bone marrow transplant (“Adult stem cells are not more promising,” 2007). Since that time, research has evolved into obtaining cells from a variety of tissues. According to stem cell research professors, Ariff Bongso and Eng Hin Lee (2005), “Stem cells are unspecialized cells in the human body that are capable of becoming cells, each with new specialized functions” (p. 2). Stem cells are in various adult tissues, such as bone marrow, the liver, the epidermis layer of skin, the central nervous system, and eyes. They are also in other sources, such as fetuses, umbilical cords, placentas, embryos, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are cells from adult tissues that have been reprogrammed to pluripotency. Most stem cells offer multipotent cells, which are sparse...
At this day in age we are constantly trying to improve the field of medicine in any way that we possibly can. We cherish every birthday and continually try to prolong life. Not only through every field of medicine, especially in terms of cancer. The American Cancer Society is “the official sponsor of birthdays” and is making leaps and bounds in the types of care that cancer patients receive. One of these many breakthroughs is the practice of Stereotactic (Body) Radiotherapy or S(B)RT. SBRT and other radiation therapies have the ability to greatly improve the way that we treat the issue of cancer and the variation of treatment options; however, they have raised the concerns of long term effects from radiation and cost-effectiveness. As research has begun to show, radiation therapies are having great success in curing cancer.
Up until the early 1960s, the people of that generation grew up believe that exposure to the sun was healthy and could be used as potential treatments for ailments like acne, for example. The doctors of the early 20th century even promoted the use of the sun’s ultraviolet rays (UV rays) as a treatment for certain strains of tuberculosis. Little did they know the long run consequences of prolonged exposure to the now-labeled ...
Radiology is one of the few so-called “physical-science”-based fields of medicine, making it a challenging and rewarding application of an academic interest in science. It combines advanced knowledge of human physiology with principles of atomic physics and nuclear decay, electricity and magnetism, and both organic and inorg...
Oxidative stress is critical as it is extensively related to human diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, cataract, aging and cancer (Zhao and Zha...
“Stem Cells: The Future of Medicine.” Medschool.umaryland.edu. University of Maryland School of Medicine Web 14 Nov 2013
...f the product is given to a human through the skin. It is said that this could be a new and very effective alternative to Animal Experiments. Scientist have grown a small piece of human liver tissue from stem cells which might one may be possible to perform initial ‘human’ safety trails in a lab. I suppose that if the laws on the necessity for animal testing were relaxed, it would encourage the scientist to develop other methods of testing toxicity that were equally effective. There are alternatives, it is just whether or not the scientist will peruse them.
...t optogenetics has huge potential to help save lives and that it will have a big impact in the near future around the world. Because optogenetics is performed on the brain, one mess up has the potential to change the patient’s life drastically if not done correctly, so its performance on humans will not be soon because of the need for this technique to be perfected. “Neuroscientists are eagerly, but not always successfully, looking for proof that optogenetics—a celebrated technique that uses pulses of visible light to genetically alter brain cells to be excited or silenced—can be as successful in complex and large brains as it has been in rodent models” (“Neuroscience Method” 1). Scientists have yet to uncover the endless possibilities of optogenetics and when they do, it can improve the well-being of humans all over the world and thrive for the generations to come.
In order to discover the ways for the remedy of diseases, studies in therapeutic approaches have been doing widely and kept increasing at accelerated pace. A lot of research areas had emerged for that purpose including one of the most fascinating and highly active areas at present, stem cells therapies. Due to self-renewal property and differentiation capability of stem cell, it becomes a new hope in modern treatment.
Regenerative medicine also seeks to understand the ability of a tissue or organ to repair itself. Many adult tissue contain stem cells but are at times not functional or is impaired by disease. Using factors to activate and promote instrinsic repair in a diseased organ opens up whole new prospect for therapies targeted toward many degenerative diseases.[9]