Efficacy of photobiomodulation therapy on pain perception reduction associated with dental anesthetic infiltration injection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Dental anesthetic injections, a common source of patient discomfort, often deter individuals from seeking dental care. Recently, there has been a growing focus on photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) and its potential role in pain reduction. This systematic review explored the efficacy of PBMT in alleviating pain associated with dental anesthetic infiltration injections. A systematic literature search of different databases was performed up to December, 2023 using specific search strategy to find eligible studies that assessed the impact of PBMT on pain during local anesthesia injections. Data extraction was done based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria. A total of 13 studies, involving 972 patients were included. The studies employed various PBMT parameters, including wavelengths, and energy densities. Meta-analyses revealed a significant reduction in pain with PBMT compared to controls (MD = -0.90, 95% CI: -1.36 to -0.44, and p = 0.0001), with notable heterogeneity (I2 = 91.79%). Stratified analyses by age demonstrated consistent pain reduction in both adults (MD = -0.59, 95% CI: -1.11 to -0.08, and p < 0.0001) and children (MD = -0.59, 95% CI: -1.11 to -0.08, and p = 0.025). In conclusion, it seems that PBMT using infrared diode lasers can effectively reduce injection pain in both pediatric and adult populations. Further research should focus on optimizing PBMT parameters for enhanced pain management during dental procedures.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice toward Skin Cancer among Patients of Dermatology Clinics and Medical Students/General Practitioners.

This cross-sectional study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) regarding skin cancer among dermatology clinic patients, medical students, and general practitioners (GPs) in Tehran, Iran. The researchers collected data using a validated questionnaire administered online, measuring KAP on scales of 0-31, 0-16, and 0-28, respectively, with scores above 16, 8, and 14 indicating "good" levels. Of 2243 participants (mean age 28 years), 59.4% had good knowledge, 19.8% had good attitudes, 31.8% had good practices, and 29.8% had good overall KAP. Medical students/GPs scored higher on knowledge and attitudes, while patients scored better on practices. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices were positively correlated in professionals but inversely correlated in patients. The findings suggest that while knowledge was moderate, attitudes and behaviors remained poor, particularly among patients. Immediate interventions are needed to improve attitudes and prevention practices, as public health initiatives must focus on positively influencing both to translate knowledge into meaningful action and find the reasons why good knowledge may not always lead to good practice. These findings underline the need for targeted interventions to bridge the gap between knowledge and preventive behaviors, to effectively reduce the burden of skin cancer in the population.

Evaluation of Photobiomodulation on myocardial function of patients with advanced ischemic cardiomyopathy, A case series.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a growing cardiovascular disease burden with high mortality rates, primarily attributed to myocardial ischemia. Previous studies have shown promising effects of Photobiomodulation in heart failure treatment. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of Photobiomodulation on myocardial function of patients with advanced ischemic heart failure. METHOD: A non-randomized case series study involving 10 advanced heart failure patients was conducted. Patients received 15 sessions of transcutaneous and intravenous Photobiomodulation therapy using low-level red (658 nm) and infrared lasers (810 nm). All participants were evaluated by six-minute walk tests, dyspnea function classes, and echocardiography. 3 months after the sessions, the mentioned tests were reevaluated RESULT: The study included ten cardiomyopathic patients, 90 % male and the mean age was 63.20±6.01 years. The six-minute walk test change and shortness of breath function class change has 0.852 (p-value=0.006) correlation and the correlation between the Six-minute walk test change and the Systolic ejection fraction rate change, was 0.73 (p-value=0.025). CONCLUSION: Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that interventions in cardiomyopathic patients have shown promising improvements in certain cardiac function parameters. Specifically, the significant enhancement in the six-minute walk test post-intervention (p = 0.013) suggests a positive impact on functional capacity. Although the increase in systolic ejection fraction rate was not statistically significant (p = 0.197), the correlations identified provide valuable insights into the interplay between variables such as shortness of breath function class and the six-minute walk test. These findings underscore the complexity of managing cardiomyopathy and highlight the importance of further research to elucidate the relationships between different clinical parameters and patient outcomes in this population.

Photobiomodulation's potential as a non-invasive therapy for alzheimer's disease and minimal cognitive impairment: A 12-week investigation.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's Disease (AD), undergoing a faster increase in occurrence than any other type of dementia, lacks a curative remedy despite advanced discoveries. To explore the realm of non-pharmacologic therapies, our study evaluates the 12-week impact of non-invasive Photobiomodulation (PBM) on cognitive and psychological aspects in individuals with AD and minimal cognitive impairment (MCI). The urgency of exploring innovative interventions is underscored by the rising occurrence of AD, particularly in regions with aging populations like Iran. METHOD: 13 patients (6 case patients and 7 control patients) participated in the study. Sham treatment was administered to seven individuals, while another six received PBM treatment over 12 weeks, with daily at-home LED (810 nm wavelength) device usage lasting 20 min. Initially, the patient and their caregiver participated in two hospital sessions to acquaint them with the device's operation. RESULTS: The mean reduction of Hamilton's anxiety questionnaire score was 3.33±6.08 in the intervention group and 2.00±3.46 in the control group (p-value=0.836). The mean score reduction of the Hamilton depression questionnaire was 3.16±3.86 in the intervention group and 4.85±6.20 in the control group (p-value=0.836). The mean score of the DAD questionnaire in the intervention group before the study was 25.50±13.13 and after the intervention was 29.83±12.12 (p-value=0.084) and in the control group it was 29.71±8.19 and after the study was 29±0.972 (p-value = 0.526). The mean changes in the DAD questionnaire score in the intervention group increased by 4.33±4.92 and decreased by 0.71±2.81 in the control group (p-value=0.041). CONCLUSION: In general, PBM appears to hold promise as a potentially safe method for enhancing the cognitive, functional, and psychological status of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, though further research with larger sample size and cautious interpretation are warranted.

Close-canopy lighting, an effective energy-saving strategy for overhead sole-source LED lighting in indoor farming.

Significant advancement has been achieved improving electrical efficiency and photon efficacy of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the sole source of crop lighting for indoor farming. However, a significant portion of highly efficient photon emissions from improved LEDs is wasted by natural beam spread beyond cropping areas. Additional attention is needed to enhance crop-canopy photon capture efficiency (CCPCE), the fraction of photons emitted from LEDs actually incident upon foliar canopies. We postulate that by taking advantage of unique physical properties of LEDs, such as low radiant heat at photon-emitting surfaces and dimmable photon emissions, reduced vertical separation distance between light-emitting surfaces and light-receiving surfaces will enhance CCPCE by capturing more obliquely emitted photons that otherwise are lost. This "close-canopy-lighting" (CCL) strategy was tested in two ways: For an energy-efficiency strategy, LEDs were dimmed to the same photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of 160 µmol m-2 s-1 at 45-, 35-, 25-, and 15-cm separation distances between lamps and cropping surfaces. For a yield-enhancement strategy, dimming was not applied, so higher PPFDs occurred at each separation distance closer than 45 cm for the same input energy. In the first strategy, the same biomass of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Rouxai) was produced at each separation distance, while significantly lower energy was expended for lighting at each closer separation. Significantly higher biomass was produced at reduced separation distances with the same energy expenditure by LEDs using the yield-enhancement strategy. For both strategies, energy-utilization efficiency (g/kWh) doubled at the closest separation distance of 15 cm compared to the standard 45-cm separation distance. Even higher energy-utilization efficiency was achieved at a 25-cm separation distance when growth compartments were enclosed with a reflective curtain in the yield-enhancement strategy. Our findings suggest that CCL is a highly effective energy-saving strategy for overhead LED lighting, suggesting the need for innovative next-generation re-design of height-adjustable LED mounts and controlled air movement between tiers of indoor farms utilizing CCL.

Introducing Matrix Metalloproteinases as Crucial Targets for Intra-articular Laser Therapy in Patients with Synovial Fluid of Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: Many elder people have knee osteoarthritis (OA). The patients are faced with pain and disability in movement. Given the challenging lifestyle of the patients, finding an efficient therapy approach is necessary. Since low-level laser therapy applies to the treatment of many diseases, it seems it can be a suitable option for the treatment of knee OA. The present study aimed to evaluate the molecular mechanism of laser therapy on knee OA via a protein expression change study. Methods: The present study examines the gene expression profile of patients with OA in the knee using bioinformatics. The protein expression change profile of synovial fluid of knee OA patients is extracted from the literature and is analyzed based on the rate of expression and interactions between the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). The results are compared with the DEPs of similar tissue of the treated knee OA patients (from published documents) after laser therapy. Results: Apolipoprotein B (APOB) and matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2) were determined as the hub bottlenecks of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of synovial fluid of knee OA patients. MMP2, complement 5, transthyretin, and apolipoprotein A-1 from laser-treated patients were related to the PPI network of knee OA patients. The reduction of Interleukin-6 activity was highlighted as a critical event as a function of laser on the human body. Conclusion: In conclusion, it was noted that the main phenomenon associated with laser therapy-induced improvement in the condition of knee OA patients is the downregulation of MMP2.

Amyand's hernia: non incarcerated, inflamed appendix in inguinal sac case report.

Inguinal hernia is described as protrusion of abdominal structures into inguinal canal, such as intestinal loop and abdominal fascia. Appendix rarely bulges into inguinal canal which is called Amyand's hernia. A 55-year-old diabetic male presented to an outpatient clinic with right inguinal bulging since 2 years ago which was non-tender, without erythema and became non reducible since 2 days ago. Also bulging worsened by physical activity. The patient went through operation and an inflamed appendix was found stuck in hernia sac. Non incarcerated inguinal hernia can be diagnosed with physical examination and there is no need of further imaging which makes it hard to diagnose the nature of protrusion. Amyand's hernia usually presents with pain due to appendicitis which mimics incarcerated hernia and makes it easier to suspect the etiology and request for further investigation. However in this case, pain was suppressed and this patient was candidate for elective inguinal herniotomy.

Validity and Reliability of a Language Development Scale for Persian-speaking Children Aged 2-6 Years.

BACKGROUND: Language disorders may affect receptive and/or expressive language skills. The use of a validated and reliable assessment tool is essential to assess these skills in children. The present study aimed to develop a valid and reliable language development instrument for Persian-speaking children aged 2-6 years. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study was conducted during 2016-2017 in three main Iranian cities, namely Mashhad, Tehran, and Isfahan. The target population was children between the ages of 2 and 6 in various kindergartens and schools. The Persian Language Development Scale (PLDS) was developed by incorporating linguistic characteristics of the Persian language and Iranian culture. Following a number of iterations, including a pilot study of 36 children, the final version of the PLDS tool was used to assess the receptive and expressive language skills of 460 children. The reliability and validity of the PLDS tool were examined. RESULTS: The content validity ratio (CRV) of the PLDS tool was 0.85. The tool could differentiate children by age, but not by sex. The test-retest reliability, with 10 days interval, showed a significant correlation between the coefficients of receptive (0.96) and expressive (0.93) scales. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for receptive and expressive scales was 0.93 and 0.98, respectively. The internal consistency, using the KR-21, for the receptive and expressive scales was 0.88 and 0.92, respectively. CONCLUSION: A language development scale has been developed to assess receptive and expressive language skills in Iranian children aged 2-6 years. The validity and reliability of the tool were confirmed.