Effects of Personal Low-Frequency Stimulation Device on Myalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Electrotherapy is commonly used for myalgia alleviation. Low-frequency stimulation (LFS) is primarily used for controlling acute and chronic pain and is a non-invasive therapy that can be easily performed with electric stimulation applied on the skin. However, little evidence exists regarding the pain alleviation effects of personal low-frequency stimulation device for home use. Moreover, no studies have compared myalgia alleviation effects between personal low-frequency stimulation (PLS) and physical therapy (PT), which are most commonly used for patients with myalgia in hospitals and clinics. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the pain alleviation effects of PLS in patients with myalgia and compare these effects with those of conventional PT (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation + ultrasound). In total, 39 patients with myalgia in the neck, shoulder, back, and waist areas were randomly assigned to the personal low-frequency stimulation group (PLSG: n = 20) and physical therapy group (PTG: n = 19). Both groups were treated for 3 weeks (20 min per session and 5 sessions per week). Patients were assessed for pain intensity by surface electromyography (sEMG), visual analogue scale (VAS) and a short-form McGill pain questionnaire (SF-MPQ) before and after the intervention period. Our results showed that PLSG showed a tendency of muscle relaxation with a significant decrease in sEMG in the neck (p = 0.0425), shoulder (p = 0.0425), and back (p = 0.0046) areas compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference in waist area. Additionally, VAS scores significantly decreased between pre- and post-treatment in both PTG (p = 0.0098), and PLSG (p = 0.0304) groups, but there was no significance difference between the groups. With respect to SF-MPQ, the PLSG showed greater pain alleviation (5.23 ± 0.25) effects than the PTG (6.23 ± 0.25). Accordingly, our results suggest that PLS treatment using a home device might offer positive assistance in pain alleviation for patients with myalgia that is as equally effective as conventional PT treatment. However, further detailed studies are required considering larger samples to fully claim the effectiveness of this device.

Hydrogen Water Drinking Exerts Antifatigue Effects in Chronic Forced Swimming Mice via Antioxidative and Anti-Inflammatory Activities.

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate antifatigue effect of hydrogen water (HW) drinking in chronic forced exercise mice model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve-week-old C57BL6 female mice were divided into nonstressed normal control (NC) group and stressed group: (purified water/PW-treated group and HW-treated group). Stressed groups were supplied with PW and HW, respectively, ad libitum and forced to swim for the stress induction every day for 4 consecutive weeks. Gross antifatigue effects of HW were assessed by swimming endurance capacity (once weekly for 4 wk), metabolic activities, and immune-redox activities. Metabolic activities such as blood glucose, lactate, glycogen, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as well as immune-redox activities such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase, and the related cytokines were evaluated to elucidate underlying mechanism. Blood glucose and lactate were measured at 0 wk (before swimming) and 4 wk (after swimming). RESULTS: HW group showed a higher swimming endurance capacity (p < 0.001) than NC and PW groups. Positive metabolic effects in HW group were revealed by the significant reduction of blood glucose, lactate, and BUN in serum after 4 wk (p < 0.01, resp.), as well as the significant increase of liver glycogen (p < 0.001) and serum LDH (p < 0.05) than PW group. In parallel, redox balance was represented by lower NO in serum (p < 0.01) and increased level of GPx in both serum and liver (p < 0.05) than PW group. In line, the decreased levels of serum TNF-α (p < 0.01), IL-6, IL-17, and liver IL-1ß (p < 0.05) in HW group revealed positive cytokine profile compared to PW and NC group. CONCLUSION: This study shows antifatigue effects of HW drinking in chronic forced swimming mice via metabolic coordination and immune-redox balance. In that context, drinking HW could be applied to the alternative and safety fluid remedy for chronic fatigue control.

Balneotherapeutic effects of high mineral spring water on the atopic dermatitis-like inflammation in hairless mice via immunomodulation and redox balance.

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic relapsing allergic inflammatory skin disease that currently affects millions of children and adults worldwide. Drugs used to treat these inflammatory diseases include anti-histamines, corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors but these drugs have their limitations such as adverse effects with their long-term usage. Thus, researcher's interest in several alternative and complementary therapies are continually growing and balneotherapy is one of these approaches. Therefore, we investigate the bathing effect of high concentration mineral spring water (HMW) on redox balance and immune modulation in 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)-induced atopic dermatitis like inflammation in hairless mice. METHODS: We induced AD-like inflammation by application of DNCB on the dorsal skin of female skh-1 hairless mice. The mice were treated with 100% pure HMW (PHMW) and 10% diluted HMW (DHMW) through bathing once a day for 4 weeks. Tacrolimus ointment (0.1%) was used as positive control (PC) and only DNCB treatment as negative control (NeC) group. The severity of skin lesion inflammation was assessed through clinical scoring and observing scratching behavior. Levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE) and inflammatory cytokines in serum were detected by ELISA and multiplex bead array system, and the levels of oxidative stress-related biomarkers and antioxidant enzyme were also measured. RESULTS: We found that HMW significantly decreased the scratching behavior in PHMW and DHMW groups at the 2nd week and in PHMW group at 4th week compared to NeC group. Likewise, serum IgE level was significantly decreased in DHMW group as compared to NeC group. In line, the level of inflammatory cytokines in serum such as interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-13 and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly inhibited in PHMW and DHMW groups compared to NeC group. In parallel, total reactive oxygen species (ROS) of serum level was significantly decreased in PHMW treatment groups compared to NeC group. Consistently, serum malondialdehyde (MDA) level in PHMW group was lower than in NeC group. By contrast, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity was significantly enhanced in PHMW than NeC. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our study indicates a balneotherapeutic effect of HMW on DNCB-induced AD like inflammation in hairless mice via immunomodulation and redox balance.

Applicability of citronella oil (Cymbopogon winteratus) for the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases in the rural area of Tikapur, far-western Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Mosquito-borne diseases are a serious global problem, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical countries such as Nepal. Citronella oil is a natural mosquito repellent as well as a local fragrance in Nepal, which is accessible at very low cost because citronella plants are widely cultivated in rural areas of the Terai belt in Nepal. This study was conducted using a real-life randomized controlled pilot trial to confirm the effectiveness and applicability of locally-produced citronella oil as a mosquito repellent for the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases in Nepal. METHODS: A repellency activity test was performed with 100% citronella oil (Cymbopogon winteratus) from April to May 2013 in the Tikapur Municipality of the Kailali district, Nepal. The test was divided into two trials: an indoor exposure (IE) test (N=101) and an outdoor exposure (OE) test (N=140) from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm. Each trial contained an experimental citronella oil-applied group and a non-applied (control) group. The outcome measures were the protective effect of citronella oil against mosquitoes, the number of mosquito bites, the repellency percentage, the smell satisfaction and the irritation level. RESULTS: Experimental group had a significant protective effect against mosquito bites in IE (96.5%, n=57) and OE (95.7%, n=70) tests compared to the control group in IE (29.5%, n=44) and OE (28.6%, n=70) tests (experimental vs control groups, p<0.001). The repellency percentage for the OE test was 96.7%. In the smell satisfaction test (n=127), most of the participants responded with high satisfaction: 'good' (67.7%), 'very good' (16.5%), 'bad' (13.4%) and 'very bad' (2.4%). IE and OE tests showed similar satisfaction levels in each category. In the irritation level test (n=127), 87.4% and 12.6% responded with no irritation and slight irritation, respectively. There were no reports of moderate or severe irritation. CONCLUSIONS: The topical application of citronella oil can be employed as an easily-available, affordable and effective alternative mosquito repellent to prevent mosquito-borne diseases in rural areas such as Tikapur, Nepal.