light therapy Tag

28 Sep

Posted at 20:47h in Addiction, addiction-treatment, Mental Health Research

Notice: If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7). For mental health treatment referrals, contact SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7) or visit findtreatment.gov.

Every region has its own mental health profile. The particular combination of light, weather, economics, and culture in a place shapes what people struggle with and when. Portland has a distinctive version of this, and understanding it makes the difficulty feel less like a personal failing. Anyone evaluating mental health treatment in Portland during the fall and winter months should expect a competent provider to ask specifically about seasonal patterns — because the environmental context here is clinically relevant in ways that generalist mental health content rarely addresses. According to the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), seasonal affective disorder is a recognized specifier of major depressive disorder whose prevalence rises with latitude, with the Pacific Northwest among the higher-prevalence regions in the country.

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23 Jul

Posted at 17:10h in Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Dental Research, Opiods
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_50367" align="alignleft" width="200"]Praveen Arany, DDS, PhD Department of Oral Biology School of Dental Medicine University of Buffalo Dr. Arany[/caption] Praveen Arany, DDS, PhD Department of Oral Biology School of Dental Medicine University of Buffalo MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How is the light treatment delivered? Response: Cancers are usually treated with chemotherapy and/or radiation to destroy the tumor cells. However, an unfortunate side-effect of these treatments is pain and ulcers in the mouth due to breakdown of normal protective responses. Light has various applications in human health and normal physiology. Two good examples are vision and sunlight-Vitamin D for bone and health. The use of low dose light to alleviate pain or inflammation and promote tissue healing is termed Photobiomodulation (PBM) Therapy. This treatment can be provided with lasers or LED devices at specific wavelength (color) and dose (power). This treatment is currently being provided by a health care provider - usually a laser - either nurse or dentist prior or during the cancer treatments. There are several exciting innovation where take-home, self-use devices are becoming available.

21 Sep

Posted at 03:03h in Author Interviews, Sexual Health
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28175" align="alignleft" width="200"]Professor Andrea Fagiolini, MD University of Siena Italy Prof. Andrea Fagiolini[/caption] Professor Andrea Fagiolini, MD University of Siena Italy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have tested sexual and physiological responses to bright light and found that regular, early-morning, use of a light box – the same that we used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder - led both to increased testosterone levels and greater reported levels of sexual satisfaction in man with difficulty with sexual desire or with sexual arousal. We recruited 38 men who had been attending the Urology Department of the University of Siena and had a diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder or sexual arousal disorder – both conditions which are characterised by a lack of interest in sex. The 38 subjects were then divided the men into two groups. One group received regular treatment with a light box whereas the control (placebo) group was treated via a light box which had been adapted to give out significantly less light. Both groups were treated early in the morning, with treatment lasting half an hour per day. After two weeks of treatment or placebo, we found fairly significant differences between those who received the active light treatment and the controls. Before treatment, both groups averaged a sexual satisfaction score of around 2 out of 10, but after treatment the group exposed to the bright light was scoring sexual satisfaction scores of around 6.3 – a more than 3-fold increase on the scale we used. In contrast, the control group only showed an average score of around 2.7 after treatment. Also, we found that testosterone levels increased in men who had been given active light treatment. The average testosterone levels in the control group showed no significant change over the course of the treatment – it was around 2.3 ng/ml at both the beginning and the end of the experiment. However, the group given active treatment showed an increase from around 2.1 ng/ml to 3.6 ng/ml after two weeks.