Pain reduction in validated rat pain models: radio frequency spectrum targeted at the low and ultra-low ends using the emulate® delivery system.

EMulate Therapeutics, Inc. (EMTx) has developed a technology to deliver time-varying magnetic fields as WAV files, emitted in the extremely low through the low spectrum of radio frequencies (DC to 22 kHz), that can be applied to regulate pain sensation. These low power fields (~30-70 milli-Gauss AC RMS) are delivered via a portable, light-weight wearable device (Voyager). A contract third-party animal research organization (ANS Biotech, S.A.) specializing in validated rat pain models, ran the studies independently of the authors. Here we report that a subset of signals demonstrated a statistically significant effect in reducing the sensation of pain in rat models for visceral pain, neuropathic pain and inflammatory pain. Furthermore, removing frequencies above 6 kHz in the original signals improve the pain reducing effects of the unmodified signal.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat lingering COVID-19 symptoms.

Background: SARs-Cov-2 infections can produce prolonged illness and significant disability. Patients recovering from COVID-19 can have persistent symptoms leading to long-term morbidity. Methods: Six patients with long-lasting (> 30 days) COVID-19 symptoms were treated with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy. All patients were assessed for symptoms using the ImPACT questionnaire, a muscle and joint pain scale, and a modified Borg dyspnea scale. Patients were assessed before, during and after HBO2 treatments. Results: All patients saw improvements in the measured symptoms to levels that were the same as pre-infection levels (five of six patients) or had significant improvement in symptoms (one patient). Conclusion: The results suggest that HBO2 helped to improve symptom scores, reduce the length of time of symptoms, and improved the quality of life. More detailed and randomized studies are needed to confirm the results in this report.

Hyperbaric oxygen: B-level evidence in mild traumatic brain injury clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE: First, to demonstrate that B-level evidence exists for the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as an effective treatment in mild to moderate traumatic brain injury/persistent postconcussion syndrome (mTBI/PPCS). Second, to alert readers and researchers that currently used pressurized air controls (≥21% O2, >1.0 ATA) are therapeutically active and cannot be utilized as sham controls without further validation. METHOD: Review of published, peer-reviewed articles of HBOT prospective and controlled clinical trials of mTBI/PPCS symptoms. RESULTS: Published results demonstrate that HBOT is effective in the treatment of mTBI/PPCS symptoms. Doses of oxygen that are applied at ≥21% O2 and at pressures of >1.0 ATA produce improvements from baseline measures. Some of the recently published clinical trials are mischaracterized as sham-controlled clinical trials (i.e., sham = 21% O2/1.2-1.3 ATA), but are best characterized as dose-varying (variation in oxygen concentration, pressure applied, or both) clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperbaric oxygen and hyperbaric air have demonstrated therapeutic effects on mTBI/PPCS symptoms and can alleviate posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms secondary to a brain injury in 5 out of 5 peer-reviewed clinical trials. The current use of pressurized air (1.2-1.3 ATA) as a placebo or sham in clinical trials biases the results due to biological activity that favors healing.

OK, Doc . . . What Do I Really Have? Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Versus Traumatic Brain Injury.

The authors review the diagnostic overlap that exists between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Achieving the correct diagnosis is much more difficult and the potential to inappropriately treat patients is greater than most physicians realize. The need to properly diagnose and select appropriate treatment strategies is essential, especially with TBI cases. A number of new and experimental therapies are being used to treat PTSD effectively and reverse the neurological sequelae of TBI, potentially returning to active duty Servicemembers who are undergoing a medical review board.

Clinical results in brain injury trials using HBO2 therapy: Another perspective.

The current debate surrounding the use of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) for neurological indications, specifically mild to moderate chronic traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-concussion syndrome (PCS), is mired in confusion due to the use of non-validated controls and an unfamiliarity by many practitioners of HBO2 therapy with the experimental literature. In the past 40 years, the use of an air sham (21% oxygen, 1.14-1.5 atmospheres absolute/atm abs) in clinical and animal studies, instead of observational or crossover controls, has led to false acceptance of the null hypothesis (declaring no effect when one is present), due to the biological activity of these "sham" controls. The recent Department of Defense/Veterans Administration (DoD/VA) sponsored trials, previous published reports on the use of HBO2 therapy on stroke and mTBI and preliminary reports from the HOPPS Army trial, have helped to highlight the biological activity of pressurized air, validate the development of a convincing control for future studies and demonstrate the effectiveness of a hyperbaric intervention for mTBI/ PCS. Approval of HBO2 for neurological indications, especially for mTBI/PCS, should be granted at the federal, state and certifying body levels as a safe and viable treatment for recovery in the post-acute phase.

Exclusion-Zone Formation From Discontinuous Nafion Surfaces.

Many hydrophilic materials in aqueous solution show near-surface zones that exclude suspended colloids and dissolved molecules. These exclusion zones (EZs) can extend for tens to hundreds of micrometers from the hydrophilic surface, and show physicochemical properties that differ from bulk water. So far, only continuous surfaces of polymers, gels, or biological specimens have been studied. In this report, we explore the interactions between exclusion zones generated by discontinuous, regularly spaced EZ-generating surfaces, namely strips of Nafion on a glass surface. Various inter-strip spacings were studied. When Nafion surfaces are separated by 100 micrometers or less, EZs merged with one another, forming a single, continuous, stable EZ. Separations larger than 100 micrometers produced discontinuous EZs that did not merge. This result has implication for the mechanism by which independent EZs can merge with one another.

Large-scale investigation of the olfactory receptor space using a microfluidic microwell array.

The mammalian olfactory system is able to discriminate among tens of thousands of odorant molecules. In mice, each odorant is sensed by a small subset of the approximately 1000 odorant receptor (OR) types, with one OR gene expressed by each olfactory sensory neuron (OSN). However, the sum of the large repertoire of OR-OSN types and difficulties with heterologous expression have made it almost impossible to analyze odorant-responsiveness across all OR-OSN types. We have developed a microfluidic approach that allowed us to screen over 20,000 single cells at once in microwells. By using calcium imaging, we were able to detect and analyze odorant responses of about 2900 OSNs simultaneously. Importantly, this technique allows for both the detection of rare responding OSNs as well as the identification of OSN populations broadly responsive to odorants of unrelated structures. This technique is generally applicable for screening large numbers of single cells and should help to characterize rare cell behaviors in fields such as toxicology, pharmacology, and cancer research.