Two Transcutaneous Stimulation Techniques in Shoulder Pain: Transcutaneous Pulsed Radiofrequency (TPRF) versus Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS): A Comparative Pilot Study.

Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of 2 transcutaneous stimulation techniques, transcutaneous pulsed radiofrequency (TPRF) versus transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), in chronic shoulder tendonitis. Design: A prospective, randomized, and double-blind clinical trial. Setting: Academic pain service of a city hospital. Subjects: Fifty patients with sonography-confirmed shoulder tendonitis. Methods: Fifty patients were randomly allocated into two groups for electrical stimulation treatment with 3-month follow-ups: Group 1 (n=25), TENS and Group 2 (n=25), TPRF. Both groups underwent either treatment for 15 minutes every other day, three times total. Our primary goals were to find any treatment comfort level, adverse event, and changes in Constant-Murley shoulder (CMS) scores. The secondary goals were finding the changes in pain, enjoyment of life, and general activity (PEG) scores. Results: For primary goals, no adverse events were noted throughout this study. No differences were found between groups for treatment tolerability (3.20 + 0.87 vs. 2.16 + 0.75). Statistically significant lower PEG scores were noticeable with the TPRF group after the course (12.73 + 5.79 vs. 24.53 + 10.21, p=0.013). Their statistical significance lasted for 3 months although the difference gap diminished after 1 month. CMS scores were significantly higher in the TPRF group (70.84 + 6.74 vs. 59.56 + 9.49, p=0.007) right after treatment course but the significance did not last. Conclusions: In treating chronic shoulder tendinitis using two transcutaneous stimulation techniques, both TPRF and TENS are safe and effective. TPRF is superior to TENS.

Effect of Etching Depth on Threshold Characteristics of GaSb-Based Middle Infrared Photonic-Crystal Surface-Emitting Lasers.

We study the effect of etching depth on the threshold characteristics of GaSb-based middle infrared (Mid-IR) photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) with different lattice periods. The below-threshold emission spectra are measured to identify the bandgap as well as band-edge modes. Moreover, the bandgap separation widens with increasing etching depth as a result of enhanced diffraction feedback coupling. However, the coupling is nearly independent of lattice period. The relationship between threshold gain and Bragg detuning is also experimentally determined for PCSELs and is similar to that calculated theoretically for one-dimensional distributed feedback lasers.

PCSEL Performance of Type-I InGaAsSb Double-QWs Laser Structure Prepared by MBE.

This paper discusses the issue of controlling the epitaxial growth of mixed group V alloys to form a type-I InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb double quantum wells (QWs) structure. We also discuss the run-to-run reproducibility of lattice-matched AlGaAsSb alloys and strained In0.35Ga0.65As0.095Sb0.905 in terms of growth parameters (V/III ratio, Sb2/As2 ratio). Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was used to grow two type-I InGaAsSb double-QWs laser structures differing only in the composition of the bottom cladding layer: Al0.85Ga0.15As0.072Sb0.928 (sample A) and Al0.5Ga0.5As0.043Sb0.957 (sample B). Both samples were respectively used in the fabrication of photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs). Sample A presented surface lasing action from circular as well as triangular photonic crystals. Sample B did not present surface lasing due to the deterioration of the active region during the growth of the upper cladding. Our findings underline the importance of temperature in the epitaxial formation of AlxGa1-xAsySb1-y in terms of lasing performance.

Investigating the effects of plasma pretreatment on the formation of ordered aggregates of lysozyme.

We investigated the influence of plasma pretreatment on fibril formation and aggregation properties of lysozyme by using the Congo red binding assay, transmission electron microscopy, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), far-ultraviolet circular dichroism, and 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence spectroscopy. Our Congo red binding and transmission electron microscopy findings indicated that plasma pretreatment may suppress the formation of ordered fibrillar lysozyme aggregates. The inhibitory effect triggered by plasma pretreatment was observed to be positively correlated with the duration of plasma pretreatment. Compared to the untreated controls, our ANS fluorescence results suggested that fewer solvent-exposed hydrophobic clusters in lysozymes were formed upon pretreatment with plasma. Moreover, HEWL samples with and without plasma pretreatment showed considerably different molecular profiles. We believe the outcome from this work may not only help develop potential strategies for the attenuation of ordered protein aggregation, which is implicated in amyloid pathology, but also present a nice example of plasma-based medicine.