Search

The complexity of the gastrointestinal system plays a crucial role in coordinating essential processes such as digestion, nutrient absorption, and waste elimination. inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) pose significant treatment challenges due to their complex aetiology and varied symptoms. Conventional therapeutic approaches often involve pharmacological interventions, which may have side effects and limited efficacy. Photobiomodulation (PBM), also known as low-level light therapy, has emerged as a promising therapeutic or adjunctive alternative in the treatment of intestinal diseases. The search was conducted in the MEDLINE database via PubMed, SCOPUS, covering the period from 1990 to 2024. A total of 72 studies were selected, of which 9 focused on inflammatory bowel diseases IBD, including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Among these studies, 1 was clinical protocol while eight experimental. The results showed that PBM has a significant positive effect in IBD studies in rats, with reduction of intestinal inflammation, improvement of mucosal integrity, and modulation of the immune response. However, no clinical studies were found necessary to obtain results and establish effective and safe treatment protocols. Nevertheless, PBM holds potential as a non-invasive and complementary therapeutic approach for managing IBD, offering new perspectives for the treatment of chronic intestinal diseases. Therefore, this brief review emphasizes the need to transition from preclinical research to clinical research on this topic and highlights the scarcity of clinical studies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

The objectives were to evaluate the effects of two non-fibrous carbohydrate sources and the rate of body weight gain on puberty status in ewe lambs. Sixty ewe lambs (½ Dorper × ½ Santa Ines) with an initial body weight of 25.1 ± 4.1 kg and 102.8 ± 1.5 days old were distributed in a randomized complete block design with 10 blocks and 3 treatments. The trial lasted 119 days, in which performance was evaluated on days 28, 56, 84, and 119, and puberty status was every week evaluated by progesterone concentration. The treatments were characterized by the inclusion of different carbohydrate sources in the diets in order for ewe lambs to reach different rates of body weight gain: CORN, total diet containing 46% of corn (% DM); PCP, total diet containing 46% of pelleted citrus pulp (% DM); and HAY, total diet containing 80% of coastcross hay (% DM). The CORN- and PCP-based diets were formulated for an average daily gain (ADG) of 0.200 kg/day and a HAY-based diet for an ADG of 0.100 kg/day. There was an interaction between treatments and experimental periods for dry matter intake (DMI) (P < 0.01), in which lambs in the CORN treatment presented DMI similar to PCP in the first and second periods, but lambs from the PCP treatment presented lower DMI than the CORN treatment in subsequent periods. In all periods, the body weight, average daily gain, and feed efficiency of CORN lambs were similar to PCP lambs, but higher than HAY lambs. The age at puberty was not affected by treatments; however, lambs fed with non-fibrous carbohydrate sources reached puberty heavier (P < 0.0001) than lambs from the HAY treatment. Despite the high increase in body weight for lambs fed with non-fibrous carbohydrate sources, it did not affect the age of puberty.

To identify the best low level laser photobiomodulation application site at the same irradiation time to increase the viability of the skin flap in rats. Eighteen male rats (Rattus norvegicus: var. Albinus, Rodentia Mammalia) were randomly distributed into three groups (n = 6). Group I (GI) was submitted to simulated laser photobiomodulation; group II (GII) was submitted to laser photobiomodulation at three points in the flap cranial base, and group III (GIII) was submitted to laser photobiomodulation at 12 points distributed along the flap. All groups were irradiated with an Indium, Galium, Aluminum, and Phosphorus diode laser (InGaAlP), 660 nm, with 50 mW power, irradiated for a total time of 240 s in continuous emission mode. The treatment started immediately after performing the cranial base random skin flap (10 × 4 cm 2 dimension) and reapplied every 24 h, with a total of five applications. The animals were euthanized after the evaluation of the percentage of necrosis area, and the material was collected for histological analysis on the seventh postoperative day. GII animals presented a statistically significant decrease for the necrosis area when compared to the other groups, and a statistically significant increase in the quantification of collagen when compared to the control. We did not observe a statistical difference between the TGFβ and FGF expression in the different groups evaluated. The application of laser photobiomodulation at three points of the flap cranial base was more effective than at 12 points regarding the reduction of necrosis area.

A female newborn whose mother was taking propylthiouracil (PTU) for Graves' disease, presented with transient thyrotoxicosis (serum triiodothyronine 1,710 ng/dl) and signs of acute hepatic injury. Jaundice and choluria were evident on her fourth day of life. Serum total bilirubin reached 14 mg/dl, with a direct fraction of 11 mg/dl. Serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase showed moderate elevations (110 IU/l and 61.5 IU/l, respectively), as well as the alkaline phosphatase which increased to about twice the upper limit of normal. When incubated with PTU, the patient's cultured peripheral lymphocytes underwent transformation to more than twice the values found in 2 controls, with a stimulation index (SI) of 3.19, compared to SI of 1.45 and 1.15 for the controls, suggesting a hypersensitivity mechanism involved in the hepatic injury. Although about 20 cases of PTU induced hepatic damage were reported in the medical literature, this is, as far as we know, the first description of neonatal liver injury probably caused by placental transfer of this drug.