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NovoTHOR, a ‘Star Trek-like’ Light Therapy for Mitochondria, Wins Invention Award

Sasha

Fine, thank you
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UK
Rather difficult to read on its home site so I'm posting the whole thing here:

Mitochondrial Disease News said:
Looking no more eye-catching than a tanning bed, THOR Photomedicine’sWhole Body Light Pod NovoTHOR, capable of improving mitochondrial function, was named the Invention of the Year at the recent Elite Sports Rehabilitation Expo 2016.

While the device is new, the method — using low-intensity laser to improve tissue healing — has been used by sports professionals for years, and the capacity of laser light to reduce pain and inflammation has been known for almost as long as the invention of laser itself.

Photobiomodulation, or low-level laser therapy, has been tried in numerous clinical trials, and these investigations demonstrated that laser affects proteins in the mitochondria that are sensitive to light. The interaction triggers mitochondria to produce more ATP, the energy currency our bodies make use of.

Laser therapy also reduces reactive oxygen species and changes the presence of transcription factors, molecules that activate genes by binding to DNA. In addition to improving the energy output from mitochondria to power cell function, ATP is also used as a signaling molecule in communications between nerve cells and other tissues.



Earlier devices, used both by athletes and health professionals, were small hand-held types of equipment to treat one small area at a time. NovoTHOR, developed in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, military forces in the U.K. and the U.S., and English Premier League soccer teams, shines its light on the entire body at once.

According to a news release, THOR founder and CEO James Carroll likened the device to “something from Star Trek” in a presentation at the United Nations.

“When somebody gets injured, they are taken to sick bay. The doctor gets out a laser beam, he aims it at the injury, and the patient is healed instantly,” Carroll said. “Well, we make those. It is not as instant as on TV, but you get the idea, you shine light on an injury and it heals more quickly.”

Eight to 15 minutes of use is enough for “whole-body” restorative light treatment, the company said on its website.

Since the technology affects one of the most basic cellular mechanisms in mitochondria, its applications within medicine are multiple, with sports injuries constituting only a fraction. Research has shown that low-level laser therapy can contribute to the treatment of afflictions as varying as cancer, traumatic brain injury, and hearing loss. Future studies should assess other medical conditions in which the technology could offer clinical benefits.

http://mitochondrialdiseasenews.com...atment-for-mitochondria-wins-invention-award/

It's possible to leave comments on the story.
 

Hip

Senior Member
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17,824
The basic idea of how red and near infrared light stimulate mitochondria (and how to buy a small handheld version of this device for around $10 online), are detailed in this post and subsequent posts.

I had some very minor beneficial effects from shining this light into my brain.
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
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UK
I'm not convinced. Infrared radiation is basically heat and so you'd probably get as much healing benefit (if there is any) from a hot water bottle, having a bath, or by sitting in the sunlight.

IIRC it's dependent on the wavelength and it's to do with the relative abilities of radiation of different wavelengths to get through tissue.
 

Bob

Senior Member
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16,455
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England (south coast)
IIRC it's dependent on the wavelength and it's to do with the relative abilities of radiation of different wavelengths to get through tissue.
I've just been looking up the details and there's nothing special about the wavelengths used in the laser: It just omits basic near-infrared radiation (800nm to 900nm) - the same that any ordinary warm object omits.

Warm and hot objects omit a spectrum of near-infrared wavelengths which incorporate the wavelengths used in the advertised laser (800nm to 900nm). And sunlight omits a wide range of wavelengths including the near-infrared spectrum.

There may be an argument that laser radiation penetrates the flesh deeper than other sources of radiation, because it is focused in one direction, but i don't think it would penetrate deeper than direct sunlight.

I can't imagine that any associated research (in terms of alleged healing properties and mitochondria stimulation) is particularly robust.
 
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ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
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Toronto, Canada
FWIW, light therapy had a profound effect on my symptoms - moved me from severe to moderate - I use it nearly every day - first learned about via Dr Norman Doidge's book http://www.normandoidge.com/?page_id=1042

I have communicated with a MD with ME who has had "substantial" improvement. The doc has also treated about 12 ME patients - some responded, some didn't.

Its not a cure (for me), but treats some symptoms improving my quality of life and productivity.

It is absolutely the one thing that has helped me more than anything else. N = 1.
 

Chris

Senior Member
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845
Location
Victoria, BC
I too have been able to improve some symptoms, though not yet all, but using LLLT. There is now general agreement that red/near infra-red narrow frequency light, either LED or laser, is absorbed by cytochrome oxidase, a key enzyme in the complex chain that has the productiton of ATP, the basic molecule of human energy, as its terminus. This increase in turn also increases ROS, which in turn signal various antioxidants to come and defuse them. The complexity of signaling that goes on can include the stimulation of stem cells and there are now interesting papers by such as Praveen R. Arany of the NIH recording the repair of damaged dentine in a rat’s tooth through this chain–maybe the dentistry of the future?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4113395/

There are simply too many well documented success stories for doubt and we have moved on to considerations of just what frequencies, what dosage, and so forth work best for specific targets. Just to record a few of the successes, working out from Chapter 4 of Norman Doidge’s “The Brain’s Way of Healing,” which started this whole project for me (thank you again!), he records some remarkable stories, with Dr. Margaret Naeser and Anita Saltmarche and Fred Kahn as key figures. If you follow Dr. Naeser on PubMed, you will find the story of those two women who had suffered TBI and were substantially improved, and another fascinating story of Kahn’s major improment of a woman with serious cranial damage caused by a tumor and its surgical removal. You will find that Dr. Naeser is presently treating soldiers for the Dept of Defence. If you follow the Kahn story, it will take you to his company Bioflexlasers.com, where you will find photographically documented evidence of the saving of a foot that had become gangrenous through PAD and other stuff.

If you follow the reference on p. 154 to a Toronto maker of an ingenious intranasal unit that cured “a wicked case of insomnia,” it will take you to Lew Lim, the CEO of Vielight.com, who after a poster paper recording modest success with an Alzheimer patient using the two intranasal units that I have been using, the Vielight633 and 810, has now moved on to almost finishing a larger study using his latest baby the Vielight Neuro, which combines a more powerful version of the 810 intranasal unit with four LED capsules aimed at the Default Mode Network of the brain, and it seems that this study, though not yet written up, has succeeded “ beyond expectations,” and has already attracted support for future work–see this account:

http://www.newswire.ca/news-release...arable-low-level-light-therapy-586012561.html

This stuff is quite clearly producing results, and though anyone is free to adopt a sceptical perspective, I think the facts speak clearly. It is true that its application to brain issues, neurodegenerative diseases and the like, is relatively new, and the stories above are not yet surrounded by a huge bibliography of studies–but they are mounting. A few tentative shots at Parkinson’s, some success with MS from a Polish clinic, as well as a couple of small studies on a mouse model of MS–from which we learn that going low, slow, and taking breaks may be a key. Issues of dosage and best pulse rate and so forth remain to be settled. But stuff is happening.

I will finish with my own stories. I use the two intranasal Vielight units I mentioned above, the 633 aimed at irradiating the rich capillary bed in the nasal cavity for general effects via the blood, and the 810 using a longer wavelength and pulsed at 10Hz to give better penetration aimed at the base of the brain, where much of our ANS is housed. I also use on a more tentative and irregular basis two MED-X capsules, of the type used in the Naeser/Saltmarche work referred to above, combining a few LED diodes at 633nm and nearly 100 at 810nm, for a combined power of 500mw (still “low power”) for all kinds of work. The capsules have cured a friend’s painful plantar fasciitis in about 10 days, have virtually abolished my own sciatica within about a month, and help with small strains etc.

The use of these units has substantially improved my blood pressure regulation; I used to get really disturbing bouts of very high BP and now only get short-lived modest ones. My sleep has improved substantially. Most of the time I feel a bit better and more optimistic, though by no means cured yet. And alas my exercise tolerance has not moved much–but I still have hope. As far as I am concerned, it is too late to be sceptical, though all is not yet settled and accepted by any means.
Chris
 

Chris

Senior Member
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845
Location
Victoria, BC
I wrote my last post in ignorance of the subject of the thread--just got a notification that my name had been tagged, followed that, and answered the last two or three posts. Have now looked briefly at this NovoTHOR super tanning bed, and would love to give it a try, with the proviso that I would start with a session of only a minute; it seems clear to me through the two small mouse-model MS studies and recent posts by Praveen Arany that it is very possible to overdose, and that seems particularly to apply to us, so I would "start low" and proceed cautiously. Will follow the story with interest--and meanwhile continue to use what I already have as best I can, living in hope meanwhile. And of course the developing Ron Davis/Naviau story fits in --provisionally, and so far--with this mito-based therapy.
Chris
 

Chris

Senior Member
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845
Location
Victoria, BC
A couple more comments on the NovaTHOR bed. The website gives no details on the type or frequency used, but will guess it uses LEDs... It is clear that the thing is aimed at "health providers"---chiropractors, etc--and not home use. A continuous source of revenue for them, expense for us. Lew Lim of Vielight has taken the opposite tack--he deliberately designs his devices for home purchase and use, keeping doses low partly in order to feel safe about such use--they cannot get us into serious trouble. Fred Kahn seems in the middle--after some sessions with him, he will rent the LED units--I don't think he rents out the lasers, though not sure--and will then sell an LED unit if the patient wants to buy.

The THOR bed also talks about athletic injury, etc--i.e. basically healthy people--though it also generously includes cancer etc. in a list of possible targets--I don't know on what grounds if any. It is clearly an expanding market, and we can expect further moves and offerings.
 

Chris

Senior Member
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845
Location
Victoria, BC
Hot off the press--maybe a halfway house between a Vielight 633 and the THOR machine? Take a look--might be interesting! Note that optimal use is achieved by only a modest length of wear--another indication of the importance of not overdosing.... And note that this stuff transforms body heat into Far infrared, and is in fact unlikely to duplicate the effects of that window from ca. 630-900nm exploited by the NIR devices we have been talking about. And the stuff is not cheap! However, still sounds intriguing..... Chris

http://www.ommegaonline.org/article...ients-with-Free-Radical-Related-Disorders/841
 
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Chris

Senior Member
Messages
845
Location
Victoria, BC
@Scott--you can find the website of the folks who promote this--Promolife--through the link on the report. A good looking T-shirt costs 179 Euros--about $257 Cdn! Have since found that there are much cheaper, though perhaps not equally effective--clothing items available on Amazon and MEC--may investigate further there. Chris.
 

Lynn

Senior Member
Messages
366
There is a brand called Celiant that has this FIR technology in a fiber. I tried out a mattress pad from Costco. It was an amazing experience. The pad actually improved my ability to breathe. Unfortunately, like most mattress pads, I did not find it comfortable to sleep on. But it was a unique experience to wake up breathing deeply.

Instead I ended up buying a Celiant blanket from Draper Technology. http://www.drapertherapies.com/product/draped-in-health-blanket/
http://www.drapertherapies.com/product/draped-in-health-blanket/
Lynn
 

Lynn

Senior Member
Messages
366
What are the good and not so good things that you've about the blanket?

I like the blanket. It is very soft and cushy. I tried using it in the winter as a wrap. It was great because Icould tell it was increasing the blood flow. As I already mentioned my breathing deepened coming from my diaphram (which I can barely do even when I am thinking about it). I overheat very easily and I was surprised that I did not while wrapped in the blanket. My feet which are perpetually freezing while the rest of me is over heated felt warm while wrapped in the blanket.

The only thing I found was that I had to be careful to not use it too much (wrapped around me for hours). I actually crashed a bit afterwards. I think my body is not used to the blood flow. Perhaps it was a release of toxins?

Hope that helps.

Lynn
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
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Canada
The only thing I found was that I had to be careful to not use it too much (wrapped around me for hours). I actually crashed a bit afterwards. I think my body is not used to the blood flow. Perhaps it was a release of toxins?

The blanked apparently increases blood flow by dilating blood vessels. This would likely drop your blood pressure, although I don't know by how much for a certain period of time. If your BP is already low then you may experience OI type symptoms from excess Draper blanket use.
 

Avengers26

Senior Member
Messages
158
@ScottTriGuy @Chris I bought 3 of these infrared lamps from walmart to create a cheap DIY infrared sauna. I haven't got around to using them yet. I also have a ceramic heater, which though it says, it's infrared, it's actually not. Their customer service confirmed it for me after I had already bought it.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-250W-Heat-Lamp-Red/16911779

Since you mentioned you benefit from light therapy, any suggestions on how to best do it & any precautions. Did you do infrared therapy or only low laser therapy? Also, I came across conflicting info on whether near or far infrared therapy is better. But, it seems that near infrared light is the way to go. Those Vielights are quite expensive. I will look into @Hip cheap handheld device later.
 

ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
Messages
1,402
Location
Toronto, Canada
I use LED followed by infrared.

Focused on my brain stem, I use the LED in 4 positions at 5 minutes each, then 4 positions at 6 minutes each using the infrared. (My unit was programmed / adjusted to me by Dr Kahn when I first started)

I use daily if I'm going through a bad patch with lots of ME symptoms, and every other day during more stable periods.
Recently it was suggested to me to have my oxidized LDL measured regularly (to check if free radicals created by light therapy are being cleared sufficiently) I hope to start this at my next doctor visit).