Aims: The present study investigated the effect of different surface treatments on shear bond strength (SBS) of resin cement to zirconia.
Materials and methods: Ninety zirconia blocks were prepared and divided into 6 groups of 15 by treatment. Group 1 served as the control group, whereas groups 2 and 3 were treated with air abrasion and a universal primer (Monobond plus), respectively. The remaining zirconia copings were treated with a fractional CO2 laser for 10 seconds using 10 W/10 mJ (group 4), 10 w/14 mJ (group 5) or 20 W/10 mJ (group 6). A luting cement (Clearfil SA) was bonded to the treated zirconia surfaces and cured for 40 seconds. SBS was measured with a universal testing machine and the type of bond failure was determined.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference in SBS among the study groups (p<0.001). The highest SBS values were observed in the groups treated with the fractional CO2 laser at settings of 20 W/10 mJ (28.1 MPa) or 10 W/14 mJ (27.4 MPa), followed by the specimens treated with the universal primer (22.8 MPa). The control specimens exhibited the lowest SBS (9.4 MPa) among the study groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the distribution of failure modes among the groups (p=0.871).
Conclusion: The application of fractional CO2 laser can improve bond strength of resin cement to zirconia ceramic, and thus it could be considered as an appropriate alternative to conventional methods of zirconia surface treatment.

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Background and Aims:The objective of this study was to investigate the interaction of infrared laser light on Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) ceramic surfaces.
Materials and Methods: Sixty CAD/CAM ceramic discs were prepared and divided into two different groups: lithiumdisilicate ceramic (IPSe.maxCADs) and Zirconia ceramic (IPSe.maxZirCADs). The laser irradiation was performed on graphite and non-graphite surfaces with a Carbon Dioxide laser at 5W and 10W power in continuous mode (CW mode) and with Neodymium Yttrium Aluminum Perovskite (Nd:YAP) laser at 10W. Surface textures and compositions were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Thermal elevation was measured by thermocouple during laser irradiation.
Results: The SEM observation showed a rough surface plus cracks and fissures on CO2 10W samples and melting areas in Nd:YAP samples; moreover, with CO2 5W smooth and shallow surfaces were observed. EDS analysis revealed that laser irradiation does not result in modifications of the chemical composition even if minor changes in the atomic mass percentage of the components were registered. Thermocouple showed several thermal changes during laser irradiation.
Conclusion: CO2 and Nd:YAP lasers modify CAD/CAM ceramic surface without chemical composition modifications.

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Background and Aims: For any committed athlete, getting back to conditioning and participation post-injury (return to play [RTP]) needs to be as swift as possible. The effects of near-infrared lightemitting diode (LED) therapy on pain control, blood flow enhancement and relaxation of muscle spasm (all aspects in the treatment of musculoskeletal injury) have attracted attention. The present pilot study was undertaken to assess the role of 830 nm LED phototherapy in safely accelerating RTP in injured university athletes.
Subjects and Methods: Over a 15-month period, a total of 395 injuries including sprains, strains, ligament damage, tendonitis and contusions were treated with 1,669 sessions of 830 nm LED phototherapy (mean of 4.3 treatments per injury, range 2 - 6). Efficacy was measured with pain attenuation on a visual analog scale (VAS) and the RTP period compared with historically-based anticipated RTP with conventional therapeutic intervention.
Results: A full set of treatment sessions and follow-up data was able to be recorded in 65 informed and consenting subjects who achieved pain relief on the VAS of up to 6 points in from 2-6 sessions. The average LED-mediated RTP in the 65 subjects was significantly shorter at 9.6 days, compared with the mean anticipated RTP of 19.23 days (p = 0.0066, paired two-tailed Student’s t-test).A subjective satisfaction survey was carried out among the 112 students with injuries incurred from January to May, 2015. Eighty-eight (78.5%) were either very satisfied or satisfied, and only 8 (7.2%) were dissatisfied.
Conclusions: For any motivated athlete, RTP may be the most important factor postinjury based on the resolution of pain and inflammation and repair to tissue trauma. 830 nm LED phototherapy significantly and safely reduced the RTP in dedicated university athletes over a wide range of injuries with no adverse events. One limitation of the present study was the subjective nature of the assessments, and the lack of any control groups. However, further controlled studies are warranted to enable confirmation and generalization of the very good results in the present study.

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Background: In recent years, facial rejuvenation using Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is in demand and there have been many reports. However, hand rejuvenation, which aims to treat lentigines on the dorsal hand and wrinkles, is in demand but with few reports. In this study, hand rejuvenation was attempted using two wavelengths of a standard IPL system. It focuses mainly on improvement of lentigines, and efficacy on wrinkles on the dorsal hand will be discussed as well.
Subject and Methods: The subjects were 128 Japanese patients (average age 58.1) who had lentigines and wrinkles on the dorsa of both hands, and the wavelength spectra of 560 - 1200 nm and 515 - 1200 nm were applied. In general, the number of treatments was not fixed, and further treatments beyond the first treatment were added only when asked for by the patient. Lentigines were assessed on 4 levels and wrinkles on 3 levels.
Results: The results in lentigines were graded “Excellent” in 45.3%, “Good” in 14.8%, “Unchanged” in 37.5% and “Bad” in 2.3% of the patients. Dark-toned lentigines in particular improved after one treatment. On the other hand, the results in wrinkles were graded as “Effective” in 25.0%, “Hard to tell” in 39.1% and “Ineffective” in 35.9% of the patients after the first treatment, but there was increased improvement in some cases after multiple treatments.
Conclusions:By using appropriate IPL parameters with specific cut-off filters, dark-toned and flat senile lentigines could be treated effectively with a small number of treatments. On the other hand, improvement of fine dorsal wrinkles was noticed but more finesse is needed as to how to apply IPL and to decide on the number of treatments. Further study is necessary, but overall it can be said that IPL is an effective choice for hand rejuvenation.

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Background and Aims: There is an urgent need to develop an efficient strategy for the treatment of drug-resistant prostate cancer. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), in which low incident levels of laser energy are used to activate a photosensitizer taken up by tumor cells, is expected as a novel therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer because of the minimal invasive nature of PDT. The present study was designed to assess the efficacy of a novel vector approach combined with a conventional porphyrin-based photosensitizer.
Materials and Methods: Our group focused on a non-viral vector (hemagglutinating virus of Japan envelope; HVJ-E) combined with protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) lipid, termed the porphyrus envelope (PE). It has been previously confirmed that HVJ-E has drug-delivering properties and can induce cancer-specific cell death. The PE (HVJ-E contained in PpIX lipid) was developed as a novel photosensitizer. In this study, the antitumor and PDT efficacy of the PE against hormoneantagonistic human prostate cancer cells (PC-3) were evaluated.
Results and Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that, under specific circumstances, PDT using the PE was very effective against PC-3 cells. A novel therapy for drug-resistant prostate cancer based on this vector approach is eagerly anticipated.

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