The Impact of Virtual Nature Therapy on Stress Responses: A Systematic Qualitative Review

This study aims to review the key findings of past studies that assessed the impact of virtual environments, such as nature and forests for stress therapy. Previous research has found that virtual reality (VR) experiences affect socio-affective behavior, indicating the potential of using VR for cognitive and psychological stress therapy. However, evidence for the impacts of virtual forest therapy as a stress-reduction technique is lacking, and the usefulness of these techniques has yet to be determined. This review was carried out following the preferred reporting items for meta-analyses and systematic reviews. It summarized the literature and provided evidence on virtual forest therapy (VFT) effectiveness in stress relief. We conducted a literature search considering VR-related studies published from 2013 until June 2021 for different databases, including Embase, Medline/PubMed, Hindawi, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, Taylor & Francis, and the Cochrane Library, to see how effective VFT reduces stress levels and improves mental well-being. According to the set inclusion criteria, eighteen relevant papers detailing original research were eligible for inclusion. This overview suggests that VR provides benefits for assessing and reducing stress levels. While real natural environments effectively promote recovery from stress, virtual exposure to nature also positively affects stress. Thus, VR could be an effective technique for promoting relaxation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, where stress levels rise globally. However, more in-depth studies are required to substantiate this potential field of VR relaxation.

An Update on Antioxidative Stress Therapy Research for Early Brain Injury After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

The main reasons for disability and death in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) may be early brain injury (EBI) and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI). Despite studies reporting and progressing when DCI is well-treated clinically, the prognosis is not well-improved. According to the present situation, we regard EBI as the main target of future studies, and one of the key phenotype-oxidative stresses may be called for attention in EBI after laboratory subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). We summarized the research progress and updated the literature that has been published about the relationship between experimental and clinical SAH-induced EBI and oxidative stress (OS) in PubMed from January 2016 to June 2021. Many signaling pathways are related to the mechanism of OS in EBI after SAH. Several antioxidative stress drugs were studied and showed a protective response against EBI after SAH. The systematical study of antioxidative stress in EBI after laboratory and clinical SAH may supply us with new therapies about SAH.

An NIR-II Responsive Nanoplatform for Cancer Photothermal and Oxidative Stress Therapy

Chemodynamic therapy as an emerging therapeutic strategy has been implemented for oncotherapy. However, the reactive oxygen species can be counteracted by the exorbitant glutathione (GSH) produced by the tumor cells before exerting the antitumor effect. Herein, borneol (NB) serving as a monoterpenoid sensitizer, and copper sulfide (CuS NPs) as an NIR-II photothermal agent were loaded in a thermo-responsive vehicle (NB/CuS@PCM NPs). Under 1,060-nm laser irradiation, the hyperthermia produced by CuS NPs can be used for photothermal therapy and melt the phase change material for drug delivery. In the acidity microenvironment, the CuS NPs released from NB/CuS@PCM NPs could degrade to Cu2+, then Cu2+ was reduced to Cu+ during the depletion of GSH. As Fenton-like catalyst, the copper ion could convert hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radicals for chemodynamic therapy. Moreover, the NB originated from NB/CuS@PCM NPs could increase the intracellular ROS content to improve the treatment outcome of chemodynamic therapy. The animal experimental results indicated that the NB/CuS@PCM NPs could accumulate at the tumor site and exhibit an excellent antitumor effect. This work confirmed that the combination of oxidative stress–induced damage and photothermal therapy is a potential therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment.

The Efficacy of Antioxidative Stress Therapy on Oxidative Stress Levels in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective. To explore the efficacy of antioxidative stress therapy on oxidative stress levels in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Methods. Chinese and English databases such as PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and China Biomedical Literature were searched, mainly searching for clinical randomized controlled trials of antioxidant therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. The search time is from the establishment of the database to July 2021. Two researchers independently carried out literature search, screening, and data extraction. The bias risk tool provided by the Cochrane Collaboration was used to evaluate the bias risk of all the included literature, and the RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. Results. A total of 24 RCTs (28 records) and 1277 participants were included. The time span of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is from 1986 to 2020. These RCTs involve 14 types of antioxidants or antioxidant therapies, and these therapies have varying degrees of improvement on oxidative stress in RA patients. The summary results showed that the MDA in the experiment group is lower (SMD -0.82, 95% CI -1.35 to -0.28, P = 0.003 ). The difference of TAC, SOD, NO, GPx, CAT, and GSH between two groups was of no statistical significance (TAC (SMD 0.27, 95% CI -0.21 to 0.75, P = 0.27 ), SOD (SMD 0.12, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.40, P = 0.41 ), NO (SMD -2.03, 95% CI -4.22 to 0.16, P = 0.07 ), GPx (SMD 0.24, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.54, P = 0.13 ), CAT (SMD 2.95, 95% CI -2.6 to 8.51, P = 0.30 ), and GSH (SMD 2.46, 95% CI -0.06 to 4.98, P = 0.06 )). For adverse events, the summary results showed that the difference was of no statistical significance (RR 1.16, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.71, P = 0.45 ). In addition, antioxidant therapy has also shown improvement in clinical efficacy indexes (number of tender joints, number of swollen joints, DAS28, VAS, and HAQ) and inflammation indexes (ESR, CRP, TNF-α, and IL6) for RA patients. Conclusion. The existing evidence shows potential benefits, mainly in reducing MDA and increasing TAC and GSH in some subgroups. However, more large samples and higher quality RCTs are needed to provide high-quality evidence, so as to provide more clinical reference information for the antioxidant treatment of RA.

Experts Review on Factors to Consider When Designing Virtual Environment for Stress Therapy

Virtual reality (VR) based therapy is an alternative technique available for stress treatment. In this technique, virtual reality is used as a tool to assist users to reduce stress and induce relaxation. Many previous literatures published have acknowledged the effectiveness of virtual reality based therapy as compared to other techniques such as breathing exercise and imagination. However, previous studies available only focused on proving the effectiveness of virtual reality application in reducing stress, but are lacking discussions on factors that should be taken into consideration when designing its virtual environment. In previous study, initial framework containing possible factors to be considered when designing virtual environment for stress therapy has been proposed. In this paper, an expert review was conducted to validate the usefulness of the identified factors. Findings from the validation process has resulted in the improved version of the initial framework and their application in virtual environment.

A Commentary about Lessons Learned: Transitioning a Therapy Dog Program Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2015, the University of Saskatchewan PAWS Your Stress Therapy Dog program partnered with St. John Ambulance for therapy dog teams to visit our campus and offer attendees love, comfort and support. We recognized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that students, staff and faculty may require mental health support, particularly with the challenges of isolation and loneliness. In response, our team transitioned from an in-person to a novel online format at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We designed online content for participants to (1) connect with therapy dogs and experience feelings of love, comfort and support as occurred in in-person programming, and (2) learn about pandemic-specific, evidence-informed mental health knowledge. Our unique approach highlighted what dogs can teach humans about health through their own care and daily activities. From April to June 2020, we developed a website, created 28 Facebook livestreams and 60 pre-recorded videos which featured therapy dogs and handlers, and cross-promoted on various social media platforms. Over three months, first a combined process-outcome evaluation helped us determine whether our activities contributed to the program’s goals. A subsequent needs assessment allowed us to elicit participant preferences for the program moving forward. This commentary reflects on these findings and our teams’ collective experiences to share our key lessons learned related to program personnel needs, therapy dog handler training and support requirements, and online programming prerequisites. This combined understanding is informing our current activities with the virtual program and should be of interest to other therapy dog programs transitioning online.

Economic assessment of anti-stress therapy in the production of meat in poultry farming

The paper presents the results of the effectiveness of anti-stress therapy and its economic assessment when growing broiler chickens in a poultry farming against the background of the use of a stress-protector antioxidant-complex (SPAO-complex) in broiler chickens. The pharmacological complex was used in the form of a drink at a dose of 185 mg/kg of live weight for 5 days during periods of the greatest influence of stress factors, namely at the stage of vaccination associated with the greatest immunological load (at 10-14 days of age) and (or) at the stage of final fattening. The effectiveness of antistress therapy was assessed by the morphological parameters of poultry blood, leukocyte indices, the yield of poultry meat and the quality of carcasses. The economic efficiency was assessed by the ratio of the economic effect and veterinary costs. A relative decrease in the total level of leukocytes and a change in leukocytes of different types was found: a decrease in agranulocytes and an increase in agranulocytes, a decrease in the value of the Krebs index, the leukocyte index of intoxication, an increase in the lymphocyte index, the ratio of agranulocytes and granulocytes and lymphocyte-granulocyte index. The use of the SPAO-complex in broiler chickens in the form of a drink at a dose of 185 mg/kg of live weight for 5 days due to the growth rate and an increase in live weight helped to reduce the impact of stress factors and led to an increase in meat yield by 2.34-4.92% and a decrease in injuries before slaughter, which was reflected in a decrease in the level of carcass defect from 20-40%. It influenced the value of the economic effect which amounted to 70.08-145.2 rubles. The value of veterinary costs for different anti-stress therapy regimens ranged from 9.35 to 101.32 rubles. The economic efficiency of using the SPAO-complex at a dose of 185 mg/kg of live weight per day for 5 days per one ruble of costs during the period of intensive vaccination was 16.7 rubles, during the period of final fattening it was 0.81 rubles and during periods of intensive vaccination and final fattening it was 1.52 rubles.

Amplified Oxidative Stress Therapy of Degradable Copper Phosphate Nanozyme Coated by in situ Polymerization of PEGDA

Elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by glutathione (GSH) is a fundamental concern in oxidative stress therapy (OST) of tumors. This is the first report of copper phosphate nanospheres...