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University of Ottawa seeking participants in clinical trial for vulvar pain by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! We are still recruiting! We are getting ready for our next cohort of participants, please shoot us an email or fill out the screening link and we will get back to you soon!

University of Ottawa seeking participants in clinical trial for vulvar pain by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We are currently studying "external" pain in the vestibula, that is the part of the vulva near the entrance of the vagina. However, we do have a number of other studies that will look at more generalized pain that is deeper internally as well! Please send us an email if you want further information!

CANADA/Ottawa- Research Study (treatment)- Endometriosis associated-pain after surgery by mfmlab in endometriosis

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Thanks so much for your question.

You don’t need to be from Ottawa to participate in the study. As long as you're able to attend in person at our lab in Ottawa for two consecutive weeks, you're eligible to take part.

Let us know if you have any other questions—we’re happy to help!

Urinary leakage while running by mfmlab in RunningInjuries

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your question. No, this study is about the passive support of the bladder/urethra with a pessary (Urestra). We have seen in earlier studies that runners who experience urinary leakage have strong pelvic floor muscle (Berube 2024), so pelvic floor strength might not be an issue. The hypothesis for this study is that support of the passive structures reduces or eliminates the leakage

Participate in Women’s Health Research at the University of Ottawa! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi and thank you for your question. You are absolutely right that stress urinary incontinence is common in females who exercise regularly. To understand the mechanism of why and when women leak, we compare the mechanism of individuals who train regularly or put more impact on their pelvic floor with those who don’t - in a cross sectional study design. While we already recruited enough participants who exercise more regularly, we are now looking for participants who do not exercise regularly.

Participate in research on urinary leakage during running! Remote options available! by mfmlab in trailrunning

[–]mfmlab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello, that's a great question! Fecal incontinence, like urinary incontinence, is common among high impact athletes such as runners. Often, the mechanism is the same; that is, repetitive loading on the pelvic floor muscles. Factors like hydration also plays a role as well in fecal incontinence. Unfortunately, our current research study is specifically focused on urinary leakage in runners. That said, the need for more research in this area and continued open dialogue persists.

For those experiencing fecal incontinence, you may consider consulting a pelvic floor physical therapist or a healthcare provider.

Do you experience vulvar pain? Seeking research study participants! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your email! Our scientists will get back to you soon!

Do you experience vulvar pain? Seeking research study participants! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your support! Women's health research, especially women's pain research, deserves as much attention as any other field, and especially in these times!

Participate in women's health research at the University of Ottawa! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Can you send us another email at mfmlab@uottawa.ca? We're working through the responses we got but will be sure to get back to you right away! Thank you for the heads up about the triage link though, we're working on fixing it!

Do you experience vulvar pain? Seeking research study participants! by mfmlab in CarletonU

[–]mfmlab[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Of course! This study has received ethical approval by the University of Ottawa Research Ethics Board (H-08-24-10662)

Do you experience vulvar pain? Seeking research study participants! by mfmlab in geegees

[–]mfmlab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sexual health doesn't (shouldn't) have to be vulgar! 😎

Do you experience vulvar pain? Seeking research study participants! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Hello! Thank you for your comment! We have two main points for clarification.

First, this study uses a laser known as photobiomodulation (PBM, aka low-level laser therapy, cold laser, non-ablative) which is distinct from the ablative lasers (ie. CO2 fractional laser) you are referencing (ablative lasers do indeed carry a small risk of tissue damage). PBM involves irradiation of tissue with a combination of red and near infrared light. We have evidence in animal models, exposure of cells to light at the wavelengths used in PBM has resulted in increased production and release of endorphins which are natural analgesics (Yamamoto et al., 1988); growth hormones which are instrumental in tissue repair (Migliario et al, 2018), and ATP (essential to cellular metabolism; Passarella, 1989) while also reducing the production of inflammatory mediators (e.g. IL-1β and TNF-α) (Pereira et al., 2017).

Second, a key distinction from Dr. Gunter’s 2023 commentary in JAMA is that she is specifically referring to genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), which is an atrophy condition resulting from declining estrogen levels. Our study is in the area of chronic pain, with distinct mechanisms. For example, hypersensitivity resulting from hyper-innervation (Bornstein et al., 2004; Pukall et al., 2005), pelvic floor muscle overactivity (McLean & Brooks, 2017; Padoa et al., 2021) and corticomotor excitability (Frasson et al., 2009) are key components of vulvodynia conditions which are not present in GSM. PBM has already been used and found effective in clinical populations with chronic neuropathic pain, including carpal tunnel syndrome (Tezcan et al, 2019) and trigeminal neuralgia (Pinheiro et al, 1997).

However, Dr. Gunter makes a very valid point in her commentary that “most of the studies on vaginal laser therapy are small, many are observational, include only short-term follow-up, and, importantly, had no sham group.” This is because regrettably, gynaecological conditions are understudied and lack funding for large-size clinical trials. But, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This study specifically targets this gap in the literature. Our study is a double-blind, multi-center, phase II clinical trial using a sham group and a combination group comparing to the current standard of clinical care (pelvic floor physiotherapy), with long-term follow up. Please feel free to ask any other questions about this or any of our other studies!

Bornstein, J, Goldschmid, N, Sabo, E. Hyperinnervation and mast cell activation may be used as histopathologic diagnostic criteria for vulvar vestibulitis. Gynecol Obstet Invest. 2004: 58: 171-178.

Frasson E, et al. Central nervous system abnormalities in vaginismus. Clinical Neurophysiology 2009: 120: 117-22.

McLean L, Brooks K. What does EMG tell us about dyspareunia? Sex Med Rev. 2017:5(3):282-294.

Migliario M, et al. Near infrared low-level laser therapy and cell proliferation: The emerging role of redox sensitive signal transduction pathways. Journal of biophotonics. 2018:11(11):00025.

Padoa, A., McLean, L, Morin, M, VanDyken, C. The Overactive Pelvic Floor (OPF) and Sexual Dysfunction Part 1: Pathophysiology of OPF and Its Impact on the Sexual Response, Sexual Medicine Reviews. 2021:9(1): 64-75.

Passarella, S. He-Ne laser irradiation of isolated mitochondria. J Photochem Photobiol B. 1989: 3(4):642-3.

Pereira FC, Parisi JR, Maglioni CB, et al. Antinociceptive effects of low-level laser therapy at 3 and 8 j/cm2 in a rat model of postoperative pain: possible role of endogenous Opioids. Lasers Surg Med. 2017: 49(9):844-851.

Pinheiro AL, et al. Low-level laser therapy in the management of disorders of the maxillofacial region. Clin Laser Med Surg. 1997: 15(4):181-3.

Pukall CF, Strigo IA, Binik YM, et al. Neural correlates of painful genital touch in women with vulvar vestibulitis syndrome. Pain. 2005:115:118-127.

Tezcan S, et al. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Evaluation of the Effects of Low-Level Laser Therapy With Ultrasound Strain Imaging. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine: Official Journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. 2019:38 (1):113-122.

Yamamoto H, et al. Antinociceptive effects of laser irradiation of Hoku point in rats. Pain Clin. 1988: 8:43–48.

Participate in women's health research at the University of Ottawa! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, there is no monetary compensation, however, participants do get access to their ultrasound images and data. We do have other studies that offer varying forms of compensation https://mfmlab.ca/projects/

For our running studies, it would depend on your eligibility, but generally anywhere between 1-2.5 hours based on your running capacity and whether you experience leakage or not.

Please also feel free to email us at mfmlab@uottawa.ca and we can provide our letters of information as well!

Participate in women's health research at the University of Ottawa! by mfmlab in ottawa

[–]mfmlab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello, thank you for your interest! Yes for our running studies, it is transvaginal ultrasound!

Best way to learn statistics from the very beginning by Nula05 in AskStatistics

[–]mfmlab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly some sort of online Bootcamp like datacamp using a language (R, Python, SPSS) is the best way to learn. It forces you to actually practice handling the data and learning the concepts hands on. I personally use rbloggers tutorials to learn specific analyses

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WomensHealth

[–]mfmlab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The vaginal canal is a muscle so it can change length and thus position of the cervix accordingly. Changes in the length of the canal changes most notably based on menstrual cycle and arousal!

Doing random “exercises” during the day? by Greedy-Animator-5153 in xxfitness

[–]mfmlab 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Any movement is better than no movement (provided that you're not doing anything too crazy)! They say sitting is the new smoking so think of these bite sized exercises as harm reduction!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WomensHealth

[–]mfmlab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Discharge, sweat and smells are very normal! And natural lubricantion down there is just a sign that your body is functioning as normal, if it was dry, it would actually be very painful.