Abstract: Currently no therapies that provide either protection or restoration of neuronal function for adult onset neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease exist. Many clinical efforts to provide such benefits by infusion of neurotropic factors have failed. An alternative approach such as viral construct transduction may be used to directly activate the intracellular signaling pathways that mediate neurotrophic effects and induce axon growth. Viral construct transduction of dopaminergic neurons with a constitutively active human form of the p70S6K gene—hp70S6K (CA)—was shown to induce axon regeneration from living dopaminergic cell bodies that had no living axons.

Abstract: A three phase facial toning system includes an applicator having an applicator electrode and a ground electrode that are electrically separated from one another by an insulated base. When the applicator is used, the user's hand is in contact with the ground electrode so that the ground electrode is grounded when in use. In the first phase, a cleanser is applied to facial skin, a first switch actuator is pressed, and the applicator electrode is placed into contact with the skin in a prescribed way. Pressing the first switch actuator places the applicator electrode in communication with a positive voltage so that electrons flow from the user's skin to the applicator electrode to help the cleansing action of the cleanser. In the second phase, a vitalizing gel is applied to the face and a second switch actuator is actuated.

Abstract: An epilator includes a pair of tweezers mounted at the leading end of a hollow wand body. An electrical circuit board for generating a radio frequency current is mounted in the trailing end of the wand body. The trailing end of the wand body is coated with a metabolized conductive coating to shield against electromagnetic interference. The tweezers are maintained in normally spaced apart relation to one another by a bias member that is compressed by a manually-operated actuator. The bias member includes an extension member that is in continuous contact with a first tweezer member and which makes contact with an electrical contact member mounted in the second tweezer member when the tweezer members are brought into hair-gripping relation to one another by actuator-driven compression of the bias member.