Illumination devices for inducing biological effects

A method comprising:

• providing an illumination device configured to emit light with a light characteristic, the illumination device comprising a light source, a light guide forming a hollow light transmissive pathway configured to receive the light from the light source, and a light guide positioner configured such that the light guide extends through the light guide positioner to secure at least a portion of the light guide past the light guide positioner within a user's oral cavity;
• and
• irradiating tissue accessible from the user's oral cavity with the light at a dose up to 120 joules per square centimeter (J/cm2) to induce a biological effect, wherein the biological effect comprises at least one of upregulating and downregulating at least one of interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1α) molecules and interleukin 6 (IL-6) molecules within the tissue;
• wherein the biological effect further comprises inactivating one or more pathogens that are in a cell-free environment in a body and inhibiting replication of the one or more pathogens that are in a cell-associated environment in the body, wherein the one or more pathogens comprise at least one of a virus, a bacteria, and a fungus.

A method comprising:

• providing an illumination device configured to emit light with a light characteristic, the illumination device comprising a light guide with a hollow light transmissive pathway that extends entirely through the light guide, and a light guide positioner configured to secure at least a portion of the light guide past the light guide positioner within a body cavity;
• and
• irradiating mammalian tissue within the body cavity with the light at a dose up to 120 joules per square centimeter (J/cm2) to induce a biological effect, wherein the biological effect comprises at least one of upregulating and downregulating inflammatory immune response molecules within the mammalian tissue, the inflammatory immune response molecules comprising cytokines;
• wherein the light characteristic comprises a beam uniformity index that is less than 0.5 for a 30 millimeter (mm) diameter center beam of light at the mammalian tissue, wherein the beam uniformity index is defined by subtracting a minimum irradiance from a maximum irradiance and dividing by an average irradiance of the center beam of light.