Neurodynamic Techniques Versus “Sham” Therapy in the Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy of neurodynamic techniques used as the sole therapeutic component compared with sham therapy in the treatment of mild and moderate carpal tunnel syndromes (CTS).

Can in Vivo Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle–Tendon Unit Lengths be Reliably Estimated by Two Ultrasonography Methods? A Within-Session Analysis

A clinically feasible method to reliably estimate muscle–tendon unit (MTU) lengths could provide essential diagnostic and treatment planning information. A 3-D freehand ultrasound (3-DfUS) method was previously validated for extracting in vivo medial gastrocnemius (MG) lengths, although the processing time can be considered substantial for the clinical environment. This investigation analyzed a quicker and simpler method using the US transducer as a spatial pointer (US-PaP), where the within-session reliability of extracting the muscle–tendon unit (MTU) and tendon lengths are estimated. MG MTU lengths were extracted in a group of 14 healthy adults using both 3-DfUS and US-PaP. Two consecutive acquisitions were performed per participant, and the data processed by two researchers independently. The intra-class correlation coefficients were above 0.97, and the standard error of measurements below 3.6?mm (1.5%). This investigation proposes that the simplified US-PaP method is a viable alternative for estimating MG MTU lengths.     

Comparison Between Oblique Pulling Spinal Manipulation and Other Treatments for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective

The purpose of this review was to compare oblique pulling spinal manipulation with other treatments for lumbar disc herniation.

Association Between Trapezius Muscle Tenderness and Tension-Type Headache in Female Office Workers: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective

The purpose of the study was to determine the association between trapezius muscle tenderness and tension-type headache among female office workers.

Vertebral Displacements and Muscle Activity During Manual Therapy: Distinct Behaviors Between Spinal Manipulation and Mobilization

Objective

The purpose of this study was to compare vertebral displacements (absolute and relative) and muscle responses induced by spinal manipulative therapy of short (spinal manipulation) and long (spinal mobilization) impulse duration.

Prevalence of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Iranian Physical Therapists: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among Iranian physical therapists.

某化工企业工人肌肉骨骼疾患及危险因素

目的了解某化工企业工人MSDs患病情况及其影响因素。方法采用整群抽样方法,在某化工企业采用经修改的北欧国家MSDs标准调查表对593名化工工人进行横断面调查,得到有效问卷538份。结果该化工企业工人腰部MSDs患病最为严重,年患病率达67.60%,其次为肩(62.41%)和颈(61.87%)部,多部位发生MSDs构成比为76.64%。不同年龄、学历、婚姻、休息状况、工作环境、工作满意、工作疲劳程度、工种、工龄(除踝外)、以及人员是否短缺(除颈、髋臀外)、是否有加班(除颈、腰外)组间,各部位MSDs年患病率差异均有统计学意义(P0.01或P0.05);患病部位数女性大于男性,差异有统计学意义(t=-4.066,P﹤0.01),女性颈、肩、腰、髋臀、膝部患病率高于男性。对MSDs患病率最高的腰部进行危险因素回归分析表明,工作时弯腰转身同时存在、长时间统一姿势工作、短时间做大力气动作、用手或胳膊做出很大的力气、推拉5kg重物、工作时大幅度弯腰、手保持在肩及以下、用手捏住物体均可增加腰部MSDs患病率(P﹤0.01),前4项以及性别、工作疲劳和工作不满意OR值均2,可认为是化工工人腰部MSDs危险因素。对工作不满意者多部位MSDs患病风险是满意者10.86倍,50岁以上是30岁以下10.64倍,女性是男性6.81倍,长时间统一姿势工作对多部位MSDs患病影响也较明显,OR值达5.98。结论化工工人MSDs患病率较高,并以腰、肩、颈部为主,年龄、学历、婚姻、性别等个体因素,工作不满意、疲劳等心理因素,工龄、工种、工作环境等职业因素以及休息状况、人员短缺、加班等工作组织因素是导致化工工人各部位MSDs患病的危险因素。性别、工作时弯腰转身同时存在、长时间同一姿势工作、短时间做大力气动作等是影响腰部MSDs患病的危险因素。工作不满意、年龄、性别以及长时间统一姿势是导致多部位患病的危险因素。     

Elastografía en musculoesquelético. ¿Herramienta o juguete?

Elastography is a novel imaging technique based on ultrasound that evaluates the deformability of tissues to help characterize lesions. It is widely used and has been validated in many tissues (e.g., liver, breast, thyroid). It is also used in the study of musculoskeletal disease. Although the use of elastography in musculoskeletal radiology is limited by the variability and heterogeneity of tissues, it is a very promising technique. In this article, we aim to review the usefulness, possible indications, limitations, and future perspectives of this technique in musculoskeletal radiology.     

Evidence for electrogenic Na+ pumping in human atrial myocardium

The resting potential of "sodium-loaded' cardiac cells can transiently hyperpolarize to levels negative to the steady state resting potential [3,5,6]. Hyperpolarization is associated with the coupled efflux of Na+ and influx of K+ driven by an active transport process and may result from an increased K+ equilibrium potential (EK), an outward pump current or both. Using conventional microelectrode techniques, we found that Na+-loaded human atrial myocardium can also transiently hyperpolarize. Na+ loading was induced by cooling to 2 degrees to 3 degrees C. Upon rewarming to 37 degrees C in a 20 mM K+ solution, the resting potential transiently hyperpolarized to levels at least 11 mV negative to the calculated EK and 29 +/- 2 mV (mean +/- S.E.) negative to the steady state level (- 33 +/- 2 mV) recorded some 15-20 minutes later. An increase in K+ conductance induced by acetylcholine exposure [2,7,10] during the transient hyperpolarization caused a depolarization, indicating that the resting potential was indeed negative to EK. These findings cannot be explained by either conductance changes or electroneutral Na+ pumping and concomitant extracellular K+ depletion. We conclude that the Na+-loaded human atrium can generate net pump current.     

Association analysis of the DISC1 gene with schizophrenia in the Japanese population and DISC1 immunoreactivity in the postmortem brain

The Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene plays a role in the regulation of neural development. Previous evidence from genetic association and biological studies implicates the DISC1 gene as having a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In the present study, we explored the association between DISC1 missense mutation rs821616 (Ser704Cys) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and four other SNPs (rs1772702, rs1754603, rs821621, rs821624) in the related haplotype block and schizophrenia in the Japanese population. We could not find a significant association of selected SNPs with schizophrenia after correction for multiple testing. We performed a meta-analysis of the Ser704Cys variant in schizophrenia using data from the present study and five previous Japanese population studies, and found no association with schizophrenia. We also examined DISC1 immunoreactivity in postmortem prefrontal cortex specimens of schizophrenia patients compared to control samples. The immunoreactivity revealed a significant decrease of DISC1 protein expression in the schizophrenia samples after ruling out potential confounding factors. However, the Ser704Cys variant did not show effects on DISC1 immunoreactivity. These results provide evidence that this functional genetic variation of DISC1 do not underlie the pathophysiology of schizophrenia in the Japanese population.