Network and pathway-based analysis of microRNA role in neuropathic pain in rat models.

The molecular mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain (NP) remain poorly understood. Emerging evidence has suggested the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the initiation and development of NP, but the specific effects of miRNAs in NP are largely unknown. Here, we use network- and pathway-based methods to investigate NP-induced miRNA changes and their biological functions by conducting a systematic search through multiple electronic databases. Thirty-seven articles meet the inclusion criteria. Venn analysis and target gene forecasting are performed and the results indicate that 167 overlapping target genes are co-regulated by five down-regulated miRNAs (rno-miR-183, rno-miR-96, rno-miR-30b, rno-miR-150 and rno-miR-206). Protein-protein interaction network analysis shows that 77 genes exhibit interactions, with cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit beta (degree = 11) and cAMP-response element binding protein 1 (degree = 10) having the highest connectivity degree. Gene ontology analysis shows that these target genes are enriched in neuron part, neuron projection, somatodendritic compartment and nervous system development. Moreover, analysis of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes reveals that three pathways, namely, axon guidance, circadian entrainment and insulin secretion, are significantly enriched. In addition, rno-miR-183, rno-miR-96, rno-miR-30b, rno-miR-150 and rno-miR-206 are consistently down-regulated in the NP models, thus constituting the potential biomarkers of this disease. Characterizing these miRNAs and their target genes paves way for their future use in clinical practice.

Bibliometric Study of the Comorbidity of Pain and Depression Research.

Background: Comorbid pain and depression occur with high prevalence in clinical observations, and published academic journals about them have been increasing in number over time. However, few studies used the bibliometric method to analyze the general aspects of scientific researches on the comorbidity of pain and depression. The aim of this study is to systematically provide global scientific research in the comorbidity of pain and depression from 1980 to 2018. Methods: The published papers were searched between 1980 and 2018 in Web of Science. Publications related to comorbid pain and depression research were included. The language was restricted to English, and no species limitations were specified. Results: A total of 2,519 papers met the inclusion criteria in our study. The results revealed that the publications had a significant growth over time in the comorbidity of pain and depression research (P < 0.001) by linear regression analyses. The United States had the largest number of publications and citations and the highest value of H-index. According to subject categories of Web of Science, research areas of the 2,519 papers mainly focused on clinical neurology (28.78%), neurosciences (22.9%), and psychiatry (22.23%). In accordance with types of pain, headache (19.09%) was the most popular topic in the included papers on comorbid pain and depression research. Conclusions: The findings provide useful information for pain and depression researchers to detect new areas related to collaborators, cooperative institutions, popular topics, and research frontiers.

Associations between back pain incidence, and physical activity and sedentary behaviours: A prospective cohort study with data from over 365,000 participants.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between (i) various types of physical activity and the risk of back pain incidence, and (ii) the influence of substituting sedentary behaviours with physical activities on back pain incidence. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study. METHODS: We analyzed UK Biobank data collected from 365,307 participants who were free of back pain at baseline. The exposures were total, light, moderate and vigorous physical activity, and sedentary behaviours. The outcome was back pain incidence. The main statistical models were the Cox proportional hazard model and the isotemporal substitution model. RESULTS: In the follow-up time (median, 12.97 years; inter-quartile range, 12.10-13.71), 25,189 individuals developed back pain. The associations between all types of physical activity and incident back pain were significantly non-linear (p < 0.001) among the general population and other subgroups. High physical activity was associated with a decreased risk of back pain compared with no physical activity. The lowest risk occurred in the 1801-2400 MET-min/week subgroup of total physical activity (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.59-0.69), approximately consisting of 1200, 600, and 600 MET-min/week of light, moderate and vigorous physical activity, respectively. Extremely high vigorous physical activity was related to high risk, specifically in males (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.02-1.25). Replacing 1 hour/day of sedentary behaviours with an equal time of physical activity reduced the risk of incident back pain by 2%-8% (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Physical activity was related to a reduced risk of back pain incidence (except over-high vigorous physical activity). Substituting sedentary behaviours with physical activities reduced the risk of future back pain.

Demographic and clinical characteristics associated with failure of physical therapy in chronic low back pain: a secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The effect of physical therapy on pain and disability alleviation in patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) has been demonstrated, but the risk factors for treatment failure remain unknown. AIM: To explore the associations of baseline demographic and clinical characteristics with treatment failure after physical therapy intervention for cLBP. DESIGN: A secondary analysis of a single-blind randomized clinical trial. SETTING: A rehabilitation hospital. POPULATION: A total of 98 patients with cLBP completed the 12-month measurement. METHODS: Patients were randomly grouped into 3-month therapeutic aquatic exercise or physical therapy modalities. The primary outcome was treatment failure, which was defined as a decrease in the numeric rating scale to less than 2.0 points at 12-month follow-up. Associations between baseline demographic and clinical characteristics with risk of treatment failure were assessed by logistic regressions. RESULTS: The pain intensity in the failure cases was alleviated after 3-month intervention but continuously increased at 6- and 12-month follow-up (P<0.05). Old age was significantly associated with an increased risk of treatment failure (adjusted OR 3.26, 95% CI 1.11-9.60). Compared with those receiving physical therapy modalities, the patients receiving therapeutic aquatic exercise had less risk of treatment failure (adjusted OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.08-0.47), and age (P=0.022) was a modifier for this association. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with younger ones, older patients with cLBP had a higher risk of treatment failure after physical therapy and gained a stronger benefit of long-term pain alleviation from therapeutic aquatic exercise. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: Therapeutic aquatic exercise is an effective therapy for cLBP and more helpful for preventing treatment failure than physical therapy modalities, especially for older patients.

Efficacy of Therapeutic Aquatic Exercise vs Physical Therapy Modalities for Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Therapeutic aquatic exercise is frequently offered to patients with chronic low back pain, but its long-term benefits are unclear. Objective: To assess the long-term effects of therapeutic aquatic exercise on people with chronic low back pain. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 3-month, single-blind randomized clinical trial with a 12-month follow-up period was performed from September 10, 2018, to March 12, 2019, and the trial follow-up was completed March 17, 2020. A total of 113 people with chronic low back pain were included in the experiment. Interventions: Participants were randomized to either the therapeutic aquatic exercise or the physical therapy modalities group. The therapeutic aquatic exercise group received aquatic exercise, whereas the physical therapy modalities group received transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and infrared ray thermal therapy. Both interventions were performed for 60 minutes twice a week for 3 months. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was disability level, which was measured using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire; scores range from 0 to 24, with higher scores indicating more severe disability. Secondary outcomes included pain intensity, quality of life, sleep quality, recommendation of intervention, and minimal clinically important difference. Intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses were performed. Results: Of the 113 participants, 59 were women (52.2%) (mean [SD] age, 31.0 [11.5] years). Participants were randomly allocated into the therapeutic aquatic exercise group (n = 56) or the physical therapy modalities group (n = 57), and 98 patients (86.7%) completed the 12-month follow-up. Compared with the physical therapy modalities group, the therapeutic aquatic exercise group showed greater alleviation of disability, with adjusted mean group differences of -1.77 (95% CI, -3.02 to -0.51; P = .006) after the 3-month intervention, -2.42 (95% CI, -4.13 to -0.70; P = .006) at the 6-month follow-up, and -3.61 (95% CI, -5.63 to -1.58; P = .001) at the 12-month follow-up (P < .001 for overall group × time interaction). At the 12-month follow-up point, improvements were significantly greater in the therapeutic aquatic exercise group vs the physical therapy modalities group in the number of participants who met the minimal clinically important difference in pain (at least a 2-point improvement on the numeric rating scale) (most severe pain, 30 [53.57%] vs 12 [21.05%]; average pain, 14 [25%] vs 11 [19.30%]; and current pain, 22 [39.29%] vs 10 [17.54%]) and disability (at least a 5-point improvement on the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire) (26 [46.43%] vs 4 [7.02%]). One of the 56 participants (1.8%) in the therapeutic aquatic exercise group vs 2 of the 57 participants (3.5%) in the physical therapy modalities group experienced low back pain and other pains related to the intervention. Conclusions and Relevance: The therapeutic aquatic exercise program led to greater alleviation in patients with chronic low back pain than physical therapy modalities and had a long-term effect up to 12 months. This finding may prompt clinicians to recommend therapeutic aquatic exercise to patients with chronic low back pain as part of treatment to improve their health through active exercise rather than relying on passive relaxation. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR1800016396.

The top 100 most-cited papers in long non-coding RNAs: a bibliometric study.

Up to 90% of the human genome is transcribed into Long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that longer than 200 nucleotides but do not code for proteins. LncRNAs play a vital role in a broad range of biological process, it's dysregulations and mutations are linked to the development and progression of various complex human diseases. Given the dramatic changes and growing scientific outputs in lncRNAs field, using a quantitative measurement to analyze and characterize the existing studies has become imperative.Bibliometric analysis is a widely used tool to assess the academic influence of a publication or a country in a specific field. However, a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most-cited papers in lncRNAs area has not been conducted. Thus, we executed a bibliometric study to identify the authors, journals, countries and institutions that contributed most to the top 100 lncRNAs list, characterize the key words and focus of top 100 most-cited papers, and detect the factors related to their successful citation. This study provides a comprehensive list of the most influential papers on lncRNAs research and demonstrates the important advances in this field, which might be benefit to researchers in their paper publication and scientific cooperation.

Association of Chronic Low Back Pain With Personal Space Regulation.

Background: While most previous studies regarding patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) mainly focused on pain, disability, psychological damage, and intervention measures, the effect of CLBP on personal space remains unclear. The study aimed to assess the personal space of patients with CLBP and healthy controls, explored the differences between the two groups, and examined whether pain, dysfunction, anxiety, and depression affected the personal space regulation. Methods: The cross-sectional study recruited 24 patients with CLBP and 24 healthy controls at Shanghai Shangti Orthopedic Hospital and Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China, from December 2018 to January 2019. A stop-distance paradigm was applied to measure the comfortable and uncomfortable distance under four conditions. A self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and a self-rating depression scale (SDS) were used to examine the anxiety and depression levels of all participants. The pain intensity and dysfunction in the CLBP group were evaluated by the numeric rating scale and Roland-Morris questionnaire (RMDQ), respectively. Results: When approaching another individual or when being approached, the interpersonal distance under all the conditions in the CLBP group significantly differed from that in the healthy control group with larger space distances (p < 0.01). Gender had a significant main effect on the regulation of personal space in patients with CLBP (p < 0.05). The average pain intensity, scores on RMDQ, SAS, and SDS had a significant positive correlation with the interpersonal distance under the Same or Opposite Gender condition (p < 0.05). Conclusion: People with CLBP show an atypical personal space behavior and indeed have a greater interpersonal distance to strangers. The higher the pain intensity, dysfunction, anxiety, and depression, the greater the interpersonal distance in patients with CLBP. In the future, the effect and underlying neural mechanisms of pain and negative emotions on social withdrawal in patients should be examined.

Exercise for low back pain: A bibliometric analysis of global research from 1980 to 2018.

OBJECTIVE: To make a bibliometric analysis of global trends in research into exercise interventions for low back pain between 1980 and 2018. METHODS: Systematic literature, published from 1980 to 2018, was obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace software was used to analyse the relationship between publications and country, institution, journals, authors, references, and key words. RESULTS: A total of 1,140 publications were included in the analysis. Over the period studied there was an increase in the number of publications. A total of 276 academic journals focused on the categories Rehabilitation, Orthopedics, and Sports Science. The USA and the University of Sydney were the most productive country and institution, respectively. Spine, which is the main journal for research into exercise for managing low back pain, had the most publications. Burst key words showed that the stability, balance, and gait of individuals with low back pain have become the research development trend and focus in this field of research. CONCLUSION: Overall, studies on exercise for low back pain have increased in number in the last 4 decades. This historical overview of research into exercise interventions for low back pain will be a useful basis for further research into potential collaborators, focus issues, and development trend.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Nonspecific Low Back Pain Research.

Background: Researchers are highly interested in the study of nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP). However, few have attempted to collect global data, analyze the emerging trends, and conduct reviews from the perspectives of visualization and bibliometrics. Purpose: We aimed to evaluate research situation and capture subsequent developmental dynamics regarding NSLBP via CiteSpace. Methods: Publications on NSLBP in recent 19 years were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). We used CiteSpace to analyze publication outputs, document types, countries, institutions, journals, authors, references, and keywords. Knowledge foundation, hot topics, and future direction were then stated. Results: A total of 1099 papers were collected, and the trend of annual publications maintained growth with small fluctuations. Australia (188) and the University of Sydney (76) were the most prolific country and institution, respectively. The Netherlands (0.84) and the University of Sydney (0.47) had the maximum centrality, thus indicating that they have importance in this field. The journal Spine (publication: 87, cocitation counts: 942) ranked first in terms of the volume of publications and cocitation counts. Maher CG (52) who published the most papers and Waddell G (286) who was cited most frequently were the leading authors, thus making strong academic influences. "Motor control exercise" was the largest cluster, which contained most related research articles. 14 references with the strongest citation counts were cited until 2018, thus implying the future development trend. Current hotspots were treatment, meta-analysis, method, and risk factors. Spine, efficacy, adult, and meta-analysis can be regarded as research frontiers. Conclusion: This study offers insights into the trend of NSLBP to determine major research countries and institutions, core journals, pivotal authors, overall development tendency, hot topics, and research frontiers. Moreover, it will help researchers extract hidden valuable information for further study.

Whole-body vibration exercise for low back pain: A meta-analysis protocol of randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) affects about 80% of the population at some time in their lives. Exercise therapy is the most widely used nonsurgical intervention for low back pain in practice. Thus, whole-body vibration (WBV) exercise is becoming increasingly popular in relieving musculoskeletal pain and in improving function. However, the efficacy of WBV exercise is not without dispute for low back pain. This meta-analysis, with its comprehensive and rigorous methodology, will provide better insight into this problem. METHODS: Published articles will be identified using electronic searches from 1950 to 2018. The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL-Ebsco, PEDro, and China Biology Medicine will be searched for randomized controlled trials. Studies without a parallel comparison group will be excluded. Two reviewers will independently select relevant studies that investigate on WBV exercise for patients with LBP. Data extraction will be done independently by the same 2 reviewers who selected the studies. The primary outcome will be to assess pain, back-specific disability index, and adverse effect. Continuous data will be pooled by calculating the mean difference using the random-effects model. RESULTS: The results of the final meta-analysis will provide an evidence of WBV exercise for low back pain. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis will provide a detailed summary of the evidence on the effects of WBV exercise on patients with LBP, in comparison with general exercise or without treatment. This review will benefit to researchers and policy makers who are interested in the treatment of LBP by WBV exercise.