Enhancing Stiffness and Oil Resistance of Fluorosilicone Rubber Composites through Untreated Cellulose Reinforcement.

Fluorosilicone rubber, essential in automotive and aerospace owing to its excellent chemical resistance, plays a pivotal role in sealing technology, addressing the industry's evolving demands. This study explores the preparation and properties of fibrillated cellulose-reinforced fluorosilicone rubber composites to enhance their stiffness and oil resistance. Fibrillated cellulose sourced as a wet cake and subjected to processing and modification is incorporated into a fluorosilicone rubber matrix. The resulting composites are analysed by tensile and compression tests, along with compressive stress-relaxation testing in air and in an oil-immersed environment. The findings demonstrate significant improvements in the mechanical properties, including an increased Young's modulus and elongation at break, whereas the tensile strength remained uncompromised throughout the testing procedures. Morphological analysis of the fracture surfaces revealed a remarkable interfacial affinity between the fibrillated cellulose and rubber matrix, which was attributed in part to the modified fatty acids and inorganic nanoparticles. The presence of fibrillated cellulose enhanced the stress-relaxation characteristics under oil-immersion conditions. These results contribute to the domain of advanced elastomer materials, with potential for applications requiring enhanced mechanical properties and superior oil resistance.

Nonsurgical treatments for patients with radicular pain from lumbosacral disc herniation.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Lumbosacral disc herniation (LDH) is one of the most frequent musculoskeletal diseases causative of sick leave in the workplace and morbidity in daily activities. Nonsurgical managements are considered as first line treatment before surgical treatment. PURPOSE: This clinical practice guideline (CPG) is intended to provide physicians who treat patients diagnosed with LDH with a guideline supported by scientific evidence to assist in decision-making for appropriate and reasonable treatments. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: A systematic review. PATIENT SAMPLE: Studies of human subjects written in Korean or English that met the following criteria were selected: patients aged ≥18 years, clinical presentation of low back and radicular leg pain, diagnosis of LDH on radiological evaluation including computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. OUTCOMES MEASURES: Pain and functional evaluation scales such as visual analogue scale, numeric rating scale, and Oswestry disability index METHODS: The MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane Review, and KoreaMed databases were searched for articles regarding non-surgical treatments for LDH published up to July 2017. Of the studies fulfilling these criteria, those investigating clinical results after non-surgical treatment including physical and behavioral therapy, medication, and interventional treatment in terms of pain control and functional improvements were chosen for this study. RESULTS: Nonsurgical treatments were determined to be clinically effective with regards to pain reduction and functional improvement in patients with LDH. Nevertheless, the evidence level was generally not evaluated as high degree, which might be attributed to the paucity of well-designed randomized controlled trials. Exercise and traction were strongly recommended despite moderate level of evidence. Epidural injection was strongly recommended with high degree of evidence and transforaminal approach was more strongly recommended than caudal approach. CONCLUSIONS: This CPG provides new and updated evidence-based recommendations for treatment of the patients with LDH, which suggested that, despite an absence of high degrees of evidence level, non-surgical treatments were clinically effective.

Comparison of Clinical Efficacy of Epidural Injection With or Without Steroid in Lumbosacral Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Epidural injection is performed for treatment of back and radicular pain in patients with lumbosacral disc herniation (LDH). Steroids are usually administered to effectively remove inflammatory mediators, and local anesthetics or saline also contribute to pain reduction by washing out chemical mediators or blocking the nociceptor activity. Controversy exists regarding whether steroids produce superior clinical effects compared with local anesthetics or saline. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether epidural injection of steroids produces better clinical effects than local anesthetics or saline in the treatment of LDH. STUDY DESIGN: A literature search was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane review, and KoreaMed for studies published from January 1996 until July 2017. From among the studies fulfilling the search criteria, those that compared the clinical efficacy of steroids and control agents, such as local anesthetics or saline, in terms of pain control and functional improvement were included in this study. Exclusion criteria included a previous history of lumbosacral surgery, non-specific low back pain, severe spinal stenosis, and severe disc degeneration. SETTING: A systematic review and meta-analysis using a random effects model on randomized controlled studies (RCTs). METHODS: After reviewing titles, abstracts, and full texts of 6,711 studies that were chosen following removal of duplicates after the initial database search, 15 randomized controlled studies were included in our qualitative synthesis. Data including pain score, functional score, and follow-up period were extracted from 14 studies and analyzed using a random effects model to calculate the effect size and its corresponding statistical significance. Quality and level of evidence were established in accordance with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. RESULTS: Steroids and local anesthetics were shown to be effective. Steroid showed significantly better pain control than control agents at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. The superiority of steroid in pain control was more prominent at one month, but diminished from 3 months to 1 year, showing no significant superiority in terms of mean difference, With respect to functional score, no significant difference was observed between steroids and control agents. The subgroup analysis showed that steroid revealed significant superiority in pain and functional score at 1 month to saline rather than local anesthetics. Generally, the quality of included studies was evaluated as high-grade, but the evidence level was determined to be moderate, due to inconsistencies. LIMITATION: Analyses of safety or adverse effects could not be performed due to a lack of available data from the included studies. CONCLUSIONS: Steroid is recommended over local anesthetics or saline for pain control in patients with LDH, with a weak strength of recommendation. The superiority of steroids was remarkable, especially at relatively short-term follow-ups, and maintained until the 1 year follow-up. The clinical benefits of steroids at 1 month were more prominent when compared with saline, than when compared with local anesthetics. KEY WORDS: Steroid, local anesthetics, saline, epidural injection, pain, function, meta-analysis, systemic review.

Comparison of Clinical Efficacy Between Transforaminal and Interlaminar Epidural Injections in Lumbosacral Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Epidural injection (EI) is used to treat back or radicular pain from lumbosacral disc herniation (LDH). Although several reports have stated that the transforaminal approach in EI (TFEI) has an advantage in target specificity and yields better clinical efficacy than the interlaminar approach in EI (ILEI), other studies have indicated that the clinical efficacy of ILEI was not inferior to that of TFEI and that ILEI also has the ability to spread medication into the ventral space to a degree similar to that of TFEI. There has been controversy about whether TFEI is superior to ILEI in clinical efficacy. OBJECTIVES: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate whether TFEI is more useful than ILEI for achieving clinical outcomes in patients with LDH. STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis using a random effects model on randomized controlled studies (RCT). METHODS: A literature search was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane review, and KoreaMed for studies published from January 1996 until July 2017. From those found fulfilling the search criteria, manuscripts that compared the clinical efficacy of steroids and control agents, such as local anesthetics or saline, in terms of pain control and functional improvement were included in this study. Exclusion criteria included a previous history of lumbosacral surgery, non-specific low back pain, severe spinal stenosis, and severe disc degeneration. After reviewing titles, abstracts, and the full text of 6,711 studies; 12 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Data including pain scores, functional scores, and follow-up period were extracted from 10 studies and analyzed using a random effects model to obtain effect size and its statistical significance. The quality and level of evidence were analyzed in accordance with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. RESULTS: In terms of pain control, TFEI showed significantly better short-term (2 weeks to 1 month) outcomes and slightly favorable long-term (4 - 6 month) outcomes, but without significance, in comparison with ILEI. In terms of functional improvement, TFEI also showed favorable short- and long-term outcomes, but without significance, in comparison with ILEI. TFEI had target specificity, required no additional cost and resources, and had equal applicability to ILEI. However, TFEI was more associated with a higher frequency of discomfort or adverse events during the procedure. Overall, better results were reported with TFEI over ILEI, but with low-grade evidence due to the inconsistency and imprecision of the selected studies. LIMITATION: Analyses of safety or adverse effects could not be performed due to a lack of available data from the included studies. CONCLUSIONS: Based on low-grade evidence, TFEI showed significantly better short-term pain control and slightly favorable outcomes in long-term pain reduction and short- and long-term functional improvement in comparison with ILEI. KEY WORDS: Epidural injection, interlaminar, transforaminal, meta-analysis, systemic review, pain, function.

Comparison of clinical efficacy of transforaminal and caudal epidural steroid injection in lumbar and lumbosacral disc herniation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Epidural steroid injection has been used to treat back or radicular pain from lumbar and lumbosacral disc herniation (LDH). However, the superiority of transforaminal injection (TFESI) to caudal injection (CESI) remains controversial. PURPOSE: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate whether TFESI was more useful than CESI for achieving clinical outcomes in patients with LDH. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: A systematic review and/or is not appropriate. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Spine hospital and tertiary care hospital. PATIENT SAMPLE: Articles were chosen that compared the clinical efficacy of TFESI and CESI for treatment of low back and radicular leg pain caused by LDH. OUTCOMES MEASURES: Visual analogue scale, numeric rating scale, and Oswestry disability index. METHODS: A literature search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane review, and KoreaMed databases for studies published until July 2017. After reviewing titles, abstracts, and full-texts of 6,711 studies after initial database search, six studies were included in a qualitative synthesis. Data including pain score, functional score, and follow-up period were extracted from four studies and were analyzed using a random effects model to obtain effect size and its statistical significance. Quality assessment and evidence level were established in accordance with the grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluation methodology. RESULTS: Among six studies, four articles supported the superiority of TFESI to CESI, one article showed no significant difference, and one article supported the superiority of CESI to TFESI. To obtain compatible or superior clinical results to TFESI, CESI might need to inject a larger amount of medication than was usually used. A meta-analysis showed short-term and long-term trends toward better clinical efficacy with TFESI than with CESI without statistical significance. The evidence level was low because of inconsistency and imprecision. CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive reviews of selected articles revealed better clinical benefits with TFESI than with CESI, possibly because TFESI had the ability to deliver medication directly into the target area. Because of a low level of evidence and no significant results on meta-analysis, TFESI could be weakly recommended over CESI.

Administration of an Herbal Complex, Jakyak-Gamcho-Tang (JGT), for Plantar Fasciitis in Military Medical Service: A Case Report.

Plantar fasciitis is a common disease affecting the heel and plantar side of the foot. This condition can be improved within 6 months with conservative treatments such as stretching, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), extracorporeal shockwave therapy, and corticosteroid injection. However, soldiers need a faster and safer therapy for symptomatic relief to meet the requirements of their occupation. In this report, we reveal that Jakyak-Gamcho-Tang (JGT), an herbal complex, had a positive effect in a case series of 10 military patients with plantar fasciitis. We treated 10 patients with chronic and acute plantar fasciitis with the JGT herbal complex for 21.00 ± 5.72 days. During JGT administration, the patients continued to perform calf-strengthening exercises. After JGT administration, the average foot function index (FFI) score was reduced from 41.11 ± 7.86 to 1.65 ± 3.60 and the average facial rating scale (FRS) was reduced from 5.65 ± 0.88 to 0.40 ± 0.70. A statistically significant difference was observed between the average FFI and FRS measured before and after treatment (paired t test, P < .001). At the conclusion of JGT treatment, all 10 patients (100%) had reduced symptoms of plantar fasciitis. In 7 out of the 10 patients (70%), no pain was experienced after the treatment. In this case series, we show the clinical effects of JGT on pain control in patients with plantar fasciitis. Further clinical studies investigating the effects of JGT are needed.