The relationship between facet tropism and cervical disc herniation.

Many studies have demonstrated the association between facet tropism and disc herniation in the lumbar spine. Some of them found that lumbar disc herniation was on the side of the more sagittal facet joint interface. However, little is understood about the association of facet tropism with disc herniation in the cervical spine. As the relationship between the facet orientation and the side of cervical disc herniation (CDH) is unclear, the purpose of this study is to investigate that relationship. Ninety-six patients with single-level CDH (C4-C5, C5-C6 or C6-C7) were included in the CDH group of this study. Another 50 age-matched and gender-matched healthy participants who accepted physical examinations were enrolled as the control group. The cervical facet angles of two sides were measured using axial computed tomography (CT). The intersection angle of the midsagittal line of the vertebra to the facet line represents the facet angle. Facet tropism was defined as the angular difference of 7º between the left and the right sides. Facet tropism angle was recorded as the absolute value of the difference of facet angles between two sides. There were 20 herniations at C4-C5 level, 50 herniations at C5-C6 level and 26 herniations at C6-C7 level. The present study showed that more cases in the CDH group had facet tropism than did those in the control group at C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6-C7 level (p = .021, p = .001, p = .015, respectively). The facet tropism angles in the CDH group were significantly bigger than those in the control group at C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6-C7 level (p = .001, p = .002, p = .028, respectively). In the CDH group, the facet angles on the herniated side were found to be significantly bigger than those on the healthy side at C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6-C7 level (p = .000, p = .000, p = .037, respectively). The findings of this present study suggest that facet tropism is associated with the disc herniation in the cervical spine. We also found that cervical disc herniates towards the side of the bigger facet angle with respect to the sagittal plane. There is a need for future studies to verify the biomechanical impact of facet tropism on CDH.

Changes in the gut microbiota structure and function in rats with doxorubicin-induced heart failure.

Objectives: The rat model of heart failure (HF) induced by doxorubicin (DOX), a broad spectrum and highly effective chemotherapeutic anthracycline with high-affinity to myocardial tissue that causes severe dose-dependent irreversible cardiotoxicity has been widely recognized and applied in HF pathogenesis and drug therapy studies. The gut microbiota (GM) has attracted significant attention due to its potential role in HF, and research in this area may provide beneficial therapeutic strategies for HF. Considering the differences in the route, mode, and total cumulative dose of DOX administration used to establish HF models, the optimal scheme for studying the correlation between GM and HF pathogenesis remains to be determined. Therefore, focusing on establishing the optimal scheme, we evaluated the correlation between GM composition/function and DOX-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC). Methods: Three schemes were investigated: DOX (at total cumulative doses of 12, 15 or 18 mg/kg using a fixed or alternating dose via a tail vein or intraperitoneal injection) was administered to Sprague Dawley (SD) for six consecutive weeks. The M-mode echocardiograms performed cardiac function evaluation. Pathological changes in the intestine were observed by H&E staining and in the heart by Masson staining. The serum levels of N-terminal pre-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) were measured by ELISA. The GM was analysed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Key findings: Strikingly, based on the severity of cardiac dysfunction, there were marked differences in the abundance and grouping of GM under different schemes. The HF model established by tail vein injection of DOX (18 mg/kg, alternating doses) was more stable; moreover, the degree of myocardial injury and microbial composition were more consistent with the clinical manifestations of HF. Conclusions: The model of HF established by tail vein injection of doxorubicin, administered at 4mg/kg body weight (2mL/kg) at weeks 1, 3 and 5, and at 2mg/kg body weight (1mL/kg) at weeks 2, 4 and 6, with a cumulative total dose of 18mg/kg, is a better protocol to study the correlation between HF and GM.

Biomechanical Effects of Lateral Bending Position on Performing Cervical Spinal Manipulation for Cervical Disc Herniation: A Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Most studies report that the common position of cervical spinal manipulation (CSM) for treating symptomatic cervical disc herniation (CDH) is lateral bending to the herniated side. However, the rationality of lateral bending position on performing CSM for CDH is still unclear. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the biomechanical effects of lateral bending position on performing CSM for CDH. METHODS: A finite element (FE) model of CDH (herniated on the left side) was generated in C5-6 segment based on the normal FE model. The FE model performed CSM in left lateral bending position, neutral position, and right lateral bending position, respectively. Cervical disc displacement, annulus fiber stress, and facet joint stress were observed during the simulation of CSM. RESULTS: The cervical disc displacement on herniated side moved forward during CSM, and the maximum forward displacements were 0.23, 0.36, and 0.45 mm in left lateral bending position, neutral position, and right lateral bending position, respectively. As the same trend of cervical disc displacement, the annulus fiber stresses on herniated side from small to large were 7.40, 16.39, and 22.75 MPa in left lateral bending position, neutral position, and right lateral bending position, respectively. However, the maximum facet stresses at left superior cartilage of C6 in left lateral bending position, neutral position, and right lateral bending position were 6.88, 3.60, and 0.12 MPa, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with neutral position and right lateral bending position, though the forward displacement of cervical disc on herniated side was smaller in left lateral bending position, the annulus fiber stress on herniated side was declined by sharing load on the left facet joint. The results suggested that lateral bending to the herniated side on performing CSM tends to protect the cervical disc on herniated side. Future clinical studies are needed to verify that.

[Clinical randomized controlled trials of acupoint catgut-embedding for simple obesity: a meta-analysis].

The clinical therapeutic effect of acupoint catgut-embedding for simple obesity was systemically analyzed to provide reference and assistance for its clinical treatment and research. By searching in the CBM, CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, Pubmed, Springer and Medline databases, clinical randomized controlled trials (RCT) of acupoint catgut-embedding for simple obesity published from Jan, 2009 to July, 2013 were collected while Revman 5. 2 software was applied to perform the Meta-analysis. Totally 19 articles were acquired with 1 658 cases involved. The effective rate was selected as primary outcome measure in 19 articles. The Meta-analysis was performed among homogeneous researches. The results indicated that compared with other therapies, pooled OR of acupoint catgut-embedding was 2.45 with 95% CI [1.81, 3.32]; in the test for overall effect, Z = 5.81, implying the efficacy difference of two therapies was significant in the treatment of simple obesity (P < 0.01). In subgroups analysis, in the event of treatment session with more than 3 months, compared with other therapies, pooled OR of acupoint catgut-embedding was 2.61 with 95% CI [1.53, 4.46]; in test for overall effect, Z = 3.51, implying the efficacy difference of two therapies was significant in the treatment of simple obesity (P < 0.01); in the event of treatment session with less than 3 months, compared with other therapies, pooled OR of acupoint catgut-embedding was 2.38 with 95% CI [1.65, 3.44]; in test for overall effect, Z = 4.46, implying in the treatment of simple obesity the efficacy difference of two therapies was significant (P < 0.01). Compared with electroacupuncture, OR of acupoint catgut-embedding was 1.79, 95% CI [1.08, 2.95] (P = 0.02). Compared with acupuncture, OR of acupoint catgut-embedding was 1.89, 95% CI [1.16, 3.09] (P = 0.01), which explained that compared with electroacupuncture and acupuncture, the efficacy of acupoint catgut-embedding was significantly different. In a word, the clinical efficacy of acupoint catgut-embedding is superior to other therapies in the treatment of simple obesity.