Effect of Dry Needling Stimulation of Myofascial Trigger Point on Sample Entropy of Electromyography of Gastrocnemius Injured Site in Rats / 针刺研究

OBJECTIVE: To attempt to establish an objective quantitative indicator to characterize the trigger point activity, so as to evaluate the effect of dry needling on myofascial trigger point activity. METHODS: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into blank control group, dry needling (needling) group, stretching exercise (stretching) group and needling plus stretching group (n＝6 per group). The chronic myofascial pain (trigger point) model was established by freedom vertical fall of a wooden striking device onto the mid-point of gastrocnemius belly of the left hind-limb to induce contusion, followed by forcing the rat to make a continuous downgrade running exercise at a speed of 16 m/min for 90 min on the next day which was conducted once a week for 8 weeks. Electromyography (EMG) of the regional myofascial injured point was monitored and recorded using an EMG recorder via electrodes. It was considered success of the model if spontaneous electrical activities appeared in the injured site. After a 4 weeks' recovery, rats of the needling group were treated by filiform needle stimulation (lifting-thrusting-rotating) of the central part of the injured gastrocnemius belly (about 10 mm deep) for 6 min, and those of the stretching group treated by holding the rat's limb to make the hip and knee joints to an angle of about 180°, and the ankle-joint about 90° for 1 min every time, 3 times altogether (with an interval of 1 min between every 2 times). The activity of the trigger point was estimated by the sample entropy of the EMG signal sequence in reference to Richman's and Moorman's methods to estimate the curative effect of both needling and exercise. RESULTS: After the modeling cycle, the mean sample entropies of EMG signals was significantly decreased in the model groups (needling group [0.034±0.010], stretching group [0.045±0.023], needling plus stretching group [0.047±0.034]) relevant to the blank control group (0.985±0.196, P0.05), suggesting a better efficacy of dry needling in easing trigger point activity. CONCLUSION: Dry needling is able to relieve myofascial trigger point activity in rats, which is better than that of simple passive stretching therapy.

[Spatial distribution characteristics of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous and pollution status evaluation of sediments in the Haihe River Basin, China.] / 海河流域水体沉积物碳、氮、磷分布与污染评价.

Studying the distribution of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus of sediments on a whole-watershed scale is important to the research and management of water resources in the Haihe River Basin (HRB). In this study, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) of 163 samples were investigated in the HRB. Based on these data, the pollution le-vels of sediments were assessed by using different quantitative indices. The results showed that the concentrations of TOC, TN, and TP in the HRB were heterogeneous at different locations. A decreasing trend of concentrations was found from downstream plains (e.g., the Beisihe River and the Heilonggang River) to mountain areas (e.g., the Yongdinghe River, the Beisanhe River, and the Luanhe River). In addition, the concentration of TOC in river sediments was higher than that of reservoir sediments. The statistical analyses showed that TN was significantly (P<0.01) correlated to TOC and TP, with a correlation coefficient of 0.704 and 0.250, respectively. The pollution level based on organic indices was classified as the clean level in the HRB. However, the areas with a relatively high pollution level were still found in some spots, such as the Beisihe River, and the Heilonggang River. Sediments of rivers and reservoirs were similar in the pollution intensity. The average C/N value of sediments in the HRB was 12.71, indicating that the TOC was derived from algae, phytoplankton flora and fauna, followed by higher plants. The C/N value of reservoir sediments was higher than that of river sediments, indicating that the contribution of terrigenous material inputs to TOC was larger in reservoirs than in rivers.

[Health assessment of river ecosystem in Haihe River Basin, China].

With the development of economy, the health of river ecosystem is severely threatened because of the increasing effects of human activities on river ecosystem. In this paper, the authors assessed the river ecosystem health in aspects of chemical integrity and biological integrity, using the criterion in water quality, nutrient, and benthic macroinvertebrates of 73 samples in Haihe River Basin. The research showed that the health condition of river ecosystem in Haihe River Basin was bad overall since the health situation of 72. 6% of the samples was "extremely bad". At the same time, the health situation in Haihe River Basin exhibited obvious regional gathering effect. We also found that the river water quality was closely related to human activities, and the eutrophication trend of water body was evident in Haihe River Basin. The biodiversity of the benthic animal was low and lack of clean species in the basin. The indicators such as ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen and total phosphorus were the key factors that affected the river ecosystem health in Haihe River Basin, so the government should start to curb the deterioration of river ecosystem health by controlling these nutrients indicators. For river ecosystem health assessment, the multi-factors comprehensive evaluation method was superior to single-factor method.

[Identification of critical area of phosphorus loss in agricultural areas of Guishui River watershed by phosphorus loss risk assessment].

Agricultural non-point sources pollution is one of severe problems for water environment of agricultural areas in China. Because of the big difficulties, identifying the critical source areas for phosphorus loss becomes the focal point of the non-point sources pollution control. A modified catchment scale phosphorus ranking scheme was developed for agricultural areas in Guishui River watershed. The new scheme included eight assessment factors, which had three phosphorus loss risk ranks respectively and selected quantitative analysis method. The result shows that the phosphorus fertilizer management of the vegetable fields is the most unfit method and has high phosphorus loss probabilities. Most study areas have high soil available phosphorus content and low soil erosion degree. The figure of the assessment result shows that the areas that are categorized as "low" phosphorus loss risk are small. Based on the figure of the result, the critical source areas were confirmed and the management strategies were brought forward according to the analysis on the distribute characteristics of the critical source areas. The result shows that the modified catchment scale phosphorus ranking scheme has operability and practicability to a certain extent.

[Catchment scale risk assessment and critical source area identification of agricultural phosphorus loss].

Agricultural non-point source phosphorus pollution is a severe problem for rural water bodies in China, but hard to control directly because of its special characteristics. In this paper, an approach on the catchment scale risk assessment and critical source area identification of agricultural phosphorus loss in northern China was made, based on the catchment scale phosphorus ranking scheme and the method proposed by Gburek et al. Eight factors were selected and weighed in the modified catchment scale phosphorus ranking scheme, and the phosphorus loss risk rating of each factor was adjusted based on the current professional standards and the actual circumstances in China. The areas with ' high' risk rating of phosphorus loss in definite catchment were the critical source areas for non-point source phosphorous pollution control in that catment. The availability of obtained data and the quantification of the assessment were taken into account in the new scheme, and GIS technique and geostatistics were used for confirming the factors. Therefore, the new scheme had definite operability and practicability.

Assessing field vulnerability to phosphorus loss in Beijing agricultural area using Revised Field Phosphorus Ranking Scheme.

Guanting Reservoir, one of the drinking water supply sources of Beijing, suffers from water eutrophication. It is mainly supplied by Guishui River. Thus, to investigate the reasons of phosphorus (P) loss and improve the P management strategies in Guishui River watershed are important for the safety of drinking water in this region. In this study, a Revised Field P Ranking Scheme (PRS) was developed to reflect the field vulnerability of P loss at the field scale based on the Field PRS. In this new scheme, six factors are included, and each one was assigned a relative weight and a determination method. The affecting factors were classified into transport factors and source factors, and, the standards of environmental quality on surface water and soil erosion classification and degradation of the China were used in this scheme. By the new scheme, thirty-four fields in the Guishui River were categorized as "low", "medium" or "high" potential for P loss into the runoff. The results showed that the P loss risks of orchard and vegetable fields were higher than that of corn and soybean fields. The source factors were the main factors to affect P loss from the study area. In the study area, controlling P input and improving P usage efficiency are critical to decrease P loss. Based on the results, it was suggested that more attention should be paid on the fields of vegetable and orchard since they have extremely high usage rate of P and high soil test of P. Compared with P surplus by field measurements, the Revised Field PRS was more suitable for reflecting the characteristics of fields, and had higher potential capacity to identify critical source areas of P loss than PRS.

[Effects of land use and management practice on farmland soil quality in Yanhuai basin of Beijing].

In April 2005, a total of 41 soil samples were collected from the sandy loam soil (Ustochrepts) under orchard, vegetable, corn (Zea maize L. ) and soybean (Glycine max L. ) in Yanhuai basin of Beijing, and their physical, chemical, and biological properties were analyzed. The results showed that the contents of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in vegetable field, orchard field, and high-input corn field were obviously higher than those in soybean field and mid- and low-input corn fields. In these fields, SOC content varied from 7. 67 to 10. 00 g x kg(-1), TN content varied from 0. 75 to 1. 12 g x kg(-1) , and TP content varied from 0. 63 to 1. 00 g x kg(-1). Soil available phosphorus (AP) content and electric conductance (EC) were significantly higher in vegetable field than in other fields, while no significant differences in soil physical properties were observed among the four land use types. The soil quality index of orchard and vegetable fields was 0. 525 and 0. 503, respectively, being higher than those of corn and soybean fields (0. 417-0. 494). Vegetable field had the highest efficiency of soil nutrients, but non-point source pollution risk should be minded. For soybean field and mid- and low-input corn fields, intensive management should be practiced to improve their soil quality.

The effects of land use and its patterns on soil properties in a small catchment of the Loess Plateau.

Due to relatively strong human activities in the hilly area of Loess Plateau, the natural vegetation has been destroyed, and landscape pattern based on agricultural land matrix was land use mosaic composing of shrub land, grassland, woodland and orchard. This pattern has an important effect on soil moisture and soil nutrients. The Danangou catchment, a typical small catchment, was selected to study the effects of land use and its patterns on soil moisture and nutrients in this paper. The results are as follows: The comparisons of soil moisture among seven land uses for wet year and dry year were performed; (1) the average of soil moisture content for whole catchment was 12.11% in wet year, while it was 9.37% in dry year; (2) soil moisture among seven land uses significantly different in dry year, but not in wet year; (3) from wet year to dry year, the profile type of soil moisture changed from decreasing type to fluctuation-type and from fluctuant type to increasing type; (4) the increasing trend in soil moisture from the top to foot of hillslope occurred in simple land use along slope, while complicated distribution of soil moisture was observed in multiple land uses along slope. The relationship between soil nutrients and land uses and landscape positions were analysed: (1) five nutrient contents of soil organic matter (SOM), total N (TN), available N (AN), total P (TP) and available P (AP) in hilly area were lower than that in other area. SOM content was less than 1%, TN content less than 0.07%, and TP content between 0.05% and 0.06%; (2) SOM and TN contents in woodland, shrub land and grassland were significantly higher than that in fallow land and cropland, and higher level in soil fertility was found in crop-fruit intercropping land among croplands; (3) soil nutrient distribution and responses to landscape positions were variable depending on slope and the location of land use types.