Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging assessment of the infraspinatus and teres minor in massive rotator cuff tear and its significance in clinical outcome after rotator cuff repair.

BACKGROUND: Teres minor (TM) muscle hypertrophy in large to massive rotator cuff tears (RCTs) has been considered a compensatory change to atrophy of the infraspinatus (ISP). However, few reports have assessed its relation to the prognosis after rotator cuff repair. METHODS: A total of 139 patients who underwent arthroscopic repair of large to massive RCTs involving the ISP between January 2013 and December 2015 were retrospectively investigated. Occupational ratios of the ISP (OR_ISP) and TM (OR_TM) were measured by sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Rotator cuff healing was evaluated by MRI 1 year postoperatively, and functional outcomes using the Simple Shoulder Test (SST) and Constant score and external rotator (ER) strength by isokinetic muscle performance test (IMPT) were measured. RESULTS: A total of 116 patients completed the MRI and IMPT at 1 year postoperatively, and functional scores were measured at least 2 years postoperatively. Of these, the repaired tendon had not healed in 34 patients (29%). There was a highly negative correlation between OR_ISP and OR_TM both pre- and postoperatively (Pearson correlation = -0.52 and -0.54, respectively). Preoperative OR_ISP was significantly higher in the healed than in the healing failure group (0.47 ± 0.10 vs. 0.41 ± 0.12, P = .02); however, postoperative OR_ISP and pre- and postoperative OR_TM were not. The preoperative OR_ISP cutoff value for healing was 0.46. For functional outcomes, only postoperative OR_ISP showed a statistical correlation with SST, Constant score (P = .04 and .03, respectively), and ER strength (P = .02). CONCLUSION: TM muscle hypertrophy in large to massive RCT appears to be a compensatory change in the progression of atrophy of the ISP muscle and was not a significant indicator of either better healing of the repaired rotator cuff tendon or better function. Only preoperative OR_ISP was an independent prognostic factor affecting rotator cuff healing after repair of large to massive RCTs.

Blood Pressure Monitoring System Using a Two-Channel Ballistocardiogram and Convolutional Neural Networks.

Hypertension is a chronic disease that kills 7.6 million people worldwide annually. A continuous blood pressure monitoring system is required to accurately diagnose hypertension. Here, a chair-shaped ballistocardiogram (BCG)-based blood pressure estimation system was developed with no sensors attached to users. Two experimental sessions were conducted with 30 subjects. In the first session, two-channel BCG and blood pressure data were recorded for each subject. In the second session, the two-channel BCG and blood pressure data were recorded after running on a treadmill and then resting on the newly developed system. The empirical mode decomposition algorithm was used to remove noise in the two-channel BCG, and the instantaneous phase was calculated by applying a Hilbert transform to the first intrinsic mode functions. After training a convolutional neural network regression model that predicts the systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP) from the two-channel BCG phase, the results of the first session (rest) and second session (recovery) were compared. The results confirmed that the proposed model accurately estimates the rapidly rising blood pressure in the recovery state. Results from the rest sessions satisfied the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) international standards. The standard deviation of the SBP results in the recovery session exceeded 0.7.

A Chair-Based Unconstrained/Nonintrusive Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitoring System Using a Two-Channel Ballistocardiogram.

Hypertension is a well-known chronic disease that causes complications such as cardiovascular diseases or stroke, and thus needs to be continuously managed by using a simple system for measuring blood pressure. The existing method for measuring blood pressure uses a wrapping cuff, which makes measuring difficult for patients. To address this problem, cuffless blood pressure measurement methods that detect the peak pressure via signals measured using photoplethysmogram (PPG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors and use it to calculate the pulse transit time (PTT) or pulse wave velocity (PWV) have been studied. However, a drawback of these methods is that a user must be able to recognize and establish contact with the sensor. Furthermore, the peak of the PPG or ECG cannot be detected if the signal quality drops, leading to a decrease in accuracy. In this study, a chair-type system that can monitor blood pressure using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films in a nonintrusive manner to users was developed. The proposed method also uses instantaneous phase difference (IPD) instead of PTT as the feature value for estimating blood pressure. Experiments were conducted using a blood pressure estimation model created via an artificial neural network (ANN), which showed that IPD could estimate more accurate readings of blood pressure compared to PTT, thus demonstrating the possibility of a nonintrusive blood pressure monitoring system.

Blue-Shifting Intramolecular Charge Transfer Emission by Nonlocal Effect of Hyperbolic Metamaterials.

Metallic nanostructures permit controlling various photophysical processes by coupling photons with plasmonic oscillation of electrons confined in the tailored nanostructures. One example is hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) leading to an enhanced spontaneous emission rate of emitters located nearby. Noting that emission in organic molecules is from either π-π* or intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) states, we address here how HMM modifies ICT emission spectral features by comparing them with a spectral shift dependent on the local polarity of the medium. The 7.0 nm blue shift is observed in ICT emission from 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran dispersed into a polymer matrix prepared on HMM multilayered structure, while no spectral shift is observed in π-π* emission from perylene diimide. In the frame of the Lippert-Mataga formalism, the blue shift is explained by the HMM nonlocal effects resulting from 8% decrease in refractive index and 18% reduction in dielectric permittivity. This phenomenon was also shown in a hemicurcuminoid borondifluoride dye yielding 15.0 nm blue shift. Such a capability of spectral shift control in films by HMM structure opens new prospects for engineering organic light-emitting devices.

Charge-transfer dynamics and nonlocal dielectric permittivity tuned with metamaterial structures as solvent analogues.

Charge transfer (CT) is a fundamental and ubiquitous mechanism in biology, physics and chemistry. Here, we evidence that CT dynamics can be altered by multi-layered hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) substrates. Taking triphenylene:perylene diimide dyad supramolecular self-assemblies as a model system, we reveal longer-lived CT states in the presence of HMM structures, with both charge separation and recombination characteristic times increased by factors of 2.4 and 1.7-that is, relative variations of 140 and 73%, respectively. To rationalize these experimental results in terms of driving force, we successfully introduce image dipole interactions in Marcus theory. The non-local effect herein demonstrated is directly linked to the number of metal-dielectric pairs, can be formalized in the dielectric permittivity, and is presented as a solid analogue to local solvent polarity effects. This model and extra PH3T:PC60BM results show the generality of this non-local phenomenon and that a wide range of kinetic tailoring opportunities can arise from substrate engineering. This work paves the way toward the design of artificial substrates to control CT dynamics of interest for applications in optoelectronics and chemistry.

Sitting Posture Monitoring System Based on a Low-Cost Load Cell Using Machine Learning.

Sitting posture monitoring systems (SPMSs) help assess the posture of a seated person in real-time and improve sitting posture. To date, SPMS studies reported have required many sensors mounted on the backrest plate and seat plate of a chair. The present study, therefore, developed a system that measures a total of six sitting postures including the posture that applied a load to the backrest plate, with four load cells mounted only on the seat plate. Various machine learning algorithms were applied to the body weight ratio measured by the developed SPMS to identify the method that most accurately classified the actual sitting posture of the seated person. After classifying the sitting postures using several classifiers, average and maximum classification rates of 97.20% and 97.94%, respectively, were obtained from nine subjects with a support vector machine using the radial basis function kernel; the results obtained by this classifier showed a statistically significant difference from the results of multiple classifications using other classifiers. The proposed SPMS was able to classify six sitting postures including the posture with loading on the backrest and showed the possibility of classifying the sitting posture even though the number of sensors is reduced.

Comparison Between Buddy Taping With a Short-Arm Splint and Operative Treatment for Phalangeal Neck Fractures in Children.

BACKGROUND: Phalangeal neck fractures in children are difficult to treat conservatively because of the difficulty in maintaining reduction, obtaining satisfactory follow-up x-rays, and the limited remodeling potential. The purpose of this study was to present the results after using buddy taping with a short-arm splint for phalangeal neck fracture in children and to compare with operative treatment. METHODS: Thirty-seven patients below 12 years old who had phalangeal neck fractures were included. Nineteen patients were underwent conservative treatment and 18 patients were underwent operative fixation with Kirschner wires. Clinical outcome and radiographs between groups were compared. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between conservative group and operative group in the sagittal angulation, coronal angulation, and translation at immediately after reduction, at the 6-week, and final follow-up examination. CONCLUSION: Buddy taping with a short-arm splint for treating phalangeal neck fractures had acceptable outcomes compared to that with surgical correction.

Sequential Total Variation Denoising for the Extraction of Fetal ECG from Single-Channel Maternal Abdominal ECG.

Fetal heart rate (FHR) is an important determinant of fetal health. Cardiotocography (CTG) is widely used for measuring the FHR in the clinical field. However, fetal movement and blood flow through the maternal blood vessels can critically influence Doppler ultrasound signals. Moreover, CTG is not suitable for long-term monitoring. Therefore, researchers have been developing algorithms to estimate the FHR using electrocardiograms (ECGs) from the abdomen of pregnant women. However, separating the weak fetal ECG signal from the abdominal ECG signal is a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a method for estimating the FHR using sequential total variation denoising and compare its performance with that of other single-channel fetal ECG extraction methods via simulation using the Fetal ECG Synthetic Database (FECGSYNDB). Moreover, we used real data from PhysioNet fetal ECG databases for the evaluation of the algorithm performance. The R-peak detection rate is calculated to evaluate the performance of our algorithm. Our approach could not only separate the fetal ECG signals from the abdominal ECG signals but also accurately estimate the FHR.

Tuning the Direction of Intramolecular Charge Transfer and the Nature of the Fluorescent State in a T-Shaped Molecular Dyad.

Controlling photoinduced intramolecular charge transfer at the molecular scale is key to the development of molecular devices for nanooptoelectronics. Here, we describe the design, synthesis, electronic characterization, and photophysical properties of two electron donor-acceptor molecular systems that consist of tolane and BF2-containing curcuminoid chromophoric subunits connected in a T-shaped arrangement. The two π-conjugated segments intersect at the electron acceptor dioxaborine core. From steady-state electronic absorption and fluorescence emission, we find that the photophysics of the dialkylamino-substituted analogue is governed by the occurrence of two closely lying excited states. From DFT calculations, we show that excitation in either of these two states results in a distinct shift of the electron density, whether it occurs along the curcuminoid or tolane moiety. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy confirmed these findings. As a consequence, the nature of the emitting state and the photophysical properties are strongly dependent on solvent polarity. Moreover, these characteristics can also be switched by protonation or complexation at the nitrogen atom of the amino group. These features set new approaches toward the construction of a three-terminal molecular system in which the lateral branch would transduce a change of electronic state and ultimately control charge transport in a molecular-scale device.

Non-invasive detection of intracranial hypertension using a simplified intracranial hemo- and hydro-dynamics model.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) is highly important for detecting abnormal brain conditions such as intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral edema, or brain tumor. Until now, the monitoring of ICP requires an invasive method which has many disadvantages including the risk of infections, hemorrhage, or brain herniation. Therefore, many non-invasive methods have been proposed for estimating ICP. However, these methods are still insufficient to estimate sudden increases in ICP. METHODS: We proposed a simplified intracranial hemo- and hydro-dynamics model that consisted of two simple resistance circuits. From this proposed model, we designed an ICP estimation algorithm to trace ICP changes. First, we performed a simulation based on the original Ursino model with the real arterial blood pressure to investigate our proposed approach. We subsequently applied it to experimental data that were measured during the Valsalva maneuver (VM) and resting state, respectively. RESULTS: Simulation result revealed a small root mean square error (RMSE) between the estimated ICP by our approach and the reference ICP derived from the original Ursino model. Compared to the pulsatility index (PI) based approach and Kashif's model, our proposed method showed more statistically significant difference between VM and resting state. CONCLUSION: Our proposed method successfully tracked sudden ICP increases. Therefore, our method may serve as a suitable tool for non-invasive ICP monitoring.

A real-time pinch-to-zoom motion detection by means of a surface EMG-based human-computer interface.

In this paper, we propose a system for inferring the pinch-to-zoom gesture using surface EMG (Electromyography) signals in real time. Pinch-to-zoom, which is a common gesture in smart devices such as an iPhone or an Android phone, is used to control the size of images or web pages according to the distance between the thumb and index finger. To infer the finger motion, we recorded EMG signals obtained from the first dorsal interosseous muscle, which is highly related to the pinch-to-zoom gesture, and used a support vector machine for classification between four finger motion distances. The powers which are estimated by Welch's method were used as feature vectors. In order to solve the multiclass classification problem, we applied a one-versus-one strategy, since a support vector machine is basically a binary classifier. As a result, our system yields 93.38% classification accuracy averaged over six subjects. The classification accuracy was estimated using 10-fold cross validation. Through our system, we expect to not only develop practical prosthetic devices but to also construct a novel user experience (UX) for smart devices.

Water extract of Acer tegmentosum reduces bone destruction by inhibiting osteoclast differentiation and function.

The stem of Acer tegmentosum has been widely used in Korea for the treatment of hepatic disorders. In this study, we investigated the bone protective effect of water extract of the stem of Acer tegmentosum (WEAT). We found that WEAT inhibits osteoclast differentiation induced by receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL), an essential cytokine for osteoclast differentiation. In osteoclast precursor cells, WEAT inhibited RANKL-induced activation of JNK, NF-κB, and cAMP response element-binding protein, leading to suppression of the induction of c-Fos and nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1, key transcription factors for osteoclast differentiation. In addition, WEAT inhibited bone resorbing activity of mature osteoclasts. Furthermore, the oral administration of WEAT reduced RANKL-induced bone resorption and trabecular bone loss in mice. Taken together, our study demonstrates that WEAT possesses a protective effect on bone destruction by inhibiting osteoclast differentiation and function.

Enhanced nonlinear optical effects due to the excitation of optical Tamm plasmon polaritons in one-dimensional photonic crystal structures.

We suggest optimally designed one-dimensional metal/photonic crystal structures for the excitation of optical Tamm plasmon polaritons, which show strongly enhanced electromagnetic field intensities compared to those due to conventional surface plasmon excitations. We assume that the photonic crystal is made of weakly nonlinear optical materials and calculate the reflectance and the electromagnetic field distribution precisely, using the invariant imbedding method generalized to nonlinear media. We find field intensity enhancement factors as large as 3,000 at the metal/photonic crystal interface. We verify that due to this strong enhancement, nonlinear optical effects such as optical bistability can be observed for very small values of the incident wave power. Our results imply that using our structure, very strong surface enhanced Raman scattering signals can be achieved and optical switching devices can be operated in much lower threshold light intensities.

Microstructure and texture of a nano-grained complex Al alloy fabricated by accumulative roll-bonding of dissimilar Al alloys.

An ultrafine grain (UFG) complex lamella aluminum alloy sheet was successfully fabricated by ARB process using AA1050 and AA6061. The lamella thickness of the alloy became thinner and elongated to the rolling direction with increasing the number of ARB cycles. By TEM observation, it is revealed that the aspect ratio of UFGs formed by ARB became smaller with increasing the number of ARB cycles. In addition, the effect of ARB process on the development of deformation texture at the quarter thickness of ARB-processed sheets was clarified. ARB process leaded to the formation of the rolling texture with shear texture and weak cube orientation. The subdivision of the grains to the rolling direction began to occur after 3 cycles of the ARB, resulting in formation of ultrafine grains with small aspect ratio. After 5 cycles, the ultrafine grained structure with the average grain diameter of 560 nm develops in almost whole regions of the sample.

Lactobacillus fermentation enhances the inhibitory effect of Hwangryun-haedok-tang in an ovariectomy-induced bone loss.

BACKGROUND: Hwangryun-haedok-tang (HRT) is traditional herbal medicine used to treat inflammatory-related diseases in Asia. However, its effect on osteoclastogenesis and bone loss is still unknown. In this study, we evaluated the effect of HRT and its fermented product (fHRT) on the receptor activator for the nuclear factor-κB ligand-induced osteoclastogenesis using murine bone marrow-derived macrophages and postmenopausal bone loss using an ovariectomy (OVX) rat model. METHODS: Tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining was employed to evaluate osteoclast formation. mRNA level of transcription factor and protein levels of signaling molecules were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis, respectively. Effect of HRT or fHRT on OVX-induced bone loss was evaluated using OVX rats orally administered HRT, or fHRT with 300 mg/kg for 12 weeks. Micro-CT analysis of femora was performed to analyze bone parameter. RESULTS: HRT or fHRT treatment significantly decreased TRAP activity and the number of TRAP positive multinuclear cells on osteoclastogenesis. Interestingly, these inhibitory effects of HRT were enhanced by fermentation. Furthermore, fHRT significantly inhibited mRNA and protein expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1, which leads to down-regulation of NFATc1-regulated mRNA expressions such as TRAP, the d2 isoform of vacuolar ATPase V(0) domain, and cathepsin K. Administration of fHRT significantly inhibited the decrease of bone mineral density, and improved bone parameter of femora more than that of HRT and vehicle in OVX rats. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that lactic bacterial fermentation fortifies the inhibitory effect of HRT on osteoclastogenesis and bone loss. These results suggest that fermented HRT might have the beneficial potential on osteoporosis by inhibiting osteoclastogenesis.

Ethanol extract of Atractylodes macrocephala protects bone loss by inhibiting osteoclast differentiation.

The rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala has been used mainly in Traditional Chinese Medicine for invigorating the functions of the stomach and spleen. In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of the 70% ethanol extract of the rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala (AMEE) on osteoclast differentiation. We found that AMEE inhibits osteoclast differentiation from its precursors induced by receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL), an essential cytokine required for osteoclast differentiation. AMEE attenuated RANKL-induced activation of NF-κB signaling pathway, subsequently inhibiting the induction of osteoclastogenic transcription factors, c-Fos and nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1. Consistent with the in vitro results, administration of AMEE protected RANKL-induced bone loss in mice. We also identified atractylenolide I and II as active constituents contributing to the anti-osteoclastogenic effect of AMEE. Taken together, our results demonstrate that AMEE has a protective effect on bone loss via inhibiting osteoclast differentiation and suggest that AMEE may be useful in preventing and treating various bone diseases associated with excessive bone resorption.

Differences in arousal and valence on the Korean phoneme of artificial voice between Korean and Chinese women.

BACKGROUND: Although active research is in progress in the fields of psychology and linguistics on the emotional characteristics of the symbol and meaning of sound itself, since the systematic emotional model is not applied, each researcher uses a subjective concept and acts as an obstacle to the expansion of research. There is a limitation in that it cannot be confirmed whether the sound symbol has universality regardless of cultural differences between different languages. METHODS: In this study, the difference between the arousal and valence of emotions felt toward Hangul phonemes was explored according to consonant and vowel through comparison between Korean and Chinese women. 38 Korean women and 32 Chinese women were recruited, and an online experiment was conducted in which arousal and valence were reported for 42 Hangeul phoneme sound stimuli. RESULTS: As a result of comparing the arousal and valence of each group, Koreans showed significantly higher arousal scores than Chinese, and these results showed different differences according to consonant and vowel. In valence, there was a difference between nationalities only according to consonant indicating that Koreans showed lower positivity toward aspirated sounds than Chinese. Through these results, it was confirmed that the emotional meaning of the sound symbol between different languages is different, which can be affected by consonant and vowels. CONCLUSION: This study identified differences in emotional perception between cultures by using two dimensions of emotions, arousal, and valence, which are systematized for sound symbols, and suggests implications for the relationship between sound symbol and emotions and cultural differences in the future.

Blood Pressure Measurement Based on the Camera and Inertial Measurement Unit of a Smartphone: Instrument Validation Study.

Background: Even though several mobile apps that can measure blood pressure have been developed, the data about the accuracy of these apps are limited. Objective: We assessed the accuracy of AlwaysBP (test) in blood pressure measurement compared with the standard, cuff-based, manual method of brachial blood pressure measurement (reference). Methods: AlwaysBP is a smartphone software that estimates systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) based on pulse transit time (PTT). PTT was calculated with a finger photoplethysmogram and seismocardiogram using, respectively, the camera and inertial measurement unit sensor of a commercially available smartphone. After calculating PTT, SBP and DBP were estimated via the Bramwell-Hill and Moens-Korteweg equations. A calibration process was carried out 3 times for each participant to determine the input parameters of the equations. This study was conducted from March to August 2021 at Chungnam National University Sejong Hospital with 87 participants aged between 19 and 70 years who met specific conditions. The primary analysis aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the test method compared with the reference method for the entire study population. The secondary analysis was performed to confirm the stability of the test method for up to 4 weeks in 15 participants. At enrollment, gender, arm circumference, and blood pressure distribution were considered according to current guidelines. Results: Among the 87 study participants, 45 (52%) individuals were male, and the average age was 35.6 (SD 10.4) years. Hypertension was diagnosed in 14 (16%) participants before this study. The mean test and reference SBPs were 120.0 (SD 18.8) and 118.7 (SD 20.2) mm Hg, respectively (difference: mean 1.2, SD 7.1 mm Hg). The absolute differences between the test and reference SBPs were <5, <10, and <15 mm Hg in 57.5% (150/261), 84.3% (220/261 ), and 94.6% (247/261) of measurements. The mean test and reference DBPs were 80.1 (SD 12.6) and 81.1 (SD 14.4) mm Hg, respectively (difference: mean -1.0, SD 6.0 mm Hg). The absolute differences between the test and reference DBPs were <5, <10, and <15 mm Hg in 75.5% (197/261), 93.9% (245/261), and 97.3% (254/261) of measurements, respectively. The secondary analysis showed that after 4 weeks, the differences between SBP and DBP were 0.1 (SD 8.8) and -2.4 (SD 7.6) mm Hg, respectively. Conclusions: AlwaysBP exhibited acceptable accuracy in SBP and DBP measurement compared with the standard measurement method, according to the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation/European Society of Hypertension/International Organization for Standardization protocol criteria. However, further validation studies with a specific validation protocol designed for cuffless blood pressure measuring devices are required to assess clinical accuracy. This technology can be easily applied in everyday life and may improve the general population's awareness of hypertension, thus helping to control it.

Analgesic effectiveness of nerve block in shoulder arthroscopy: comparison between interscalene, suprascapular and axillary nerve blocks.

PURPOSE: Postoperative pain in arthroscopic shoulder surgery cannot be easily controlled with analgesics and nerve blocks. This study shows the analgesic effect of interscalene block (ISB) and suprascapular nerve block and axillary nerve block (SSNB + ANB) in patients under patient controlled analgesia (PCA). METHODS: Sixty-one patients (26 men and 35 women) who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were selected and allocated non-randomly to one of three groups: PCA only-group, PCA with ISB-group and PCA with SSNB + ANB-group. Visual analogue scale (VAS) score, degree of satisfaction, PCA usage and incidence of nausea and vomiting were evaluated at the recovery room, 8, 16 and 24 postoperative hours. RESULTS: The VAS score of the PCA only-group was highest at the recovery room. The VAS score of the PCA with ISB-group was the lowest, however, with large fluctuations over time. Although the VAS score of the PCA with SSNB + ANB-group was higher than that of the PCA with ISB-group, it was steadily lower than the PCA-only group, without any fluctuations. The degree of satisfaction of the PCA with ISB-group was highest at the recovery room. The number of times the PCA was used at the 8-h postoperative evaluation was largest in the PCA only-group. CONCLUSIONS: The initial 24 h after surgery plays a key role in controlling pain after arthroscopic shoulder surgery. PCA with SSNB + ANB is a better anaesthetic choice than PCA with ISB or PCA only during the initial 24 h of the postoperative period. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Clinical study, Level II.

Impact of High-Intensity Circuit Resistance Exercise on Physical Fitness, Inflammation, and Immune Cells in Female Breast Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Control Trial.

Questions remain about whether resistance exercise has a positive effect on immune and inflammatory cells. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12 weeks of high-intensity circuit resistance exercise (HCRE) on inflammation and immune cells, and physical fitness, of female breast cancer survivors (FBCSs). Thirty FBCSs were randomly assigned to the HCRE (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. HRCE was administered for 50 min a day, 2-3 times a week, for 12 weeks. The control group only performed activities of daily living during the study period. Baseline and post-intervention measures included body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, reaction time, balance, inflammation, and immune cell measurements. The results showed that HCRE improved body mass index, body fat, muscle mass, grip strength, back muscle strength, sit-up, whole-body reaction, standing on one leg with eyes closed, Y-balance test, and NKCA in FBCSs. The improvement of physical strength and immune cells of FBCSs was achieved using the 12-week HRCE program. Future studies must analyze various exercise intensities and types, and should be conducted on other cancer survivors. In addition, strategies should be developed to allow FBCSs to participate in resistance training.