Maintaining immovable postures for long durations might be a cause of low back pain. However, the relation between low back pain and the maintenance of postures for long durations has been unclear. ...Therefore, the durations of several postures in one working day should be measured to evaluate the risk of low back pain, although the available measuring methods are limited. To the best of our knowledge, no study has reported the development and investigation of a foot plantar pressure sensor for measurement of standing, sitting, and moving durations in daily work routines. Thus, in this study, we aimed to develop a foot plantar pressure sensor that could withstand long-term loads in the workplace. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate the estimated results of standing, sitting, and moving durations among factory workers using the developed foot plantar pressure sensor.
The developed foot plantar pressure sensor obtained a percentage difference within ±5% to estimate standing, sitting, and moving durations in the laboratory. We measured foot plantar pressures of 20 factory workers to estimate standing, sitting, and moving activity in one working day using data obtained by the foot plantar pressure sensor. The estimated standing, sitting, and moving durations were compared with the human estimation of photo data obtained by a wearable camera.
The agreement rate (Cohen's kappa coefficient) was 0.75 between the evaluation using the foot plantar pressure sensor data and human estimation using a wearable camera. Cohen's kappa coefficient was 0.81 in subjects who sat for ≥30% during daily work and 0.68 in subjects who sat for <30%.
Our foot plantar pressure sensor effectively measured the standing, sitting, and moving durations in daily work that requires various movements and assumption of postures.
Abstract
This 10-year retrospective observational study investigated longitudinal losses in psoas major and paraspinal muscle area in 1849 healthy individuals (1690 male, 159 female) screened using ...computed tomography. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant decreases in psoas major and paraspinal muscle area at 10 years relative to the baseline area regardless of age or sex, starting at 30 years of age. Only aging ≥ 50 s (odds ratio OR: 1.72; 95% confidence interval CI 1.05–2.84;
p
= 0.03) and ≥ 60 s (OR: 2.67; 95% CI 1.55–4.60;
p
< 0.001) was a risk factor for decreases in psoas major area. Age ≥ 60 years (OR: 2.05; 95% CI 1.24–3.39;
p
= 0.005), body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m
2
(OR: 1.32; 95% CI 1.01–1.73;
p
= 0.04), and visceral fat ≥ 100 cm
2
(OR: 1.61; 95% CI 1.20–2.15;
p
= 0.001) were risk factors for decreases in paraspinal muscle area. Physical activity ≥ 900 kcal/week (OR: 0.68; 95% CI 0.50–0.94;
p
= 0.02) attenuated paraspinal muscle area loss in male. Our study demonstrated that walking > 45 min daily (Calories = METs (walking: 3.0) × duration of time (h) × weight (60 kg) × 1.05) can reduce paraspinal muscle loss, which may in turn decrease the risk of falls, low-back pain, and sarcopenia.
Abstract
Joint contracture leads to major patient discomfort. Metformin, one of the most extensively used oral drugs against type 2 diabetes has recently been found to suppress tissue fibrosis as ...well. However, its role in suppressing tissue fibrosis in joint contractures remains unknown. In this study, we examined the role of metformin treatment in suppressing joint capsular fibrosis and the most effective time of its administration. Joint capsular fibrosis was induced by immobilizing the knee joints of mice using splints and tapes. Metformin was administered intraperitoneally every alternate day after immobilization. Histological and immunohistochemical changes and expression of fibrosis-related genes were evaluated. Metformin treatment significantly suppressed fibrosis in joint capsules based on histological and immunohistochemical evaluation. Joint capsular tissue from metformin-treated mice also showed decreased expression of fibrosis-related genes. Early, but not late, metformin administration showed the same effect on fibrosis suppression in joint capsule as the whole treatment period. The expression of fibrosis-related genes was most suppressed in mice administered with metformin early. These studies demonstrated that metformin treatment can suppress joint capsular fibrosis and the most effective time to administer it is early after joint immobilization; a delay of more than 2 weeks of administration is less effective.
To compare the clinical outcome of arthroscopic surgery for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) between athlete and nonathlete patients.
Retrospective case-control study. Level of Evidence III.
...Seventy-four patients who underwent arthroscopic FAI correction from March 2009 to April 2012 were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into 2 groups, according to their sports participation (47 in the athlete group and 27 in the nonathlete group).
We reviewed clinical and radiographic data for all patients, up to a minimum of 2 years after surgery. We used analysis of covariance to compare the mean patient reported outcome scores including modified Harris hip score (MHHS) and the nonarthritis hip score (NAHS) preoperatively, at 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery.
The mean age at the time of surgery in the athlete group was significantly lower than that in the nonathlete group. Although there was no significant difference in preoperative MHHS and NAHS, the mean NAHS at 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively and the mean MHHS at 24 months postoperatively in athletes were significantly higher than that in nonathletes (P < 0.05).
Although arthroscopic FAI correction and labral preservation surgery is generally beneficial, it appears to provide a better clinical outcome in athletes than in nonathletes.
Sonic hedgehog (Shh), which regulates proliferation in many contexts, functions as a limb morphogen to specify a distinct pattern of digits. How Shh's effects on cell number relate to its role in ...specifying digit identity is unclear. Deleting the mouse Shh gene at different times using a conditional Cre line, we find that Shh functions to control limb development in two phases: a very transient, early patterning phase regulating digit identity, and an extended growth-promoting phase during which the digit precursor mesenchyme expands and becomes recruited into condensing digit primordia. Our analysis reveals an unexpected alternating anterior-posterior sequence of normal mammalian digit formation. The progressive loss of digits upon successively earlier Shh removal mirrors this alternating sequence and highlights Shh's role in cell expansion to produce the normal digit complement.
Musculoskeletal diseases are a major public health concern among older adults. There has been an increase in the number of studies on pain between men and women, such as knee and lumbar pain. ...However, there is a dearth of research on pain between men and women in hand disease. This study compared health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between patients with musculoskeletal disorders of the hand and those with disorders of the knee and the lumbar spine.
From 2014 to 2018, 5595 adult patients completed a questionnaire on HRQOL. Among these patients, we identified patients with hand disease (n = 1038), knee disease (n = 680), and lumbar spine disease (n = 2021) resulting in a total sample of 3739 patients (1749 men and 1992 women). Patients' responses to the EuroQol (EQ-5D), the Short Form 12-item Survey (SF-12), and three visual analogue scales (VAS), as different measures of the HRQOL, were evaluated.
It was found that the EQ-5D index was lowest in the lumbar spine patients, followed by knee and hand patients. The VAS scores were negatively affected in all groups. The EQ-5D index was significantly lower in women than in men only in the hand disease group. Multivariate analysis revealed that for the EQ-5D index, age, gender, and VAS scores for job and activities of daily living were explanatory factors in the hand disease group. Gender was not a significant predictor in the other groups.
This study demonstrated that pain negatively affected HRQOL, and gender differences in HRQOL were found only in patients with hand disease. Gender differences in HRQOL in patients with hand disease warrant appropriate clinical attention.
Study Design: A retrospective case-control propensity score-matching study.Purpose: This study aimed to longitudinally evaluate whether preoperative ligamentous stenosis at the spondylolisthetic ...segments could affect the incidence of symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis following one-segment fusion surgery.Overview of Literature: Several risk factors for symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis following fusion surgery have been assessed. Patients with lumbar canal stenosis mainly due to ligamentum flavum (LF) hypertrophy (ligamentous stenosis) also have LF hypertrophy in other segments.Methods: In total, 76 patients participated in this case-control study (neurologically symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis, n=33; neurologically asymptomatic cases at follow-up, n=43). Their risk factors during surgery and magnetic resonance (MR) images before the surgery and at follow-up were evaluated. Data from the two groups (n=25 each) were matched using propensity scores for age, sex, time to MR imaging at follow-up, surgical procedure, and LF hypertrophy in adjacent segments before the surgery and analyzed.Results: Compared with the asymptomatic group, the symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis group had a significantly larger LF area/spinal canal area in the spondylolisthetic segments before the surgery. During the follow-up periods (in months), they had a larger LF area/ spinal canal area in the adjacent segments: the two values were significantly correlated. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for determining symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis were high compared with on the cutoff value for the LF area/spinal canal area at the spondylolisthetic segments before the surgery. These results were the same after matching.Conclusions: Symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis is mainly caused by LF hypertrophy. Ligamentous stenosis at the spondylolisthetic segments before fusion surgery might be strongly associated with symptomatic adjacent canal stenosis at follow-up.
Purpose. To determine the characteristics of MSCs from hip and compare them to MSCs from knee. Methods. Synovial tissues were obtained from both the knee and the hip joints in 8 patients who ...underwent both hip and knee arthroscopies on the same day. MSCs were isolated from the knee and hip synovial samples. The capacities of MSCs were compared between both groups. Results. The number of cells per unit weight at passage 0 of synovium from the knee was significantly higher than that from the hip (P<0.05). While it was possible to observe the growth of colonies in all the knee synovial fluid samples, it was impossible to culture cells from any of the hip samples. In adipogenesis experiments, the frequency of Oil Red-O-positive colonies and the gene expression of adipsin were significantly higher in knee than in hip. In osteogenesis experiments, the expression of COL1A1 and ALPP was significantly less in the knee synovium than in the hip synovium. Conclusions. MSCs obtained from hip joint have self-renewal and multilineage differentiation potentials. However, in matched donors, adipogenesis and osteogenesis potentials of MSCs from the knees are superior to those from the hips. Knee synovium may be a better source of MSC for potential use in hip diseases.
Indian hedgehog (Ihh) is essential for chondrocyte and osteoblast proliferation/differentiation during prenatal endochondral bone formation. The early lethality of various Ihh-ablated mutant mice, ...however, prevented further analysis of its role in postnatal bone growth and development. In this study, we describe the generation and characterization of a mouse model in which the Ihh gene was successfully ablated from postnatal chondrocytes in a temporal/spatial-specific manner; postnatal deletion of Ihh resulted in loss of columnar structure, premature vascular invasion, and formation of ectopic hypertrophic chondrocytes in the growth plate. Furthermore, destruction of the articular surface in long bones and premature fusion of growth plates of various endochondral bones was evident, resulting in dwarfism in mutant mice. More importantly, these mutant mice exhibited continuous loss of trabecular bone over time, which was accompanied by reduced Wnt signaling in the osteoblastic cells. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that postnatal chondrocyte-derived Ihh is essential for maintaining the growth plate and articular surface and is required for sustaining trabecular bone and skeletal growth.
PDF
