A 2007 American College of Physicians guideline addressed nonpharmacologic treatment options for low back pain. New evidence is now available.
To systematically review the current evidence on ...nonpharmacologic therapies for acute or chronic nonradicular or radicular low back pain.
Ovid MEDLINE (January 2008 through February 2016), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and reference lists.
Randomized trials of 9 nonpharmacologic options versus sham treatment, wait list, or usual care, or of 1 nonpharmacologic option versus another.
One investigator abstracted data, and a second checked abstractions for accuracy; 2 investigators independently assessed study quality.
The number of trials evaluating nonpharmacologic therapies ranged from 2 (tai chi) to 121 (exercise). New evidence indicates that tai chi (strength of evidence SOE, low) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (SOE, moderate) are effective for chronic low back pain and strengthens previous findings regarding the effectiveness of yoga (SOE, moderate). Evidence continues to support the effectiveness of exercise, psychological therapies, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, spinal manipulation, massage, and acupuncture for chronic low back pain (SOE, low to moderate). Limited evidence shows that acupuncture is modestly effective for acute low back pain (SOE, low). The magnitude of pain benefits was small to moderate and generally short term; effects on function generally were smaller than effects on pain.
Qualitatively synthesized new trials with prior meta-analyses, restricted to English-language studies; heterogeneity in treatment techniques; and inability to exclude placebo effects.
Several nonpharmacologic therapies for primarily chronic low back pain are associated with small to moderate, usually short-term effects on pain; findings include new evidence on mind-body interventions.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (PROSPERO: CRD42014014735).
The effect of additionally presented visual stimuli on the subjective impression of the vehicle pass-by sound transmitted into a low-rise residential building was investigated based on the ...environmental simulation method combining the binaural sound auralization technieque and the three-dimensional spatial visualization technique. The exterior scenery seen from inside a residential room largely depends on the spatial relationship with the neighborring buildings and driveways around the evaluated site. In addition, the exterior scenery generally includes the pass-by vehicles running on the neighborring driveways, which are often the main source of the sound environment around the site. In this study, the variation of subjective impression of a vehicle pass-by sound caused by presenting various kinds of visual stimuli seen from the window of a residential room was discussed. As a basic study, the vehicle pass-by sound transmitted into the room via the façade was simulated by using the geometrical acoustic simulation. To increase the presence of the reproduced sounds, the auralized sounds were reproduced by dynamically changing the binaural room impulse response (BRIR) depending on the head rotation of the subjects. In contrast, the visual condition inside the evaluated rooms was simulated by using three-dimensional modeling software. Then, the effect of the auditory and visual stimuli on the impression of the environments inside a residential room was investigated by performing the subjective evaluation experiment based on the audiovisual simulation scheme. The obtained results indicated that the sound impression of the pass-by noise transmitted into the room was influenced by the additionally presented visual stimuli, but the extent of the influence on the impression differs depending on the detailed information included in the auditory and visual stimuli.
The number of neurons in the brain is controlled by production of new neurons and neuronal death. Neural progenitor proliferation in the developing and adult brain plays a prominent role in the ...production of new neurons. Here, we examined the effects of lithium, a mood-stabilizing drug, on neuronal proliferation in rat primary neuronal cultures. The incorporation of 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) into replicating DNA was used to label proliferating cells. BrdU incorporation was detected by immunocytochemistry in cerebellar granule cells prepared from postnatal rats and cerebral cortical cultures prepared from embryonic rats. Quantification of BrdU incorporation into cultures was performed by counting BrdU-positive cells and BrdU-coupled enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Both methods revealed that lithium increased BrdU incorporation in cerebellar granule cells and cerebral cortical cultures. Most BrdU-positive cells colocalized with nestin, a neuroblast cell marker, in cerebral cortical cultures. Blockade of DNA replication by cytosine arabinoside almost completely abolished BrdU incorporation, suggesting that lithium-induced BrdU incorporation was mainly due to enhanced DNA replication. Glutamate, glucocorticoids and haloperidol were found to markedly reduce neural progenitor proliferation in cerebellar granule cells. The presence of lithium prevented the loss of proliferation induced by these agents. Lithium-induced neural progenitor proliferation
in vitro suggests that similar effects might occur
in vivo and this action could also be related to its clinical efficacy. Cultured brain neurons may provide a valuable model for studying the molecular mechanisms underlying lithium-induced up-regulation of neural proliferation.
A genome-wide association study of cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia in Japan found association with a missense genetic variant (rs7157599, Asn8Ser) in the delta(4)-desaturase, ...sphingolipid 2 (DEGS2) gene. A replication analysis using Caucasian samples showed a directionally consistent trend for cognitive association of a proxy single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs3783332. Although the DEGS2 gene is expressed in human brain, it is unknown how DEGS2 expression varies during human life and whether it is affected by psychiatric disorders and genetic variants. To address these questions, we examined DEGS2 messenger RNA using next-generation sequencing in postmortem dorsolateral prefrontal cortical tissue from a total of 418 Caucasian samples including patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. DEGS2 is expressed at very low levels prenatally and increases gradually from birth to adolescence and consistently expressed across adulthood. Rs3783332 genotype was significantly associated with the expression across all subjects (F3,348=10.79, P=1.12 × 10(-)(3)), particularly in control subjects (F1,87=13.14, P=4.86 × 10(-4)). Similar results were found with rs715799 genotype. The carriers of the risk-associated minor allele at both loci showed significantly lower expression compared with subjects homozygous for the non-risk major allele and this was a consistent finding across all diagnostic groups. DEGS2 expression showed no association with diagnostic status after correcting for multiple testing (P>0.05). Our findings demonstrate that a SNP showing genome-wide association study significant association with cognition in schizophrenia is also associated with regulation of DEGS2 expression, implicating a molecular mechanism for the clinical association.
Genetic factors, such as apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphisms, are thought to play an important role in the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent association studies have suggested that the ...Val66Met polymorphism in the brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene could play a role in the development of AD. To identify genotypic effects of the BDNF and the ApoE genes on disease progression in preclinical AD, we assessed morphological changes using serial magnetic resonance imaging during the preclinical period of AD in 35 individuals. When all subjects were analyzed as one group, progressive atrophy was noted in the limbic, paralimbic and neocortical areas. Individuals of the BDNF Val/Val genotype showed progressive atrophy in the left medial temporal areas, whereas the BDNF Met allele carriers showed additional changes in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the precuneus. An interaction between the BDNF genotype and progressive morphological changes was found in the PCC. The noncarriers for the ApoE ɛ4 allele showed progressive atrophy in the bilateral medial temporal areas. In addition to changes in the medial temporal areas, ɛ4 carriers showed progressive atrophy in the PCC, ACC and precuneus. An interaction between the ApoE genotype and progressive morphological change was noted in the right medial temporal area. The present preliminary study indicates that polymorphisms of the ApoE and the BDNF genes could affect disease progression in preclinical AD and implies that the Met‐BDNF polymorphism could be an additional risk factor for rapid disease progression in preclinical AD.
Piccolo (PCLO) inhibits methamphetamine-induced neuropharmacological effects via modulation of dopamine (DA) uptake and regulation of the transport of synaptic vesicles in neuronal cells. Clinical ...studies have recently suggested that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs13438494 in the intron 24 of the PCLO gene is associated with psychiatric disorder, in the meta-analysis of GWAS. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to evaluate the possible role of the PCLO SNP in the mechanisms of uptake of monoamines. To characterize rs13438494 in the PCLO gene, we constructed plasmids carrying either the C or A allele of the SNP and transiently transfected them into SH-SY5Y cells to analyze genetic effects on the splicing of PCLO mRNA. The C and A allele constructs produced different composition of the transcripts, indicating that the intronic SNP does affect the splicing pattern. We also transfected DA and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5- HT) transporters into cells and analyzed their uptakes to elucidate the association to psychiatric disorders. In the cells transfected with the C allele, both the DA and 5-HT uptake were enhanced compared to the A allele. We also conducted a clinical study, in order to clarify the genetic associations. PCLO rs13438494 exhibits a relationship with the symptoms of drug dependence or related parameters, such as the age of first exposure to methamphetamine, eating disorders, tobacco dependence and fentanyl requirement. Our findings suggest that rs13438494 is associated with drug abuse and contributes to the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders via modulation of neurotransmitter turnover.
A detailed test of a BSO calorimeter with 100–800 MeV positrons Ishikawa, T.; Fujimura, H.; Hashimoto, R. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
12/2012, Volume:
694
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
A performance test has been made for an electro-magnetic calorimeter prototype comprised four identical BSO crystals arranged in a 2X2 matrix by utilizing a positron beam in the energy range from 100 ...to 800 MeV. The size of each crystal is 40X40X210 mm3. This is the world's largest BSO single crystal ever used as a photon detector. The obtained energy resolution is (s E / E) 2 = ((1.71 % +/- 0.03 %) / E) 2 + (1.12 % +/- 0.08 %) 2 at room temperature, where E is the incident positron energy given in GeV. A BGO calorimeter having the same geometry has been employed in the performance test for comparison. The basic scintillation characteristics of BSO crystals measured without the beam are also presented.
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