ObjectiveTo compare the effect of diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing training on the morphology and function of deep trunk muscles in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain. MethodsFrom March to May, 2025, a total of 37 patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain recruited at Xi 'an Physical Education University, were randomly divided into control group (n = 12), abdominal breathing group (n = 12) and diaphragmatic breathing group (n = 13). All groups received transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and core stability training. On this basis, the abdominal breathing group was added with abdominal breathing training, and the diaphragmatic breathing group was added with diaphragmatic breathing training, for six weeks. The degree of pain was evaluated with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) before and after intervention, while the activation levels of multifidus and transversus abdominis were evaluated with the root mean square value (RMS) of surface electromyography, and the thickness of the multifidus muscle, transverse abdominis muscle, diaphragm and diaphragm mobility were evaluated with musculoskeletal ultrasound. ResultsAfter intervention, all the indicators improved in all the groups (P < 0.001), except for the diaphragm thickness and mobility in the control group. All the effects (F > 4.634, P < 0.016) of VAS score were significant, and were better in the diaphragmatic/abdominal breathing groups than in the control group (P < 0.01). The intra-group effects (F > 64.869, P < 0.001) and interaction effects (F > 12.379, P < 0.001) of muscle morphology and function indexes were significant, and the RMS of multifidus and transversus abdominis, left multifidus thickness, bilateral transversus abdominis thickness, diaphragm thickness, and diaphragm excursion was better in the diaphragmatic breathing group than in the control group and the abdominal breathing group (P < 0.001), while bilateral transversus abdominis RMS, diaphragm excursion, and right multifidus thickness were better in the abdominal breathing group than in the control group (P < 0.037). ConclusionThe combination of diaphragmatic/abdominal breathing exercises can further improve the morphology and function of the deep muscles of trunk in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain, and diaphragmatic breathing may be superior to abdominal breathing.

Objective To study the changes and significance of the frequencies of circulating follicular helper T cells (cTfh) and circulating regulatory follicular T cells (cTfr) as well as the cTfh/cTfr ratio in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).Methods The frequencies of cTfh,cTfr and B cells in patients with NMOSD and health controls(HCs) were measured by flow cytometry.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the level of IL-21 and AQP4-Ab in patients and HCs.Results The frequencies of cTfh and B cells,the cTfh/cTfr ratio and the plasma level of IL-21 werc significantly higher in the relapsing patients than those in the remitting patients and HCs(P ＜ 0.05),and the cTfr level in the relapsing patients was lower than that in the remitting patients and healthy population (P ＜ 0.05).But no statistical differences were observed in the above indexes between the remitting paticnts and HCs.There was also no significant difference in AQP4-Ab level between the patients with relapse and remission (P ＞ 0.05).The frequency of cTfh in the patients wasc positively correlated with the level of B cells and IL-21(P ＜ 0.05),and the frequency of cTfr was negatively correlated with B cells and IL-21 (P ＜ 0.05).The ratio of cTfh/cTfr was positively correlated with B cell frequency and IL-21 level (P ＜ 0.05).AQP4-Ab level had no correlation with the frequencies of cTfh cells and B cells,cTfh/cTfr ratio and IL-21 concentration (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The changes in the frequencies of cTfh and cTfr as well as the imbalanced cTfh/cTfr ratio may promote the activation of humoral immunein NMOSD and participate in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Objective Deep brain stimulation (DBS) can greatly improve the clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD),but it can poorly improve the similar clinical symptoms of multiple system atrophy P-type (MSA-P);therefore,identification is a necessity for the two diseases before DBS is carried out on these patients;surface electromyography (sEMG) was employed to analyze the surface electromyographic characteristics associated with tremor and rigidity of PD and MSA-P to explore the role of sEMG in the differential diagnosis of PD and MSA-P.Methods Twenty patients with PD and 25 patients with MSA-P,admitted to our hospital from June 2013 to January 2015,were enrolled in the study.The sEMG was performed on all patients on the 2nd d of hospitalization.Tremor frequency,tremor sEMG activity intensity and postural tremor latency were analyzed.Synchronous sEMG activity intensity during passive activities was analyzed.Root mean square (RMS) in two states was calculated,and t-test was applied to compare tremor frequency,postural tremor latency and sEMG activity intensity.Results The incidence of rest tremor in MSA-P patients was 36％ and that in PD patients was 60％,with significant difference (P＜0.05).And the incidence ofpostural tremor in MSA-P ones was 44％ and that in PD ones was 35％,with significant difference (P＜0.05).Besides,the postural tremor latency in MSA-P patients was significantly longer than that in PD patients ([9.3±3.2] s vs.[5.3±2.1] s,P＜0.05).Thepostural tremor and rest tremor frequencies of MSA-P patients ([7.3±2.1] and [6.4±3.6]-Hz) were significantly higher than those in PD patients ([5.3±2.4] and [4.9±1.2] Hz,P＜0.05).In rest tremor,RMS of flexor and extensor in MSA-P patients was significantly decreased as compared with that in PD patients (P＜0.05);in postural tremor,RMS of flexor and extensor in MSA-P patients was significantly decreased as compared with that in PD patients (P＜0.05).During passive activities,RMS of extensor in MSA-P patients was statistically higher than that in PD patients ([27.927.9± 11.4] vs.[18.318.3±6.4] μV,P＜0.05),while there was no significant difference between RMS of flexor in MSA-P and PD patients ([31.1±13.6] vs.[29.2±8.9] μV,P＞0.05).Conclusion The sEMG can be applied in the preoperative differential diagnosis for DBS of PD and MSAP.

BACKGROUND:Although the therapeutic effect of total knee arthroplasty for severe gonarthritis is reliable, deep vein thrombosis also occurred in many patients. Therefore, deep vein thrombosis has been a major reason for unexpected death after total knee arthroplasty. OBJECTIVE:To study the incidence of deep vein thrombosis after total knee arthroplasty with general and epidural anesthesia. METHODS:We searched“PubMed”,“Medline”,“Elsevier”,“Embase”, Cochrane library,“Wanfang”,“China National Knowledge Infrastructure”for papers published from January 2000 to March 2015. The mesh words were“total knee arthroplasty”,“TKA”,“thrombosis”,“DVT”,“randomized control ed trial”,“RCT”for studies concerning deep vein thrombosis after total knee arthroplasty with different anesthetic methods. The double blind method was used for data extraction and assessment of literature quality. Revman5.3 software was utilized to analyze the extracted data using meta-analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:There were 8 studies including 885 patients. The heterogeneity of the included studies was very low (I2=0, P=0.72). The combined OR was 0.25 (95%confidence interval:0.18, 1.35), indicating that continuous epidural anesthesia in total knee arthroplasty could apparently reduce the possible formation of postoperative deep vein thrombosis. Because of lack of the changes in coagulation factors under general anesthesia and epidural anesthesia, the mechanism underlying epidural anesthesia to reduce the incidence of deep vein thrombosis deserves further investigations. Among patients with deep vein thrombosis, continuous epidural anesthesia could diminish the possible formation of deep vein thrombosis. Thus, epidural anesthesia should be used firstly for knee replacement in patients with high risk of deep vein thrombosis.