16 research outputs found
Nonoperative Korean Medicine Combination Therapy for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Retrospective Case-Series Study
This is a retrospective case series exploring the therapeutic benefits and harm of nonoperative Korean medicine combination therapy for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). The medical records of a total of 33 LSS patients, who were treated as inpatients at Mokhuri Neck and Back Hospital, Republic of Korea, from November 2010 to January 2012, were reviewed first and telephone survey on these patients was conducted after one year. Body acupuncture, pharmacoacupuncture, Chuna, and oral administration of herbal medicines were offered to all patients. A Visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain and the walking duration without pain were used to assess the patients during the approximately 1-month treatment period. The average VAS score of pain and the walking duration improved significantly; the VAS score decreased from 9 (SD, 1.15) to 2.75 (2.22) (p<0.01), and the walking duration increased from 5.5 (6.66) to 16.75 (13.00) minutes (p<0.01). No adverse event was reported during the treatment. In addition, the decreased pain level and improved function continued for over one year. Although we did not find definitive evidence, the study results suggest that KM combination therapy may be beneficial for decreasing pain and improving function in LSS patients and may produce comparatively few adverse events
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Phantom Acupuncture Induces Placebo Credibility and Vicarious Sensations: A Parallel fMRI Study of Low Back Pain Patients
Although acupuncture is an effective therapeutic intervention for pain reduction, the exact difference between real and sham acupuncture has not been clearly understood because a somatosensory tactile component is commonly included in the existing sham acupuncture protocols. In an event-related fMRI experiment, we implemented a novel form of sham acupuncture, phantom acupuncture, that reproduces the acupuncture needling procedure without somatosensory tactile stimulation while maintaining the credibility of the acupuncture treatment context. Fifty-six non-specific low back pain patients received either real (REAL) or phantom (PHNT) acupuncture stimulation in a parallel group study. The REAL group exhibited greater activation in the posterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex, reflecting the needling-specific components of acupuncture. We demonstrated that PHNT could be delivered credibly. Interestingly, the PHNT-credible group exhibited bilateral activation in SI/SII and also reported vicarious acupuncture sensations without needling stimulation. The PHNT group showed greater activation in the bilateral dorsolateral/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC/vlPFC). Moreover, the PHNT group exhibited significant pain reduction, with a significant correlation between the subjective fMRI signal in the right dlPFC/vlPFC and a score assessing belief in acupuncture effectiveness. These results support an expectation-related placebo analgesic effect on subjective pain intensity ratings, possibly mediated by right prefrontal cortex activity
Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reported. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were recorded in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1 to 4.8 fb-1. Higgs boson decays into oppositely-charged muon or τ lepton pairs are considered for final states requiring either the presence or absence of b-jets. No statistically significant excess over the expected background is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived. The exclusion limits are for the production cross-section of a generic neutral Higgs boson, φ, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for h/A/H production in the MSSM as a function of the parameters mA and tan β in the mhmax scenario for mA in the range of 90GeV to 500 GeV. Copyright CERN
Copyright protection card
As today\u27s society become more and more dependent on computers, computer crimes and information stealing are getting to be major problems. In relation to this, different security methods are implemented to lesser or prevent such crimes. The Copyright Protection Card System is composed of the encryption and decryption processes. The encryption part is done by software means, and the decryption portion is accomplished by a circuitry inserted into the expansion slot. The card automatically detects and decrypts the software upon identification that the file is encrypted. The decrypted file will be returned back to the main memory for execution. To further protect the supplier from piracy and ignorance of the copyright laws, the encryption scheme inserts serial numbers into the encrypted files. The serial numbers of the encrypted software should match the ones contained in the card for operations to run smoothly. This virtually eliminates borrowing of software between two protection card owners. Aside from these serial numbers, a corresponding checksum is also added into the encrypted file so that authentication of the program code can take place
New 8-C-p-Hydroxylbenzylflavonol Glycosides from Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) Tendril and Their Osteoclast Differentiation Inhibitory Activities
Six new 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylflavonol glycosides were isolated from a hot water extract of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) tendril and elucidated as 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylquercetin 3-O-rutinoside, 8-C-p-hydroxybenzoylquercetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylkaempferol 3-O-(α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1→6)-β-D-galactopyranoside, 8-C-p-hydroxybenzoylkaempferol 3-O-rutinoside, 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylisorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside, and 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylisorhamnetin 3-O-(α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1→6)-β-D-galactopyranoside. Their chemical structures were determined using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometer (ESIMS) analyses. The 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylflavonol glycosides were found to inhibit the receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation of bone marrow derived macrophage (BMDM), an osteoclast progenitor. Additionally, 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylflavonol glycosides effectively reduced the expression of osteoclast-related genes, such as tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, cathepsin K, nuclear factor activated T-cell cytoplasmic 1, and dendritic cell specific transmembrane protein in RANKL-treated BMDMs. These results indicate that the 8-C-p-hydroxybenzylflavonol glycosides may be the main components responsible for the osteoclast differentiation inhibitory effect of pumpkin tendril
Nonsurgical Korean Integrative Treatments for Symptomatic Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Three-Armed Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial Protocol
This is a study protocol for a pilot three-armed randomized controlled trial on nonsurgical integrative Korean medicinal treatment for symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Thirty-six participants who have been diagnosed with (LSS) and recommended for spinal surgery by neurosurgeons or orthopedics and have had spinal symptoms such as severe low back pain and neurological claudication regardless of at least three months of conservative treatments will be recruited. Participants will be randomly assigned to be one of the three intervention groups, including the Mokhuri treatment program group 1 or 2 or usual care group. All treatments will be administered in inpatient units over a period of 4 weeks. The primary outcomes are 0 to 100 Visual Analogue Scales for low back pain and leg pain and the secondary outcomes are Oswestry Disability Index; EQ-5D; Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire; Oxford Claudication Score; physical function test, including treadmill test, walking duration, and distance assessment for free leg pain; radiologic testing; and adverse events which will be assessed during the 4-week treatment period as well as after 3 and 6 months of follow-up. Then, we will assess the feasibility of the clinical trial design as well as a nonsurgical integrative treatment program. This trial is registered with CRIS registration number: KCT0001218
Direct Observation of Highly Ordered Dendrimer Soft Building Blocks over a Large Area
Developing large-area, single domain
of organic soft-building blocks such as block copolymers, colloids,
and supramolecular materials is one of the most important issues in
the materials science and nanotechnology. Owing to their small sizes,
complex molecular architectures, and high mobility, supramolecular
materials are not well-suited for building large area, single domain
structures. In the described study, a single domain of supramolecular
columnar dendrimers was created over large area. The columnar structures
in these domains have smaller (4.5 nm) diameters, higher area densities
(ca. 36 Tera-dots/in<sup>2</sup>) and larger domains (>0.1 ×
0.1 mm<sup>2</sup>) than those of all existing BCP and colloidal assemblies.
By simply annealing dendrimer thin films between two flat solid surfaces,
single domains of hexagonal columnar structures are created over large
macroscopic areas. Observations made in this effort should serve as
the foundation for the design of new routes for bottom-up lithography
based on supramolecular building blocks
Controlling Smectic Liquid Crystal Defect Patterns by Physical Stamping-Assisted Domain Separation and Their Use as Templates for Quantum Dot Cluster Arrays
Controlling the organization
of self-assembling building blocks
over a large area is crucial for lithographic tools based on the bottom-up
approach. However, the fabrication of liquid crystal (LC) defect patterns
with a particular ordering still remains a challenge because of the
limited close-packed morphologies of LC defects. Here, we introduce
a multiple-stamping domain separation method for the control of the
dimensions and organization of LC defect structures. Prepatterns with
various grid shapes on planar polyimide (PI) surfaces were fabricated
by pressing a line-shaped stamp into the PI surfaces in two different
directions, and then these surfaces were used to prepare LC defect
structures confined to these grid domains. The dimensions of the LC
defect structures, namely, the equilibrium diameter and the center
to center spacing, are controlled by varying the line spacing of the
stamps and the film thickness. A variety of arrangements of LC defects,
including square, rhombic, hexagonal, and other oblique lattices,
can be obtained by simply varying the stamping angle (Ω) between
the first and second stamping directions. Furthermore, we demonstrate
that the resulting controllable LC defect arrays can be used as templates
for generating various patterns of nanoparticle clusters by trapping
quantum dots (QDs) within the cores of the LC defects