Relationship between posterior fossa space and hemifacial spasm / 中华神经科杂志

Objective To quantitatively study the posterior fossa effective space and its relationship with hemifacial spasm (HFS).Methods We conducted a case-control study of patients diagnosed with HFS and sex-and age-matched healthy controls.All subjects underwent high-resolution three-dimensional MRI.The software of 3D-Slicer was used to measure the posterior fossa space and hindbrain tissue volume between the two groups.Results Sixty patients and 60 controls were enrolled in this study.Compared to controls,patients with HFS had a higher posterior fossa crowdedness index (PFCI;83.7％ ± 0.6％ vs 79.2％ ± 0.4％;t =2.58, P =0.01).The multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that a higher PFCI was associated with younger age (r =-0.61, P =0.02), female gender (r =0.76, P =0.003) and HFS (r =-0.43, P =0.01).Conclusions Patients with HFS have a more crowded posterior fossa space than healthy controls, potentially leading to cranial nerve and vascular structure crowding, thus increasing HFS risk.Women have a higher PFCI, which may explain the strong female preponderance in epidemiologic studies.

Therapeutic Effect of Balance Cupping Therapy on Non-specific Low Back Pain / 中国康复理论与实践

@#Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of balance cupping therapy on non-specific low back pain.Methods 75 patients with non-specific low back pain were randomly divided into the control group (n=25), cupping therapy group (n=25) and balance cupping therapy group (n=25). The patients in the control group were received diclofenac sodium enteric-coated capsule; the cases in other two groups were treated with cupping therapy and balance cupping therapy separately. After 3 weeks' treatment, the changes of the visual analogous scores and Oswestry disability index of two groups' patients were observed.Results The visual analogous scores and Oswestry disability index of the balance cupping therapy group were significantly lower than that of the control group and cupping therapy group ( P<0.05) after 3 weeks' treatment. But between the control group and cupping therapy group there was no difference.Conclusion Balance cupping therapy is one of effective treatment methods for non-specific low back pain.