Effects of Kinesiology Taping on Scapular Reposition Accuracy, Kinematics, and Muscle Activity in Athletes With Shoulder Impingement Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Study.

CONTEXT: Scapular proprioception is a key concern in managing shoulder impingement syndrome (SIS). However, no study has examined the effect of elastic taping on scapular proprioception performance. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the immediate effect of kinesiology taping (KT) on scapular reposition accuracy, kinematics, and muscle activation in individuals with SIS. DESIGN: Randomized controlled study. SETTING: Musculoskeletal laboratory, National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty overhead athletes with SIS. INTERVENTIONS: KT or placebo taping over the upper and lower trapezius muscles. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were scapular joint position sense, measured as the reposition errors, in the direction of scapular elevation and protraction. The secondary outcomes were scapular kinematics and muscle activity of the upper trapezius, lower trapezius, and serratus anterior during arm elevation in the scapular plane (scaption). RESULTS: Compared with placebo taping, KT significantly decreased the reposition errors of upward/downward rotation (P = .04) and anterior/posterior tilt (P = .04) during scapular protraction. KT also improved scapular kinematics (significant group by taping effect for posterior tilt, P = .03) during scaption. Kinesiology and placebo tapings had a similar effect on upper trapezius muscle activation (significant taping effect, P = .003) during scaption. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified the positive effects of KT on scapular joint position sense and movement control. Future studies with a longer period of follow-up and clinical measurement might help to clarify the clinical effect and mechanisms of elastic taping in individuals with SIS.

Prognostic implications of miR-146b expression and its functional role in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

CONTEXT: Recent studies suggest that miR-146b deregulation in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) was associated with advanced tumor characteristics. However, the influence of miR-146b expression on the prognosis of PTC remains unknown. We sought to correlate tumor expression levels of miR-146b with the prognosis of a previously reported PTC cohort and reveal the underlying mechanisms via a PTC cell line model. METHODOLOGY: Expression levels of miR-146b were assessed via quantitative real-time PCR in 71 cases of PTC with distinct clinico-pathogenetic characteristics. All patients were classified into the disease-free or active disease group, based on their medical records at the end of the follow-up period. In vitro gain-of-function experiments were performed in a BCPAP human papillary thyroid cancer cell line model, which harbored the homozygous mutation of BRAF. BCPAP cells were transfected with a mimic-miR-146b and nonspecific microRNA (miRNA) control to determine whether miR-146b overexpression promotes cell migration and invasion. Proliferation assay, colony formation assay, and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis were also determined. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated advanced tumor stage, presence of cervical lymph node metastasis, and miR-146b expression were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in PTC. Patients with higher miR-146b expression levels had significantly poorer overall survival compared with those with lower miR-146b levels. The associated hazard ratio was 3.92 (95% confidence interval, 1.73-8.86, log-rank P < .05). Overexpression of miR-146b significantly increased cell migration and invasiveness. Furthermore, miR-146b also increased resistance to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that miR-146b is a novel prognostic factor of PTC. Furthermore, in vitro functional studies provided the mechanistic explanation for miR-146b in tumor aggressiveness. These results enhance understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in tumor aggressiveness in PTC, provide new prognostic biomarkers, and ultimately offer new leads for developing therapies for PTC.

miR-146b is highly expressed in adult papillary thyroid carcinomas with high risk features including extrathyroidal invasion and the BRAF(V600E) mutation.

BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) are clinicopathogenetically heterogeneous. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the pathogenesis of diverse human cancers, including PTC. Information regarding associations between clinicopathological features of PTC with the expression of specific miRNAs, however, is sparse. In this study, we compared expression of deregulated miRNAs in PTCs to assess this was associated with selected clinicopathogenetic features. METHODS: We analyzed the expression levels of three reported deregulated miRNAs (miR-221, miR-222, and miR-146b) using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 100 cases of PTCs with distinct clinicopathogenetic characteristics and 16 paired normal controls. The tumor samples were categorized into low- and high-risk groups on the basis of the tumor-node-metastasis staging system. RESULTS: The expression levels of miR-221, miR-222, and miR-146b were significantly associated with extrathyroidal invasion (p = 0.013, 0.05, and 0.003, respectively). The expression levels of miR-221 and miR-146b were significantly higher in the high-risk PTC group (p = 0.01 and 0.042, respectively). The miR-146b expression levels in PTCs with BRAF mutation were significantly higher than those without this mutation (p < 0.0001). There were no other associations between the expression of these miRNAs and other clinicopathological parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show the potential importance of miR-221, miR-222, and miR-146b in determining the aggressive properties of PTCs and highlight the need to identify the gene targets of these miRNAs.