Correlation between fat infiltration of paraspinal muscle and L4 degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis in asymptomatic adults.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between different indicators of the degree of fat infiltration and L4 Degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (DLS). METHODS: 128 patients received annual health check-up underwent lumbar lateral Digital Radiography (DR) and abdominal Computed tomography (CT) imaging were enrolled. The DLS group included 60 patients diagnosed with DLS, and the control group included 68 patients without DLS. The data collected included vertebral density of L4-L5, fat infiltration ratio (FIR) of paravertebral muscle (PM) and psoas major muscle (PMM), skeletal muscle density of PM and PMM, low attenuation muscle ratio (LTR) of PM and PMM, paraspinal muscle density (PMD), psoas major muscle density (PMMD), low attenuation muscle density (LMD) of PM and PMM, facet joint angle (FJA), facet joint degeneration (FJD), etc. RESULTS: PM FIR and PM LTR were weakly positively correlated with the degree of L4 DLS, and there was a weak negative correlation between PMD and the degree of L4 DLS in asymptomatic adults (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that PM FIR was an independent related factor of L4 DLS (Q3 vs. Q1, OR = 3.746, 95% CI: 1.076-13.048, p = 0.038). ROC curve analysis showed that the PM FIR has a high predictive value for L4 DLS in asymptomatic adults. CONCLUSION: The indicator of PM FIR was an independent related factor of L4 DLS in asymptomatic adults. It has a high predictive value for L4 DLS and can be applied as a potential target for clinical treatment of L4 DLS in asymptomatic adults.

Effects of intensive glucose lowering in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus on cardiovascular outcomes: A meta-analysis of data from 58,160 patients in 13 randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Previous trials indicated that intensive glucose lowering in treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was associated with a higher incidence of mortality. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the benefits and harms of intensive glucose lowering therapy in treatment of T2DM patients on major cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were obtained from searches of PubMed, EmBase, and the Cochrane Library electronic databases until Feb. 2016. Relative risk (RR) was used to measure the treatment effect by random-effect model. Meta-regression, sensitivity analyses, subgroup analyses, and publication biases were also conducted. RESULTS: Thirteen RCTs were included with 58,160 T2DM patients and reported 5719 major cardiovascular events (MACEs), 6569 deaths, 2057 cardiac death cases, 3201 myocardial infarction (MI) cases, 1835 stroke cases, and 1778 congestive heart failure cases. Intensive glucose lowering therapy significantly reduced risk of MACEs (RR: 0.92; 95%CI: 0.85-1.00; P=0.042), and MI (RR: 0.90; 95%CI: 0.82-0.98; P=0.020) compared with conventional glucose control therapy. Furthermore, intensive glucose lowering therapy has no significant effect on the incidence of total mortality (RR: 0.98; 95%CI: 0.91-1.07; P=0.693), cardiac death (RR: 1.00; 95%CI: 0.87-1.04; P=0.999), stroke (RR: 0.94; 95%CI: 0.84-1.06; P=0.333), and congestive heart failure (RR: 1.19; 95%CI: 0.96-1.48; P=0.108). CONCLUSION: T2DM patients who received intensive glucose lowering therapy are associated with a reduced risk of MACEs and MI, whereas it has no significant effect on the risk of total mortality, cardiac death, stroke, and congestive heart failure. These effects might differ when stratified by baseline characteristics in T2DM patients.