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Patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP) were found with impaired postural control in previous studies. Since the trunk muscle take important efforts on core stability, the study aimed to examine the relationships of postural control during stance tasks and the contractility of trunk muscle in young adults with CNSLBP and without.Healthy individuals (n = 25) and individuals with CNSLBP (n = 30) were included. The thickness of the bilateral transversus abdominis (TrA) and lumbar multifidus (MF) was measured during rest and maximal voluntary contraction, and the change percentages (TrA%, MF%) were calculated. Regarding postural control, COP path length and sway area during the stance tasks were measured thrice in each group.The bilateral TrA% of the CNSLBP group was less than that of the HC group (p 0.05). The bilateral TrA% of the CNSLBP group was less than that of the HC group (p 0.05). The bilateral MF% showed no significantly different(p 0.05) between the two groups. Compared with healthy controls, CNSLBP patients resulted larger path length and sway area of COP during most of static stance tasks. During the EO task in the CNSLBP group, TrA% was found correlate to COP path length (p 0.05); the right MF% was correlated with COP sway area (p 0.05). No significant correlations appeared in the healthy controls (p 0.05).Compared with healthy individuals, impaired postural control during static stance with eyes open in patients with CNSLBP was likely to be related to the poor contraction ability of bilateral transversus abdominis and correlated to the normal contraction ability of right lumbar multifidus.

BackgroundNon-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) is a multifactor disorder with high prevalence rate of people all around the world. Lumbar paraspinal muscle (LPM) plays an important role of spine stabilization. However, the electrical properties of LPM in the patients were unclear. Aim to explore the electrical properties of bilateral LPM between patients with NSCLBP and healthy controls (HC), the study was designed to applied electrical impedance myography (EIM) technique to measure the LPM.MethodsA total of thirty participates (15 in NSCLBP group, 15 in HC group) were instructed to have each side of LPM measured at the rest state and the maximum volunteer contraction (MVC) state. Then measured the EIM parameters of LPM at L4/5 level by a multi-frequency device. Each measurement repeated three times. The EIM parameters at 50 kHz, 100 kHz, 200 kHz current frequencies were enrolled into the statistical analysis.ResultsAt the three current frequencies, parameters in the right side of LPM had not significantly difference from the left (P>0.05, respectively). Resistance (R) of LPM in NSCLBP group was larger than that in HC group (PPP>0.05, respectively). At 50 kHz, relationships between the EIM parameters and geometric parameters of LPM were not significant in NSCLBP group or HC group (P>0.05, respectively).ConclusionThe electrical properties of bilateral LPM in young adults with NSCLBP were different from those of healthy individuals regardless of any current frequency. The ultrasound parameters of LPM, however, showed no significant difference between young patients with NSCLBP and healthy participants. EIM measurement might be more sensitive than rehabilitative ultrasound for NSCLBP in young adults.Trial registrationThe Chinese Clinical trial registration number: ChiCTR2100043113.

Background/Aim: Music-based therapy plays a role in central nervous system diseases. We aimed to explore the effect of different doses and durations of music therapy on motor function recovery after stroke and the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods: Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 1 h, which was followed by reperfusion. In experiment 1, the rats that survived 1 week after MCAO surgery were randomly allocated into four groups (n = 10 per group): MCAO group, 1 h music group (Mozart K.448 music therapy 1 h per day for 2 weeks), 12 h music group (Mozart K.448 music therapy 12 h/day for 2 weeks), and accelerated music group (reversely accelerated music therapy 12 h for 2 weeks, AM group). In experiment 2, the survived rats were randomly divied into three groups: MCAO group, 12 h music group (music therapy 12 h/day for 3 weeks), and 12 h music-R group (music therapy 12 h/day for 2 weeks and rest for 1 week). Three neuroscores were evaluated daily, starting on the first day after surgery until the end of the experiment. The rats were killed 3 weeks after MCAO surgery in experiment 1 or 4 weeks after surgery in experiment 2. Nissl staining of infart core, peri-infarct zone, and motor cortex was performed to assess neuronal survival and regeneration. Western blot and immunofluorescence were used to detect the expression and distribution of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in ipsilateral hemispheres.Results: In the experiment of different music therapy doses, the motor function in the 12-h music group but not in the 1-h music group and AM group was significantly improved compared with that of the MCAO group. The BDNF protein level of the ipsilateral hemisphere motor cortex in the 12-h music group and the 1-h music group was higher than that of the MCAO group. The neurons and Nissl bodies were more in the 12-h music group than in the MCAO group. Immunofluorescence assay showed that a 12 h music therapy induces BDNF and GFAP accumulation at the damage boundary. In the experiment of different music therapy durations, 3 weeks music therapy (12 h music group) induced more longer cell synapses and more clearer cell-to-cell connections than 2 weeks music intervention (12 h music-R group). Moreover, the GFAP morphology in the 12-h music group was more similar to mature activated astrocytes than that in the 12-h music-R group.Conclusions: Music therapy may improve poststroke motor function and promote neuronal repair in the long term. The mechanism may be through stimulating BDNF and GFAP secretion in the injured motor cortex.

Currently, with the rapid development of many cities, water problems, such as water logging and water quality deterioration, occur inevitably. Thus, sponge city construction and low impact development (LID) utilization have become more important worldwide. However, previous works have failed to address the problem of selecting an optimal LID measure layout scenario by simultaneously considering various evaluation indices without subjective factors. In this study, we applied a new and outstanding statistical classifier, random forest, to aid in addressing this conundrum. It was tested on a case study in LiWan district, Guangzhou city. The following conclusions were drawn. (1) To some extent, LID measures are capable of reducing water discharge and generation of pollutants. (2) Excluding subjective factors, random forest can select an optimal LID measure layout scenario when simultaneously considering multiple indices. This study proposed a novel and effective means to evaluate the hydrologic effects of LID measures when constructing sponge cities and provided a guide for optimizing LID layouts.