Efficacy of Dry Needling for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: To evaluate the current evidence of the effectiveness of dry needling in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP).

Methods: PubMed, Medline, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, CINAHL and PEDro databases were searched until 2020.

Study Selection: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that used dry needling as the main treatment and which included participants diagnosed with chronic LBP.

Efficacy of e-Health Interventions in Patients with Chronic Low-Back Pain: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.

Low-back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Around 75-84% of the world's population will experience LBP at some point, establishing it as a major global health problem. e-Health is the remote delivery of therapeutic services, clinical information, and medical care, and may prove a very useful approach to tackle this pathology.

Electrical dry needling versus conventional physiotherapy in the treatment of active and latent myofascial trigger points in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain.

Background: Chronic low back pain is considered to be one of the main causes of absenteeism from work and primary and specialized consultations. The symptoms of nonspecific chronic low back pain may be accompanied by the activation of myofascial trigger points in the muscles, together with local and/or referred pain. Electrical dry needling is increasingly used in the treatment of lumbar myofascial pain.

Manipulative therapy of sacral torsion versus myofascial release in patients clinically diagnosed posterior pelvic pain: a consort compliant randomized controlled trial.

Background Context: Chronic low back pain represents a health care problem with substantial costs. It is generally accepted that approximately 10% to 25% of patients with persistent chronic low back pain may have pain arising from the sacroiliac joints.

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the effects of manipulative therapy of sacral torsion versus myofascial release on disability, pain intensity, and mobility in patients with chronic low back pain and sacroiliac joints.

[Early detection with FDG-PET of colonic tumors in patients with another known tumor].

Patients with known tumors can have other tumors in unexpected places, the so-called synchronic or second primary cancers. In these patients, whole-body fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to study known tumors can identify other tumors that would escape notice if only the sites of known tumors were investigated. We present 3 patients in whom whole-body FDG-PET was requested to study known tumors: 2 lung cancers and one melanoma.

[FDG-PET in hepatocellular carcinoma. Based on one case].

We present a case of a 73 year old man, who lost 12 kg of weight in one month, had abdominal pain and progressive hepatic failure. A MRI and liver ultrasound were performed and, with the patient's symptoms, hepatocellular carcinoma Vs metastatic liver was suspected. A PET-FDG was performed and the images showed hepatomegaly and splenomegaly, without other findings of interest.

[Utility of esophageal scintigraphy in congenital "H" type tracheoesofagea fistula].

We present the case of 15 day old female baby, with respiratory insufficiency, asphyxia and cyanosis when fed. She was diagnosed by ultrasound of intraauricular communication ostium secundum type. Passage of the contrast to the right respiratory tract but without localization of the fistula was observed in the esophagogastric contrast study.

A European multicentre, placebo-controlled supplementation study with alpha-tocopherol, carotene-rich palm oil, lutein or lycopene: analysis of serum responses.

Increased levels of oxidative stress have been implicated in tissue damage and the development of chronic diseases, and dietary antioxidants may reduce the risk of oxidative tissue damage. As part of a European multicentre project, several studies were undertaken with the aim of testing whether the consumption of foods rich in carotenoids reduces oxidative damage to human tissue components. We describe here the serum response of carotenoids and tocopherols upon supplementation with carotenoids from natural extracts (alpha-carotene+beta-carotene, lutein or lycopene; 15 mg/day) and/or with alpha-tocopherol (100 mg/day) in a multicentre, placebo-controlled intervention study in 400 healthy male and female volunteers, aged 25-45 years, from five European regions (France, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands and Spain).

Serum concentrations of carotenoids and vitamins A, E, and C in control subjects from five European countries.

High intakes of fruits and vegetables, or high circulating levels of their biomarkers (carotenoids, vitamins C and E), have been associated with a relatively low incidence of cardiovascular disease, cataract and cancer. Exposure to a high fruit and vegetable diet increases antioxidant concentrations in blood and body tissues, and potentially protects against oxidative damage to cells and tissues. This paper describes blood concentrations of carotenoids, tocopherols, ascorbic acid and retinol in well-defined groups of healthy, non-smokers, aged 25-45 years, 175 men and 174 women from five European countries (France, UK (Northern Ireland), Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands and Spain).

Lutein ester in serum after lutein supplementation in human subjects.

Lutein, one of the major carotenoids present in serum, is also widely consumed by most populations. For the purpose of testing the potential health benefits of several carotenoids, lutein was supplied as part of an intervention trial to test whether the consumption of these food constituents reduces oxidative damage to human tissue components. Lutein from a natural source (15 mg/d as mixed ester forms) was supplied for 4 months to eighteen non-smoking, apparently healthy volunteers (nine men, nine women) aged 25-45 years.

Carotenoids, retinol and tocopherols in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and their immediate relatives.

1. Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus are classified among the groups at risk for low vitamin status, and recent studies suggest that some degree of supplementation with antioxidants may be beneficial in helping to prevent certain long-term complications of diabetes mellitus. Our objective was to compare the status of the fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidant-related compounds in patients with well-defined insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with that of their first-degree relatives, controlling seasonal and analytical variability as factors influencing the interpretation of the data.

[Serum status of carotenoids in control subjects and its relation to the diet].

Carotenoids are a group of fat soluble pigments which are present in the human being, both in blood, as in tissues, and which are obtained through the diet, mainly from fruits and vegetables. The interest of these compounds is due not only to the provitamin A activity of some of them, but also due to a whole series of biological activities such as: antioxidant or prooxidant, photo-protective, modulator of the immune response, anti-carcinogen, etc. The best analytical method available for the analysis of carotenoids is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which is used in our study both for serum as for foods, and it is controlled throughout periodic quality controls.

Variability in the intercomparison of food carotenoid content data: a user's point of view.

The availability of reliable information on food composition is essential both for the evaluation of diet and for nutritional research to relate diet to health or disease. In this article, we compare the total and individual carotenoid contents and the retinol equivalents in fruits and vegetables reported in several food composition tables and HPLC studies. The impact of the variability in carotenoid intake was evaluated on the basis of Spanish National Consumption Statistics and on the values for a standard diet.

Reference values for retinol, tocopherol, and main carotenoids in serum of control and insulin-dependent diabetic Spanish subjects.

To establish reference ranges for use in clinical and epidemiological studies, we determined concentrations of retinol, alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and lycopene in 450 Spanish control subjects and 123 Spanish patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Results were grouped according to sex, and samples were collected throughout the year. Concentrations of retinol were significantly lower and beta-carotene and alpha-carotene were higher in women than in men, both in controls and IDDM subjects, whereas beta-cryptoxanthin concentrations were higher only in control women.

Supplementation with lutein (4 months) and alpha-tocopherol (2 months), in separate or combined oral doses, in control men.

As part of a European project to test if 'the consumption of diets rich in carotenoids reduces oxidative damage to human tissue components', 15 mg/day lutein and 100 mg/day alpha-tocopherol were supplied to ten volunteers. alpha-Tocopherol (alone and combined) provoked an increase in alpha-tocopherol and a decrease in gamma-tocopherol serum levels. Lutein levels increased during the first month (given alone) in all controls but they behaved very differently during the following 3 months.