Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are standard adjuvant therapy for postmenopausal women with oestrogen receptor-positive, early-stage, and metastatic breast cancer. Although effective, the risk of falls due to AI-associated knee joint pain significantly increased. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of yoga and massage on AI-associated knee joint pain. Breast cancer survivors were randomly assigned to a 6-week yoga intervention-2-week rest-6-week massage exposure (Yoga first, n = 30) or a 6-week massage intervention-2-week rest-6-week yoga exposure (Massage first, n = 30). Evaluations of the treatment efficacy were made at baseline, post-intervention, and post-exposure using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scale, plasma cytokine levels, and changes in meridian energy. The results showed that yoga, superior to massage intervention, significantly reduced AI-associated knee joint pain, as demonstrated by the WOMAC pain score. The yoga intervention improvements were also associated with changes in plasma cytokine levels and meridian energy changes. In conclusion, this study provides scientific evidence that yoga was more effective than massage for reducing AI-associated knee joint pain. Meridian energy changes may provide another scientific, objective, non-invasive way to monitor the therapeutic effects of yoga and investigate another alternative, complementary medicine.

Nickel oxide (NiO) and magnesium oxide (MgO) thin films were inserted into p-Si/n-ZnO heterojunction photodiodes (HPDs), and their mechanisms in enhancing ultraviolet (UV) response and suppressing visible response were studied. The insertion of the MgO layer greatly reduced the leakage current of the HPDs due to the passivation of surface states in ZnO and hence enhanced the rectification ratio from 258.7 to 3769.2 by 14.6-times. HPDs with the NiO layer exhibited the highest UV response and photocurrent for all HPDs because NiO absorbs UV light. HPDs with the MgO layer demonstrated the least visible response and dark current. Among all of the HPDs, those with the NiO layer exhibited the largest UV-to-visible rejection ratio, while those with the MgO layer had the highest photo-to-dark current ratio and detectivity. The UV-to-visible rejection ratio was greatly enhanced from 101.1 to 652.3 by 6.4-times after the insertion of the NiO layer, and the photo-to-dark current ratio was enhanced from 3.3 × 102 to 4.5 × 104, by 136.4-times, after the insertion of the MgO layer. The HPDs with NiO insertion layer presented the fastest transient response, and those with MgO insertion revealed the slowest transient response due to the carrier trapping. Related mechanism for the improvements was elucidated by the band diagram.