Low back pain is a significant public health problem and one of the most commonly reported reasons for the use of Complementary Alternative Medicine. A randomized control trial was conducted in subjects with non-specific chronic low back pain comparing Iyengar yoga therapy to an educational control group. Both programs were 16 weeks long. Subjects were primarily self-referred and screened by primary care physicians for study of inclusion/exclusion criteria. The primary outcome for the study was functional disability. Secondary outcomes including present pain intensity, pain medication usage, pain-related attitudes and behaviors, and spinal range of motion were measured before and after the interventions. Subjects had low back pain for 11.2+/-1.54 years and 48% used pain medication. Overall, subjects presented with less pain and lower functional disability than subjects in other published intervention studies for chronic low back pain. Of the 60 subjects enrolled, 42 (70%) completed the study. Multivariate analyses of outcomes in the categories of medical, functional, psychological and behavioral factors indicated that significant differences between groups existed in functional and medical outcomes but not for the psychological or behavioral outcomes. Univariate analyses of medical and functional outcomes revealed significant reductions in pain intensity (64%), functional disability (77%) and pain medication usage (88%) in the yoga group at the post and 3-month follow-up assessments. These preliminary data indicate that the majority of self-referred persons with mild chronic low back pain will comply to and report improvement on medical and functional pain-related outcomes from Iyengar yoga therapy.

Rh substituted-La 2 B 2 O 7 (B = Zr or Ti) composite oxides were synthesized and applied in the dry reforming of methane (DRM) reaction. The characterizations of XRD, Raman, UV−vis diffuse reflectance, HRTEM, HAADF-STEM, in situ DRIFTS, XAFS XPS, TPR and the tests of DRM reaction have shown that the degree of substitution and the catalytic performance depend on the composition of La 2 B 2 O 7 (B = Zr or Ti). It is found that almost all Rh species substituted Zr over the compact Rh-LZO while a part of Rh substituted Ti, and the rest existed in the form of Rh 2 O 3 on the surface over the loose Rh-LTO. CH 4 was prone to dissociate on Rh−La 2 Zr 2 O 7 but hard to continue owing to the quickly depositing of intermediate carbon, which would not be resolved unless enough active O* was furnished. On the other hand, titanium-doped La 2 Ti 2 O 7 conferred unique structural and charge effects to supported Rh through the metal−support interface, leading to the coexistence of Rh 0 and Rh δ+ which performed synergistically during DRM at 800 °C. We proposed that CH 4 would be activated on Rh sites continuously if generated carbon could be promptly oxidized by active O* species that originated from CO 2 dissociation. The coexistence of Rh 0 and Rh δ+ in Rh−La 2 Ti 2 O 7 facilitated the electron transfer and thus accelerated the mobility of active oxygen species, which could be proved by the variations of binding energy in Ti, O, and Rh.

Four lignin model compounds were used in the reaction with acetic anhydride, with 4-dimethyl amino pyridine, sodium acetate, and sulfuric acid as catalysts to learn about the esterification mechanism of lignin by MASPS technology.