Radiofrequency lumbar zygapophysial joint denervation results in a significant alleviation of pain and functional disability in a select group of patients with chronic low back pain, both on a short-term and a long-term basis.

Moderate-quality evidence supports the recommendation of yoga as a supportive intervention for improving health-related quality of life and reducing fatigue and sleep disturbances when compared with no therapy, as well as for reducing depression, anxiety and fatigue, when compared with psychosocial/educational interventions. Very low-quality evidence suggests that yoga might be as effective as other exercise interventions and might be used as an alternative to other exercise programmes.

We exploit time reversibility analysis, checking the invariance of statistical features of a series after time reversal, to detect temporal asymmetries of short-term heart period variability series. Reversibility indexes were extracted from 22 healthy fetuses between 16th to 40th wk of gestation and from 17 healthy humans (aged 21 to 54, median ϭ 28) during graded head-up tilt with table inclination angles randomly selected inside the set {15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90}. Irreversibility analysis showed that nonlinear dynamics observed in short-term heart period variability are mostly due to asymmetric patterns characterized by bradycardic runs shorter than tachycardic ones. These temporal asymmetries were 1) more likely over short temporal scales than over longer, dominant ones; 2) more frequent during the late period of pregnancy (from 25th to 40th week of gestation); 3) significantly present in healthy humans at rest in supine position; 4) more numerous during 75 and 90°head-up tilt. Results suggest that asymmetric patterns observable in short-term heart period variability might be the result of a fully developed autonomic regulation and that an important shift of the sympathovagal balance toward sympathetic predominance (and vagal withdrawal) can increase their presence. heart rate variability; autonomic nervous system; head-up tilt; fetal maturation; nonlinear dynamics THE VARIABILITY OF HEART PERIOD (usually approximated as the temporal distance between two consecutive R peaks on the ECG, R-R) has been proven to be nonlinear in healthy fetuses between 38th and 40th week of gestation (8) and in healthy humans (1, 4), mostly during experimental conditions periodically forcing cardiovascular regulation (i.e., controlled breathing) (15, 16). However, this finding has not been translated yet into a notion actually helpful in pathophysiology. The main reason is that, until now, the detection of nonlinear dynamics has not been linked to a clear temporal correlate (i.e., a pattern associated with nonlinear dynamics).Time irreversibility analysis checks the invariance of the statistical properties of a time series after time reversal. This analysis might be helpful to translate the involved concept of nonlinear dynamics into a simple, comprehensible notion useful in pathophysiology, since it clearly indicates a time domain scheme responsible for nonlinear dynamics. Indeed, time irreversibility analysis is capable of detecting a specific class of nonlinear dynamics, that is, those characterized by a temporal asymmetry. In other words, when a series is detected as irreversible using simple tests in the two-dimensional phase space (6, 9, 17), it can be stated that the nonlinear behavior is the result of the presence of asymmetric patterns (i.e., waveforms characterized by the upward side shorter or longer than the downward side), thus directly linking the abstract concept of nonlinear dynamics to a clear, easily imaginable, feature (17).The aim of this study is twofold. The first aim is to link the presence of temporal asymme...

BackgroundMany breast cancer patients and survivors use yoga to cope with their disease. The aim of this review was to systematically assess and meta-analyze the evidence for effects of yoga on health-related quality of life and psychological health in breast cancer patients and survivors.MethodsMEDLINE, PsycInfo, EMBASE, CAMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were screened through February 2012. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing yoga to controls were analyzed when they assessed health-related quality of life or psychological health in breast cancer patients or survivors. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.ResultsTwelve RCTs with a total of 742 participants were included. Seven RCTs compared yoga to no treatment; 3 RCTs compared yoga to supportive therapy; 1 RCT compared yoga to health education; and 1 RCT compared a combination of physiotherapy and yoga to physiotherapy alone. Evidence was found for short-term effects on global health-related quality of life (SMD = 0.62 [95% CI: 0.04 to 1.21]; P = 0.04), functional (SMD = 0.30 [95% CI: 0.03 to 0.57), social (SMD = 0.29 [95% CI: 0.08 to 0.50]; P < 0.01), and spiritual well-being (SMD = 0.41 [95% CI: 0.08; 0.74]; P = 0.01). These effects were, however, only present in studies with unclear or high risk of selection bias. Short-term effects on psychological health also were found: anxiety (SMD = −1.51 [95% CI: -2.47; -0.55]; P < 0.01), depression (SMD = −1.59 [95% CI: -2.68 to −0.51]; P < 0.01), perceived stress (SMD = −1.14 [95% CI:-2.16; -0.12]; P = 0.03), and psychological distress (SMD = −0.86 [95% CI:-1.50; -0.22]; P < 0.01). Subgroup analyses revealed evidence of efficacy only for yoga during active cancer treatment but not after completion of active treatment.ConclusionsThis systematic review found evidence for short-term effects of yoga in improving psychological health in breast cancer patients. The short-term effects on health-related quality of life could not be clearly distinguished from bias. Yoga can be recommended as an intervention to improve psychological health during breast cancer treatment.