ObjectiveTo evaluate and compare the effects and outcomes of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid (HA) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).MethodsOf the 78 patients recruited for the study, 61 patients met the inclusion criteria. The enrolled patients were randomly divided into two groups: the ESWT group and the HA group. The ESWT group underwent 3 sessions of 1,000 shockwave pulses performed on the affected knee with the dosage adjusted to 0.05 mJ/mm2 energy. The HA group was administered intra-articular HA once a week for 3 weeks with a 1-week interval between each treatment. The results were measured with the visual analogue scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Lequesne index, 40-m fast-paced walk test, and stair-climb test (SCT). A baseline for each test was measured before treatment and then the effects of the treatments were measured by each test at 1 and 3 months after treatment.ResultsIn both groups, the scores of the VAS, WOMAC, Lequesne index, 40-m fast-paced walk test, and SCT were significantly improved in a time-dependent manner (p<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences measured at 1 and 3 months after treatment between the two groups (p>0.05).ConclusionThe ESWT can be an alternative treatment to reduce pain and improve physical functions in patients with knee OA.

Objective To investigate changes in blood glucose level after steroid injection in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and factors affecting those changes.Methods We retrospectively studied 51 patients with type 2 DM who underwent steroid injection for shoulder and back pain. Mean fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels for 7 days before steroid injection was used as the baseline blood glucose level, which was compared with FBS levels for 14 days after steroid injection. We compared the differences in blood glucose changes between HbA1c >7% and HbA1c ≤7% groups and those between insulin and non-insulin treated groups. Demographic data, injection site, and steroid dose were analyzed.Results Compared to baseline, blood glucose significantly (p=0.012) elevated 1 day after steroid injection but not 2 days after injection. In the HbA1c >7% and insulin groups, blood glucose was significantly increased 1 day after injection compared to that in the HbA1c ≤7% (p=0.011) and non-insulin (p=0.024) groups, respectively. Higher HbA1c level before injection was significantly (p=0.003) associated with the degree of blood glucose increase 1 day after injection. No significant differences were noted in the degree of blood glucose increase according to injection site or steroid dose.Conclusion Higher HbA1c level was associated with greater elevation in blood glucose 1 day after steroid injection. Careful monitoring of blood glucose is required on the first day after steroid injection in patients with poorly controlled DM.

The nitrogen solubility of CaO-Al 2 O 3 -CaF 2 was studied at 1 773 K. It was found that nitride capacity increased with increasing CaO content for a given CaF 2 /Al 2 O 3 ratio, decreased with increasing Al 2 O 3 content for a given CaO/CaF 2 ratio, and increases with increasing CaF 2 content when the CaO/Al 2 O 3 molar ratio was less than about 2, but became unaffected by CaF 2 content when the ratio exceeded about 2. These observations were interpreted that CaO depolymerized the Al 2 O 3 network, allowing for nitrogen to exist as both free and non-bridging nitrides, and that CaF 2 assisted in depolymerization and hence increased nitrogen solubility, provided that there was a sufficient amount of network to be depolymerized. A diagram of iso-nitride capacity was drawn for the CaO-Al 2 O 3 -CaF 2 ternary system at 1 773 K, and the nitride capacity was related to the optical basicity of the melt to obtain the following correlation equation: log C N ϭ7.442LϪ19.05

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