BACKGROUNDBoth kyphoplasty (KP) and vertebroplasty (VP) are effective for patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF), but which approach might be more effective remains unclear, so we decided to update earlier systematic reviews.OBJECTIVEReview and analyze studies published as of August 2015 that compared clinical outcomes and complications of KP versus VP.DESIGNSystematic review and meta-analysis.SEARCH METHODPublished reports up to August 2015 were found in PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL).SELECTION CRITERIARandomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective and retrospective cohort studies comparing KP and VP in patients with OVCF.DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISTwo authors independently assessed the studies and extracted data.RESULTSThirty-two studies involving 3274 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. There were significant differences between the two groups in short- and long-term postoperative changes in measures of pain intensity and dysfunction (P<.01), in anterior and middle height (P<.01), kyphotic angle (P<.01), and time to injury, but not in posterior height (P=.178). There were no significant differences in the rate of postoperative fractures including adjacent and total fractures, but cement leakage to the intraspinal space was greater in the VP group (P=.035). KP surgery took longer and required a greater volume of injected cement.CONCLUSIONSKR resulted in better pain relief, improvements in Oswestry dysfunction and radiographic outcomes with less cement leakage, but further RCTs are needed to verify this conclusion.LIMITATIONSOnly four RCTs with a certain of risk of bias. Most studies were observational.

Flexible pressure sensors have attracted considerable research interest and efforts owing to their broad application prospects in wearable devices, health monitoring, and human−machine interfacing. High-sensitivity, wide-workable-range, and low-cost pressure sensors are the primary requirement in practical application. In this work, flexible pressure sensors with high sensitivity in a wide pressure range are constructed by introducing a knoll-like microstructured surface into a percolative thermoplastic polyurethane/carbon black sensitive film, using a facile, efficient, and cost-effective screen-printing route. The prepared pressure sensors exhibit an ultrawide sensing pressure range of 0−1500 kPa, high sensitivity (5.205 kPa −1 in the range of 0−100 kPa and 0.63 kPa −1 over 1200 kPa), fast response, and excellent durability for more than 30 000 cycles. We demonstrated the applications of our pressure sensors in health monitoring, such as detection of wrist radial artery pulse waves, phonation, and vibrations. In addition, the proposed sensors showed the potential in object manipulation and human−machine interfacing, capable of detecting spatial pressure distribution, measuring grip forces, and monitoring gas pressures.

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