Background Traditional Chinese exercise ( TCE ) has widespread use for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease; however, there appears to be no consensus about the benefits of TCE for patients with cardiovascular disease. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the effects of TCE for patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods and Results Relevant studies were searched by PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. We covered only published articles with randomized controlled trials. The outcome measures included physiological outcomes, biochemical outcomes, physical function, quality of life, and depression. A total of 35 articles with 2249 cardiovascular disease patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. The pooling revealed that TCE could decrease systolic blood pressure by 9.12 mm Hg (95% CI −16.38 to −1.86, P =0.01) and diastolic blood pressure by 5.12 mm Hg (95% CI −7.71 to −2.52, P <0.001). Patients performing TCE also found benefits compared with those in the control group in terms of triglyceride (standardized mean difference −0.33, 95% CI −0.56 to −0.09, P =0.006), 6‐minute walk test (mean difference 59.58 m, 95% CI −153.13 to 269.93, P =0.03), Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire results (mean difference −17.08, 95% CI −23.74 to −10.41, P <0.001), 36‐Item Short Form physical function scale (mean difference 0.82, 95% CI 0.32–1.33, P =0.001), and Profile of Mood States depression scale (mean difference −3.02, 95% CI −3.50 to −2.53, P <0.001). Conclusions This study demonstrated that TCE can effectively improve physiological outcomes, biochemical outcomes, physical function, quality of life, and depression among patients with cardiovascular disease. More high‐quality randomized controlled trials on this topic are warranted.

BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate whether performance in a multiple object tracking (MOT) task could be improved incrementally with sports expertise, and whether differences between experienced and less experienced athletes, or non-athletes, were modulated by load.MethodsWe asked 22 elite and 20 intermediate basketball players, and 23 non-athletes, to perform an MOT task under three attentional load conditions (two, three, and four targets). Accuracies were analyzed to examine whether different levels of sports expertise influence MOT task performance.ResultsThe elite athletes displayed better tracking performance compared with the intermediate or non-athletes when tracking three or four targets. However, no significant difference was found between the intermediate athletes and the non-athletes. Further, no differences were observed among the three groups when tracking two targets.DiscussionThe results suggest that the effects of expertise in team ball sports could transfer to a non-sports-specific attention task. These transfer effects to general cognitive functions occur only in elite athletes with extensive training under higher attentional load.

The systematic review demonstrates that CMI is effective for preventing falls in older adults in the short term. However, there is, as yet, little evidence to support claims regarding long-term benefits. Hence, future studies should investigate the long-term effectiveness of CMI in terms of fall prevention in older adults.

Background Acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) is often used to facilitate motor recovery after stroke. However, the effect of acupuncture at ST36 on motor cortical excitation and inhibition remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of acupuncture at ST36 on motor cortical excitation and inhibition. Methods Twenty healthy volunteers were recruited to receive acupuncture treatment. We selected the acupoint ST36 and its respective sham point as the experimental acupoint. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure motor‐evoked potentials (MEP) at 7 time points—before acupuncture (Pre), acupuncture (T0), 4 and 8 min after acupuncture (T4; T8), needle removal (T12), 4 and 8 min after needle removal (T16; T20). Simultaneously, paired TMS (pTMS) was employed to measure short‐ and long‐interval intracortical inhibition (SICI [short latency intracortical inhibition]; LICI [long latency intracortical inhibition]), respectively, at three time points—before acupuncture (Pre), acupuncture (T0), needle removal (T12). After removing the acupuncture needle, all subjects were asked to quantify their Deqi sensation using a Gas table. Results The average Deqi sensation score of all subjects during acupuncture at ST36 was higher than that observed at the sham point. With acupuncture at ST36, the MEP amplitude was higher at three time points (T0, T4, T8) than at Pre, although the MEP amplitude tended toward Pre after needle removal. The MEP amplitude was also higher at the same time points (T0, T4, T8) than at the sham point. Furthermore, the Deqi sensation score was correlated with MEP amplitude. With acupuncture at ST36, SICI and LICI at T0 were higher than those at Pre, and SICI and LICI at T0 were higher than those at the sham point. Conclusion Acupuncture at ST36 increased motor cortical excitation and had an effect on the remaining needle phase. Deqi sensation was correlated with MEP amplitude. Acupuncture at ST36 also decreased motor cortical inhibition.

Traditional Chinese exercise (TCE) has many uses in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. However, there is no consensus regarding the benefit of TCE for chronic diseases. Our objective is to examine the effect of TCE on the quality of life and depression for chronic diseases by performing a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We only cover published RCTs. The outcome measures included quality of life and depression. Sixty articles with a total of 4311 patients were included. The pooling revealed that TCE could improve the SF-36 physical function subscale in the short term [SMD (95% CI) = 0.35 (0.13, 0.56), P = 0.002] and mid-term [SMD (95% CI) = 0.49 (0.12, 0.85), P = 0.009], GHQ [SMD (95% CI) = −0.68 (−1.26, −0.09), P = 0.02], the Center for Epidemiologic Studies depression scale in the short term [SMD (95% CI) = −0.86 (−1.42, −0.31), P = 0.002] and mid-term [SMD (95% CI) = −0.41 (−0.64, −0.18), P < 0.001]. The meta-analysis of RCT demonstrates that TCE can significantly improve the quality of life and depression of patients with chronic diseases. These findings provide useful information for patients with chronic diseases as well as for medical staff.