Purpose: To investigate the impact of intradialytic progressive resistance exercise (IPRE) on physical fitness and quality of life in maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients.Methods: Subjects were allocated randomly to the exercise group received IPRE and the control group underwent a haemodialysis session alone. Outcomes measured were including physical fitness ascertained by 6‐min walk test, sit‐to‐stand 10 test and handgrip strength. Kidney Disease Quality of Life Instrument was used to assess the quality of life, and also recorded the adverse event at each exercise session.Results: A total of 87 patients were analysed: 43 in the exercise group and 44 in the control group. After 12 weeks, there were significant improvements in physical fitness and past of the dimension of the scale in the exercise group.Conclusions: IPRE can improve the physical fitness and quality of life in patients underwent MHD with no serious adverse events or safety issues.

Purpose: Bertolotti’s syndrome is a prevalent congenital deformity. However, many physicians fail to include it in their differential diagnosis for low back pain (LBP), which results in missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. There is still a lack of standardized treatment and management strategies for Bertolotti’s syndrome. This study aimed to review the clinical characteristics and management of Bertolotti’s syndrome and reports bibliometric insights in advancements in Bertolotti’s syndrome research. Methods: Studies published until September 30, 2022 were systematically reviewed according to the PRISMA guidelines. Three independent reviewers extracted the data and assessed the quality and risk of bias of the studies based on the methodological index of non-randomized studies (MINORS). SPSS, VOS viewer, and the Citespace software were used for the systematic review, visual analysis, data mining, mapping, and clustering of the retrieved articles, which presented clear and visual presentations of the structural patterns of published research in graphs. Result: A total of 118 articles, describing a total of 419 patients with Bertolotti’s syndrome, were included. There was an upward trend with a steady increase in the number of publications. The world map distribution showed that most publications were predominantly from North America and Asia. The most cited articles were published in the following journals: Spine, The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and Radiology. The mean age of the patients was 47.7 years, and 49.6% of them were male. A total of 159 (96.4%) patients had low back pain symptoms. The mean symptom duration was 41.4 months (74.8%), and most of the patients had Castellvi type II. Disc degeneration was the most reported comorbid spinal diseases. The mean MINORS score was 4.16±3.95 points (range, 1−21). A total of 265 (68.3%) patients underwent surgical treatments. Minimally invasive surgical techniques, prevalence, image classification, and disc degeneration were the current main research areas of Bertolotti’s syndrome. Conclusions: The steady increase in the number of publications demonstrated the increased attention of researchers on this topic. Our results showed a significant prevalence of Bertolotti’s syndrome in patients with LBP and a long symptom duration before the initiation of treatment. Surgical treatments were commonly used to treat patients with Bertolotti’s syndrome after a non-effective conservative treatment. Minimally invasive surgical techniques, prevalence, image classification, and disc degeneration are the major research areas of Bertolotti’s syndrome.

Objectives: The aim of this systematic reviews was to synthesize the current studies for the effectiveness of intradialytic resistance exercises with usual care on HD people.Design: Meta‐analysis of randomized controlled studies.Methods: A systematic search of seven electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, WanFang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and SINOMED, was systematically searched up to May 2018. The reference lists of previously reported systematic review were also checked. Pooled analysis was used to determine effection of intradialytic resistance exercises for haemodialysis people. Physical performance, nutrient intake and quality of life were explored, by comparing the association between effect sizes.Results: Fourteen studies of 594 people were included. Compared with control groups, intradialytic resistance exercises significantly improve physical performance included 6‐min walk test, sit‐to‐stand 30 and grip strength. However, no significant improvements were found in nutrient intakes such as dietary protein intake and quality of life.

In this paper, we consider the population growth of a single species living in a two-dimensional spatial domain. New reaction-diffusion equation models with delayed nonlocal reaction are developed in two-dimensional bounded domains combining different boundary conditions. The important feature of the models is the reflection of the joint effect of the diffusion dynamics and the nonlocal maturation delayed effect. We consider and analyze numerical solutions of the mature population dynamics with some well-known birth functions. In particular, we observe and study the occurrences of asymptotically stable steady state solutions and periodic waves for the two-dimensional problems with nonlocal delayed reaction. We also investigate numerically the effects of various parameters on the period, the peak and the shape of the periodic wave as well as the shape of the asymptotically stable steady state solution.

Background: For a long period of time, the Mediterranean diet (MD) has been regarded by many as a very healthy and balanced daily diet that may be related to the incidences of many types of cancer. However, the association between an MD and breast cancer risk remains inconsistent even though many studies about the topic have been conducted. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between an MD and breast cancer risk. Methods: We searched PubMed, Medline, and EMBASE for relevant articles published earlier than May 2017. “Mediterranean diet” combined with “breast cancer” and “breast carcinoma” were used as search terms. The combined relative risk (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate the association between an MD and breast cancer risk. Results: A total of 18 articles were included in our meta-analysis; the studies spanned 11 years, ranging from 2006 to May 2017. Ten cohort and 8 case-control studies were included. Seven studies analyzed breast cancer incidence separately in premenopausal and postmenopausal women, whereas 6 studies were performed only in postmenopausal women, for a total of 13 analyses in postmenopausal women and 7 analyses among premenopausal women. Our meta-analysis revealed a significant and inverse association of the MD and breast cancer risk (RR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.99). Stratification analysis by study design and menopause status revealed a significant inverse association between the MD and breast cancer risk in case-control studies (RR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.99) and postmenopausal women (RR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.85, 0.97) but not in cohort studies and premenopausal women. Conclusions: Our meta-analysis revealed that an MD is significantly associated with a reduction of breast cancer risk in women, especially postmenopausal women. The MD can be suggested to women, especially postmenopausal women, as a healthy diet to reduce breast cancer risk.

Objectives The purpose of this review is to summarise the evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies that objectively measure daily steps and health outcomes. Design This is an umbrella review. Data sources PubMed, Embase, Scopus, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases were searched through 31 January 2024. Eligibility We included systematic reviews of observational studies (with or without meta-analysis) that assessed the association of objectively measured daily steps with human health-related outcomes. Methodological quality was assessed using ‘A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2’. Results A total of 10 systematic reviews and 6 health outcomes were included after excluding irrelevant and duplicate studies. Higher daily steps were associated with more benefits than harms for a range of health-related outcomes, including all-cause mortality, cardiovascular event, skeletal muscle lesions, metabolic diseases and respiratory disease. A dose-response analysis showed that an increase of 500–1000 steps per day was associated with lower all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Beneficial associations were also found in patients with asthma and acutely hospitalised older adults. Conversely, one study within a systematic review suggested that higher daily steps (≥10 000) might be associated with an increased 52% risk of meniscal pathologies in individuals without knee osteoarthritis. However, one study within a systematic review suggested a potential increased risk of meniscal pathologies in individuals without knee osteoarthritis. Specifically, those exceeding 10 000 steps per day showed a 52% increase in risk. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that daily steps are associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Future research could focus on identifying specific populations that may benefit most from increased daily steps and exploring potential mechanisms to enhance our understanding of how daily steps contribute to improved health outcomes. PROSPERO registration number CRD42022347055.