Ballistocardiogram (BCG) signal is a physiological signal, reflecting heart mechanical status. It can be measured without any electrodes touching subject's body surface and can realize physiological monitoring ubiquitously. However, BCG signal is so weak that it would often be interferred by superimposed noises. For measuring BCG signal effectively, we proposed an approach using joint time-frequency distribution and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for BCG signal de-noising. We set up an adaptive optimal kernel for BCG signal and extracted BCG signals components using it. Then we de-noised the BCG signal by combing empirical mode decomposition with it. Simulation results showed that the proposed method overcome the shortcomings of empirical mode decomposition for the signals with identical frequency content at different times, realized the filtering for BCG signal and also reconstructed the characteristics of BCG.
ObjectiveTo explore the effectiveness of arthroscopy for ankle impingement syndrome. MethodsBetween March 2009 and April 2013, 30 patients with ankle impingement syndrome were treated. Among them, there were 22 males and 8 females with an average age of 28.6 years (range, 16-55 years). Twenty-six patients had a history of obvious ankle sprains. The disease duration was 6-62 months (mean, 21.5 months). All cases had ankle pain, limitation of activity, and positive results of ankle impact test. According to Meislin scoring criteria, 5 cases were rated as good, 8 cases as medium, and 17 cases as poor; the excellent and good rate was 16.7%. American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score was 43.3±5.1. Visual analogue scale (VAS) score was 6.7±2.3. Preoperative X-ray film showed ankle loose bodies and hyperplasia osteophyte in 6 cases, and lateral malleolus old avulsion fracture in 4 cases. MRI showed soft tissue in the ankle joint in the 17 cases, and articular cartilage injury of tibiotalar joint and bone marrow edema in 7 cases. The location, degree, and organization of the impact were observed under arthroscopy. The joint debridement, removal of loose body and osteophyte, plasty of articular cartilage, and plasma radiofrequency ablation of lateral and medial ligaments were performed. ResultsAll incisions healed primarily. No infection of skin and joint, or neurological and vascular injury was found. All patients were followed up 6-32 months (mean, 19.5 months). According to Meislin scoring criteria at last follow-up, 16 cases were rated as excellent, 11 cases as good, and 3 cases as medium; the excellent and good rate was 90.0%, showing significant difference when compared with preoperative value (Z=6.045, P=0.000). AOFAS score was 89.8±4.3, showing significant difference when compared with preoperative score (t=38.180, P=0.000). VAS score was 2.8±1.6, showing significant difference when compared with preoperative score (t=7.624, P=0.000). ConclusionA clear understanding of impingement characteristics, pertinent joint debridement, and complication treatment are important to treat ankle impingement syndrome by simulating ankle impingement under arthroscopy, which have the advantages of strong pertinence, less injury, and fast recovery.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the quality of the clinical practice guidelines of acupuncture in China, in order to identify the status quo and challenges in the development of guidelines. MethodsWe evaluated the quality of the 5 clinical practice guidelines of acupuncture in China through the guideline appraisal instrument "Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation Ⅱ" (AGREE Ⅱ). Four appraisers rated 6 domains of each guideline independently. ResultsFrom the assessment with AGREE Ⅱ, the mean scores of the six domains were as follows: "scope and purpose"55%, "stakeholder involvement" 27%, "rigor of development" 4%, "clarity of presentation" 55%, "applicability" 4%, and "editorial independence" 1%. ConclusionThe quantity of acupuncture guidelines is small and their quality is low due to the lack of methodological issues.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the effects of unicompartmental keen arthroplasty (UKA) and total keen arthroplasty (TKA) in patients with unicompartmental osteoarthritis of the keen. MethodsWe electronically searched PubMed, MEDLINE (Ovid), ProQuest, EBSCO, The Cochrane Library (Issue 10, 2014), EMbase, CNKI, VIP, CBM and WanFang Data from inception to November 2014, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies of UKA versus TKA for patients with unicompartmental osteoarthritis of the keen. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 6 RCTs and 6 cohort studies involving 940 keens were included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that patients underwent UKA enjoyed a quicker rehabilitation to achieve a flexion of 90° (RCT:P<0.05; cohort study:SMD=-1.70, 95%CI -2.07 to -1.34, P<0.000 01), had better range of motion (cohort study:SMD=0.59, 95%CI 0.41 to 0.78, P=0), and were less likely to get DVT (RCT:RR=0.31, 95%CI 0.12 to 0.82, P=0.02), but the patients underwent UKA were more likely to have a revision (RCT:RR=7.59, 95%CI 1.76 to 32.85, P=0.007). The keen scores of the UKA group were similar to the TKA group (RCT:P=0.626; cohort study:MD=1.78, 95%CI -0.09 to 3.65, P=0.06). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that, compared with patients underwent TKA, patients underwent UKA have a quicker rehabilitation and fewer rates of DVT, and are more likely to have a revision. The medium to long-term follow up result of keen scores in both groups was equivalent. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.