Health disparities in aging: Improving dementia care for Black women.

In the United States, 80% of surveyed Black patients report experiencing barriers to healthcare for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), delaying the time-sensitive treatment of a progressive neurodegenerative disease. According to the National Institute on Aging, Black study participants are 35% less likely to be given a diagnosis of ADRD than white participants, despite being twice as likely to suffer from ADRD than their white counterparts. Prior analysis of prevalence for sex, race, and ethnicity by the Centers for Disease Control indicated the highest incidence of ADRD in Black women.

Guideline summary review: an evidence-based clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of low back pain.

Background Context: The North American Spine Society's (NASS) Evidence Based Clinical Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Low Back Pain features evidence-based recommendations for diagnosing and treating adult patients with nonspecific low back pain. The guideline is intended to reflect contemporary treatment concepts for nonspecific low back pain as reflected in the highest quality clinical literature available on this subject as of February 2016.

Purpose: The purpose of the guideline is to provide an evidence-based educational tool to assist spine specialists when making clinical decisions for adult patients with nonspecific low back pain.

Misplacement of a vena cava filter into the spinal canal.

We report the case of a 70-year-old male with a complication of misplacement of a vena cava filter into the spinal canal. This likely happened as a result of penetration of the wire and filter sheath through the iliac vein or vena cava into the retroperitoneum, vertebral foramina, and spinal canal at the level of L2 and L3. Due to the patient's condition, the filter was not removed and no neurologic symptoms have occurred.

Magnesium efficacy in a rat spinal cord injury model.

Object: Magnesium has been shown to have neuroprotective properties in short-term spinal cord injury (SCI) studies. The authors evaluated the efficacy of magnesium, methylprednisolone, and magnesium plus methylprednisolone in a rat SCI model.

Methods: A moderate-to-severe SCI was produced at T9-10 in rats, which then received saline, magnesium, methylprednisolone, or magnesium plus methylprednisolone within 10 minutes of injury.

Brain magnetic resonance imaging changes after sorafenib and sunitinib chemotherapy in patients with advanced renal cell and breast carcinoma.

Object: The authors report novel imaging findings associated with the treatment of sorafenib (Nexavar) and sunitinib (Sutant), 2 agents used in the treatment of advanced metastatic disease.

Methods: Patients with renal cell and breast carcinoma metastases to the brain were identified from the prospective database at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Penn State Cancer Institute.

Results: Four patients who received sorafenib or sunitinib after surgical or radiosurgical treatment of their metastases were identified from the database.

Radiographic formation and progression of cervical syringomyelia in a child with untreated Chiari I malformation.

We present the case of a 17-month-old girl with an untreated Chiari I malformation who developed radiographic progression of syringomyelia over a 23-month period. The patient presented with initial symptoms of airway difficulties and gait ataxia, which did not progress clinically over this period of observation, despite recommendations for surgical decompression. At 17 months, there was a region of T(2) hyperintensity which progressed to become a syrinx within 3 months, enlarging over serial imaging studies.

Epidural metastases from endodermal sinus tumor arising from benign sacral teratoma. Case report and review of the literature.

The recurrence of benign sacral teratomas is a small but significant possibility. Recurrence as an endodermal sinus tumor (EST) with epidural metastases, however, has not been previously reported. The authors describe a case of a mature sacrococcygeal teratoma in a 4-day-old female patient that recurred after 22 months as an EST with epidural metastases.

Neurotrophic properties of olfactory ensheathing glia.

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OEC) constitute a specialized population of glia that accompany primary olfactory axons and have been reported to facilitate axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury in vivo. In the present report we describe OEC neurotrophic factor expression and neurotrophic properties of OECs in vitro. Investigation of the rat olfactory system during development and adulthood by radioactive in situ hybridization revealed positive labeling in the olfactory nerve layer for the neurotrophic molecules S-100beta, CNTF, BMP-7/OP-1, and artemin, as well as for the neurotrophic factor receptors RET and TrkC.