MALAT1 as a potential salivary biomarker in oral squamous cell carcinoma through targeting miRNA-124.

Objectives: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the long non-coding RNA "MALAT1" measured in the saliva of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and assess the salivary expression of microRNA-124, which MALAT1 targets.

Subjects And Methods: Forty subjects were collected in a consecutive pattern and allocated into two groups. Group A included 20 patients with OSCC, while Group B included 20 healthy subjects.

Case series and descriptive cohort studies in neurosurgery: the confusion and solution.

Background: Case series (CS) are well-known designs in contemporary use in neurosurgery but are sometimes used in contexts that are incompatible with their true meaning as defined by epidemiologists. This inconsistent, inappropriate and incorrect use, and mislabeling impairs the appropriate indexing and sorting of evidence.

Method: Using PubMed, we systematically identified published articles that had "case series" in the "title" in 15 top-ranked neurosurgical journals from January 2008 to December 2012.

Diagnostic performance of the medial hamstring reflex in L5 radiculopathy.

Background: An avalanche of literature exists on almost every aspect of lumbar disc pathology but very limited studies have quantified the diagnostic performance of elements of clinical examination in predicting disc level, meticulously collated the reflex changes in lumbar disc herniation (LDH) as well as assessed the diagnostic performance of the medial hamstring reflex (MHR). Our study underscores the diagnostic performance of the MHR in L5 radiculopathy comparing its diagnostic power to that of the knee and ankle reflexes.

Methods: One hundred consecutive patients operated for de novo LDH in our department between January and December 2011 were prospectively followed-up.

Anatomic Variations of the Sphenoid Sinus and Their Impact on Trans-sphenoid Pituitary Surgery.

Introduction: The trans-sphenoid access to the pituitary gland is becoming the most common approach for pituitary adenomas. Preoperative evaluation of the anatomy of the sphenoid sinus by computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a routine procedure and can direct the surgical decision.

Purpose: This work determines the incidence of the different anatomical variations of the sphenoid sinus as detected by MRI and CT scan and their impact on the approach.