Porous titanium microsphere kyphoplasty for augmentation treatment of osteoporotic vertebral fractures: Technical report and case series.

Background: Vertebral augmentation procedures (VAPs) are used in cases of persistent and unresponsive pain in patients with vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). Although VAPs are considered a safe procedure providing quick pain relief and improved physical function, some postoperative complications can occur, for example, bone cement leakage. The material used in this procedure is almost exclusively polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), which appears to lack biological activity and osteointegration capabilities.

Obesity and Circulating Levels of Vitamin D before and after Weight Loss Induced by a Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet.

Vitamin D plays a pivotal role in calcium and phosphorus metabolism, also influencing bone tissue. Several studies have reported that vitamin D blood levels were significantly lower in people with obesity, probably due to its uptake by the adipose tissue. Clinical studies that investigated the changes of circulating levels of vitamin D following weight loss reported controversial data.

Clinical Use of κ Free Light Chains Index as a Screening Test for Multiple Sclerosis.

Objective: To assess the usefulness of the κ free light chain index (κFLCi) as a screening test to identify patients with suspected MS.

Methods: The study included 56 patients with a request to test for oligoclonal bands (OCBs). OCBs were detected by isoelectric focusing, followed by immunofixation.

Ultrasound-based real-time neuronavigated fluorescence-guided surgery for high-grade gliomas: technical note and preliminary experience.

Background: The extent of resection (EOR) plays a fundamental role in the prognosis of patients with high-grade gliomas (HGG). One of the main challenges in achieving a complete resection is the distinction between tumor and normal brain. Nowadays, several technologies are employed to obtain a higher tumor removal rate and respect the normal tissue in glioma surgery and in the last decades, fluorescein sodium (FS) and intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) have been widely used.

Reconstruction of vertebral body in thoracolumbar AO type A post-traumatic fractures by balloon kyphoplasty: a series of 85 patients with a long follow-up and review of the literature.

Background: Traumatic fractures of the thoracolumbar spine are common injuries, accounting for approximately 90% of all spinal traumas. Optimal management of these fractures still gives rises to much debate in the literature. Currently, one of the treatment options in young patients with stable traumatic vertebral fractures is conservative treatment using braces.

New Hope in Brain Glioma Surgery: The Role of Intraoperative Ultrasound. A Review.

Maximal safe resection represents the gold standard for surgery of malignant brain tumors. As regards gross-total resection, accurate localization and precise delineation of the tumor margins are required. Intraoperative diagnostic imaging (Intra-Operative Magnetic Resonance-IOMR, Intra-Operative Computed Tomography-IOCT, Intra-Operative Ultrasound-IOUS) and dyes (fluorescence) have become relevant in brain tumor surgery, allowing for a more radical and safer tumor resection.

With a Little Help from My Friends: The Role of Intraoperative Fluorescent Dyes in the Surgical Management of High-Grade Gliomas.

High-grade gliomas (HGGs) are the most frequent primary malignant brain tumors in adults, which lead to death within two years of diagnosis. Maximal safe resection of malignant gliomas as the first step of multimodal therapy is an accepted goal in malignant glioma surgery. Gross total resection has an important role in improving overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), but identification of tumor borders is particularly difficult in HGGS.

Preliminary Experience with a Novel System of Facet Fixation to Treat Patients with Lumbar Degenerative Disease. A New Perspective in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?

Purpose:  We report our experience with a novel surgical device for the treatment of lumbar degenerative microinstability. Facet Wedge (DePuy Synthes, Raynham, Massachusetts, United States) is a novel technique of intra-articular lumbar facet fixation that provides a minimally invasive alternative to standard posterior fixation.

Materials And Methods:  From November 2014 to July 2015, 38 patients underwent single-level Facet Wedge implantation.

Fluorescein for resection of high-grade gliomas: A safety study control in a single center and review of the literature.

Background: The importance of a complete resection of high-grade gliomas (HGGs) has been highlighted in scientific literature, in order to limit tumor recurrence and above all to improve disease-free survival rates. Several fluorescent biomarkers have been tested to improve intraoperative identification of residual tumor; 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) and fluorescein sodium (FS) are now starting to play a central role in glioma surgery. We performed a retrospective analysis on 47 patients operated for HGGs.

Skull Bone Defects Reconstruction with Custom-Made Titanium Graft shaped with Electron Beam Melting Technology: Preliminary Experience in a Series of Ten Patients.

Background: Cranioplasty represents a challenge in neurosurgery. Its goal is not only plastic reconstruction of the skull but also to restore and preserve cranial function, to improve cerebral hemodynamics, and to provide mechanical protection of the neural structures. The ideal material for the reconstructive procedures and the surgical timing are still controversial.

Plasma cortisol level in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis (ALS) is associated with a significant distress, being linked to changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. A loss of cortisol circadian rhythmicity in ALS patients was suggested,while more recently an increased plasma cortisol level in the disease has been reported.

Objective: To assay the circadian plasma cortisol level in ALS and to study its relationship with the clinical phenotype and the rate of disease progression.

Residual vein thrombosis and onset of post-thrombotic syndrome: influence of the 4G/5G polymorphism of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 gene.

Background: Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is the most important inhibitor of plasminogen activator. The functional 4G/5G polymorphism of the gene coding for PAI-1 may affect PAI-1 plasmatic activity, influencing the imbalance between coagulation and fibrinolysis cascades. In this prospective cohort analytic study, we investigated the role of this single nucleotide polymorphism in the persistence of thrombotic lesion and the occurrence of post-thrombotic syndrome.

The association between the 4G/5G polymorphism in the promoter of the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 gene and extension of postsurgical calf vein thrombosis.

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the presence of a plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) promoter polymorphism 4G/5G could significantly influence the proximal extension of vein thrombosis in spite of anticoagulant treatment in patients with calf vein thrombosis (CVT) following orthopaedic, urological and abdominal surgery. We studied 168 patients with CVT, who had undergone orthopaedic, urological and abdominal surgery, subdivided as follows: first, 50 patients with thrombosis progression; second, 118 patients without thrombosis progression. The 4G/5G polymorphism of the plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 was evaluated in all patients and in 70 healthy matched controls.

Neuroprotective effect of erythropoietin and darbepoetin alfa after experimental intracerebral hemorrhage.

Objective: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating clinical syndrome for which no truly efficacious therapy has yet been identified. In preclinical studies, erythropoietin (EPO) and its long-lasting analog, darbepoetin alfa, have been demonstrated to be neuroprotective in several models of neuronal insult. The objectives of this study were to analyze whether the systemic administration of recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) and its long-lasting derivative darbepoetin alfa expedited functional recovery and brain damage in a rat model of ICH.

Aneurysm clipping following endovascular coil embolization: a report of two cases.

Background: Treatment of intracranial aneurysms by Guglielmi detachable coil (GDC) embolization is a useful therapeutic alternative to surgery. This procedure is attractive as a minimally invasive approach to treat cerebral aneurysms; however, is not devoid of complications or failure and retreatment, with either a surgical or endovascular technique, may often be required.

Case Reports: Two cases are presented in which surgery was required after coil embolization.

Chronic inflammation causing spinal cord compression in human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Background: The incidence of central nervous system involvement has increased in the setting of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Although rarely reported, spinal cord compression, in the setting of AIDS, has been associated with primary lymphoma or opportunistic infections.

Case Report: The authors describe the case of a young man who was admitted to our institution with rapid and progressive paraplegia.

Immunohistochemical study of the extracellular matrix proteins laminin, fibronectin and type IV collagen in secretory meningiomas.

The extracellular matrix plays a pivotal role in numerous cellular functions during normal and pathological processes. Secretory meningiomas are rare histological meningioma subtypes that have benign behavior, are highly vascularized and are frequently accompanied by massive peritumoral edema. The aim of this study was to assess in secretory meningiomas the immunohistochemical expression of laminin, fibronectin and type IV collagen, proteins found in the extracellular matrix.

Neuroprotective potential of erythropoietin and darbepoetin alfa in an experimental model of sciatic nerve injury. Laboratory investigation.

Object: The objectives of this study were to examine whether the systemic administration of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) and its long-lasting derivative darbepoetin alfa expedited functional recovery in a rat model of sciatic nerve injury, and to compare the effects of these agents in the model.

Methods: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats received a crush injury to the left sciatic nerve and subsequently underwent either placebo treatment, daily injections of rHuEPO, or weekly injections of darbepoetin alfa.

Results: Both rHuEPO and darbepoetin alfa were effective in reducing neurological impairment and improving compound muscle action potentials following nerve injury.

The treatment of venous leg ulcers: a new therapeutic use of iloprost.

Background: We conducted a study using an intravenous (i.v.) infusion of iloprost in the treatment of venous ulcers to verify whether the association of i.

Neuroprotection by erythropoietin administration after experimental traumatic brain injury.

A large body of evidence indicates that the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) exerts beneficial effects in the central nervous system (CNS). To date, EPO's effect has been assessed in several experimental models of brain and spinal cord injury. This study was conducted to validate whether treatment with recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) would limit the extent of injury following experimental TBI.

The role of erythropoietin in neuroprotection: therapeutic perspectives.

Nervous system diseases are very complex conditions comprising a large variety of local and systemic responses. Several therapeutic agents interfering with all or in part the biochemical steps that ultimately cause neuronal death have been demonstrated to be neuroprotective in preclinical models. However, all the agents so far investigated have inexorably failed in the phase III trials carried out.

NMDA receptor antagonist felbamate reduces behavioral deficits and blood-brain barrier permeability changes after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage in the rat.

Increased levels of glutamate and aspartate have been detected after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) that correlate with neurological status. The NMDA receptor antagonist felbamate (FBM; 2-phenyl-1,3-propanediol dicarbamate) is an anti-epileptic drug that elicits neuroprotective effects in different experimental models of hypoxia-ischemia. The aim of this dose-response study was to evaluate the effect of FBM after experimental SAH in rats on (1) behavioral deficits (employing a battery of assessment tasks days 1-5 post-injury) and (2) blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability changes (quantifying microvascular alterations according to the extravasation of protein-bound Evans Blue by a spectrophotofluorimetric technique 2 days post-injury).

Optimal duration of treatment in surgical patients with calf venous thrombosis involving one or more veins.

The aim of this study was to evaluate different durations of treatment in patients with calf venous thrombosis (CVT) involving 1 or more deep veins. The authors studied 2 groups of patients with postsurgical CVT diagnosed by echo-color Doppler. The first group consisted of 68 patients with CVT involving a single vein, and the second group consisted of 124 patients with CVT involving 2 or more veins.

Amelioration of spinal cord compressive injury by pharmacological preconditioning with erythropoietin and a nonerythropoietic erythropoietin derivative.

Object: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating clinical syndrome for which no truly efficacious therapy has yet been identified. In preclinical studies, erythropoietin (EPO) and its nonerythropoietic derivatives asialoEPO and carbamylated EPO have markedly improved functional outcome when administered after compressive SCI. However, an optimum treatment paradigm is currently unknown.