Functional outcomes of hybrid hiatal hernia repair.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) results in a total healthcare cost of 12.3 billion dollars to the United States annually. GERD is often seen with hiatal hernias.

UNICEF's lessons learned from the education response to the COVID-19 crisis and reflections on the implications for education policy.

COVID-19 triggered mass innovation that grew flexible learning modalities and pathways that can be built upon in future sector plans to make education systems more resilient. These tools must be paired with investments in the people expected to use them and strengthened data systems. To ensure plans are rooted in ever-pressurised budgets, Education Ministers will increasingly need to turn to economic analysis.

Cryptorchidism as an obscure cause of adhesive small bowel obstruction in an adult, a case report.

Introduction And Importance: Cryptorchidism is seen in 3% of fullterm neonates. Rarely, it may cause small bowel obstruction. Knowledge of this presentation of cryptorchidism is essential to treat bowel obstruction arising due to cryptorchidism before the patient suffers complications.

Deep brain stimulation of midbrain locomotor circuits in the freely moving pig.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) has been studied as a therapeutic target in rodent models of stroke, parkinsonism, and spinal cord injury. Clinical DBS trials have targeted the closely related pedunculopontine nucleus in patients with Parkinson's disease as a therapy for gait dysfunction, with mixed reported outcomes. Recent studies suggest that optimizing the MLR target could improve its effectiveness.

Success of endoscopic vacuum therapy for persistent anastomotic leak after esophagectomy - A case report.

Introduction: Endoscopic vacuum (endovac) therapy has shown excellent outcomes when used for esophageal anastomotic leaks. The results of endovac therapy are superior to those of other endoscopic therapies for esophageal leaks.

Case Presentation: We present a case of a 70-year-old male with esophageal adenocarcinoma who underwent Ivor Lewis esophagogastrectomy that was complicated by an esophageal leak.

Neurophysiological Changes in the First Year After Cell Transplantation in Sub-acute Complete Paraplegia.

Neurophysiological testing can provide quantitative information about motor, sensory, and autonomic system connectivity following spinal cord injury (SCI). The clinical examination may be insufficiently sensitive and specific to reveal evolving changes in neural circuits after severe injury. Neurophysiologic data may provide otherwise imperceptible circuit information that has rarely been acquired in biologics clinical trials in SCI.

Nonsurgical management of an asymptomatic popliteal venous aneurysm.

An 81-year-old male with a history of poorly controlled congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atrial fibrillation among other comorbidities was admitted to the hospital for worsening bilateral leg swelling and cellulitis. The patient had an injury to his left medial malleolus 2 weeks prior, which failed outpatient care. During the physical exam, a soft mobile mass was palpated in the right popliteal fossa along with bilateral varicose veins, +1 pitting edema in bilateral lower extremities up to mid-calf.

Cortical and Subcortical Effects of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation in Humans with Tetraplegia.

An increasing number of studies supports the view that transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the spinal cord (TESS) promotes functional recovery in humans with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the neural mechanisms contributing to these effects remain poorly understood. Here we examined motor-evoked potentials in arm muscles elicited by cortical and subcortical stimulation of corticospinal axons before and after 20 min of TESS (30 Hz pulses with a 5 kHz carrier frequency) and sham-TESS applied between C5 and C6 spinous processes in males and females with and without chronic incomplete cervical SCI.

Dichotomous Locomotor Recoveries Are Predicted by Acute Changes in Segmental Blood Flow after Thoracic Spinal Contusion Injuries in Pigs.

Neuroimaging facilitates the translation of animal pre-clinical research to human application. The large porcine spinal cord is useful for testing invasive interventions. Ideally, the safety and efficacy of a delayed intervention is tested in pigs that have recovered sufficiently after spinal cord injury (SCI) to allow either deterioration or improvement of function to be detected.

Clinical and Neurophysiological Changes after Targeted Intrathecal Injections of Bone Marrow Stem Cells in a C3 Tetraplegic Subject.

High-level quadriplegia is a devastating condition with limited treatment options. Bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSCs) are reported to have immunomodulatory and neurotrophic effects in spinal cord injury (SCI). We report a subject with complete C2 SCI who received three anatomically targeted intrathecal infusions of BMSCs under a single-patient expanded access investigational new drug (IND).

Intraspinal Delivery of Schwann Cells for Spinal Cord Injury.

Cell transplant-mediated tissue repair of the damaged spinal cord is being tested in several clinical trials. The current candidates are neural stem cells, stromal cells, and autologous Schwann cells (aSC). Due to their peripheral origin and limited penetration of astrocytic regions, aSC are transplanted intralesionally as compared to neural stem cells that are transplanted into intact spinal cord.

Characterization of Motor and Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in the Yucatan Micropig Using Transcranial and Epidural Stimulation.

Yucatan micropigs have brain and spinal cord dimensions similar to humans and are useful for certain spinal cord injury (SCI) translational studies. Micropigs are readily trained in behavioral tasks, allowing consistent testing of locomotor loss and recovery. However, there has been little description of their motor and sensory pathway neurophysiology.

3D Imaging of Axons in Transparent Spinal Cords from Rodents and Nonhuman Primates.

The histological assessment of spinal cord tissue in three dimensions has previously been very time consuming and prone to errors of interpretation. Advances in tissue clearing have significantly improved visualization of fluorescently labelled axons. While recent proof-of-concept studies have been performed with transgenic mice in which axons were prelabeled with GFP, investigating axonal regeneration requires stringent axonal tracing methods as well as the use of animal models in which transgenic axonal labeling is not available.

Clinical translation of autologous Schwann cell transplantation for the treatment of spinal cord injury.

Purpose Of Review: To describe the current status of testing Schwann cell transplantation as a therapy for human spinal cord injury (SCI).

Recent Findings: Transplanted Schwann cells have reparative effects in the damaged spinal cord. A few clinical studies have reported that Schwann cell transplantation appears safe.

Technical aspects of spinal cord injections for cell transplantation. Clinical and translational considerations.

Spinal cord injections may be used to transplant cellular suspensions for the experimental treatment of spinal cord injury. These injections cause some additional injury due to needle penetration, spinal cord motion during injection, creation of intraparenchymal pressure gradients and hydrodynamic dissection, instillation of a deforming cell mass and possible cord ischemia. It is important to understand these variables to maximize the safety of injections and avoid injury to spared structures.