Evaluating Dysphagia Duration and Severity After ACDF in Patients With Underlying Dysphagia - A Prospective, Multicenter Study.

Study Design: Prospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the impact of preoperative dysphagia on the postoperative incidence and severity of dysphagia in patients undergoing ACDF at multiple institutions.

Methods: After IRB approval, patients over 18 years of age who underwent an elective ACDF for degenerative conditions were prospectively enrolled at two academic centers from 2018 to 2021.

Cross-sectional area of the longus colli and cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis: A retrospective review evaluating this anatomic consideration.

Background: Limited literature is available to define the impact of the longus colli muscle, a deep flexor of the spine, on cervical spine stability despite its close proximity to the vertebrae.

Aims And Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if longus colli cross-sectional area (CSA) is associated with the severity preoperative cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis.

Materials And Methods: Patients undergoing elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for cervical spondylolisthesis between 2010-2021 were retrospectively identified.

Short-Segment versus Long-Segment Spinal Fusion Constructs for the Treatment of Adult Degenerative Scoliosis: A Comparison of Clinical Outcomes.

Objective: To compare clinical outcomes of patients diagnosed with degenerative scoliosis undergoing short-segment versus long-segment spinal fusion.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of patients with degenerative thoracolumbar scoliosis undergoing elective spinal fusion at a single academic medical center. Cohorts were divided into short-segment (<3) or long-segment (≥3) groups.

Incidence and predictors of ophthalmic artery occlusion in intra-arterial chemotherapy for retinoblastoma.

Background: Retinoblastoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in children.

Objective: To determine the incidence of ophthalmic artery (OA) occlusion in patients treated with selective ophthalmic artery catheterization (OAC) for chemotherapy infusion for retinoblastoma. Also, to evaluate technical, anatomical, tumorous, and patient-related factors that are predictors of OA occlusion.

Collagen barrier membranes do not adsorb hypoxia mimetic activity-Activity of gingival fibroblasts cultured directly on collagen barrier membranes loaded with hypoxia mimetic agents.

Hypoxia-based strategies for applications in oral surgery and periodontology have been proposed where collagen barrier membranes (CBM) are loaded with hypoxia mimetic agents (HMA) to induce a pro-angiogenic response. While it was found that CBM release HMA, it remained unclear if CBM adsorb HMA activity. Here we evaluated the response of oral cells cultured on CBM, supplemented with the HMA dimethyloxalylglycine (DMOG), desferrioxamine (DFO), and l-mimosine (l-MIM).

Effect of prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor-loaded collagen barrier membranes on osteoclastogenesis and osteoblastogenesis.

Prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors induce a proangiogenic response and are therefore proposed to optimize regenerative approaches in periodontics and oral surgery. Here the effect of the prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors dimethyloxalylglycine and deferoxamine, released from collagen barrier membranes, on osteoclastogenesis and osteoblastogenesis was evaluated. Collagen barrier membranes were loaded with dimethyloxalylglycine and deferoxamine.

Toward an Attention-Based Diagnostic Tool for Patients With Locked-in Syndrome.

Electroencephalography (EEG) has been proposed as a supplemental tool for reducing clinical misdiagnosis in severely brain-injured populations helping to distinguish conscious from unconscious patients. We studied the use of spectral entropy as a measure of focal attention in order to develop a motor-independent, portable, and objective diagnostic tool for patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS), answering the issues of accuracy and training requirement. Data from 20 healthy volunteers, 6 LIS patients, and 10 patients with a vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (VS/UWS) were included.

Electromyographic decoding of response to command in disorders of consciousness.

Objective: To propose a new methodology based on single-trial analysis for detecting residual response to command with EMG in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), overcoming the issue of trial dependency and decreasing the influence of a patient's fluctuation of vigilance or arousal over time on diagnostic accuracy.

Methods: Forty-five patients with DOC (18 with vegetative/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome [VS/UWS], 22 in a minimally conscious state [MCS], 3 who emerged from MCS [EMCS], and 2 with locked-in syndrome [LIS]) and 20 healthy controls were included in the study. Patients were randomly instructed to either move their left or right hand or listen to a control command ("It is a sunny day") while EMG activity was recorded on both arms.

Preserved covert cognition in noncommunicative patients with severe brain injury?

Background: Despite recent evidence suggesting that some severely brain-injured patients retain some capacity for top-down processing (covert cognition), the degree of sparing is unknown.

Objective: Top-down attentional processing was assessed in patients in minimally conscious (MCS) and vegetative states (VS) using an active event-related potential (ERP) paradigm.

Methods: A total of 26 patients were included (38 ± 12 years old, 9 traumatic, 21 patients >1 year postonset): 8 MCS+, 8 MCS-, and 10 VS patients.

Detection of visual pursuit in patients in minimally conscious state: a matter of stimuli and visual plane?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether the assessment of pursuit eye movements in patients in minimally conscious state (MCS) is influenced by the choice of the visual stimulus (study 1) and by the moving plane (study 2).

Methods: Patients with MCS (MCS- and MCS+) in the acute (<1 month post-injury) or chronic (>1 month) setting were assessed. The Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) procedure was used to test visual pursuit of a moving mirror, object and person (study 1, n = 88) and to test vertical and horizontal visual tracking (study 2, n = 94).

Volitional electromyographic responses in disorders of consciousness.

Objective: The aim of the study was to validate the use of electromyography (EMG) for detecting responses to command in patients in vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (VS/UWS) or in minimally conscious state (MCS).

Methods: Thirty-eight patients were included in the study (23 traumatic, 25 patients >1 year post-onset), 10 diagnosed as being in VS/UWS, eight in MCS- (no response to command) and 20 in MCS+ (response to command). Eighteen age-matched controls participated in the experiment.

An independent SSVEP-based brain-computer interface in locked-in syndrome.

Objective: Steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow healthy subjects to communicate. However, their dependence on gaze control prevents their use with severely disabled patients. Gaze-independent SSVEP-BCIs have been designed but have shown a drop in accuracy and have not been tested in brain-injured patients.

Effect of zolpidem in chronic disorders of consciousness: a prospective open-label study.

Zolpidem has been reported as an "awakening drug" in some patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). We here present the results of a prospective openlabel study in chronic DOC patients. Sixty patients (35±15 years; 18 females; mean time since insult ± SD: 4±5.

The auditory P300-based single-switch brain-computer interface: paradigm transition from healthy subjects to minimally conscious patients.

Objective: Within this work an auditory P300 brain-computer interface based on tone stream segregation, which allows for binary decisions, was developed and evaluated.

Methods And Materials: Two tone streams consisting of short beep tones with infrequently appearing deviant tones at random positions were used as stimuli. This paradigm was evaluated in 10 healthy subjects and applied to 12 patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) at clinics in Graz, Würzburg, Rome, and Liège.