Cervical Diastematomyelia: A Case Presentation and Systematic Review.

Diastematomyelia is a rare congenital disorder characterized by the separation of the spinal cord by an osseocartilaginous or fibrous septum. While diastematomyelia has been reported to be more common in the thoracic and lumbar regions, the true incidence of cervical diastematomyelia is currently unknown. In this study, we conducted the most comprehensive systematic review to date of all other case reports of diastematomyelia to better characterize the incidence of cervical diastematomyelia and provide comprehensive statistics on the clinical characteristics of diastematomyelia generally.

Bevacizumab and gamma knife radiosurgery for first-recurrence glioblastoma.

Introduction: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common central nervous system malignancy in adults. Despite decades of developments in surgical management, radiation treatment, chemotherapy, and tumor treating field therapy, GBM remains an ultimately fatal disease. There is currently no definitive standard of care for patients with recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) following failure of initial management.

Postoperative Morbidity and Mortality in Lumbar Spine Surgery Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease and Chronic Steroid Use.

Background: Perioperative steroids have traditionally been administered during lumbar spine surgery in order to decrease local inflammation and prevent scar tissue formation, which can otherwise contribute to significant, long-lasting postoperative pain due to the formation of epidural fibrosis around lumbar nerve roots. However, the use of steroids in lumbar spine patients has raised concerns of postoperative wound complications caused by corticosteroid-induced immunomodulatory effects and changes in collagen synthesis. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) undergoing spine surgery are at a particularly elevated risk of various complications due to chronic CKD-related systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction.

Cervical spine flexion-extension radiography versus magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric patients following blunt traumatic injury.

Background: In pediatric trauma patients, 60-80% of spinal cord injuries involve the cervical vertebrae. While the American College of Radiology offers guidelines for best imaging practices in the setting of acute pediatric trauma, there is a lack of uniformity in imaging-decision protocols across institutions. MRI has been shown to demonstrate high sensitivity for both bony and ligamentous injuries while also avoiding unnecessary radiation exposure in the pediatric patient population.

Infantile-onset Pompe disease with neutropenia: Treatment decisions in the face of a unique phenotype.

Infantile-onset Pompe disease manifests with early signs of cardiomyopathy during the first few days to weeks of life. We present the case of a newborn born via emergency cesarean section with atrial flutter and moderate biventricular hypertrophy who was diagnosed with Pompe disease on New York State newborn screen. Diagnosis was confirmed with repeat leukocyte acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) enzyme activity, gene sequencing, urine Hex4, and evaluation of Cross-Reactive Immunological Material (CRIM) status.

Cerebral Proliferative Angiopathy Presenting as Subdural Hematoma: A Case Report and Systematic Literature Review.

Cerebral proliferative angiopathy (CPA) is a rare cerebrovascular pathology that presents with unique clinical features due to distinct histologic, angiographic, and pathophysiologic characteristics that separate it from classical arteriovenous malformation. The disorder is characterized by uncontrolled angiogenesis in which functional brain parenchyma is interspersed with abnormal vascular channels without a distinct nidus. Common presenting symptoms include headache, seizures, and stroke-like symptoms.

Pan-Cancer Characterization of Intratumoral Autonomic Innervation in 32 Cancer Types in the Cancer Genome Atlas.

Over the past two decades, multiple studies have demonstrated the important role that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the mechanisms by which this process occurs have only recently begun to be elucidated. Further, the extent of autonomic innervation in various cancer types and its effects on tumor molecular, immunological, and histopathological features, as well as on patient outcomes, are not yet fully characterized.

Acute-Onset Psychosis Following Prolonged Hospitalization for COVID-19 Pneumonia.

BACKGROUND SARS-CoV-2 infection presents with a variety of clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic courses to prolonged hospitalizations with severe systemic inflammatory responses and multiorgan failure. One particular sequela of the disease that has gained wider attention over the past year is the sudden onset of neuropsychiatric symptoms in the weeks following recovery from COVID-19 pneumonia. While the pathophysiology for the development of this condition is uncertain, symptoms ranging from mild confusion and anxiety to florid psychosis with manic delusions and auditory and visual hallucinations have been rarely, but increasingly, reported in the literature.

Levetiracetam-induced aggression and acute behavioral changes: A case report and literature review.

Levetiracetam is a second-generation antiepileptic medication used to treat a wide range of partial and generalized seizure disorders. While Levetiracetam is generally well-tolerated, mild mood-related side effects (e.g.

Treatment of Morgellons disease with doxycycline.

Morgellons disease (MD) is a rare dermatopathy characterized by nonspecific symptoms and the production of multicolored fibers and granular tissue from diffuse skin ulcerations which are described as being either pruritic or painful. The etiology of MD is currently unknown; previous studies have suggested both psychiatric and infectious causes, with increasing interest over the previous decade in elaborating a possible pathogenesis for the disease secondary to infection by Borrelia species. We report a middle-aged Caucasian female who developed symptoms of MD in the days following exposure to a tick bite after spending an afternoon hiking through a wooded area.

Radial first or patient first: a case series and meta-analysis of transradial versus transfemoral access for acute ischemic stroke intervention.

Background: Few studies have compared technical success and effectiveness of transradial access (TRA) versus transfemoral access (TFA) for mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We compared the two approaches for technical success, effectiveness, and outcomes.

Methods: We retrospectively compared TRA with TFA for AIS MT at our institute.

Optimal experimental design for predator-prey functional response experiments.

Functional response models are important in understanding predator-prey interactions. The development of functional response methodology has progressed from mechanistic models to more statistically motivated models that can account for variance and the over-dispersion commonly seen in the datasets collected from functional response experiments. However, little information seems to be available for those wishing to prepare optimal parameter estimation designs for functional response experiments.