Multidisciplinary team approach to traumatic spinal cord injuries: a single institution's quality improvement project.

Background: A stepwise multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach to the injured trauma patient has been reported to have an overall benefit, with reduction in mortality and improved morbidity. Based on clinical experience, we hypothesized that implementation of a dedicated Spinal Cord Injury Service (SCIS) would impact outcomes of a patient specific population on the trauma service.

Methods: The trauma center registry was retrospectively queried, from January 2011 through December 2015, for patients presenting with a spinal cord injury.

Effect of Protein Concentration on the Flow of Cerebrospinal Fluid Through Shunt Tubing.

Background: Protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are commonly thought to be related to sterile shunt malfunction.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between protein concentration and flow through CSF shunt tubing and a shunt valve.

Methods: New and explanted shunt catheters were tested with and without a shunt valve attached at various protein concentrations.

Compartmentalization of immune responses during Staphylococcus aureus cranial bone flap infection.

Decompressive craniectomy is often required after head trauma, stroke, or cranial bleeding to control subsequent brain swelling and prevent death. The infection rate after cranial bone flap replacement ranges from 0.8% to 15%, with an alarming frequency caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is problematic because of recalcitrance to antibiotic therapy.

Atypical presentation of primary central nervous system non-Hodgkin lymphoma in immunocompetent young adults.

Objective: Primary central nervous system non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PCNSL) is a malignant lymphoma limited to the cranial-spinal axis in the absence of systemic lymphoma. Historically, PCNSL accounts for fewer than 5% of all cases of primary intracranial neoplasms. PCNSL is rare in immunocompetent young adults.

Flow characteristics of cerebrospinal fluid shunt tubing.

Object: Cerebrospinal fluid shunt systems malfunction for a multitude of reasons, including malpostitioning, obstruction of the ventricular or distal catheter, obstruction of the shunt valve, and catheter disruptions or disconnections. The goal of this study was to examine the hydrodynamic resistance and flow in new and explanted catheters and also in catheters with 1 or 2 straight connectors.

Methods: Explanted catheters of multiple lengths, 2-piece catheters, 3-piece catheters, and new catheters were attached to a proximal and distal manometer.

Upf1p, a highly conserved protein required for nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, interacts with the nuclear pore proteins Nup100p and Nup116p.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Upf1p is a 971-amino-acid protein that is required for the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway, a pathway that degrades mRNAs with premature translational termination codons. We have identified a two-hybrid interaction between Upf1p and the nuclear pore (Nup) proteins, Nup100p and Nup116p. Both nucleoporins predominantly localize to the cytoplasmic side of the nuclear pore and participate in mRNA transport.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ats1p interacts with Nap1p, a cytoplasmic protein that controls bud morphogenesis.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATS1 (alpha-tubulin suppressor 1) was originally identified as a high-copy suppressor of class two alpha-tubulin mutations and was proposed to have a regulatory role in coordinating the microtubule state with the cell cycle. Here, we show that Ats1p interacts with Nap1p, a cytoplasmic protein that regulates the activity of the Cdc28p/Clb2p complex. Loss of Nap1p results in a delayed switch from polar to isotropic bud growth.