Fighting for recovery on multiple fronts: The past, present, and future of clinical trials for spinal cord injury.

Through many decades of preclinical research, great progress has been achieved in understanding the complex nature of spinal cord injury (SCI). Preclinical research efforts have guided and shaped clinical trials, which are growing in number by the year. Currently, 1,149 clinical trials focused on improving outcomes after SCI are registered in the U.

Systemic immune suppression in glioblastoma: the interplay between CD14+HLA-DRlo/neg monocytes, tumor factors, and dexamethasone.

Patients with glioblastoma (GBM) exhibit profound systemic immune defects that affect the success of conventional and immune-based treatments. A better understanding of the contribution of the tumor and/or therapy on systemic immune suppression is necessary for improved therapies, to monitor negative effects of novel treatments, to improve patient outcomes, and to increase understanding of this complex system. To characterize the immune profile of GBM patients, we phenotyped peripheral blood and compared these to normal donors.

Interphase cytogenetics for 1p19q and t(1;19)(q10;p10) may distinguish prognostically relevant subgroups in extraventricular neurocytoma.

Co-deletion of chromosome arms 1p and 19q, characteristic of oligodendroglial tumors, was recently found to be mediated by t(1;19)(q10;p10). To evaluate the prevalence of 1p19q co-deletion and t(1;19) in extraventricular neurocytomas (EVN), we studied tumors from 23 patients, including 13 females and 10 males (median age at diagnosis 34 years, range 2-76 years). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies were performed with probes targeting 1p36/1q25 and 19q13/19p13 to assess for 1p19q co-deletion, as well as chromosome 1 alpha-satellite and 19p12 to detect t(1;19)(q10;p10).

Cerebellopontine angle craniopharyngioma: case report and literature review.

The authors report an unusual case of adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma occurring in isolation in the cerebellopontine angle of a 12-year-old female. The patient presented with a 1-year history of nausea, vomiting, and headache. MRI revealed a left cerebellopontine angle tumor without connection to the suprasellar space.

Prospective analysis of incidence and risk factors of dysphagia in spine surgery patients: comparison of anterior cervical, posterior cervical, and lumbar procedures.

Study Design: A 3-year prospective, cohort study.

Objectives: To compare the incidence and risk factors of dysphagia after anterior cervical (AC), posterior cervical (PC), and posterior lumbar (PL) spine procedures.

Summary Of Background Data: Dysphagia is a known risk of AC surgery; however, comprehensive postoperative swallow evaluations have not been performed for a comparative cohort of AC, PC, and PL surgery patients.

Prognostic value of magnetic resonance imaging-guided stereotactic biopsy in the evaluation of recurrent malignant astrocytoma compared with a lesion due to radiation effect.

Object: The prognostic value of differentiating between recurrent malignant glioma and a lesion due to radiation effect by performing stereotactic biopsy has not been assessed. Thus, this study was undertaken to determine such value.

Methods: Between 1995 and 2001, 114 patients underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided stereotactic biopsy to differentiate lesions caused by a recurrence of malignant astrocytoma and by radiation effect.