Extended transcervical thymectomy with partial upper sternotomy: results in non-thymomatous patients with myasthenia gravis.

Objectives: Thymectomy is a recognized treatment for myasthenia gravis (MG), but the optimal surgical approach is yet to be determined. This study analysed the results in non-thymomatous MG patients treated at our institution using an extended transcervical access with partial upper sternotomy (TC-US), in order to describe cumulative incidence of remission and its predictors.

Methods: In the period 1988-2012, 215 non-thymomatous MG patients underwent thymectomy using the TC-US approach.

Neurophysiological assessment of the injured spinal cord: an intraoperative approach.

Study Design: Prospective, observational study.

Objectives: To assess the spinal cord function intraoperatively in subjects during spine stabilization for spinal cord trauma, by recording muscular (m-MEPs) and epidural motor evoked potentials (e-MEPs, D wave) along with cortical and epidural somatosensory evoked potentials (e-SEPs) and predicting the outcome of spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: Regional Trauma Center, Torino, Italy.

Genetic variants in the NOTCH4 gene influence the clinical features of migraine.

Background: Recent studies suggested an important role for vascular factors in migraine etiopathogenesis. Notch4 belongs to a family of transmembrane receptors that play an important role in vascular development and maintenance. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that polymorphisms of the NOTCH4 gene would modify the occurrence and the clinical features of migraine.

Cystic echinococcosis in Sardinia: farmers' knowledge and dog infection in sheep farms.

Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most widespread parasitic diseases in Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island where almost 3,558,000 milk sheep were raised extensively. The aim of this survey was to evaluate the level of farmers' knowledge on CE transmission, focusing on the role of human to facilitate the persistence of this zoonosis in Sardinia after 14 years after the last campaign against CE. The other goal of the survey is to update on presence of Echinococcus granulosus in its definitive hosts through three ELISA coproantigen tests.

[Current role of bed-rest in threarened abortion].

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of bed-rest in the treatment of threatened abortion. This is based on the extensive use made today of this practice, although there are no studies that suggest or prove its therapeutic success, and on the contrary many of them demonstrate its possible risks.

Methods: The efficacy of bed-rest is evaluated by comparing the abortion rate in patients treated with bed-rest those who received no treatment.