The validity of administrative data to classify patients with spinal column and cord injuries.

International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes are used to document patient morbidity in administrative databases. Although administrative data are used for research purposes, the validity of the data to accurately describe clinical diagnostic information is uncertain. We compared the clinical diagnoses for spinal cord and column injuries from a longitudinal patient registry, the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR), to the ICD-10 spinal injury codes from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) at one institution.

Incidence and prevalence of spinal cord injury in Canada: a national perspective.

Background: Despite decades of research, there are no national estimates of the incidence or prevalence of spinal cord injury (SCI) in Canada. Our objective was to utilize the best available data to estimate the incidence and prevalence of traumatic SCI (TSCI) and non-traumatic SCI (NTSCI) in Canada for 2010.

Methods: Initial incidence (number of TSCIs at injury scene) and discharge incidence (number discharged into the community) were calculated using published TSCI rates from Alberta and NTSCI rates from Australia.

Mirrored bilateral slow-wave cortical activity within local circuits revealed by fast bihemispheric voltage-sensitive dye imaging in anesthetized and awake mice.

Spontaneous slow-wave oscillations of neuronal membrane potential occur about once every second in the rodent cortex and may serve to shape the efficacy of evoked neuronal responses and consolidate memory during sleep. However, whether these oscillations reflect the entrainment of all cortical regions via propagating waves or whether they exhibit regional and temporal heterogeneity that reflects processing in local cortical circuits is unknown. Using voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging within an adult C57BL/6J mouse cross-midline large craniotomy preparation, we recorded this depolarizing activity across most of both cortical hemispheres simultaneously in both anesthetized and quiet awake animals.

Treatment of intracerebral hemorrhage in rats with 12 h, 3 days and 6 days of selective brain hypothermia.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating stroke with no proven treatment to reduce brain injury. In this study we modeled ICH by injecting 100 microL of autologous blood into the striatum of rats. We then tested whether hypothermia would reduce brain injury and improve recovery as has been repeatedly observed for ischemic and traumatic brain damage.

The effects of selective brain hypothermia on intracerebral hemorrhage in rats.

Prolonged hypothermia effectively treats global cerebral ischemic injury in animal models as well as in cardiac arrest victims. Furthermore, clinical trials, based upon encouraging animal findings, are underway to assess efficacy in ischemic stroke. Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a more devastating stroke, but one that shares mechanisms of injury with ischemia.

The influence of hypothermia on outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage in rats.

Background And Purpose: Late hypothermia (HYPO) reduces injury after collagenase-induced intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), whereas early HYPO does not because it exacerbates the protracted bleeding that occurs in this model. We hypothesized that early HYPO would not increase bleeding after whole blood infusion and thus expected early HYPO to improve outcome through reducing secondary consequences of ICH (eg, inflammation).

Methods: Autologous blood (100 microL) was infused into the striatum.