Does vitamin C have the ability to augment the therapeutic effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on spinal cord injury?

Methylprednisolone (MP) is currently the only drug confirmed to exhibit a neuroprotective effect on acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Vitamin C (VC) is a natural water-soluble antioxidant that exerts neuroprotective effects through eliminating free radical damage to nerve cells. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs), as multipotent stem cells, are promising candidates in SCI repair.

Intracranial ependymoma: long-term results in a series of 21 patients treated with stereotactic (125)iodine brachytherapy.

Background: We evaluated the long-term outcome in patients harboring intracranial ependymomas treated with interstitial brachytherapy (IBT).

Methods: Twenty-one patients (M/F = 9/12; median age: 29 years; range: 8-70 years), diagnosed with intracranial ependymoma (1 WHO I, 11 WHO II, 9 WHO III) were treated with IBT using stereotactically implanted (125)Iodine seeds between 1987 and 2010, either primarily, as adjuvant therapy following incomplete resection, or as salvage treatment upon tumor recurrence. Sixteen of 21 patients underwent microsurgical resection prior to IBT; in 5 patients, IBT was performed primarily after stereotactic biopsy for histological diagnosis.

μMLC-LINAC radiosurgery for intracranial meningiomas of complex shape.

Background: We present the long-term results of a consecutive series of patients with meningiomas treated by LINAC-radiosurgery using the micro-multi-leaf collimator technique (μMLC).

Methods: Between May 2001 and July 2009, 78 patients (m: f = 024:54; median age, 56.8 years; range, 20.