Clinical Practice Guideline: The Treatment of Peripheral Nerve Injuries.

Background: Nerve lesions often heal incompletely, leading to lifelong functional impairment and high costs for the health care system. The updated German clinical practice guideline is intended to promote the early recognition of nerve lesions and the timely initiation of proper treatment for optimal restoration of function.

Methods: The recommendations are based on an assessment of all the evidence revealed by a systematic search of the literature, as well as on the expertise of the multiprofessional guideline group.

Prolonged course of brain edema and neurological recovery in a translational model of decompressive craniectomy after closed head injury in mice.

Background: The use of decompressive craniectomy in traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a matter of debate. According to the DECRA trial, craniectomy may have a negative impact on functional outcome, while the RescueICP trial revealed a positive effect of surgical decompression, which is evolving over time. This ambivalence of craniectomy has not been studied extensively in controlled laboratory experiments.

Promoter-proximal introns impact recombinant amylase expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) of starch requires recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that produce raw starch-degrading enzymes and ferment the resultant sugars to ethanol in a single step. In this study, the native S. cerevisiae COX4 and RPS25A promoter-proximal introns were evaluated for enhanced expression of amylase genes (ateA, temA or temG_Opt) under the control of an S.

Promoters and introns as key drivers for enhanced gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The transcription of genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is governed by multiple layers of regulatory elements and proteins, cooperating to ensure optimum expression of the final protein product based on the cellular requirements. Promoters have always been regarded as the most important determinant of gene transcription, but introns also play a key role in the expression of intron-encoding genes. Some introns can enhance transcription when introduced either promoter-proximal or embedded in the open reading frame of genes.

Time-Multiplexed Illumination for simultaneous Structural and Functional Voltage Sensitive Dye Recordings with a single Photo Sensor.

The in-vivo optical imaging of the cortical surface provides the ability to record different types of biophysiological signals, e.g., structural information, intrinsic signals, like blood oxygenation coupled reflection changes as well as extrinsic properties of voltage sensitive probes, like fluorescent voltage-sensitive dyes.

Detection of information flow between cortical laminae activities and auditory evoked potentials in rats by means of Granger causality.

We seek to understand the relation between invasive high-resolution data and non-invasive measurement in an animal model in an auditory sensory adaptation experimental setting. In a previous study, we estimated the mutual information between the phase of auditory evoked responses (AER) with the phase of local field potentials (LFP) of auditory cortices at different frequency ranges. The results showed a consistently high level of information sharing between the AER activities as well as the responses from the granular layer, which was known as the main thalamo-recipient layer.

The Microsurgical Treatment of Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Report of 158 Patients With a Mean Follow-up of More Than 32 Years.

Study Design: Level 3, cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess long-term clinical outcome, and rate of reoperation following microsurgical subtotal discectomy (MSD).

Summary Of Background Data: Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a common cause of discomfort.

Brain Edema Formation and Functional Outcome After Surgical Decompression in Murine Closed Head Injury Are Modulated by Acetazolamide Administration.

Acetazolamide (ACZ), carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, has been successfully applied in several neurosurgical conditions for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, neuroprotective and anti-edematous properties of ACZ have been postulated. However, its use in traumatic brain injury (TBI) is limited, since ACZ-caused vasodilatation according to the Monro-Kellie doctrine may lead to increased intracranial blood volume / raise of intracranial pressure.

Imaging of Microhemodynamics in Peripheral Nerves by Contact Endoscope.

Background: Entrapment neuropathies include a wide field of locations. In most cases, the microsurgical decompression is still the therapy of choice. However, the role of venous stasis and ischemia is still discussed controversially.

[Guideline "Legal evaluation after closed brain injury in adulthood"].

In 2005 and 2013, the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurowissenschaftliche Begutachtung" (German Society for Neuroscientific Evaluation) together with other societies developed and consented guidelines fort the legal evaluation of patients with closed head injuries and published them trough the National Working Group of Scientific Medical Societies and in this journal. Five years later, a revision was necessary, this was developed on the higher S2 k level of consent through a Delphi conference.

Changes in Posttraumatic Brain Edema in Craniectomy-Selective Brain Hypothermia Model Are Associated With Modulation of Aquaporin-4 Level.

Both hypothermia and decompressive craniectomy have been considered as a treatment for traumatic brain injury. In previous experiments we established a murine model of decompressive craniectomy and we presented attenuated edema formation due to focal brain cooling. Since edema development is regulated via function of water channel proteins, our hypothesis was that the effects of decompressive craniectomy and of hypothermia are associated with a change in aquaporin-4 (AQP4) concentration.

Pyramid approach for the reduction of parallax-related artefacts in optical recordings of moving translucent volumes.

Functional optical imaging (OI) of intrinsic signals (like blood oxygenation coupled reflection changes) and of extrinsic properties of voltage sensitive probes (like voltage-sensitive dyes (VSD)) forms a group of invasive neuroimaging techniques, that possess up to date the highest temporal and spatial resolution on a meso- to macroscopic scale. There are different sources that contribute to the OI signal of which many are noise. In our previous works, we have used dense optical flow for the reduction of movement artefacts.

Clinical outcome following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with and without anterior cervical plating for the treatment of cervical disc herniation-a 25-year follow-up study.

Extreme long-term clinical outcome studies following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with an autologous iliac crest with and without Caspar plating (ACDF + CP) for the treatment of radiculopathy caused by cervical disc herniation (CDH) are extremely rare. Hospital records of patients who underwent ACDF or ACDF + CP for the treatment of CDH at least 17 years ago were reviewed. Information about diagnosis, surgery, pre- and postoperative clinical process, and repeated procedure was analyzed.

Guidelines for the Treatment of Head Injury in Adults.

The workshop of scientific medical faculties (Arbeitsgemeinschaft wissenschaftlicher medizinischer Fakultäten [AWMF]) of Germany has asked societies of specific medical disciplines to jointly publish guidelines on the treatment of diseases and injuries. On behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie, its commission on guidelines initiated an interdisciplinary approach to publish guidelines on the treatment of head injury in adults. These guidelines were published in German by the AWMF in late 2015.

Prognosis of pituitary adenomas in the early 1970s and today-Is there a benefit of modern surgical techniques and treatment modalities?

Objective: Neurosurgical techniques for the treatment of sellar pathologies have been evolving continuously over the last decades. Additionally to the innovation of approaches and surgical techniques, this progress yielded to the application of modern intraoperative surgical tools as well as peri- and intraoperative imaging. Until now, no long-term analysis of the impact of new therapy concepts on the patient's outcome exists.

Compensation of pulsation artifacts during optical imaging with and without cranial chamber.

Functional Optical Imaging (OI) through the opened skull forms a group of Neuroimaging techniques characterized by a high temporal and spatial resolution on a meso-to macroscopic scale. State of the art OI experiments are generally difficult to execute, with a very timely surgical preparation preceding the experiment, that requires a skilled surgeon to mount a sealed imaging chamber onto the skull. The chamber reduces brain pulsation artifacts and swelling of the brain through movement restriction.

Motion invariant contrast enhancement of optical imaging data in the gradient domain.

Functional optical imaging (OI) of intrinsic signals (like blood oxygenation coupled reflection changes) and of extrinsic properties of voltage sensitive probes (like voltage-sensitive dyes (VSD)) forms a group of neuroimaging techniques that possess up to date highest temporal and spatial resolution on a meso-to macroscopic scale. An inherent problem of OI is a very low signal to noise ratio (SNR), which restricts the recordings to be completely motionless and requires detailed knowledge of the properties of the different noise sources. In our experiments we performed a durectomy and did not use an imaging chamber to allow us future joint electroencephalography-optical imaging (EEG-OI) measures, which resulted in movement artifacts.

Smith-Robinson procedure with and without Caspar plating as a treatment for cervical spondylotic myelopathy: A 26-year follow-up of 23 patients.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess long-term follow-up data after anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) with and without Caspar plating (ACDF + PS) for the treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) with special focus on functional outcome, pain, and repeat surgery for adjacent segment disease (ASD).

Method: Hospital records of 45 patients who were affected by CSM and underwent ACDF or ACDF + PS at least 17 years ago were reviewed. Information about diagnosis, surgical report, pre- and postoperative clinical process, and complications was analyzed.

Selective Brain Hypothermia Mitigates Brain Damage and Improves Neurological Outcome after Post-Traumatic Decompressive Craniectomy in Mice.

Hypothermia and decompressive craniectomy (DC) have been considered as treatment for traumatic brain injury. The present study investigates whether selective brain hypothermia added to craniectomy could improve neurological outcome after brain trauma. Male CD-1 mice were assigned into the following groups: sham; DC; closed head injury (CHI); CHI followed by craniectomy (CHI+DC); and CHI+DC followed by focal hypothermia (CHI+DC+H).

Indications and Route of Hysterectomy for Benign Diseases. Guideline of the DGGG, OEGGG and SGGG (S3 Level, AWMF Registry No. 015/070, April 2015).

Official guideline "indications and methods of hysterectomy" to assign indications for the different methods published and coordinated by the German Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (DGGG), the Austrian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (OEGGG) and the Swiss Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SGGG). Besides vaginal and abdominal hysterectomy, three additional techniques have been implemented due to the introduction of laparoscopy. Organ-sparing alternatives were also integrated.