Determinants of COVID-19 severity in Ethiopia: a multicentre case-control study.

Objective: It was necessary to understand the determinants of severe COVID-19 in order to deliver targeted healthcare services to prevent further complications and mortality. Identifying the factors associated with severe COVID-19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is the aim of this study.

Design: A case-control study was conducted from October 2021 to March 2022.

An underexploited invisible gold resource in the Archean sulphides of the Witwatersrand tailings dumps.

The tailings dumps originating from gold mining in South Africa's Witwatersrand still contain notable gold endowments. Most tailings reprocessing operations target a native gold fraction using re-milling and carbon-in-leach extraction; however, up to 50-70% of the remaining gold is still not recoverable and instead discarded to the re-dump stream along with abundant sulphides. The mineralogical deportment of this unrecoverable gold underwent a detailed investigation.

Paraganglioma of the sacral spinal canal.

Paragangliomas are tumors arising in the paraganglia. Involvement of the spine is less common, and usually takes the form of intradural compression of the cauda equina. We report here a case of a 60-year-old man with recurrent and progressive pain of his sacral and perineal area, accompanied by occasional rod and perineal hypoesthesia on admission.

Natural history of supratentorial hemangioblastomas in von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Background: Supratentorial hemangioblastomas are rare lesions, occurring either sporadically or in von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Objective: Following recent advances in our understanding of the natural history of von Hippel-Lindau-associated cerebellar and spinal hemangioblastomas, we conducted a study of the natural history of supratentorial hemangioblastomas in von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Methods: We reviewed a series of 18 supratentorial hemangioblastomas in 13 patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Surgical treatment of posttraumatic syringomyelia.

Objective: The present study evaluates the effectiveness of 2 surgical procedures, shunting and untethering, for posttraumatic syringomyelia.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of all surgical patients with posttraumatic syringomyelia in our department. Shunting was performed before 1997; after 1997, we used arachnoidolysis and untethering.

Motor and sensitive axonal regrowth after multiple intercosto-lumbar neurotizations in a sheep model.

Study Design: Experimental animal study.

Objective: To evaluate motor and sensitive axonal regrowth after multiple intercosto-lumbar neurotizations in a sheep model.

Setting: France.

Results of microsurgical treatment of medulla oblongata and spinal cord hemangioblastomas: a comparison of two distinct clinical patient groups.

Purpose: To analyze the surgical outcome of a consecutive and single center series of medulla oblongata (MO) and spinal cord hemangioblastomas (HB).

Patient And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of all MO and spinal HB patients operated on in our institution between 1985 and 2002. All patients had pre- and at least one post-operative MRI.

Long-term follow-up of Chiari-related syringomyelia in adults: analysis of 157 surgically treated cases.

Objective: To determine the long-term outcome of surgically treated Chiari-related syringomyelia.

Methods: The medical charts of 157 consecutive surgically treated patients with Chiari-related syringomyelia were retrospectively analyzed. Factors predicting outcome, either clinical or radiological, are discussed, and our results are compared with those of other large series in the literature.

Decompressive craniectomy in children with nontraumatic refractory high intracranial pressure. Clinical article.

Object: In this study, the authors investigated the clinical efficacy of decompressive craniectomy treatments for nontraumatic intracranial hypertension in children.

Methods: Seven patients with nontraumatic refractory high intracranial pressure (ICP) were enrolled in the study between 1995 and 2005; there were 2 boys and 5 girls with a mean age of 9 years (range 4-14). Decompressive craniectomy was performed in all patients after standard medical therapy had proven insufficient and ICP remained > 50 mm Hg.

Intramedullary spinal ependymomas: analysis of a consecutive series of 82 adult cases with particular attention to patients with no preoperative neurological deficit.

Objective: Surgery should be considered for patients with intramedullary spinal ependymomas (ISE), particularly those presenting with a neurological deficit preoperatively. In contrast, it is still a debatable matter whether to recommend the same approach for patients with no neurological impairment. To investigate this matter, we analyzed the data of 82 consecutive patients with ISEs treated at our institution.

Curable cause of paraplegia: spinal dural arteriovenous fistulae.

Background And Purpose: The rarity of spinal dural arteriovenous fistulae makes physicians often overlook this potential diagnosis in patients with progressive gait disturbance and paraparesis. Consequently, patients with spinal dural arteriovenous fistulae can gradually become completely paraplegic if the final diagnosis is delayed considerably. The objective of the current study is to demonstrate that, particularly in patients with paraplegia, surgical treatment of fistula is necessary and often has a favorable outcome.

Diffusion tensor imaging characteristics of the corpus callosum in mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injury.

Background And Purpose: The corpus callosum is an important predilection site for traumatic axonal injury but may be unevenly affected in head trauma. We hypothesized that there were local differences in axonal injury within the corpus callosum as investigated with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), varying among patients with differing severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Materials And Methods: Ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained.

Multiple lumbar roots neurotizations with the lower intercostal nerves. Preliminary clinical and electrophysiological results in a sheep model.

Introduction: Neurotization of lumbar roots with lower intercostal nerves is a potential way to treat neurological deficits after spinal cord injury. The anatomical feasibility of such neurotizations in humans has already been reported. We propose to assess axonal regrowth after intercostal to lumbar neurotization in a sheep model.

[Craniocerebral gunshot wounds: a study of outcome predictors].

Background And Purpose: A retrospective study about craniocerebral gunshot wounds was done to better identify outcome predictors.

Methods: We reported and analyzed the clinical and radiological data of 18 patients admitted to Le Kremlin-Bicêtre institute for a craniocerebral gunshot wound between January 2000 and December 2005. The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) was used to analyze patient outcome.

The paraspinal splitting approach: a possible approach to perform multiple intercosto-lumbar neurotizations: an anatomic study.

Study Design: Descriptive anatomy. OBJECTIVE.: To describe the anatomy associated with the extensive transmuscular paraspinal approach required to perform multiple intercosto-lumbar neurotizations.

Pseudotumoral presentation of a cervical extracranial vertebral artery aneurysm in neurofibromatosis type 1: case report.

Objective: Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) is known to be associated with vascular lesions. Association with an extracranial vertebral artery aneurysm is very rare. We report the case of such an aneurysm mimicking a cervical neurofibroma in NF1.

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging and fiber tracking in spinal cord lesions: current and future indications.

Diffusion-weighted imaging and fractional anisotropy may be more sensitive than other conventional magnetic resonance imaging techniques to detect, characterize, and map the extent of spinal cord lesions. Fiber tracking offers the possibility of visualizing the integrity of white matter tracts surrounding some lesions, and this information may help in formulating a differential diagnosis and in planning biopsies or resection. Fractional anisotropy measurements may also play a role in predicting the outcome of patients who have spinal cord lesions.

[Endoscope-assisted biopsy for the diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis].

A 56-year-old woman was followed in the neurological department for febrile mental confusion. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis was suggested on the ground of associated abdominal lymphadenopathy, elevated serum angiotensin-converting enzyme level, aseptic meningitis and intracranial hypothalamic lesion. Nevertheless, radiological, biological and histological analyses could not assert the diagnosis of systemic sarcoidosis.

The feasibility of detecting motor and sensory potentials in a sheep model.

To investigate the characteristics of motor, sensory and sensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) of thoracic and lumbar roots, and demonstrate the feasibility of assessing axonal regrowth after the neurotization procedure in a sheep model. Six adult sheep were anaesthetized and placed in a sternal position. The thoracic and lumbar roots from T11 to L5 were identified at their emergence from the vertebral foramen and stimulated.

Intraspinal grafting procedures: spinal cord effects induced in the adult rat: a clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical study.

Objective: Intraspinal grafting procedures using peripheral nerve grafts (PNG) or collagen guidance channels (CGC) have been recently used to treat brachial plexus injuries in humans and spinal cord injuries in animals. This study examined the effects of these procedures in the adult rat.

Methods: In adult rats, we performed an avulsion of left C5, C6, and C7 nerve roots, followed by a myelotomy of the left ventrolateral aspect of the spinal cord between C5 and C6.

Multimodal cerebral monitoring and decompressive surgery for the treatment of severe bacterial meningitis with increased intracranial pressure.

Bacterial meningitis is still associated with a high mortality, mainly because of cerebral herniation as a result of increased intracranial pressure. Published data stress the necessity of an early diagnosis and immediate start of antibiotic therapy. Nevertheless, there are only few reports in which therapeutic strategy was based on the monitoring and the reduction of intracranial pressure (ICP).

Diaphragm recovery by laryngeal innervation after bilateral phrenicotomy or complete C2 spinal section in rats.

This study aimed to highlight the functional aspects of diaphragm reinnervation by laryngeal motoneurons after bilateral phrenicotomy or complete cervical transection. The left recurrent laryngeal nerve was connected to the left phrenic nerve in 14 rats. Five months later, all bridged rats presented a substantial ipsilateral diaphragm recovery (74.

Anatomical feasibility of using the ninth, 10th, and 11th intercostal nerves for the treatment of neurological deficits after damage to the spinal cord.

Object: The topographic anatomy of the lower intercostal nerves is less well known than that of the upper ones, except for the 12th intercostal nerve. It is possible to use the lower intercostal nerves to perform a neurotization of the lumbar roots. The authors studied the anatomy of the ninth, 10th, and 11th intercostal nerves to obtain descriptive and topographic anatomical data to aid in establishing optimal conditions for harvesting.

A new model of upper cervical spinal contusion inducing a persistent unilateral diaphragmatic deficit in the adult rat.

Research on spinal cord trauma requires models reflecting the contusion mechanisms encountered in clinical situation. The aim of this study was to develop in the adult rat a reproducible model of upper cervical spinal cord contusion inducing persistent unilateral diaphragm deficit. After dura and pia matter removal, weight drop and compression were targeted at the ventro-lateral funiculi which contain the bulbospinal descending respiratory pathways that command the phrenic motoneurons innervating the diaphragm.