Electroacupuncture to Increase Neuronal Stem Cell Growth.

Neuropathic intestinal disorders continue to pose a significant burden, and current treatment options do not target the underlying cellular deficiencies. The goal of this study is to determine whether acupuncture and electroacupuncture (EA) can affect the growth of neuronal cells. Three groups of Lewis rats received 25 minutes of acupuncture twice a week for 10 weeks.

Wide-band/angle Blazed Surfaces using Multiple Coupled Blazing Resonances.

Blazed gratings can reflect an oblique incident wave back in the path of incidence, unlike mirrors and metal plates that only reflect specular waves. Perfect blazing (and zero specular scattering) is a type of Wood's anomaly that has been observed when a resonance condition occurs in the unit-cell of the blazed grating. Such elusive anomalies have been studied thus far as individual perfect blazing points.

Focusing metasurface quantum-cascade laser with a near diffraction-limited beam.

A terahertz vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting-laser (VECSEL) is demonstrated using an active focusing reflectarray metasurface based on quantum-cascade gain material. The focusing effect enables a hemispherical cavity with flat optics, which exhibits higher geometric stability than a plano-plano cavity and a directive and circular near-diffraction limited Gaussian beam with M beam parameter as low as 1.3 and brightness of 1.

Efficacy and limitations of intraoperative spinal cord monitoring using nasopharyngeal tube electrodes.

Object: Motor evoked potentials are widely used for intraoperative spinal cord monitoring. However, there are problems with anesthetic constraints and high trial-by-trial variability of compound muscle action potential amplitude in muscle motor evoked potential monitoring. It is difficult to determine when to warn the surgeon of an occurrence of spinal cord risk.

Association of genetic variants with myocardial infarction in Japanese individuals with metabolic syndrome.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to identify genetic variants that confer susceptibility to myocardial infarction (MI) in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Methods: The study population comprised 1887 Japanese individuals with MetS, including 773 subjects with MI and 1114 controls. The genotypes for 136 polymorphisms of 97 candidate genes were determined.

Diagnosis of toxic shock syndrome by two different systems; clinical criteria and monitoring of TSST-1-reactive T cells.

Two methods of TSS diagnosis were evaluated: comparison of symptoms with clinical criteria and monitoring for evidence of selective activation of Vbeta2(+) T cells by the causative toxin, TSS toxin-1 (TSST-1). Ten patients with acute and systemic febrile infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus were monitored for increase in TSST-1-reactive Vbeta2(+) T cells during their clinical courses. Nine of the ten patients were diagnosed with TSS based on evidence of selective activation of Vbeta2(+) T cells by TSST-1; however, clinical symptoms met the clinical criteria for TSS in only six of these nine patients.

Effect of bone marrow grafting on the titanium porous-coated implant in bilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Background And Purpose: Poor bone ingrowth into the porous coating of tibial components has been reported. We hypothesized that iliac marrow grafting might be useful to enhance bone ingrowth into a porous-coated implant. The first part of this study was to examine the presence of fibroblast colony-forming units (CFUF) containing osteogenic precursor cells in tibial bone marrow and iliac bone marrow.

Relation between atlantoaxial (C1/2) and cervical alignment (C2-C7) angles with Magerl and Brooks techniques for atlantoaxial subluxation in rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: A few studies have reported the relation between the atlantoaxial (C1/2) angle and cervical alignment (C2-C7) angle after a Magerl and Brooks (M&B) surgical procedure to treat atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, no study has examined an optimum preoperative C1/2 angle reduction. We aimed to assess the relation between the C1/2 angle reduction and the C2-C7 angle change in patients with progressive RA who underwent the M&B procedure.

Gene expression of bone-resorbing cytokines in rat osteolysis model.

Osteolysis after single-injection polyethylene (PE) administration has been analyzed, but this experimental model did not reflect the clinical postoperative condition. Therefore, we investigated the bone-resorbing cytokines interleukin and tumor necrosis factor (IL-1alpha, IL-6, TNFalpha) produced by continuous PE administration using histomorphologic findings and the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. TNFalpha mRNA was continuously detected in the PE continuous-infusion group, whereas it was not expressed in the PE single-injection group.

Osteoporosis is more prevalent in adrenal than in pituitary Cushing's syndrome.

Osteoporosis is the most common complication of Cushing's syndrome. We retrospectively examined the prevalence and risk factors for osteoporosis in 42 female patients with Cushing's syndrome. Osteoporosis and atraumatic fractures were assessed by bone mineral density of the lumbar vertebral spine (L2-L4) using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and X-ray examination.

Clinical evaluation of Luque's segmental spinal instrumentation for upper cervical metastases.

We reviewed clinical data from eight patients with upper cervical metastases who were treated with an occipitocervical fusion procedure using Luque's segmental spinal instrumentation with a fan-shaped rod. All patients had diffuse involvement of the entire anterior vertebral body, extreme instability at C1/2, and severe preoperative neck pain, but no neurological deficits. This procedure provided significant postoperative pain relief, with only one patient experiencing deterioration.

A novel bisphosphonate inhibits inflammatory bone resorption in a rat osteolysis model with continuous infusion of polyethylene particles.

This study examined the inhibitory effect of a new bisphosphonate (TRK-530) on wear debris-mediated bone resorption in a rat osteolysis model involving continuous infusion of high density polyethylene (HDPE) particles. TRK-530 (TRK) is a novel synthetic bisphosphonate that has been shown to decrease the level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in the bone marrow of rats with adjuvant arthritis. Forty Wistar rats were randomized to two groups (n = 20 each).