Meta-analysis of the operative treatment of lumbar disc herniation via transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic discectomy versus interlaminar percutaneous endoscopic discectomy in randomized trials.

Backgrounds: Transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic discectomy (TF-PELD) and interlaminar percutaneous endoscopic discectomy (IL-PELD) are the most common alternative treatments of lumbar disc herniation. The aim of this study was to compare the operation time duration and X-ray exposure as well as outcomes of TF-PELD and IL-PELD as indicated by the published clinical evidences within randomized trials.

Methods: We included randomized, controlled studies reporting operation duration and X-ray exposure as well as clinical outcome evaluations, comparing TF-PELD to IL-PELD with a minimum of 10 patients per group.

Nontraumatic posterior atlantooccipital dislocation associated with atlantoaxial instability.

Introduction: Nontraumatic posterior atlantooccipital dislocation has only been rarely reported. In the current study, the authors reported an extremely rare case of nontraumatic posterior atlantooccipital dislocation associated with atlantoaxial instability.

Materials And Methods: A 47-year-old female was referred with a history of neck pain for 5 years.

Identification of key drought stress-related genes in the hyacinth bean.

Hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus [Linn.] Sweet) possesses excellent characteristics for field production, but the response of this plant to drought stress has not been described at the molecular level. Suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) is an effective way to exploit key factors for plant responses to drought stress that are involved in transcriptional and metabolic activities.

Regulation of expression of HGF in BM-MSCs by baculovirus-mediated transduction.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) transplantation is widely adopted for the curing of osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH) in recent years. Furthermore, it is known that introducing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) into BM-MSCs will greatly improve the therapeutic effect of stem-cell therapy owing to the great angiogenic and anti-fibrotic capabilities of HGF. However, continuing overexpression of HGF in vivo may cause sarcomas, such as Kaposi's sarcoma.

AtMYB103 is a crucial regulator of several pathways affecting Arabidopsis anther development.

Previous reports indicated that AtMYB103 has an important role in tapetum development, callose dissolution, and exine formation in A. thaliana anthers. Here, we further characterized its function in anther development by expression pattern analysis, transmission electron microscopy observation of the knockout mutant, and microarray analysis of downstream genes.