Cryogen spray cooling mitigates inflammation and injury-induced CISD2 decline in rat spinal cord hemisection model.

Therapeutic strategies for traumatic spinal cord injury generally involve rectifying concomitant destruction to the spinal cord from inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and eventual neuronal apoptosis. Elevating the expression of spinal cord injury-attenuated CDGSH iron-sulfur domain-2 has been shown to mitigate the pathologies above. In the current work, hypothermia was induced via continuous cryogen spray cooling in a rat spinal cord hemisection model.

The Correlation Between Restoration of Lumbar Lordosis and Surgical Outcome in the Treatment of Low-grade Lumbar Degenerative Spondylolisthesis With Spinal Fusion.

Study Design: Retrospective clinical study.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the restoration of the lumbar lordosis (LL) and the surgical outcome of patients undergoing spinal fusion for low-grade lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis.

Summary Of Background Data: Correlation between low back pain and the loss of LL in the treatment of low-grade lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis has seldom been reported.

Human adipose-derived stem cells for the treatment of intracerebral hemorrhage in rats via femoral intravenous injection.

Human adipose-derived stem cells (huADSC) were generated from fat tissue of a 65-year-old male donor. Flow cytometry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses indicated that the huADSC express neural cell proteins (MAP2, GFAP, nestin and β-III tubulin), neurotrophic growth factors (BDNF and GDNF), and the chemotactic factor CXCR4 and its corresponding ligand CXCL12. In addition, huADSC expressed the characteristic mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) markers CD29, CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105 and HLA class I.

Comparison of the kinematic features between the in vivo active and passive flexion-extension of the subaxial cervical spine and their biomechanical implications.

Study Design: An in vivo motion analysis of active and passive kinematic cervical flexion-extension.

Objective: The study was aimed at investigating the differences between the active and passive kinematic sagittal motions of the subaxial cervical spine.

Summary Of Background Data: The biomechanical behavior of the cadaver spinal column is different from that of the in vivo spine.

Hirayama disease.

Object: Controversy exists over the choice of surgical candidates and prognosis of Hirayama disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes of patients with cervical flexion myelopathy who received surgical treatment.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted.

Clinical practice guidelines in severe traumatic brain injury in Taiwan.

Background: Severe TBIs are major causes of disability and death in accidents. The Brain Trauma Foundation supported the first edition of the Guidelines for the Management of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in 1995 and revised it in 2000. The recommendations in these guidelines are well accepted in the world.

Axial and coronal orientation of subaxial cervical zygapophysial joints and their effect on axial rotation and lateral bending.

Study Design: Computerized tomography and image processing methodologies were used to analyze the axial and coronal orientation of cervical zygapophysial joints in asymptomatic adults. Surface motions of axial rotation and lateral bending were simulated.

Objective: The study was designed to obtain the normal distribution and variation of facet orientation (FO) in axial and coronal planes to investigate factors affecting FO and to study the effects of FO on axial rotation and lateral bending.

Surgical experience with symptomatic thoracic ossification of the ligamentum flavum.

Object: Symptomatic thoracic ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) is rare, and its prognostic factors remain unclear. The authors retrospectively studied 24 patients with surgically treated thoracic OLF to delineate its prognostic factor.

Methods: The clinical manifestations, radiological studies, surgical records, and pathological findings were reviewed.

Morphologic characteristics of atlantoaxial complex in rheumatoid arthritis and surgical consideration among Chinese.

Study Design: A morphometric study of lateral mass from C1 to C2 and involving 42 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Objective: To provide anatomic data on the lateral mass of the upper cervical spine and quantitatively assess structure feature of a C1-C2 lateral mass in RA and its association with adjacent structures.

Summary Of Background Data: No anatomic study on C1-C2 lateral mass in Chinese RA patients exists, nor is there a study describing the risk of transarticular screws fixation in these patients.

Clinical results of a single central interbody fusion cage and transpedicle screws fixation for recurrent herniated lumbar disc and low-grade spondylolisthesis.

Background: The posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) procedure allows restoration of the weight-bearing capacity to a more physiological ventral position and maintenance of disc space height. However, the procedure can be technically difficult and may cause complications. It has always been performed bilaterally with paired cages; a single central cage has not been commonly used.

Cervical degenerative disease at flexion-extension MR imaging: prediction criteria.

Purpose: To determine if there are any neutral-position imaging criteria that can help predict functional cord impingement at flexion-extension cervical magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-two patients with cervical degenerative disease were evaluated with regard to the dynamic changes of canal stenosis at flexion-extension MR imaging. Functional cord impingement was considered if the cord was impinged or more impinged after neck flexion or extension.

Efficacy of topical microfibrillar collagen mixed with steroid hormone and morphine for postoperative pain control during lumbar laminectomy: a preliminary report.

Background: Current inpatient management of postoperative pain in lumbar surgery includes the use of intramuscular opioid analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or patient-controlled analgesia; however, all types of medications are associated with side effects that can limit their usefulness in the inpatient setting.

Methods: In a well-conducted non-randomized prospective trial, 80 consecutive patients who underwent elective multilevel lumbar laminectomy surgery were identified. Two types of trials with different doses of steroids were used.