Therapeutic effects of percutaneous vertebroplasty for vertebral metastases.

Purpose: We have performed percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) for patients with vertebral metastases since 2002. This study investigated the therapeutic effects of PV on vertebral metastases.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective (2002-2008) review was conducted for 69 consecutive patients with 141 metastatic vertebrae treated with PV using PMMA.

Penetrating injury to the cauda equina: a case report and review of the literature.

Study Design: Case report.

Objective: To report a rare case of a penetrating injury to the cauda equina, secondary to a stab wound.

Summary Of Background Data: Penetrating injuries affecting the cauda equina by stab wounds, not by gunshot wounds, are of extremely rare occurrence compared with penetrating spinal cord injuries and have been previously reported only in 2 studies since 1969.

Internalization of MUC1 by anti-MUC1 antibody from cell membrane through the macropinocytotic pathway.

MUC1 is a type I transmembrane glycoprotein aberrantly overexpressed in various cancer cells. It is thought to serve as a physical barrier from the extracellular environment and also as a receptor for various extracellular molecules. However, little is known about the fate of MUC1 during and after the interaction with these molecules.

Hypoxia enhances MUC1 expression in a lung adenocarcinoma cell line.

Expression of a transmembrane mucin MUC1 is emphasized in most cases of carcinoma. High expression of MUC1 is closely associated with cancer progression and metastasis, leading to poor prognosis. However, little is known about how MUC1 is overexpressed in malignant tumor.

Implantation of dendritic cells in injured adult spinal cord results in activation of endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells leading to de novo neurogenesis and functional recovery.

We report a treatment for spinal cord injury involving implantation of dendritic cells (DCs), which act as antigen-presenting cells in the immune system. The novel mechanisms underlying this treatment produce functional recovery. Among the immune cells tested, DCs showed the strongest activity inducing proliferation and survival of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) in vitro.

A simple and reliable behavioral analysis of locomotor function after spinal cord injury in mice. Technical note.

To establish a simple and reliable method to assess the behavioral function after spinal cord injury (SCI) in mice, the authors used an automated animal movement analysis system, SCANET. Two different SCI lesions were created in adult female BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice by transecting both the posterior columns and the left lateral and anterior funiculi or only the left lateral and anterior funiculi at T-8. Control mice underwent laminectomy only.