Effects of "fixation-fusion" sequence of lumbar surgery on surgical outcomes for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Background: New-onset neurological symptoms such as numbness and pain in lower extremities might appear immediately after conventional lumbar interbody fusion (LIF) surgery performed in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis.

Methods And Analysis: This is a multicenter, randomized, open-label, parallel-group, active-controlled trial investigating the clinical outcomes of modified LIF sequence versus conventional LIF sequence in treating patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. A total of 254 eligible patients will be enrolled and randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either modified LIF sequence or conventional LIF sequence group.

Human interstitial cellular model in therapeutics of heart valve calcification.

Calcific aortic valve disease is a common, severe heart condition that is currently with no proven, effective drug treatment and requires a surgical valve replacement or an entire heart explanation. Thus, developing novel, targeted therapeutic approaches becomes a major goal for cardiovascular disease research. To achieve this goal, isolated heart valve interstitial cells could be an advanced model to explore molecular mechanisms and measure drug efficacy.