We studied 27 patients with low back pain and unilateral L5 or S1 spinal nerve root pain. Significant radiological changes were restricted to the symptomatic root level, when compared with controls. Low back and leg pain were graded on a visual analogue scale. Dermatomal quantitative sensory tests revealed significant elevations of warm, cool and touch perception thresholds in the affected dermatome, compared with controls. These elevations correlated with root pain (warm v L5 root pain; r = 0.88, p < 0.0001), but not with back pain. Low back pain correlated with restriction of anteroposterior spinal flexion (p = 0.02), but not with leg pain. A subset of 16 patients underwent decompressive surgery with improvement of pain scores, sensory thresholds and spinal mobility. A further 14 patients with back pain, multilevel nerve root symptoms and radiological changes were also studied. The only correlation found was of low back pain with spinal movement (p < 0.002). We conclude that, in patients with single level disease, dermatomal sensory threshold elevation and restriction of spinal movement are independent correlates of sciatica and low back pain.
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J Cardiothorac Surg
January 2025
Semmelweis University Heart and Vascular Centre, Budapest, 1122, Hungary.
Background: Aortic dissection occurs rarely during pregnancy but carries a significantly high vital risk for both the mother and the fetus. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical for a successful outcome.
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Pain
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience, Center for Advanced Pain Studies, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX.
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January 2025
Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address:
Musculoskeletal modeling based on inverse dynamics provides a cost-effective non-invasive means for calculating intersegmental joint reaction forces and moments, solely relying on kinematic data, easily obtained from smart wearables. On the other hand, the accuracy and precision of such models strongly hinge upon the selected scaling methodology tailored to subject-specific data. This study investigates the impact of upper body mass distribution on internal and external kinetics computed using a comprehensive musculoskeletal model during level walking in both normal weight and obese individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain
January 2025
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA.
Although the pathophysiology of migraine involves a complex ensemble of peripheral and central nervous system changes that remain incompletely understood, the activation and sensitization of the trigeminovascular system is believed to play a major role. However, non-invasive, in vivo neuroimaging studies investigating the underlying neural mechanisms of trigeminal system abnormalities in human migraine patients are limited. Here, we studied 60 patients with migraine (55 females, mean age ± SD: 36.
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Department of Conservative Dentistry, Kyung Hee University Dental Hospital at Gang-dong, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
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