Improving quality of care in traumatic spinal column/spinal cord injuries (TSC/SCI) in Iran: a policy brief.

Study Design: Descriptive study.

Objectives: The National Spinal Cord/Column Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR) is a registry system to survey Traumatic Spinal Column/Spinal Cord Injuries (TSC/SCIs) patients and obtain the required data for quality-of-care assessment.

Setting: Iran.

Spinal cord epidural stimulation for male sexual function in spinal cord injured rats.

Background: 95% of men with spinal cord injuries exhibit difficulties with sexual function, including erectile dysfunction, anejaculation, retrograde ejaculation, poor ejaculatory force, and poor sperm quality.

Aim: The primary goal is to determine if well-established interventions, such as spinal cord epidural stimulation, are a feasible treatment for sexual dysfunction and if locomotor recovery training can be used to improve ejaculatory function in a rodent model of spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods: Male Wistar rats underwent thoracic laminectomies (shams), spinal cord transections, or moderate spinal cord contusion injuries.

A scoping review of COVID-19 economic response policies in the MENA countries: lessons learned for Iran for future pandemics.

Background: Given the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to examine the economic response policies implemented by governments. This study aims to review evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Iran, on COVID-19 economic response policies designed to protect households, vulnerable groups, and businesses.

Methods: Utilizing Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review methodology, electronic search engines and databases were systematically searched to identify published studies within the timeframe of December 31, 2019, to 2022.

Challenges of providing of special care services in hospitals during emergencies and disasters: a scoping review.

Background: The ability of hospitals to provide special care services for critically ill or injured patients during emergencies and disasters poses very significant challenges that necessitate the response in-place plans. the increasing frequency of such events, coupled with limited hospital resources and increasing patient volumes, underscores the urgency of addressing these issues. Specifically, this study aims to identify the challenges faced by hospitals in providing special services during disasters.

Minimal Detectable Change Scores and Factors Associated With Dynamic Exertion Test (EXiT) Performance After Sport-Related Concussion.

Background: Factors associated with performance outside of a normative range on dynamic exertion test (EXiT) after sport-related concussion (SRC) remain unknown. This study examined the role of demographic and medical history factors on performance using minimal detectable change (MDC) cutoff scores in athletes being cleared to return to sport (RTS) from SRC.

Hypothesis: Older age, being female, and body mass index (BMI) ≥50th percentile would be associated with worse EXiT performance and with increased likelihood of falling outside the normative MDC score range.

Physicochemical Property Effects on Immune Modulating Polymeric Nanoparticles: Potential Applications in Spinal Cord Injury.

Nanoparticles (NPs) offer promising potential as therapeutic agents for inflammation-related diseases, owing to their capabilities in drug delivery and immune modulation. In preclinical studies focusing on spinal cord injury (SCI), polymeric NPs have demonstrated the ability to reprogram innate immune cells. This reprogramming results in redirecting immune cells away from the injury site, downregulating pro-inflammatory signaling, and promoting a regenerative environment post-injury.

Reliability and Validity of the Persian Version of the Disaster Resilience Measuring Tool for Health care Rescuers in Iran.

Objectives: This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Disaster Resilience Measuring Tool (DRMT-C19).

Methods: The research was a methodological, psychometric study. Standard translation processes were performed.

Astrocytic mitochondrial transfer to brain endothelial cells and pericytes increases with aging.

Intercellular mitochondrial transfer (IMT) is an intriguing biological phenomenon where mitochondria are transferred between different cells and notably, cell types. IMT is physiological, occurring in normal conditions, but also is utilized to deliver healthy mitochondria to cells in distress. Transferred mitochondria can be integrated to improve cellular metabolism, and mitochondrial function.

Repeated epidural stimulation modulates cervical spinal cord excitability in healthy adult rats.

Spinal evoked motor responses (SEMR) are utilized in longitudinal pre-clinical and human studies to reflect the in-vivo physiological changes in neural networks secondary to a spinal cord injury (SCI) or neuro-rehabilitative treatments utilizing epidural stimulation (ES). However, it remains unknown whether the repeated ES exposure during SEMR testing itself modulates spinal cord physiology and accompanying SEMR characteristics. To answer this, ES was delivered to the cervical spinal cord using standard stimulation paradigms during multiple SEMR data acquisition sessions (~ 17 h spanning across 100 days) in ten healthy adult rats.

Postoperative NEOadjuvant TEMozolomide followed by chemoradiotherapy versus upfront chemoradiotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme (NEOTEM) trial: Interim results.

Background: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor with poor survival rates despite current treatments. The standard of care (SOC) includes surgery, followed by radiotherapy plus concurrent and adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ). This phase II trial assessed the safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant TMZ (nTMZ) before and during chemoradiotherapy in newly diagnosed GBM patients.

Plasma microRNAs as prognostic biomarkers for development of severe epilepsy after experimental traumatic brain injury-EpiBioS4Rx Project 1 study.

Objective: To test a hypothesis that acutely regulated plasma microRNAs (miRNAs) can serve as prognostic biomarkers for the development of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE).

Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 245) were randomized to lateral fluid-percussion-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) or sham operation at three study sites (Finland, Australia, United States). Video-electroencephalography (vEEG) was performed on the seventh post-injury month to detect spontaneous seizures.

Data reporting quality and semantic interoperability increase with community-based data elements (CoDEs). Analysis of the open data commons for spinal cord injury (ODC-SCI).

Data interoperability is crucial for effectively combining data for scientific inquiry. To facilitate interoperability, data standards such as a common definition of variables are often developed. The Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury (odc-sci.

Duration of Ice Hockey Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

Importance: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative tauopathy associated with repetitive head impacts (RHIs). Prior research suggests a dose-response association between American football play duration and CTE risk and severity, but this association has not been studied for ice hockey.

Objective: To investigate associations of duration of ice hockey play with CTE diagnosis and severity, functional status, and dementia.

Ethanol abolishes ventilatory long-term facilitation and blunts the ventilatory response to hypoxia in female rats.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a breathing disorder in which airway obstruction during sleep leads to periodic bouts of inadequate (hypopneic) or absent (apneic) ventilation despite neurorespiratory effort. Repetitive apneic and hypopneic exposures can induce intermittent hypoxemia and lead to a host of maladaptive behavioral and physiological outcomes. Intermittent hypoxia treatment (IH), which consists of alternating exposure to hypoxic and normal air, can induce a long-lasting increase in breathing motor outputs called long term facilitation (LTF).

Spinal Neuromodulation for Respiratory Rehabilitation in Patients with Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome.

(1) Background: Neurological deficits associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) exacerbate respiratory dysfunction, necessitating rehabilitation strategies that address both. Previous studies have demonstrated that spinal cord transcutaneous stimulation (scTS) can facilitate the excitation of respiratory spinal neural networks in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome. This study evaluates the efficacy of combining scTS with respiratory training (RT) to improve respiratory function in individuals with post-COVID-19 pulmonary deficits; (2) Methods: In this before-after, case-controlled clinical trial, five individuals with post-acute COVID-19 respiratory deficits participated in two interventional programs: 10 daily sessions of respiratory training (RT), followed by 10 daily sessions of scTS combined with RT (scTS + RT).

Intracranial findings associated with low odds of retinal hemorrhage among children under 2 years of age at a single pediatric trauma center.

Background: Evaluation by a pediatric ophthalmologist to look for retinal hemorrhages (RH) is often part of screening for occult injury among young children with intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) presenting to a trauma center. While important, this examination may lengthen the time a child and family remain at the hospital.

Objective: We sought to identify injury patterns associated with a low likelihood of RH, which may help streamline child abuse screening protocols for very young children with ICH.

Rehabilitation utilization in malignant primary brain tumors compared to stroke and traumatic brain injury: Analysis using a large claim database.

Background: There is concern regarding the underutilization of rehabilitation services for the malignant primary brain tumor (MPBT) population following hospitalization. Our aim is to assess physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), and speech-language pathology (SLP) use after an MPBT diagnosis, evaluate the trend from 2001 to 2018, and compare to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke.

Methods: Adult cases of MPBT, TBI, and stroke were extracted from MarketScan database.

The Incidence of Myocardial Infarction after Vaccination against COVID-19: a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.

Background: Vaccines were developed to stop the pandemic stage of COVID-19. A wide range of adverse effects, including vascular complications, has been reported after vaccination. Up to now, various studies have reported different rates of myocardial infarction (MI) after COVID-19 vaccination.

CAR-engineered NK cells versus CAR T cells in treatment of glioblastoma; strength and flaws.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive primary brain tumor that carries a grim prognosis. Because of the dearth of treatment options available for treatment of GBM, Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-engineered T cell and Natural Killer (NK) therapy could provide alternative strategies to address the challenges in GBM treatment. In these approaches, CAR T and NK cells are engineered for cancer-specific immunotherapy by recognizing surface antigens independently of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules.

Protective effect of zinc against A2E-induced toxicity in ARPE-19 cells: Possible involvement of lysosomal acidification.

A key pathogenic mechanism of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is lysosomal dysfunction in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, which results in the accumulation of lipofuscins such as A2E (N-retinylidene-N-retinylethanolamine) that further compromises lysosomal function. This vicious cycle leads to cell death and poor visual acuity. Here, we established an model of AMD by treating a human RPE cell line (ARPE-19) with A2E and examined whether raising zinc levels confers protective effects against lysosomal dysfunction and cytotoxicity.