Correction of lumbar coronal plane deformity using unilateral cage placement.

The authors describe a surgical technique for the correction of symptomatic degenerative lumbar scoliosis. Using a single, unilateral, interbody cage placed on the concave side of the coronal deformity, combined with a dorsal decompression and instrumented posterolateral fusion, this technique has resulted in excellent curve correction, fusion results, and clinical outcomes in a series of 4 patients. Each of these patients presented with intractable, axial low-back pain and symptomatic unilateral nerve root compression on the concave side of a lumbar scoliotic deformity.

Aortic intima media thickness in fetuses and children with intrauterine growth restriction.

Objective: To measure aortic intima media thickness and diameter by ultrasonography in fetuses with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and in appropriate for gestational age (AGA) fetuses and in the same children after a mean follow-up of 18 months.

Methods: This was a prospective study performed between January 2006 and August 2008. Fetuses were classified as having IUGR if the estimated fetal weight was below the 10th percentile and umbilical artery pulsatility index was greater than 2 standard deviations; they were classified as AGA if the estimated fetal weight was between the 10th and 90th percentiles.

Low tidal volume and high positive end-expiratory pressure mechanical ventilation results in increased inflammation and ventilator-associated lung injury in normal lungs.

Background: Protective mechanical ventilation with low tidal volume (Vt) and low plateau pressure reduces mortality and decreases the length of mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Mechanical ventilation that will protect normal lungs during major surgical procedures of long duration may improve postoperative outcomes. We performed an animal study comparing 3 ventilation strategies used in the operating room in normal lungs.

Recent advances and novel approaches in deriving neurons from stem cells.

New approaches to improve the quality and efficiency of stem cell-derived neurons are important for both research and clinical arenas. Customized subsets of differentiated neurons can be used as model systems to understand the etiology of a variety of complex neurological diseases and disorders. These same neuronal cells, or progenitors thereof, can then be tested in animal models to determine therapeutic value.

Eicosanoid-induced store-operated calcium entry in dendritic cells.

Background: Eicosanoids are generally recognized to exert potent immunomodulatory properties, including effects on T cell, antigen-presenting cell (APC), and dendritic cell (DC) maturation and function. Since DC maturation and function may also be regulated by store-operated calcium entry (SOCE), we hypothesized that the effects of eicosanoids on DC function may in part be regulated through changes in intracellular calcium.

Methods: DC derived from the bone marrow of male Balb/ByJ mice cultured for 7 d in the presence of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) were used to study the effects of eicosanoids on SOCE and the resulting Ca(2+) mobilization.

Functional genomic analysis of glioblastoma multiforme through short interfering RNA screening: a paradigm for therapeutic development.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a high-grade brain malignancy arising from astrocytes. Despite aggressive surgical approaches, optimized radiation therapy regimens, and the application of cytotoxic chemotherapies, the median survival of patients with GBM from time of diagnosis remains less than 15 months, having changed little in decades. Approaches that target genes and biological pathways responsible for tumorigenesis or potentiate the activity of current therapeutic modalities could improve treatment efficacy.

Demographic changes in radiology residency positions 1980-2007: the divergence between California and the rest of the United States.

Objective: The objective of our study was to show the disparity in the expansion of radiology residency training slots over the past 27 years between California and the rest of the United States and to relate that divergent distribution to regional differences in medical school enrollment as a precursor and state-based per capita ratios of population to radiologist trainees as a consequence.

Materials And Methods: Radiology positions were obtained from the annual editions of the American Medical Association's Graduate Medical Educational Directory. Population data were recorded from U.

Resting network plasticity following brain injury.

The purpose of this study was to examine neural network properties at separate time-points during recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI) using graph theory. Whole-brain analyses of the topological properties of the fMRI signal were conducted in 6 participants at 3 months and 6 months following severe TBI. Results revealed alterations of network properties including a change in the degree distribution, reduced overall strength in connectivity, and increased "small-worldness" from 3 months to 6 months post injury.

Ethyl pyruvate prevents inflammatory responses and organ damage during resuscitation in porcine hemorrhage.

Hemorrhage remains a common cause of death despite the recent advances in critical care, in part because conventional resuscitation fluids fail to prevent lethal inflammatory responses. Here, we analyzed whether ethyl pyruvate can provide a therapeutic anti-inflammatory potential to resuscitation fluids and prevent organ damage in porcine hemorrhage. Adult male Yorkshire swine underwent lethal hemorrhage with trauma and received no resuscitation treatment or resuscitation with Hextend alone, or supplemented with ethyl pyruvate.

Role of Plasmodium berghei cGMP-dependent protein kinase in late liver stage development.

The liver is the first organ infected by Plasmodium sporozoites during malaria infection. In the infected hepatocytes, sporozoites undergo a complex developmental program to eventually generate hepatic merozoites that are released into the bloodstream in membrane-bound vesicles termed merosomes. Parasites blocked at an early developmental stage inside hepatocytes elicit a protective host immune response, making them attractive targets in the effort to develop a pre-erythrocytic stage vaccine.

Pharmacological inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase accelerates and enhances fracture-healing.

Background: Loss of cyclooxygenase-2 activity is known to impair fracture-healing in animal models and to inhibit heterotopic ossification in humans. Cyclooxygenase-2 is the rate-limiting enzyme involved in the conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandins. Arachidonic acid also is a substrate for 5-lipoxygenase, which catalyzes the initial steps in leukotriene synthesis.

Cervical laminoforaminotomy for the treatment of cervical degenerative radiculopathy.

Object: The objective of this systematic review was to use evidence-based medicine to examine the efficacy of posterior laminoforaminotomy in the treatment of cervical radiculopathy.

Methods: The National Library of Medicine and Cochrane Database were queried using MeSH headings and key words relevant to posterior laminoforaminotomy and cervical radiculopathy. Abstracts were reviewed, and studies meeting inclusion criteria were selected.

Distal femur defects reconstructed with polymethylmethacrylate and internal fixation devices: a biomechanical study.

Benign aggressive distal femur tumors are treated with curettage, adjuvant phenol or argon, and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) packing. For large defects, an internal fixation device is added to reduce the fracture risk. The purpose of this study is to compare the strength of locking plates to other fixation devices for stabilization of these defects.

New acute and chronic black holes in patients with multiple sclerosis randomised to interferon beta-1b or glatiramer acetate.

Background: Hypointense lesions on T1 weighted MRI, referred to as black holes (BH), are a marker of demyelination/axonal loss in multiple sclerosis (MS). There is some evidence that glatiramer acetate (GA) may decrease the conversion of new brain lesions to BH.

Methods: Monthly 3-Tesla brain MRI scans were used for up to 2 years to study the development and evolution of new BH in 75 patients with MS randomised to GA or Interferon beta-1b (IFNbeta1b) in the BECOME study.

Single-incision technique for tunneled central venous access.

Purpose: To describe the authors' experience in using a single-incision technique for placing implantable chest ports and tunneled dialysis catheters.

Materials And Methods: Implantable chest ports and tunneled dialysis catheters were placed in 130 consecutive unselected patients aged 18 to 81 years over a 6-month period. A micropuncture needle bent into a C shape was used to access the internal jugular vein (IJV) from an infraclavicular access under real-time ultrasonographic (US) guidance.

CB2 cannabinoid receptors contribute to bacterial invasion and mortality in polymicrobial sepsis.

Background: Sepsis is a major healthcare problem and current estimates suggest that the incidence of sepsis is approximately 750,000 annually. Sepsis is caused by an inability of the immune system to eliminate invading pathogens. It was recently proposed that endogenous mediators produced during sepsis can contribute to the immune dysfunction that is observed in sepsis.

A rare case of intraosseous benign notochordal cell tumor of the coccyx.

This article presents a case of a 53-year-old woman who presented with intermittent, dull, poorly localized lower back and buttock pain. The pain worsened in a seated position or after long periods of standing. A T1-weighted magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the sacrum and coccyx revealed a well-demarcated intraosseous lesion with homogeneous low signal intensity, while T2-weighted MRIs demonstrated homogeneous high signal intensity.

Teaching behavior change concepts and skills during the third-year medicine clerkship.

Risky health behaviors and social factors are linked to half of all causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Physicians report lack of training as one of the barriers to providing behavior change counseling. Formal behavior change curricula are infrequent in medical schools, and where they are available, they are often isolated from clinical experiences or presented through a limited approach.

Complications due to adhesion formation following cesarean sections: a review of deliveries in three cases.

Objective: To describe complications due to adhesion formation following cesarean sections and methods to prevent adhesion formation.

Design: Case reports.

Setting: Labor and delivery suites in three hospitals.

Piriformis syndrome, diagnosis and treatment.

Piriformis syndrome (PS) is an uncommon cause of sciatica that involves buttock pain referred to the leg. Diagnosis is often difficult, and it is one of exclusion due to few validated and standardized diagnostic tests. Treatment for PS has historically focused on stretching and physical therapy modalities, with refractory patients also receiving anesthetic and corticosteroid injections into the piriformis muscle origin, belly, muscle sheath, or sciatic nerve sheath.

Inorganic polyphosphate modulates TRPM8 channels.

Polyphosphate (polyP) is an inorganic polymer built of tens to hundreds of phosphates, linked by high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds. PolyP forms complexes and modulates activities of many proteins including ion channels. Here we investigated the role of polyP in the function of the transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) channel.

Inhibition of p66ShcA longevity gene rescues podocytes from HIV-1-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis.

Glomerular visceral epithelial cells (podocytes) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated nephropathy. A key question concerns the mechanism(s) by which the HIV-1 genome alters the phenotype of the highly specialized, terminally differentiated podocytes. Here, using an in vitro system of conditionally immortalized differentiated human podocytes (CIDHPs), we document a pivotal role for the p66ShcA protein in HIV-1-induced reactive oxygen species generation and CIDHP apoptosis.