Search results for "Spinal"

Biomarkers for Antidepressant Efficacy of Electroconvulsive Therapy: An Exploratory Cerebrospinal Fluid Study

2018

<b><i>Background:</i></b> No candidate biomarkers based on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been identified as prognostic factors in patients with major depression treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), yet. <b><i>Method:</i></b> Following different underlying hypotheses, we analysed baseline CSF levels of markers of neurodegeneration (tau proteins, β-amyloids and neurogranin), elements of the innate immune system (interleukin [IL]-6, neopterin, soluble CD14, soluble CD163, migration inhibitory factor and monocyte chemotactic protein 1), endocannabinoids, sphingolipids and Klotho before ECT in patients with depression (<i>n</i&gt…

Interface transition checklists in spinal surgery

2016

Issue Recently, quality tools have been promoted to improve patient safety and process efficiency in healthcare. While surgeons primarily focused on surgical issues, like infection rates or implant design, we introduced pre-admission and preoperative checklists in the early 2000s. Initial assessment To assess the efficiency of these tools in a neurosurgical department, we performed a survey of all spinal instrumentation patients operated in 2011 ( n  = 147). The results revealed several problems. Choice of solution We consequently redesigned the checklists accompanied by flanking measures, such as written  and online accessible standards. Furthermore, the staff was trained to use the update…

Bone Trauma Causes Massive but Reversible Changes in Spinal Circuitry.

2016

Abstract Bone fracture with subsequent immobilization of the injured limb can cause complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in humans. Mechanisms of CRPS are still not completely understood but bone fracture with casting in mice leads to a similar post-traumatic inflammation as seen in humans and might therefore be an analog to human CRPS. In this article we report behavioral and spinal electrophysiological changes in mice that developed swelling of the paw, warming of the skin, and pain in the injured limb after bone fracture. The receptive field sizes of spinal neurons representing areas of the hind paws increased after trauma and recovered over time—as did the behavioral signs of inflammat…

Survival of patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.

2013

BACKGROUND: Spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1) is a progressive disease and is usually fatal in the first year of life. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed of SMA1 patients and their outcomes according to the following choices: letting nature take its course (NT); tracheostomy and invasive mechanical ventilation (TV); continuous noninvasive respiratory muscle aid (NRA), including noninvasive ventilation; and mechanically assisted cough. RESULTS: Of 194 consecutively referred patients enrolled in this study (103 males, 91 females), NT, TV, and NRA were chosen for 121 (62.3%), 42 (21.7%), and 31 (16%) patients, respectively. Survival at ages 24 and 48 months was higher in …

Limited agreement between biomarkers of neuronal injury at different stages of Alzheimer's disease

2013

Abstract New diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) treat different biomarkers of neuronal injury as equivalent. Here, we quantified the degree of agreement between hippocampal volume on structural magnetic resonance imaging, regional glucose metabolism on positron emission tomography, and levels of phosphorylated tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 585 subjects from all phases of the AD Neuroimaging Initiative. The overall chance-corrected agreement was poor (Cohen κ, 0.24–0.34), in accord with a high rate of conflicting findings (26%–41%). Neither diagnosis nor APOE e4 status significantly influenced the distribution of agreement between the biomarkers. The degree of agreement t…

Phagocytosis of erythrocytes in the subarachnoid space at spinal nerve exits

1982

After intracisternal injection of heparinised autologous blood in cats, spinal nerve exits (SNE) of the subarachnoid space (SAS) were examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Phagocytes, erythrocytes and erythrophages (= macrophages which had phagocytosed red blood cells) were found at SNE. Some lining cells of the SAS had retracted from the adjacent cells and had rounded up. Cells which formed an integral part of the subarachnoid lining cells also had phagocytosed erythrocytes. Debris of an exhausted erythrophage was phagocytosed by other macrophages. Finally the observation has been made that erythrophages are capable of leaving the SAS actively by migrating through the …

Vasculitic wallenberg syndrome with detection of anti-proteinase 3 antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with severe Wegener's granuloma…

2000

A Paucisymptomatic Neuromuscular Disease Mimicking Type III 5q-SMA With Complex Rearrangements in the SMN Gene

2013

Spinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal-recessive neuromuscular disorder, causing progressive proximal weakness and atrophy of the voluntary muscles. More than 96% of the spinal muscular atrophy patients show a homozygous absence of exons 7 and 8, or exon 7 only, in SMN1, the telomeric copy of the SMN gene. We report a young male patient with neurogenic symptoms and sparse muscle fiber atrophy, suggestive of a mild form of type III spinal muscular atrophy. He was found to be a carrier of intragenic mutations in both copies of the SMN gene, exhibiting a homozygous duplication of exons 7 and 8 in SMN1 and a homozygous deletion of exon 8 as well as a heterozygous deletion of exon 7 in SMN2. H…

Myofibrillar disorganization characterizes myopathy of camptocormia in Parkinson’s disease

2011

Camptocormia is a highly disabling syndrome that occurs in various diseases but is particularly associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Although first described nearly 200 years ago, the morphological changes associated with camptocormia are still under debate and the pathophysiology is unknown. We analyzed paraspinal muscle biopsies of 14 PD patients with camptocormia and compared the findings to sex-matched postmortem controls of comparable age to exclude biopsy site-specific changes. Camptocormia in PD showed a consistent lesion pattern composed of myopathic changes with type-1 fiber hypertrophy, loss of type-2 fibers, loss of oxidative enzyme activity, and acid phosphatase reactivity …

Association of elevated phospho-tau levels with alzheimer-typical 18F-Fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-Glucose positron emission tomography findings in patients with…

2003

Abstract Background Mild cognitive impairment is considered to be a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. Phosphorylated tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid and even more decrements of cerebral glucose metabolism in parietal, temporal, or cingulate regions have shown favorable specificity for the diagnosis of Alzheimer dementia and could be useful supplementary tools to determine Alzheimer pathology in early stages. Methods We measured cerebrospinal fluid tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 protein, cerebrospinal fluid total tau, and cerebral glucose metabolism using 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography in 16 patients with mild cognitive impairment and ag…