BioMed research international
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Percutaneous DiscoGel® (Gelscom SAS, France), introduced in 2007 as a promising new minimal invasive technique, showed efficacy and safety in lumbar spine surgery, with limited use and scientific reports with regard to the cervical spine. Since the first publication of its use on the cervical spine (2010), less than 100 cases have been published. We introduce an initial experience with this relatively new procedure. We hypothesized that percutaneous DiscoGel® is a safe and effective option for chronic neck pain of cervical discogenic origin. ⋯ The present study has the limitation of the small number of cases; however, with the limited number of studies and less than 100 published cases in the literature, this initial work shows that cervical percutaneous DiscoGel® is an effective minimally invasive bridging option between conservative and open surgical treatment for cervical discogenic pain, with a high success rate. The differentiation of pain types (nociceptive, referred, radicular, and trapezius myalgia) that can coexist is crucial for procedure selection and improving treatment outcome.
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Chronic inflammatory disease might affect osteoporosis; however, few studies have reported the association between herpes zoster and osteoporosis. The goal of this study was to estimate the association between herpes zoster and osteoporosis in Korean residents. ⋯ The ORs of herpes zoster were increased among the osteoporosis patients. This correlation was reliable in all subgroups by age and sex except group of women ≥ 65 years old.
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Chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) has currently been considered as the first-tier genetic test for patients with developmental delay/intellectual disability (DD/ID) in many countries. In this study, we performed an extensive assessment of the value of CMA for the diagnosis of children with ID/DD in China. ⋯ Microdeletion/microduplication syndromes and unbalanced rearrangements are probably the main genetic etiological factors for DD/ID. DD/ID patients with MCA have a higher rate of chromosomal aberrations. Parents of DD/ID children with submicroscopic unbalance rearrangements are more likely to have chromosome balanced translocations or pericentric inversions, which might have been missed by karyotyping. CMA can significantly improve the diagnostic rate for patients with DD/ID, which is of great value for medical management and clinical guidance for genetic counseling.
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Sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) is a transient and reversible brain dysfunction, that occurs when the source of sepsis is located outside of the central nervous system; SAE affects nearly 30% of septic patients at admission and is a risk factor for mortality. In our study, we sought to determine whether metabolite changes in plasma could be a potential biomarker for the early diagnosis and/or the prediction of the prognosis of sepsis. ⋯ According to recent research on SAE, metabolic disturbances in tissue and cells may be the main pathophysiology of this condition. In our study, we found a correlation between the concentration of 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and the severity of consciousness disorders. We suggest that 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid may be a potential biomarker for SAE and useful in predicting patient prognosis.
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To present anatomic data in the ultrasound planes for the identification of the major veins and the venous sinuses in cerebrum and to establish the sonographic normal reference values for the visualization of vein vessels and vein sinuses and blood flow velocities. ⋯ The measurements percent of visualization of cerebral deep veins was higher than the percent of cerebral venous sinuses. The pulsation percent of measurement and the velocities of cerebral venous sinuses were absolutely higher than the cerebral deep venous system. The pairs of vascular blood flow velocities were nonsignificantly different from one another.